Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in The Shell

Claymantan

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The problem is this. If we have Japanese characters but are depicted as Caucasian (we're talking multiple people with blond hair and blue eyes), then we only have to deduce that they are Caucasian immigrants.

Secondly, the setting takes place in a fictional Japanese city. Fictional implies a great many things that shouldn't apply to the story.
You're right

But this only goes one way

Every fantasy movie = Almost all white characters even where race is vague or unnecessary

Look, they could just as easily have just casted a Japanese actress and given her blue contacts or used CGI or whatever the hell, I don't care

They chose Scarlett because yeah, she's a household name, and yeah, she's got a resume, but they also chose her because she was white XD

I'm just saying Hollywood's racial politics are effed up

I assure you they weren't trying to make a "faithful adaptation"
 

FreakensteinAG

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I'll give disney a chance due to their winning streak for the past few years. As long it is not on some "Dragonball z" or "Avatar: the last air bender" type shit, I'm okay.

But at least they did Cheif right!

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Animated Chief was before Live-Action Chief :)

You're right

But this only goes one way

Every fantasy movie = Almost all white characters even where race is vague or unnecessary

Look, they could just as easily have just casted a Japanese actress and given her blue contacts or used CGI or whatever the hell, I don't care

They chose Scarlett because yeah, she's a household name, and yeah, she's got a resume, but they also chose her because she was white XD

I'm just saying Hollywood's racial politics are effed up

I assure you they weren't trying to make a "faithful adaptation"
Maybe it's just because I myself am white, but I don't really care if someone who is a Japanese citizen is a Caucasian woman. Yeah, Hollywood's casting directors are incredibly for the white guys (but the actors are incredibly Progressive). So while Hollywood likely did not try to make a faithful adaptation, they accidentally, thus actually did.
 
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Pumpkin Ninja

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You're right

But this only goes one way

Every fantasy movie = Almost all white characters even where race is vague or unnecessary

Look, they could just as easily have just casted a Japanese actress and given her blue contacts or used CGI or whatever the hell, I don't care

They chose Scarlett because yeah, she's a household name, and yeah, she's got a resume, but they also chose her because she was white XD

I'm just saying Hollywood's racial politics are effed up

I assure you they weren't trying to make a "faithful adaptation"
Yep, they are f*cked up. Have you seen BvS? The useless assistant was Asian, now that's a bad stereotype.
 

Claymantan

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Yep, they are f*cked up. Have you seen BvS? The useless assistant was Asian, now that's a bad stereotype.
Not sure if serious

Maybe it's just because I myself am white, but I don't really care if someone who is a Japanese citizen is a Caucasian woman. Yeah, Hollywood's casting directors are incredibly for the white guys (but the actors are incredibly Progressive). So while Hollywood likely did not try to make a faithful adaptation, they accidentally, thus actually did.
Everyone deserves some pandering, I'm just saying some people get way more pandering than others. XD

And anyway, like I said, I really don't care about Ghost in the Shell, but there are instances where it's more malevolent/blatant than this. Hollywood stumbling ass-backwards into doing something defensible doesn't mean people should let them off the hook for a general trend.
 

Pumpkin Ninja

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Not sure if serious



Everyone deserves some pandering, I'm just saying some people get way more pandering than others. XD

And anyway, like I said, I really don't care about Ghost in the Shell, but there are instances where it's more malevolent/blatant than this. Hollywood stumbling ass-backwards into doing something defensible doesn't mean people should let them off the hook for a general trend.
No, I am serious.
 

Nagi

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Man! I better see Scarlett Johansson's boobs in this movie too! If they want to follow the origin of Ghost in the shell, them boobs are a must!

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FreakensteinAG

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Man! I better see Scarlett Johansson's boobs in this movie too! If they want to follow the origin of Ghost in the shell, them boobs are a must!

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Do we know if the movie is rated R or not? Because if so, then they may just do that to depict how Major Mitoko was created. IIRC she's the only true 100% cyborg.
 

paratise

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Motoko Kusanagi was a Japanese character who was clearly depicted as Japanese.

The manga/anime style describes people with big eyes, it is the general style but it is not for describing characters white. See, people do not describe themselves by eyes of others'. The -tiny and slanted- eyes of East Asians are just eyes for those people. Big anime eyes are unnatural for anyone anyway.

Here is a character from rainbow nisha rokubou no shichinin, an anime which took place in WW2 era Japan:
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Omg he can look "white" right? But no everything about him was Japanese.

Or hey, Light Yagami is a famous example:
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But again the character was a Japanese student from Japan.

Regarding to blue eyes thing, anime characters seem to have all types of hair/eye scheme and seem to appear normal and human as everyone else:
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^^The main characters of Kuroko no Basuke have eye/hair colors literally representing rainbow itself, and they are Japanese students with Japanese names and Japanese families from the land of Japan, the manga/anime is in real world like setting.

Even from Western media like Hunger Games the district 12's underclass ethnic group of the main character is described as having gray eyes which does not come around and the books used North America continent as setting. Motoko having blue eyes does not Westernize her.

