Is White Washing Really Still a Thing? 

all i think about is their toonami video. "Is samurai jack supposed to look like Professor Utonium?" "No he's supposed to look like a black guy voices him."

Not to mention that accent is a cultural thing, not a biological thing. Anyone can be a vocal mimic with a little practice. You might be offended that I can speak like a Mexican or Indian or Black person, but that doesn't change the fact that I CAN DO IT.

Aged like milk

The slayer Of mediocrity how so?

Patrick Gowen Cleveland

Amen

its been a year op, you good?

@NADS IQ what the fuck kind of problem do you have with me? Did I spit in your face or WHAT? All I literally said was "you good, op?".

Gods guard you brave yet foolish boy😟 Edit: you won’t be alone

Don’t do it while your still sane

In Ultimate Marvel universe, Nick Fury is black.

In the bible series they fast angels and Samson and dark,asian, and Latin people and I think it's pretty good story telling. It holds up to the facts and details described in the bible and that's all I really care about in any piece of cinema. The only time something shouldn't be white or color of gender washed is in movies about factual history. I beliv e western get a pass because they are mostly fictional but not all western reserve a pass. They should always try their damndest to make history accurate. They have the tv series viking s but when are we gonna get a poncho via or Zulu or better yet ara b Moore series out?

The problem is a lot of the time the performance is garbage or mediocre. It makes me ask myself "they changed the character in casting, and *this* was the best they could do?"

OuterRaine And is visually based on Samue L Jackson, so they had to ask him

Swift At the end of the day, Johnny Storm being Black as opposed to being White doesn't change the character. If he wasn't an American character, I think that'd be something to complain about, but he's the same American guy regardless of his race. We've had White actors play Othello for forever, so why not?

Hendrik Scheepers I call them dwarfs

@@hendrikscheepers4144 Isn't that what they want to be called though? It's better than calling them midgets or some other word that makes them sound like they aren't human.

Honestly I thought it was pretty insensitive from Doug to say that midgets and halflings are the same thing. Hobbits aren't "little humans", they're a different race, like elves and dwarves.

This is literally the first time I've ever heard anyone complain about the casting of The Hobbits in the LotR films.

ElvenRaptor My issue with the LOTR casting was that all of it was done in New Zealand but had almost no NZ actors. Pretty sure the only one was Karl Urban

Or any alien in any movie with aliens ever.

XD

So you're saying Kusanagi should be played by a real android?

Johan Eriksson Funny, I thought forcing disproportionate representation of minorities in media was kinda bigoted. Guess I was wrong! PS: There are plenty of talented raccoons and trees out there who need jobs. Why be all ableist about them just because they can't talk? ABLEIST, I say!

Hahahahahaha wtf XD

I mean, you can be racist regardless of race, but I get what you mean.

Avalon Elizabeth that had nothing to do with what I meant but you aren’t wrong

Truce Truce well put

That’s kinda what I think, which is why I don’t mind Ariel being casted as a black person in the upcoming Little Mermaid reboot (although I do have issues with Disney reboots in general). I mean, she’s a mermaid princess, does it really matter if she isn’t white?

@@gamigross I'd argue that, if mermaids existed, they wouldn't see much sunlight. And they'd probably eat boatloads of fish. Also, they'd have fish-eating rows of teeth and eyes adapted to darkness. What was the question again?

Agreed. Hell, there's tons of male characters voiced by females and vice versa. Also, no one brought up Darth Vader.

+Darwin Xavier Totally, sometimes one person is just the best for the role despite gender or racial differences to the character, have you seen the original footage of the Darth Vader being played without the voice over? It's ridiculous.

Reminds me of Hooper X's tirade from Chasing Amy. Though he approaches it from a different angle.

I have, and it makes me cringe so much. Sad that THATS the image Lucas had for Star Wars originally.

I agree, though I think the discussion is warranted of where and why to draw a line, I don't think animation is really the thing to be critiquing for a few factors. Voice actors are not cast for their looks or bodies, (except in few cases), but for their voices. In films or shows, visual diversity and representation is more important because it reinforces certain traits of a character in an audience's mind. In animation, all of that visual design and reinforcement is fabricated by artists. And often times in animation, the character is something no one could be expected to be cast for (Dragon Ball Z for example). I think he's right in asking where we should draw the line, but I also think the answer is kinda simple, if the character is distinctly written with a cultural or sub-cultural trait that is in the minority, cast accordingly when possible (meaning, when there are actors of that culture or subculture within that country, they should be expected to cast accordingly). Ethnocentrism is a thing, and I'd rather for cultures that are commonly understood or in the majority, when it's an important facet to the character, to be played by someone with a perspective coming from within that culture. For example, Nick Fury's race has little to do with who he is, so he technically could be played by an actor of any race. But, Black Panther can't be played by anything other than African because he's an African prince, and that has immense bearing on his entire character and story-lines. But, in Japan, where there are very very few Non-Japanese people, and even fewer non-Asians, they should never be expected to cast a white guy. In America and Britain, where there are more minorities and racial and cultural backgrounds, there are fewer excuses for them not casting a minority when it has bearing for the character. Also, about Doctor Strange, I get the whole China issue, so why not cast another Asian and change the aesthetic from Tibetan to whatever ethnicity the actress has? I mean, that's still not great because Asians aren't interchangeable, but it would be better.

undead890 this is the best comment I’ve seen on this matter

People, upvote this comment. This is the best take on this problem, I've seen.

At last a professional comment

Actually Nick Fury is both White and Black Nick Fury is White Nick Fury JR is Black.

The Samuel Jackson Nick Fury is actually the adoptive son of the OG Nick

When we have 8 Marvel movies led by Asian people, then we'll shut up about whtiewashing

Marvel was created by White people, why are Asians entitled to it? go make your own instead of leeching off White people

When you have Asian actors that can actually carry a movie in the English language, then you can comment about it. The thing is, there isn't. And the second thing is, it's not that big of a fucking deal.

Eko's Corner How many white guys have led movies and failed? Remember Taylor Kitsch? Garret Hedlund? Why do mediocre white actors get second, third, and fourth chances to lead movies when Asian actors can't even get a first chance?

Ultizer Marvel's customers are of all races. Not only that, its highest selling comics star a black guy and a Pakistani girl. We deserve just as much credit for Marvel's success as white people do.

you... i like you...

But come on we might she here naked!

Good one

You sit are brilliant and I applaud you 👏

yet another example to the anti-robot prejudice dating all the way back to 1984 when Arnold played the Terminator

lol

Just another unfortunate example of live-washing. This needs to end!

That is pretty much the white washing argument in a nutshell, it's painful how stupid some people can be.

I guess they didn't like how they where portrayed as flesh eating monsters.

Look up the job of an actor. So I guess you're angry with the Japanese version of Macbeth starring Japanese people when there are many talented Scottish Actors. So please take your hypocritical Bullshit somewhere else.

Damn straight

You sure do care about historical accuracy. I assume you are equally infuriated when a movie set in medieval England has people cooking potatoes? I mean, that's terrible! Just a matter of historical accuracy! ....Right?

