Why does Hollywood keep whitewashing Asian characters?

'Hellboy' movie reboot casts Some White Dude as a Japanese American character.



At this point, they can't even pretend to give a shit.

This week, news broke that actor Ed Skrein has joined the cast of the upcoming Hellboy reboot, Rise of the Blood Queen, as Ben Daimio, who is Asian American in the comic books. Yes, in the illustrious Hollywood tradition of pretending Asian actors don't exist, yet another white guy will play an Asian character.

'Deadpool' Actor Ed Skrein Joining 'Hellboy' Reboot (Exclusive)

In the Hellboy comic books, Ben Daimio is a severely scarred former marine officer who works for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Due to supernatural encounter in the field, he has the ability to transform into a monstrous, jaguar-like creature under extreme stress.

Daimio's Japanese American heritage actually plays a significant part in the character's development and backstory. In B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground, Daimio's loyalty is called into question when it is revealed that his grandmother was an Imperial Japanese agent known as The Crimson Lotus. As history has shown, Japanese Americans have a little experience with their loyalty being unjustly called into question by the government.

So yeah, this character is Asian American. But who the hell is Ed Skrein?

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By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.


Zach McGowan (left), who is not Native Hawaiian, has been cast to play Ben Kanahele (right) in the upcoming "Ni'ihau" film.

Last week, Deadline broke the story that writer/director Gabriel Robertson (EastEnders, Bucket, The Gift) was attached to write and direct a feature film based on the infamous so-called "Ni'ihau Incident." Deadline further reported that actor Zach McGowan (Dracula Untold, Terminator: Salvation, Black Sails) -- who is not Native Hawaiian -- had been cast in the leading role of Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele, a historical figure and Ni'ihuaian who was awarded a Purple Heart for his role in the incident.

News of McGowan's casting triggered immediate backlash from Asian American and Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander activists, who accused the filmmakers of using "Polyface" to whitewash the character of Ben Kanahele. In addition, Asian Americans criticized early buzz surrounding the planned "Ni'ihau" film, which described the incident as a "catalyst" for Japanese American incarceration (Editor's Note: see JACL's Power of Words handbook).

In truth, the events at Ni'ihau Incident was co-opted by hardline conservatives to provide a veil of legitimacy to obscure the racist and anti-Asian motives behind Japanese American incarceration. History has since confirmed that Executive Order 9066 — which led to the forcible removal of over a hundred thousand Japanese and Japanese American civilians — was not based in significant military intelligence showing that Japanese Americans were untrustworthy; rather, Japanese American incarceration emerged as the latest escalation in a decades-long pattern of legalized anti-Asian and anti-Japanese harassment and criminalization.

Online outcry against "Ni'ihau" was fervent, taking the shape of memes, Twitter threads, and long-form thinkpieces. As it turns out, the filmmakers behind the planned "Ni'ihau" film were listening; and, they weren't very receptive to the criticism.

Whitewashing: A Time-Honored Hollywood Tradition

YOMYOMF's 10 Hollywood Films Where Asian Characters were 'Whitewashed'



With recent movies like Marvel's Doctor Strange and the upcoming live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell catching criticism (and ridicule) for casting white actors as Asian characters, it's brought a renewed spotlight on the racist, time-honored Hollywood tradition of whitewashing.

Over at YOMYOMF, Phil Chung has compiled an interesting list of 10 Hollywood Films Where Asian Characters were 'Whitewashed' -- characters that were originally intended to be Asian, but whose identities and backgrounds were scrubbed to be played by non-Asian actors.

In addition to helpfully clarifying the difference between "yellowface" and "whitewashing," the list includes recent glaring examples that people usually cite when railing against whitewashing, like Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Goku in Dragonball: Evolution, where the characters are Asian in the source material.

But the list also highlights real-life Asians who were magically changed into white people for the movies, like Dr. Yuan-Tsong Chen, the brilliant Taiwanese research doctor who developed the cure for Pompe Disease. In 2010's Extreme Measures, the character became Dr. Robert Stonewall, played by Harrison Ford. What?

"While it sucks that the film denied giving credit to the real man who created the real cure for a real disease," Phil notes, "at least Dr. Chen didn't have to see his name associated with a shitty movie if that's any consolation." Well, there's that.

See the full list at YOMYOMF: 10 Hollywood Films Where Asian Characters were 'Whitewashed'

Starring Scarlett Johansson as Super Asian Robot Lady

Look at all the Cool Asian Shit in the 'Ghost in the Shell' trailer



Oh yeah, I forgot this was happening.