This was for saying the case is indeed whitewashing. The question is, do you have problem with it? I think it is wrong.
 

slimreaper

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Well I mean it would be logical if it was a Japanese actress and it would be nice and if we're honest, yeah, it's racism, but not racism in the "we don't want a Japanese actress because we hate Japanese actresses" way but racism in the sense of "We want to appeal to a majorly white American audience"

Attack on Titan being mostly Japanese was the same thing, but at least it was a Japanese production studio, so it made sense that they'd mostly cast Japanese people due to the limitations of working in Japan.

No such excuse in America, there are plenty of qualified actresses

They're right to complain, but Hollywood isn't going to change anytime soon XD
This is ignorant as fack.

It's not racism to understand that the ones with the most money want to see a reflection of themselves or the film won't make enough money to be profitable. At the end of the day, white people spending money isn't racist, it's smart business
 

Filosoofis

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I don't know how old the news is, but Scarlett Johansson is set to have one of the main roles in Ghost in The Shell.

I personally haven't seen the anime but what's your opinion on her being casted?

So far, all I've seen is people complaining that she's white. I think that's idiotic to whine about. The character looks white, she just has a Japanese name because they're in Japan. Obviously, Hollywood would change the setting to seem more relatable and use a famous actress for the sake of the movie. Also, Scarlett looks more like the role than a Japanese person would. And don't forget about Attack on Titan in Japan, they're all Japanese when it should be the opposite bar Mikasa yet people don't complain about that.
Those Racist Bastards.
Well I mean it would be logical if it was a Japanese actress and it would be nice and if we're honest, yeah, it's racism, but not racism in the "we don't want a Japanese actress because we hate Japanese actresses" way but racism in the sense of "We want to appeal to a majorly white American audience"

Attack on Titan being mostly Japanese was the same thing, but at least it was a Japanese production studio, so it made sense that they'd mostly cast Japanese people due to the limitations of working in Japan.

No such excuse in America, there are plenty of qualified actresses

They're right to complain, but Hollywood isn't going to change anytime soon XD
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That's her as motoko!

They whitewashed the F out this movie!
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How can you whitewash a white woman?

Seriously, people who think whitewashing should be an issue in cinema should just leave.
She's Japanese out of name alone. In the anime, she has white skin and blue eyes.

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If in other movies based on other media Hollywood decided to turn a previously different race and cast with another race, that would be something different. However, you have two white women playing the same role. One is an American white woman, the other is a Japanese white woman. What's the issue here?
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I rest my case
Motoko Kusanagi was a Japanese character who was clearly depicted as Japanese.

The manga/anime style describes people with big eyes, it is the general style but it is not for describing characters white. See, people do not describe themselves by eyes of others'. The -tiny and slanted- eyes of East Asians are just eyes for those people. Big anime eyes are unnatural for anyone anyway.

Here is a character from rainbow nisha rokubou no shichinin, an anime which took place in WW2 era Japan:
You must be registered for see images

Omg he can look "white" right? But no everything about him was Japanese.

Or hey, Light Yagami is a famous example:
You must be registered for see images

But again the character was a Japanese student from Japan.

Regarding to blue eyes thing, anime characters seem to have all types of hair/eye scheme and seem to appear normal and human as everyone else:
You must be registered for see images

^^The main characters of Kuroko no Basuke have eye/hair colors literally representing rainbow itself, and they are Japanese students with Japanese names and Japanese families from the land of Japan, the manga/anime is in real world like setting.

Even from Western media like Hunger Games the district 12's underclass ethnic group of the main character is described as having gray eyes which does not come around and the books used North America continent as setting. Motoko having blue eyes does not Westernize her.

This was for saying the case is indeed whitewashing. The question is, do you have problem with it? I think it is wrong.
This is ignorant as fack.

It's not racism to understand that the ones with the most money want to see a reflection of themselves or the film won't make enough money to be profitable. At the end of the day, white people spending money isn't racist, it's smart business
Or instead of complaining you accept that she is Caucasian even anime and manga writers have said in interviews that the typical anime character is white so there would be more variation. This is how Asian anime characters would look.


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Like he already showed in that one picture of her she looked white beside that it is more easy for a Hollywood production to cast white people than Asians since there aren't that many Japanese immigrants around the whole world some Chinese Filipino Vietnamese Thai etc are already too darkskinned to look like these characters and last best black Asian white washing happens alot lately so who cares.
 

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Japanese woman in murica, no one bats one eye

One of the best actresses in japan everyone loses they're racist ass

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Claymantan

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This is ignorant as fack.

It's not racism to understand that the ones with the most money want to see a reflection of themselves or the film won't make enough money to be profitable. At the end of the day, white people spending money isn't racist, it's smart business
You don't know what racism is XD
 

System001

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I don't think Scarlett will be capable of doing this movie or role any justice tbh.
Obvious that Holly Wood is just trying to use this as a quick cash cow by using a big name actor. =/ What a shame, seeing as the source material is so ****ing great and has so much potential to make a movie just as amazing as Inception/Matrix, or maybe even better.
It's a ****ing waste.
 
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