True but s white person playing an Asian person in an Asian mountain range is odd vs just casting an Asian person? And let’s not forget casting in Hollywood isn’t just (cool monk for protagonist) but can’t be race specific. I was in the acting scene when younger and was excited for black teen, Blackman, black kid, black nerd, etc. casting roles and yes they’d pop up because I knew the casting was looking for my race in mind but these are almost always minor roles unless it’s a celeb like will smith or a black movie like big mommas house

@@Soymaid yeah, but that is a little less on the nose and less noticeable then a native american being in the middle of the 100 years old war speaking French. I would like the movie even more if it features faithful foods, weapon and tradition of that era. But then again there are many things that most people don't know about that time period and the movie will trade practicality and realism for its tone and dramatism.

@@ILLPictures Why do you want to be a knight if you don't respect White culture?

A natural product of the internet.

Pretty much the Internet

Well sir, this is the internet afterall

Anti-SJWs: "I'm so offended that these fucking SJWs are offended at what I'm not offended at! I'm obviously more superior and non-political than others. Also, I'm going to throw around lots of double standard and false accusations!"

+Chon Pak gr8 b8 m8, i r8 8/8

There have been much worse, and much more false accusations in the past. People yelling about white people taking over the movies sounds a lot better than most in the past.

This is why I hang around the side of youtube where people know how to chill

it's the age of the internet! where everyone has a voice and they want to be heard! Too bad not all of them are well thought out.

There is such a thing as overreacting, yes, but it's good to also be open to understanding why someone may be upset with something, such as media whitewashing, or off-handed jokes you intend to be funny (such as off-handedly calling something "gay" or making a race joke). You don't necessarily have to change for other people, but if they're calmly trying to give you their stance, don't write them off for "overreacting," because their feelings could very well be legitimate. Unless they're a dragonkin, you don't have to listen to them in that case.

I feel we should look at intent more than anything, going to the Ghost in the Shell bit, I think our first question should be, "did they choose Scarlet Johansson because she is white, or because she would fit the role best?" I will hazard a guess and say that 90% of the time it's the latter.

sinshiro ok, that’s a good joke there, made me chuckle.

And, all the animal voices not going to Furries.

Fucking fleshwashing

I know that's a joke but I agree!!!

For me, if they decided not to get a Tibetanese actor, why not just cast a Chinese actor?

Yeah, couldn't they get hold of Jackie Chan or Jet li at the time? They just needed someone Asian who speaks english.

@Josh Lee You do know that China is committing genocide in Tibet? and as we speak is having concentration camps deployed? Doing business whit China is no better than companies hoe did business whit nazie Germany.

Honestly, I thought the character was Moondragon when I watched it and when I figured out it was a different character I was just wondering why they didn't write the character into the story. With all the liberties the Dark Knight films toke like making The Joker a radical terrorist or Ra's al-Ghoul a normal person. Heck, even Thanos the biggest cinematic villain to date doesn't have his original motivation; so why couldn't they make Moondragon the ancient one?

They wanted to saty away from the t stereotypical old wise Asian man type. If you noticedz Stephen Strange walks towards the old Asian guy sitting down and he was told that he was one of.the disciples. Not the Ancient One

Yeah exactly

Ah, no wonder.

There are multiple types of dwarfism though. The most common type (for 70% of people with dwarfism), which you're describing, is achondroplasia, but there are some little people who are proportionally short too (via growth hormone deficiency, others).

still, it wouldn't be easy finding an actor matching the discription of the characters, from a minority within a minority

Fucking exactly. It's going to be EXTREMELY difficult to find good actors that fit the role AND have the proper height and body proportions. I can't believe anyone would think it would be easier to resort to using tricks during filming and post-production to make them look shorter than to use short people with similar proportions. That's not heightwashing, that's just not wanting to spend potentially YEARS on casting alone.

They should have had a dragonkin actor play the part! Ugh...

Thank god Dragonheart was released before tumblr existed.

AdoreSinging394% ohmygosh;; kILL ME

Tumblr in a FUCKING NUTSHELL.

But it's Benedict Cumberbatch! Tumblr loves him!

i agree with you...i quite enjoyed the change the movie was good and the actors did a great job. but to be honest i think people would complain if it was a Tibet man due to it being stereotypical.

Brooke B. The Ancient One could have been changed to Nepali since Kamar Taj in the MCU is in Nepal instead of Tibet.

While the reason they did it sucked (to placate the Chinese) the casting itself was excellent.

I don't know what ethnicity you are, Brooke, but I imagine quite a few people did take a phenomenal level of issue with Swinton's casting. See the issue isn't around performance, most people can agree that Swinton is a talented actress, but the issue is that this is one of the very small handful of roles that could and really should have gone to an Asian actor/actress, I mean Asia is a massive continent and Tibet is just a tiny portion of it. The writers and the director said they refrained from casting an Asian Actress because they said the role would turn into a dragon lady and for me that's just a poor excuse to cover their ineptitude to write a well written Asian characterization for the Ancient One.

Brooke B. I was excited she was a Tocharian.

Because most Americans didn't know until after the fact

And it was the "Japanese Spider-Man", only meant for a Japanese audience. That changes things a bit, given the intended audience.

That's why nobody complained. If it's a local take on a foreign character due to lack of budget, I don't mind. If it's an alternative character (John Stewart as Green Lantern versus Hal Jordan's) I don't mind. What I do mind is when they take a character and change its race or gender to make a statement (ex. Hermione Granger turning black and Thorina).

Supaidamon is best Spiderman though.

+Nonamearisto plus Japanese spider is rad.

Same with the actors/actresses in Elf when you think about it.

Filip Schneider "orange americans"? good point

I don't wanna catch Carotenemia though.

incost i orange is the new black

Not really American, but what about the Oompa Loompas?

TokenChineseGuy's Rare Music! That's Oompa Loompa-washing

Did you learn that one in the fifth or sixth grade?

Hey, the Transformers aren't voiced by sentient intergalactic shape-shifting robots ! I am offended !

Masterrazzer76 you really got miff'd about thomas the fucking Tank Engine.

+Daniel Jørgensen it's a joke

know that I think about it. I'd bet barny isn't realy a purple trex man. I'm triggered

Well, that is a very good point for actors who would be impaired by a physical constraint.

Only part of a performance in a movie is the words in the original script. It often gets reworked and interpreted by producers, directors, and the actors who play the roles. And sometimes by consultants brought in by the film makers. House of Cards brings in people who have experience working in politics to consult on scripts and so you end up with a script that's more sophisticated and performances that ring more true. Marvel includes the writers who've worked with the characters as consultants and you get a script and characters who are more informed by decades of source material. Naturally, you get the same benefit when you can have someone like the character playing that role because they can bring in the perspective and life experience that others are only able to guess at. Film and TV are hugely collaborative. And that's a strength. Why not get the most out of it by bringing in talented actors who also happen to have a personal insight into the life experience of that kind of character?

