
Ghost in the Shell and anime's troubled history with representation - kposehn
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/9/11612530/ghost-in-the-shell-anime-asian-representation-hollywood
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Isamu
Writer is disappointed at the lack of outrage in Japan:

"The reactions are depressing, but if you've been following up to now, fully
predictable. "I think this is better than hiring a Japanese actress," says one
woman enthusiastically. "Yeah, it will look more anime-ish if the actors
aren't Japanese." Every interviewee seems genuinely flummoxed as to why
American audiences would be opposed to the casting."

Personally, I am only concerned that Scarlet or the script won't be very
compelling.

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licebmi_at
Speaking as a non-american, non-white.

Representation is mostly an american issue, most of the world doesn't have
problems with it; when I was a kid, we played to be anime characters, us
cartoon characters or local heroes depending on tv popularity. I can
understand that in the segregated America, having a hero of your etnicity is
important, but none of us cared about the skin or ethnicity; it wasn't an
issue in our local culture.

On the other hand, shaming another culture into having the same perspective as
your own, it's the book definition of cultural imperialism.

EDIT: BTW, I do think Scarlett is a poor casting choice.

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wccrawford
>(Of course, the average anime character does look unmistakably Japanese, but
in the same way a rococo painting in a gilded frame looks unmistakably
French.)

Uhh... No. I actually remember wondering why anime characters almost never
look Japanese, and ended up decided that they wanted them to look different
from themselves. Blue and pink hair, huge eyes, all those differences added up
to "not us" in my mind. There are some anime characters who do look distinctly
Asian to me, but they're pretty few and far between.

In addition, they often give them non-Japanese names as well, which further
cemented my belief that they didn't want them to be Japanese. The ones with
Japanese names often didn't look more Japanese, either.

But according to the article, Japanese people aren't upset at all with the
casting of this film... Why should I be? Worse, what _right_ have I got to be
upset about that? It's specifically not affecting me or my culture, and I can
only be outraged _for_ them, to help them with their issues. It makes no sense
for me to be outraged if they aren't.

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greydius
I don't see how this is whitewashing. There is nothing inherently Japanese
about Kusanagi or the narrative of the movie. The same story could have been
set in NYC, London, etc.

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GVIrish
Ghost in the Shell is a Japanese film, set in Japan with Japanese characters
and you don't think casting the Japanese protagonist as Scarlet Johansson is
not whitewashing?

On top of that, Paramount contracted a VFX studio which claims Paramount asked
them to do some CG tests to make Johansson look more Asian. Paramount claims
it was other characters and not Johansson but either way that is about as
clear cut a case of whitewashing as there is.

Now if they're redoing the movie such that it is set in NYC and organizations
and characters are all changed to reflect being set in NYC, it would be a
little bit different, but it would it still be yet another case of Hollywood
taking a story and purposefully eliminating people of color from it.

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gunshigh
The creators of the anime are OK with it.

People in Japan (or, as the epithet you call them, "people of color") are OK
with it.

Most of the people watching are OK with it.

Maybe the whole thing is overblown by people looking for outrage?