Because such actors still might not be the best. Take Iron Man. Most actors have little to no experience with technology or combat, both of which are integral to Iron Man's character.

Casting Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect case of matching the actor to the character. Tony Stark is a brilliant, charismatic, talented person who is also a struggling addict with a past littered with poor choices. So is RDJ. I think his life experience informed one of the best actor-character pairings in movie history.

Yes, but only in terms of being a recovering addict. Not in the other categories. That said, he nailed the roll perfectly in spite of having no technological background. RDJ just goes to prove my point.

@Skippy the Alien more like using someone else's success as a platform because your incapable of doing anything on your own merit

@Skippy the Alien I know, you were bored, so you decided to 'say' something. But, it didn't turn out so well, right? It's okay, you 'Skippy' are way too intelligent for this subject(White Washing) nor the comment section; such a vast intellect wasted. I, however, appreciate you being here, and patiently await the day *you* invent something that stops white people -- And *ONLY* white people -- from being racist. Thanks! *_fart_*

@Skippy the Alien He's just pointing out some hypocrisy, which he did have a valid point, and even Nostalgia Critic pointed out.

Skippy the Alien By taking away Opportunities and Chances for other people? Shawshank Redemption. Red is supposed to be white and Irish yet he is played by Morgan Freeman. I Am Legend. Robert Neville is white yet he is played by Will Smith. The Witcher TV Show. All Characters are supposed to be Slavic yet there are Black and Asian actors. Fantastic Four. Johnny Storm is White yet he is played by Michael Jordan. If characters are written as a certain Race then they should be played by that Race. Simple. Enough of this “But we must spread diversity” bullshit.

And in rise of the TMNT april was black washed and this still annoys me to this day

Peter Dinklage is a disproportionate dwarf, however, which is exactly what the Tyrion character was. To play Tolkien's Hobbits or Dwarves would have required proportionate dwarfs, but they do exist. The production crew chose not to seek them out.

Interesting information! But are they common enough that you could find 4 good actors that fit the roles? Also Tolkien dwarves are short but at least as broad as a man, that would be pretty hard to find a real person that fits without trick filming.

The Lord of the Rings example is a bad example because Hobbits an Dwarfs are just shorter people. Peter Dinklage has a condition called "dwarfism." Its not the same. It is significantly more difficult to find adult male actors under 5' than it is to find actors of different races.

They did well in Willow.

Actually, Warwick Davis runs an agency where they do have actors of extreme height differentials. From little people to giants among men/women. I think he even does average height people. But if you're giant or small, he'll represent you. And I think he's had the company since 95 with his father in law. And I looked into it, if you're below 5 feet or above 7 feet, his agency will represent you. So for Lord of the Rings to NOT hire little people, is a slap in Warwick Davis's face and all the talent he represents. If you want to look into it, his agency is called Willow Management.

Yeah, figuratively speaking.

How would a white actor play MLK Jr. though. Would the movie be taken seriously even if that actor is perfect in his representation of King.

Like robert downey jr did in tropic thunder, maybe?

Actually, I'm pretty sure I've seen that somewhere.

+raven772 There are tons of actors who put on black face and white face for their roles, whether comedic or serious and they still get the job done.

Exactly. Now choosing the best actor is considered biased i guess? Eh IDGAF. Anime characters look more Western than Eastern anyways.

***** >Anime characters look more Western than Eastern anyways. They honestly do.

***** I guess you stopped reading his comment halfway though, here's what the other half said "...as long as they do the role justice and the movie turns out good" I don't think a white man playing Dr.MLK would fit in that category... Same way a black man playing George Washington wouldn't.

+Nubbiecakes look up the universally praised Broadway musical "Hamilton" where the founding fathers are portrayed by non-whites.

Kipersof I've heard of it. I consider it to be in poor taste, but to honest i don't care much. I was actually thinking about it when i wrote my previous comment though. I haven't seen the show, can't say if they did the roles justice or not, but my money is on the latter. Is it actually universally praised, or is that sarcasm?

Its not just America look at Germany and also its a small fraction of Americans that us in the USA like to call the regressive left look it up.

Fire Emblem Fates

How to tell an argument's wrong: They use the phrase "butthurt"

It's more of a faction within America than everyone in America. It's the usual suspects, such as those who get uppity and see everyone not whit as "oppressed".

This thread will be fun

America casts americans as americans, and everyone loses their minds. Japan casts japanese as germans, and nobody bats an eye.

+BrickBuster2552 It's a double standard.

Yeah. Asians have a hard-on for white people :P

THANK YOU!

Actually lots of people did and the movie was shit because of it. Also, they did change the names for all the characters to be japanese which was another nail in the coffin.

and before anyone says anything yes I understand the historical context of white washing explained in the video but doing the same thing reversed doesn't end the practice only perpetuates it

"Aticus", not "Abacus". An abacus is a type of mechanical calculator.

No, it's totally, 100% different. EDIT: and that Atticus example was idiotic, and you know that. In the story his race is relevant. His race is a part of the story, so of course it wouldn't make sense there. But a white guy with no racial component to his story anywhere ever being recast as black is totally different.

lol whoops. argument a lot less valid now :-)

"You still shouldn't be ok with it if you find white washing bad. the principal is the same." That depends on why we're objecting. I find the whitewashing of Asian characters troubling because it takes good opportunities away from Asian actors who already have a hard time landing big roles in Hollywood. If a white character is swapped out for an Asian one, that doesn't bother me at all--in fact, I'd encourage it, and this is completely consistent with my objections. Someone may argue that this is unfair to a white actor who might have gotten that part instead. But there's no shortage of white roles in Hollywood, so they've got plenty of room to bounce back.

But can I add that if you are making an adaptation of an already existing franchise, you should try stay close to the source material so you can accurately portray the characters. Changing the race/ gender etc. Of a character shouldn't matter as long as their race/ gender etc. Is crucial to the character or plot.

sorry it's not that simple, i wish it was, but there are cases that are just plane offensive like some of the recent movies based in egypt where that only use people of color as background and nothing else while white where all in the lead roles. the movies were bad so nobody cared but even but even they where good it still need to be addressed

So they just act? Like as in the job they are paid for? Not mad at you or thinking bad of you just pointing it out?

THIS! In all seriousness as long as someone can believably play a role then they should be able to. Especially if they're the best person for the job. Granted the lord of the rings series was a little silly with what they did but at the same time it's worth going through the extra effort if it makes for a better result. I'm not claiming LOTR is better with non little people but i am saying is that if an actor fits the role the best but isn't a little person then it should be fine.

Agreed. As long as the core elements of the character haven't been changed it shouldn't be a problem. Scarlet Johansson as the Major doesn't bother me as long as she has a full body prosthetic. That being said in Fan4stic when they made Johnny Storm black and didn't change Susan's ethnicity it bothered me, the Storms are blood siblings if you're going to change one change the other. As for Tilda Swinton, she's a chameleon, she disappears into a role an as long as she delivers in the role as the mystic teacher no one should really be worried.

Great video though now.I'm confused with all the differnt -washing

Most sensible thing I've read in the comments all day XD

Jelena Fivesmiths Yes Peter Dinklage for the win

He should play pee.wee Hermon in the new pee wee Hermon movie

Mega Gecko it's more that he's not middle Eastern even though genies are middle eastern demons. Although I will admit that I think people, including myself, give that a pass since genies are mythical creatures so they're not technically a group of people, and of course Robin Williams played the role as a cosmic improve comedian not as a serious main character(not to say the genie is devoid of dramatic moments, just not as much as the others)

John Martin /r/woosh

Exactly look at the portrayal of Jesus and the apostles. Middle Eastern Jews, who are described as looking exactly like the locals, are all portrayed as all N.European White dudes. Heck, even the portrayals of the Christian god is usually some old white guy. And not the Middle eastern Jew, he told he made in his image.

Not the Genie. Jesus, were you even listening, or were you just waiting on some detail that screamed for a good pounce?

That being said, suppose George is simply an undiscovered acting talent that happens to do better. Just remember that being famous doesn't guarantee that someone is the best fit for any given role. Take the Star Wars prequels for example.

Tea-rettes too risky,so nope.more often than not,studios will choose Tom Hanks.Let some ones else take that risk in choosing George causing a gamble with their money.

@@sydneypierce7722 I concede your point and I realize that's how studios operate, but a number of movies have had smashing success by casting relatively unknown actors in lead roles. Many of the actors we know today started in just such movies. Johnny Depp, Sean Connery, Daisy Ridley, the entire cast of Star Wars. My point is not that this hypothetical George character should be preferred for the role simply because their sexuality fits, only that their sexuality might deepen their understanding of the role, possibly making them better suited to it than Tom Hanks. By all means consider both auditions, but sometimes fame is actually a detriment to the role. Actors ought to fit the role rather than the role being changed to fit the actor. This happens all too often in cinema. Take the straightwashing of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, or the blatant erasure of any foreign elements in movies like Netflix's Death Note (by all accounts a movie that should have worked but painfully didn't.) These changes not only hurt the characters, but can even derail a narrative beyond recovery.

it's the sign of a truly decadent society when the problem of the day is the portrayal of fictional characters in a movie.

He's actually a bit right, to be quite frankly honest. I mean, have you seen some of the stuff younger mid-20 or less people have been getting pissed of at lately? It's pretty damn trivial.

Also doesn't help that some of them get paid to get offended and pissed off over nothing and then they are crowned "journalists" for it

Good thing we have the handy, enlightened white guys on the internet to tell us when problems are trivial or not simply because they are personally unaffected by them! Thanks guy's for contributing absolutely nothing to the discussion except your own disgusting elitism! "thumbs up"

No its because fans want to see there characters pop to life on screen and if they don't look close to the character than there not playing that character.

MyMediaRomance 10/01/16 thank you

That's the problem with white-washing. The RIGHT people always seem to be WHITE people. If casting were truly color-blind, more people of color would star in movies.

When Hollywood does casting calls they often request for actors of a certain race.

Brenda Jameson Yeah, because there are more of us. If it was colorblind, whites would still have a better chance, but it's not because they're white, it's because there are more of us. It's very simple.

MyMediaRomance 10/01/16 FINALLY SOMEONE WHO ISNT AUTISTIC

Plenty of Asian Americans were angry. Some Asians in Asian weren’t. It’s a large part of diaspora and very common.

Asians in Asia don't have to live in America with the violent racism that Asian Americans face. I know this comment was made before the covid pandemic. But the racism was always there, even before. Now the violent attacks are way worse post-Trump and post covid. Asian Americans elders literally get beaten down in the street. So good for Japanese people in Japan not caring about Avril. They don't have to put up with the repercussions of kids repeating the mockery and stereotypes.

All good and fine, when will Americans return the same courtesy and share? An Asian James Bond or Superman?

It's not just acting skills though you have to fit a part

Maria Irwin that's kinda what I meant guess I should have said it better

Hollywood doesn't seem to think so.

Yes, would be nice, wouldn't it. Which makes me wonder, why the list of big name actors in Hollywood doesn't really seem to reflect the diversity we see in the entire society.

Race, gender, beliefs, sexuality and in exceptional cases appearance are all not good reasons to refuse an actor if the skills are there. Same goes for any other professions. This SJW bullshit with quotas is just returning that very racism/sexism/"whatever"-ism that they are pretending to fight, just turning it against male/white/cis/straight people.

Out of everyone who's ever made sense out of the entire comment section... You're the first

Idris Elba is cast as the lead Roland in the Dark Tower Movies, who is originally white. Alot of the Dark Tower series key issues raised is the racial tension and prejudices against black people in a fantasy-wild west world and a lot of issues are talked about Roland being a white man helping and at times being a racist himself that develops his character to become the Uber Gunslinger. As we know back in the west it was a No-No to be white and not hate black people. Roland is black. Now that key part is cut out. So No its not always about story and how well its played.

Dwayne Kenpachi And that's why everything is dependant on the intent of the storyteller. It's not anybody else's place to say "UR RAECEST ADN RAECESTZ R ILLEGL" because the intent of a character is there to play a part in the story which can be whatever the flying fuck the writer wants it to be.

Ah, I see you missed the point. I cant win them all I suppose

There are ways that they can fit the racial tension into the story. I'll wait and see what they do with it before I make any judgments. Idris Elba is a hell of an actor. If he has a good script, he can make the role work.

He could also be Jewish as well, but it's not clear.

If the anime doesn't directly state it, people are going to assume they're Japanese because that's the language they speak. A person could have a german name just by being a descendant of one german father and yet still look Japanese. It's anime so it's really hard to tell sometimes...

GITS is about an Asian city though. Right? I've never seen it, but my friends have.

The Robby King Yeah but Makoto Kusanagi herself isn't of any race let alone japanese.

Jourmungand and Black Lagoon was basically the most Western Anime you could get and had mixture of all kind of races as well.

It was more politically correct.. BS.

@@gostavoadolfos2023 OMG no it wasn't it you idiot was just a explaining his point of view.

The lotr part Is laughable

This is the most accurate comment about what the film industry is about. Playing roles you can’t do in real life because it’ll make you happy.

actually its bad because what if we get someone you love like Luke sky walker and turn him black wouldn't you be mad

Sondremomo De Not at all. as long as the race of the character has no affect on the story, then why should we care. black panther, static shock, luke cage and cybor are all characters whose story is largley impacted by being black. Batman (honestly the only character I could think of) has to be white because he comes from old money, and old non-white money just doesn't exist in america. Luke skywalker on the other hand, is a freaking space samurai. who cares what color he is?

Matteo Bukhgalter If Hollywood wasn't a thing before people of colour in the U.S. got their rights and if producers weren't refusing to hire them for 30 years after they got their rights nobody would be discussing this issue

Chris Cox Chris, I want to agree, but you can’t take a character that has been played in a film before and originates from that film and just swap their race. This is because their only creative representation was that film, and hence that’s very jarring and doesn’t work with the character at all. I think Blade the Daywalker could, for example, be played by Donnie Yen, but making an Austin Powers film with Kevin Hart as Austin Powers wouldn’t work at all.

and no one should ever be critical of media.

So if Aladdin was made into a live action and a Japanese person was playing as him you wouldn't have a problem?

Miss Cipher If the actor was good, no, I wouldn't care.

stone sherrill Never said that, saying this criticism is ridiculous, and no filmmaker should ever take it seriously.

There is a difference between being critical of a piece of media and being critical of how it doesn't fit ones political view.

Keep on dreaming. On the other hand, look out for the Tokyo Ghoul and FMA live actions. Will probably turn out right.

The Big G or making characters with racist stereotypes,

Pause Jesus this mans got it all figured out

This is more of an issue of people refusing to give jobs to people based on the applicant's ethnicity, than whether or not a certain character has a certain color.

That's nice. He's not physically fit to play a hobbit, because the hobbits aren't midgets. They are a separate race.

Well, he's not wrong xD

Yeah, I didn't realize she was not actually playing a Tibetan monk made it a lot better. It's more refreshing to see a Celtic woman doing martial arts than the tired Mr. miyagi trope.

if you see white fiction, like harry potter, lord of the ring and star wars, there is an old man who teach an Ancient power so it isn't common only to one race , beside an old guy being teacher isn't a stereotype cuase elders have alot more experience

Matt Chu you miss the big point then. People that I guess loved the franchise would rather see it played by its own people. And after the black lives matter /all lives matter. And many more it seems in history every time another race rants and bitches Caucasian dismiss it as if there opinion doesn't matter then shifts it. Example like I said above. A few started saying black lives matter. And then for almost no reason it was shifted to all lives matter. Like the subject was based on a wide range. But point being with all that and a lot more horrible things done. I think America is tired of bending every leading high light roll to Caucasian. Even in this from my experience in the military Asians love Caucasian. However have a very low opinion about most other races but that is to be the case seeing how our history has only highlighted most Caucasian. At least that's what I think the rant over white washing is all about.

Greg Wright With all due respect, us Asian people don't need white people telling us what the point of whitewashing is.

Matt is just white brain washed by the DEVILZ

actually a good number of people did have a problem with that and surprise, surprise, the live action AOT movie turned out to be awful

But then again how many Japanese-German actors live in Japan?

but it was made in japan, by japanese people in the japanese language. Japan is pretty much 99 percent japanese so it would be impossible to get such a diverse cast

+RileyZilla1001 Who said they need to be Japanese-German?

You must'nt have gone into enough threads about that movie then if you think "no one was complaining"

Hyper-Shan I didn't ether I thought he was Indian

holy crap I thought that dude was really indian when I was a kid he did a heckin good job

Wayne Cox It's something fortunate about you, you saw a believable performance by an actor. That's their job.

@Wayne Cox On the contrary, it says something good about you.

As the OP above states, even Indian people thought he was Indian. Sometimes... -sometimes-, a stereotypical portrayal is not negative.

Yeah when he brought up Cowboy Bebop I was like "Wait Spike isn't Japanese"

brobro34343 that being said, I don't think it's a case of white washing, like, we didn't get mad when idris played heimdel in Thor, cos he did it well. Even though the deity was, quote: The whitest of all the gods. I personally think its about quality, not complexion. Viva la Meritocrasy. I also think it might have something to do with people being offered vs people who accept, as well as the whole damned if you do, damned if you don't approach. Because if you had an old asian man playing the ancient one, you would have just as many people crying about offensive stereo-types. So the creators made a decision, all we should do as consumers, is judge it on its merits and the end result. :)

Spike is Euro-abrahamic. Or... most likely Jewish. But we could list more. Full metal alchemist, all the blondes are obviously caucasian. There's specifically people from a 'far away country to the east' that are CLEARLY asian and there are those that live in clay homes that are OBVIOUSLY middle eastern. Guin Saga has mostly White people, very few asians. Canon Canon again had multi cultural people who apparently lived in japan, but it clearly noted their country and race of origin. if I watched more anime I'd could point out it happening all the time.

Lets make a live action Hellsing, all the characters must be Japanese otherwise you're a racist bigot, wait you're telling me the heros are British, and the villains are german? Don't care made in Japan therefore Japanese.

Attack on titan, Black butler, Hellsing, Fullmetal alchemist, these are all animes where most of the main characters (with only a few exceptions) aren't Japanese. And no I'm not just saying that because "they don't look Japanese" it is actually canon that they are German, English, French, and even Chinese which is not the same as Japanese -.-

The Hobbits are not human afflicted with Dwarfism, Tyrion Lannister is.

ScrewyGrapes is the real MVP.

ScrewyGrapes I would actually pay to just see Peter Dinklage act as every character in LOTR

Tbh, I'd watch pretty much any movie redone with Dinklage as all of the characters. Should be interesting to see him play off of himself.

ScrewyGrapes yes

This is not true at all. There's various reasons outside of character growth and development for a character to be a certain ethnicity. Lest we forget, these are characters that are supposed to be as if they were real people. Seeing someone or a character of a certain ethnicity be changed to a different one may not seem like a big deal to you but it very well might be to someone who shares that ethnicity that was changed. What happens when characters that were created as non white are turned white or any other different race or ethnicity? This only comes off as erasure.

@@giancarlocaballero7684 Did...did you not watch the video?

It really doesn't and her being white or japanese doesn't mean shit since as you said, she can look like whatever she wants to, it doesn't take away from her character nor the story.

berry Box Ya, people picked literally the stupidest property to get mad at. I swear if people get mad at the FMA movie WB is making for having white characters I will lose my shit.

berry Box Exactly might point with FMA. FMA takes place in a fictional country similar to Germany. Essentially 95% of the characters are white with the rest being either middle eastern or Chinese. But you know that because it was written by a Japanese author people who have never seen/read it are going to be pissed at the majority white cast.

+mattbenz99 Reviews I got some news for ya then. The FMA movie is going with an all Japanese cast. Guess they were afraid of the backlash?

Kusanagi WAS human before she got her cyborg body. You actually think they would give someone who doesn't look asian an asian name for espionage missions? Of course not! She would stick out like a sore thumb which is the opposite of her blending in by having a standard looking shell. She is Japanese, it's really fucking obvious.

I'm offended that the Ghost in Ghostbusters aren't actual ghost.

I'm offended that the zombies in Shaun of the Dead aren't played by actual zombies.

That's a dumb comparison because people are real, but aliens don't actually exist.

Sam V How disgustingly xenomorphobic of you. Check your privilege.

Smerg Dargon Reality... deal with it!

My question to you is why.... someone like "Ken Watanbe"?. Why can't it be an Asian American actor or Asian-British actor? That is the point of the outrage. ASIAN-AMERICAN are underrepresented in the mainstream media and movies. Why can't movie/tv studios write a story about an Asian character without using Asian stereotypes? For instance, the character Wong use to be a butler or manservant in the comic book....and now in the movie he is a librarian/guard. Why can't the Ancient One character be an Asian or Asian-American actor and strip away the typical racist stereotype?

But what if its was from the orginal source

Say that to Scarlett Johanson, Emma Stone, Jim Sturgess, Ben Affleck, Tilda Swinton, Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie and many many actors and actresses playing characters that are originally of a different colour. Whether you are white actor, black actor, asian actor, latino actor and so forth, you can play any character as long as people can get a chance to audition for the part. The word is "Equality". However, in Hollywood "Asian-Americans" are underrepresented in mainstream movies and tv-shows. Many people believe that Iron Fist and many other shows (e.g., Death Note) and movies (e.g., Ghost in the Shell) can remedy/solve that "underrepresentation issue" and break stereotypes. This year movies like "Columbus" with John Cho and "The Big Sick" with Kumail Nanjiani were the first step to diversity and shredding stereotypes. Can you name a few MOVIES (perhaps 4-5 movies) that an "Asian-American" actor plays a leading role in Hollywood? Oh... by the way, just a heads up ... Jackie Chan and Jet Li aren't Americans. ;)

I so agree.

I think Doug outlined the problem best at 11:16. I believe that if the ethnicity of the character effects the story then they should be played by that ethnicity, not just based on quality.

You see that gets tough then, because then the big studio heads will more often then not turn to really successful actors that are known to bring in a lot of money (in their eyes). And the problem with that is that most A-list actors that are known to bring in a lot of money are white. Ken Watanabi wouldn't have been cast in the Last Samurai, and because of that breakout roll in North America he's in movies like Godzilla. It does get complicated when it comes to casting white actors in ethnic roles, but it's just a fact that white actors have historically been cast in so many ethnic roles, and that today's audience wants authenticity to the source material that it makes sense to have more diversity when it's allowed.

That doesn't work because movie casting isn't a meritocracy. every movie is not cast based on a great script and an open call to anyone wanting to play a role. movies are pitched and produced based on pitching particular actors or ensuring they can cast someone in particular. The reason this becomes a problem is that a self fulfilling prophesy begins to be written . In the Ghost in the Shell example executives claimed that the movie could only be made because they could cast an A list actress in the lead role. Now if this ends up being a great movie with a meaty lead role that can open doors to other leading role possibilities and an Asian actress becoming an A-lister. But since the roles don't go to Asian actresses in future roles Asian actresses won't meet the requirements.

There is no clear hierarchy of actors based on skill. Its mostly subjective. So its stupid to take based on merit. Hundreds of good actors where none are better than each other exist.

I completely agree. Merit should have priority over physical appearance.

That's why it's called acting lol

But Scarlett Johansson can't act. Rinko Kikuchi already has star power from Pacific Rim, acting chops, AND the heritage to back up playing Motoko Kusanagi.

+TheMadisonMachine except she looks nothing like mokoto whereas Johansson looks quite a bit like her. hell even the Japanese from Japan are saying it looks good so get over it.

MoeHolyGhost Japanese from Japan dont understand our cultural climate, which is hilarious considering they're even more racist than we are.

+TheMadisonMachine I dare you to go up to a random group of people on the street and ask them who Rinko Kikuchi is. I guarantee you that they'll have no idea. Ask them who Scarlett Johansson is? They'll all know. And that's the point. This isn't Star Wars. Ghost in the Shell is popular, but not popular enough to sell on its title alone. Don't lie. You know you do the same thing everyone else does. You ever see a trailer for a movie you know nothing about? Or you just see a movie cover while walking down the aisle of a store? Would you even bother watching those movies if they starred an actor or actress you didn't know? Probably not. For example, that new movie set in the wild west that's coming out? I can't remember the name, all I know is it has Chris Pratt in it. But I only want to watch it /because/ it has Chris Pratt. And I'm sorry, it's the same thing here. This movie will only be a success because of Scarlett Johansson. Because I promise you, without her, I don't care how good the movie is, people just won't bother if there's no one in it that they know. That's just how people are these days, dude.

Yeah but they used blackface in the movie to say that blackface is a bad thing.

He was a white guy playing a Aussy, playing a black man who then disguised himself as a Korean farmer. Robert Downey Junior has some range man.

XD

+Rike Wolfin It's Aussie not Aussy.

Boglenight Honestly I could give less of a fuck :T

***** im kidding, im writting this because When he makes a joke about the angry comentaries in the coment section that is what it says

wasn't this a fake comment that was in the video?

Pantufla Ocho to be honest i wanted to post that for about a week somewhere

It's a joke.

stone sherrill exactly but some people dont understeand it

@Kev_ Bot a-fucking-men. Saiyans aren't supposed to be strictly Asian ethnicity. Look at Nappa, he looks and kinda sounds like he could be Russian

@@MrSonicHedgehog Because he's big, muscular, bald and has a mustache?

@Kev_ Bot Aside from the fact that goku was based on asian legend, he lookef nothing like goku.

Kev_ Bot to be fair, I think because the culture in Asia often considers more stereotypically Caucasian features to be attractive, most anime leads look either white or a mix between white and Asian.

@Kev_ Bot To be honest I don't know why people complained that goku was white in that movie do people really hate Asians so much they want them to be the main character in a move that bad. Honestly being in that movie is worse representation than not being in it. I love dragon ball and that movie was not dragon ball.

lol

Seems kind of pointless to have a remake when the only thing you are changing is the actors.

+Quinntus79 the remake was originally going to take place in the U. S. But Sam Raimi said that the movie would be scarier if they kept the location in Tokyo and honestly it was. Seeing Americans being haunted in a country their not familiar with made it more frightening, cuz it made them vulnerable.

+Quinntus79 Well, there's also new technology, casual effects, etc. A remake is essentially an upgrade. Plus, younger people are more likely to sit down and watch a movie made recently, than watch an movie made a while back.

It has been done for quite some time my friend. One reason I can think of is remaking can make it more relate-able to a different group of people. Like if you and your friends filmed your own remake of the Wizard of Oz where you put your own touch and feeling into it. It is OK.

That being said, there are certain anime series that could work well as a live action film. The fact is that they don't because studios in the West generally aren't run by people who are fans of anime. They see a concept that they like and think, "I can do it better." The result are things like Ghost In The Shell, a bland but not that terrible transliteration of the original source material, or Death Note which actively craps all over the original series whilst pandering to the lowest common denominator.

The funny thing is if I remember correctly the charecter was Japanese, but put into a caucasian shell since it was cheap

Not to mention, Spike was born on Mars. Not saying there is no Asians in Mars, but Spike wasn't born in Asia. So there is no reason to believe that he is Asian.

If futurama has taught me anything, it's that Martians are pretty much the same thing as the Chinese.

Also going to mention that Keanu Reeves is multi-racial and part of his racial background is Asian. Which might be another reason people are not upset about him being cast in a movie with an Asian lead. And he's talented, unlike Ms. Johannsson.

Doesn't matter. Getting upset that a American movie hires a American to star in their movie when the series is based in Japan is such a first world problem it just makes everyone arguing about it look bad.

And yet in the Attack on Titans movie, the people with the most Aryan names imaginable were played by Japanese actors.

It's ok.He's played by a jew.:)

Which is sad...

What do you mean? It's doing fine.

It's aimed at a much smaller community than the huge one at RU-vid. Meaning the range of opinions are much larger.

*than

Yeah, sane people.

It depends on the circumstances. Acting well enough to convince the audiance that you are the thing you're intended to be is one thing. But actively casting someone who doesn't even resemble a source or character is quite another. I mean, imagine the uproar that would occur if they cast a black guy as superman, or a white guy as MLK. Sometimes you've just got to be reasonable and respect either reality or the source material depending on what's relevant to the project.

- Said by a white guy.

@@smokeyanimate3564 i'm latino if that counts for anything which i Guess it doesnt or maybe it does i don't know anymore :p

@@Tea-rettes i can agree with that, what i'm not too confortable is stuff like Scarlet Johanson getting hate beacuse she interpreted a character she resembled and acted great as sure she isnt asian but nobody got mad when Nick Fury got a black actor why? Beacuse Samuel L Jackson is awesome, it's just sometimes i see a little double standard is all. sure there are people complaining about other races interpreting white characters i'm not saying thats not a thing but You know :p

​@@nikopteros1659 I can see what you mean about Scarlet Johanson, but to be honest there were clearly bad actors (pun not intended) involved in that decision. I'm sure you may have heard that the production company had planned to use CGI in order to make her look Asian for the movie, before realizing what a PR mess that would cause. They cast her because she's in the celebrity club, not because she was the obvious choice for the role. Thankfully she performed her part well, and I appreciate that, but it's worth mentioning that Asian actors have a massively hard time getting a break precisely because of movies like this. Take 2018's Death Note adaptation. It was a train wreck. Every creative choice seemed to have been made specifically to piss off fans of the source material as much as possible. That's amazing considering that prior to it's release I had thought that no anime could possibly be easier to adapt into live action than Death Note. It seemed impossible to screw up, and yet they found a way. Namely, by setting it in America, thus having to change countless names, backstories, races, personalities, and even crucial plot points specifically because it would no longer make much sense in this setting. And just to add insult to injury, in what I interpreted as an attempt to make up for the mind boggling whitewashing that occurred there, they decided to cast a black guy as literally the only Caucasian character that the original series had. Literally, the character is a shut in who's known for how pale he is. Hell, everything about his character design and the symbolism surrounding him is meant to emphasize brightness in opposition to the darkness of the protagonist. In addition to that, they set the story in one of the most Japanese rich minority areas in America, giving them an excuse to hire Asian actors (which they never used). The justification? American audiences are presumed by movie makers to be too racist to handle a movie with a nonwhite cast. The reality? "Crazy Rich Asians" and "Black Panther" were both hit movies that exact same year.

I agree.

+Hello You probably cause your a racist

You've got a point with Motoko, but Spike is a human living on Mars. But you can't whitewash Spike since he's already white.

Arthus850 My point with spike is he doesn't have an ethnic background for earth, so he can't be white washed in the sense of making him ethnically white. I guess a better to say he can't be culture-washed? But yeah, he is already racially white anyway xD

Motoko isn't human but is meant to emulate one. If you see real life human like androids built by asians, they all look asian (or anime like).

The Maltese Knight But still, look asian =/= asian. And actually, imo she looks european, at least in the older movie and anime.

Kaneonuskatew Plus there's the fact that her appearance changes depending on what body she's inhabiting at the time, and her synthetic body looks different from her original body. For all we know, the movie may start with her being Japanese until the accident, and they put her into a prosthetic body that is played by Scarlett Johansson.

And let's be honest, most anime characters could pass for White or Asian anyways.

I agree with both statements! In Disney the voices were iconic, but nobody knew what races they were because we were so focused on the characters themselves. Plus, some actresses can't sing so it would make sense to cast a singer for the singing voice.

Doesn't matter what race either is, if the voice fits it fits. Same goes for Anime.

Gabber VA Exactly!

The most ridiculous part? The Major is CANONICALLY Caucasian! XD Like, its literally stated IN Ghost in the shell that the Major is a white woman living in Japan.

He's supposedly transitioning back to man in the near future, so that actually fits the character perfectly.

Do you actually have internet? I'd imagine that you could look this up for yourself otherwise. www.snopes.com/media/notnews/jennergender.asp

TheRightestdogwhohasthecorrectopinionallthetime nice name

jennder

Oh, you nailed it, man, you nailed it!

This is the RU-vid comment section though, they are always attacking people

(OP) Yes, we all know that bad points and bullshit typically gets no reaction in the comments section... You're a genius...

Yeah, pretty much.

Not really... you could make a really bad point and commenters would still attack you.

That's absolutely retarded. Seriously think that through: "I know I've made a good point if others are attacking me!" "Hey you all! The earth is flat and JFK lives on the moon and I'm going to spend 6 hours on a youtube video explaining why!" *angry comments ensue* "Oh look! People disagree with me! I must be right!"

Well, not every anime character is Asian, so yeah.

Thats called self projecting. Most of them are asian they just aren't drawn as racist asian caricatures which is a product of the west.

Omar So you're saying that most of the characters in anime shows like Attack on Titan, Baccano!, Cowboy Bebop, Gunslinger Girls, Hellsing, Hetalia (etc) are Asian?

hell like 50% of animes the characters are all German.

Hank Pym Do you know the difference between the words "Most" and "All"? Please re-read my comment.

Totally agree with everything written here. You frankly deserve a cookie. Much of the problem with adapting anime into live action stems from the filmmakers complete disconnect from and lack of willingness to review the source material. As a result, in many cases it almost feels like a cognizant effort to insult fans of the original by doing exactly the opposite of what was expected. Even things like Death Note which seemed destined to succeed as a live action film (given that the Japanese had already done it many times over) still failed for the reasons you stated above. Glad to know I'm not the only one who sees the real problem with these movies.

@@johnjackson7045 He was born in Lebanon, but has no connection to it as he left at the age of 2. He didn't have a permanent home or anything resembling roots, moving between Sydney, Australia and NYC, until he moved to Toronto, Canada at the age of 7. He's a national treasure as far as we Canadians are concerned.

Agreed!

If your best excuse is "I'm too lazy" you might want to rethink your position.

I think he meant having people of japanese ethnicity be the voice actors for the dubs.

it didn't sound like he actually believed that claim. he was merely telling us what others think, and giving an example of why calling something whitewashing isn't always accurate.

+Rene Mendez there is a Hispanic Spider-Man

No that would suck

+the best of the best Spiderman 2099 and Anya Corazon Spider girl.

You may think that. But speculation doesn't make much of an argument. I would add: Solving a problem by replacing it with a different, worse problem isn't much of a solution.

funny thing about that is i saw people complaining that iron fist who is a martial art master is being played by a white guy not Asian even tho the character is white in the comics

It was pretty big, couldn't get away from it myself.

+NZ1967 someone didn't watch the video

***** Somehow I'm not surprised, I'm not saying the actor was bad, heck even Samuel L. Jackson pulls off Nick Fury pretty well and Fury was a white guy too, sure in the cartoons/comics I still prefer the original character, but in the MCU Mr. Jackson proved himself to be just as good.

Nic Cage for Blade!

***** I had no issue with the actor, it was just a little strange to see the change that's all. As long as such changes aren't forced and shoved down our throats for the sake of "progressive" propaganda I don't mind.

What is your definition of "best actor" and why disregard appearance?

Wintermute01001 Do you not know the difference between a good actor and a bad actor? If it's not essential to the plot why do they need to be a certain race? I'm not saying they should all be white, or black, or purple polka dotted. There are a lot of awesome black actors that get lead parts in great movies that weren't just cast to fill a "black person requirement."

+bob boberson isn't the problem with casting is that they're specifically hiring white actors because they're white?

You're a dumb ass.

bob boberson In theory, that's a good idea. In practice, it doesn't work out that way. If race isn't "essential" to the plot, then casting usually defaults to white.

amazing points

The jungle book worked, but that's the only exception I can think of.

Turtle Neckson Yeah, but... The Jungle Book was not the most amazing animated film ever made to begin with. Didn't they reuse several scenes throughout the original?

what's with the paranoia? wtf? Hollywood is remaking everything if you didn't notice, there is no hidden agenda against animation, that's fucking dumb. Nobody is going to take away your dvd of ghost in the shell, don't worry...

+Fabby Marmol Those are animated TV shows being made into live action films, not animated films made into live action films. Pretty big difference.

though this video is horse shit you have to admit that actors with dwarfism have it pretty tough, they usually only do comedic reliefes and fairys, as far as i know Game of Thrones is the only exception to this rule. (poor guys :( )

The Major in the anime acts and feels Japanese, which is why Americans hated her live-action portrayal. But Japan loved it because they have beauty standards for white babes and Scarlett has the same figure and physique as the Major.

Honey, this sort of thing existed before Tumblr. Blaming your discomfort on a website makes no sense. Grow up.

Tumblrism*

yup

Hey, not everyone on Tumblr is terrible...many of us are fighting against the whiners and SJWs

Yeah only fools try and fight racism

I think my main problem with it is a white actor playing a woman named "Motoko Kusanagi" that combined with my knowledge of the source material sort of ruins the verisimilitude for me. If they had it set up like in the second volume where she had several bodies she could jump around in, it might make more sense. Though my bigger beef is that they're making a live action version to begin with.

Well said, mate.

That's actually a good point. Technically Kusanagi could be in whatever body she wants because it's completely cybernetic -- but what would motivate her character to choose a white body? One way they could make that work is if they create a Firefly-like blended society, where white people in Japan is much more common than before. OR, they just have the movie take place in the USA instead of Japan.... since that stuff isn't really important for the Laughing Man storyline (which I guess this movie is going to be based on). And I'm betting they do the latter. Either way they'll have to completely write off the international tension, which means a competent take on 2nd Gig is pretty much out the window. But talk about stripping the identity out of the show.

Yeah, I don't think an Arabic actor playing a terrorist that's trying to blow up the city would be a good idea.

She looks just like the character? Motoko Kusanagi had jutting cheekbones and a (slightly) wonky nose? I don't mind her cyborg body being modelled after Europeans. I wish they had picked someone with less pronounced features. A mass produced face would and should stand out as little as possible.

Rioplats she looks more like her than most actresses. Most Asian actresses wouldn't come close to the original character design.

Your friendly, neighborhood smartass I find her Standalone Complex design much better/more attractive, mind. She definitely looks more Asian in that. It's not just the eye colour either, but the softness of her face. But I agree, her GitS original movie design was certainly... Unique. Still, wouldn't have picked ScarJo.

***** big round eyes and colorful hair is just exaggerated European features. They themselves have said that they enjoy European features. You can look up videos on what Japanese people like and dislike. They often find European features as more attractive than their native features which isn't weird because we do the same thing. It's something exotic and unfamiliar in our day to day life. Besides, idk what the big deal is. Japan has made live action anime movies before like AoT with an all Asian cast despite the anime establishing the characters in the show as European's. Most notably German. This is seriously not as big of a deal as everybody makes it. Japan makes these bright vibrant features and expressions on their characters while, in all honesty, they themselves just don't have in real life. Taking an anime character and having a live action portrayal done by America you're bound to have a white lead by the simple fact that a White/European actor just looks the part better. Kinda like Keanu Reeves as Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Everyone was excited for that casting decision so what's wrong with this?

***** Most anime use mukokuseki, you're right; due to the homogeneous nature of the characters' ethnicity in most anime, they need it. There's a dissonance in style between realistic anime and your standard shounen/shoujo anime, where wild coloured hair and weird hairstyles are required to differentiate between characters. Those that don't, such as Black Lagoon, Gangsta, and indeed Ghost in the Shell, do it in such a way that Japanese people look like normal anime characters, and people of other ethnicities have their features accentuated. Black people have highly angular jawlines, white people have small eyes framed by strong brows, etc. I agree about ScarJo, and I also agree that I wouldn't have minded so much if a more appropriate looking actress was portrayed. The brand new casting for Battle Angel Alita, for example, Rosa Salazar, I have no problems with. She fits the part.

When Chinese make a movie involving American characters, they use Russians.... *gasp* Or, it's just the proximity of Russia to China.

In American movies nowadays, half of the cast playing American characters are Canadian, British, and/or Australian.

+Draves: > but when americans make movies involving germans, a stereotypical german accent is totally okay Oh yes, I do feel soooo offended (okay, only half because I'm actually Austrian). . But I could try to feel offended because the Bond villain in SPECTRE is of Austrian descent which puts us Austrians in a bad light. And to add insult to injury, the pushed it even further by casting an Austrian actor!!one!!! . Hmmmm-no, didn't work. I guess I'm a total failure at feeling butthurt...

***** im not being butthurt, im just pointing out a double standard. See, i just dont give a fuck what they do, it's just a movie.

really?? comparing black face to accents... are you fucking serious??? tf outta here

I remember when there was huge anger over a white girl voicing a black woman in Uncharted 4.

True that. Honestly I don't care who is playing the voice of a character. It's just the voice.

Gotta say there are some Anime where the dubs are just spot on. Cowboy Bebop is one of these cases. The cast really fits like a fist on the eye and I really couldn't imagine better voices for them. Atleast in these cases I do prefere the dub over the sub.

+BioZero216 I thought you were trying to stop these people getting to you. Why do you keep taking the bait.

+Logi Rogi Why are people inferior for watching dubs? It's a matter of personal preference and no one is superior to anyone for which one they prefer. Japanese and English anime voice actors respect each other, so why can't their fans?