In case you missed it, Paramount recently dropped the first official full-length trailer for the live action Ghost in the Shell adaptation. Based on the classic sci-fi anime/manga, Scarlett Johansson stars as the human-cyborg Major -- otherwise known as Major Motoko Kusanagi in the original source material. But you knew that. Yes, for the uninitiated, this is that movie where Scarlett plays a Japanese robot lady.

Ghost in the Shell follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic's advancements in cyber technology. And if they get around to it, Section 9 might just crack the baffling case of why the Major is played by a white woman.

Take a look:

More Bald Tilda (and Wong!) in the new 'Dr. Strange' trailer

Director Scott Derrickson says he feels "tremendous empathy" for Asian American audiences.



Over the weekend, as part of its barrage of content reveals at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel dropped the second trailer for Doctor Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Dr. Stephen Strange, who journeys to Mystical Asia to learn Mystical Asian Stuff, and eventually fights evil with Mystical Asian Stuff.

The first teaser trailer gave us a glimpse of Tilda Swinton in all her baldness as the Sorcerer Supreme's mentor, The Ancient One, who has been traditionally depicted in the comic books as an old-ass mystical Asian man. Whatever you want to call it -- whitewashing, racebending, yellowface -- that shit looks pretty wack.

Well, there's more bald wackness where that came from in the latest trailer:

New photos from the set of 'Ghost in the Shell'

(Yes, Major Motoko Kusanagi is still white.)



So... if you're ready to get mad at Scarlett Johansson all over again, here's a new crop of unofficial photos from the set of the live-action Ghost in the Shell remake, currently filming in Hong Kong.

New Ghost in the Shell set pics featuring Scarlett Johansson & Pilou Asbæk

You get a glimpse of Ms. Johansson in her Major Motoko haircut, as well as Pilou Asbæk as Batou, in what is presumably supposed to double as street-level dystopian Tokyo. The location shots, from HK01 and Apple Daily, feature a bunch of extras in various future garb and offer a general sense of the film's visual vibe.

Check it out:

Photo project "corrects" Hollywood yellowface

Michelle Villemaire photographed herself as Asian film characters historically performed in yellowface.



With recent high-profile examples like Ghost in the Shell and Dr. Strange drawing the ire of movie fans, the ugly practice of Hollywood whitewashing and yellowface has received renewed scrutiny. But the plain fact is, Asian performers have been regularly scrubbed out of the picture since the beginnings of cinema.

For blogger/actor Michelle Villemaire, enough was enough. Inspired and provoked by "a fit of frustration over the history of Hollywood whitewashing," she recently created her own do-it-yourself photography project to subvert historical Hollywood yellowface and reclaim the image of Asian women in movies.

"Growing up, I didn't see many faces like mine on television and film," Villemaire writes on her blog. "And because I wanted to be an actor it was really hard to believe that I could ever be one. Only women who had a certain skin color and eye shape were really allowed on screen, right? To this day white people are cast as Asians, deepening the message that Asians just aren't wanted."

Villemaire shares a series of photos she took of herself as various Asian characters that were played by non-Asian women in film, from The Good Earth to The King and I to Aloha. As she puts it, these photos are her own unique way of correcting the yellowface. "And it felt sooooo good," she admits.

Take a look:

White Actor to Play Spider-Man's Asian Best Friend, Sort Of

Michael Barbieri cast in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' as character based on Ganke Lee.



More whitewashing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? 14-year-old actor Michael Barbieri has reportedly been cast in Marvel's upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming as one of Peter Parker's best friends. The part appears to be based on a character named Ganke Lee... who is Asian American in the comic books.

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Are you really doing this again, Marvel? After all the negative press around the casting of a very white, you're-not-fooling-anybody Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange, the studio appears to be doubling down on whitewashing the MCU's supporting characters of Asian descent.

Man, forget Asian superheroes -- we can't barely even see Asians as supporting characters in this universe.

Dumbfoundead takes on Hollywood whitewashing in "Safe"

Heard about #StarringJohnCho? This is #StarringDumbfoundead.



Check it. In response to recent controversies around the Academy Awards and whitewashed casting, Los Angeles rapper Dumbfoundead offers his own unique contribution to the conversation about Hollywood's perpetual exclusion of Asian Americans from the screen.

In this wickedly amusing music video for his latest track "Safe," Dumbfoundead is cleverly inserted as the protagonist of various Hollywood movies and television shows, from Braveheart to Titanic to Game of Thrones. Y'all heard about #StarringJohnCho and #StarringConstanceWu? This is #StarringDumbfoundead.

How a Ninja Sketch Gets Whitewashed

"The beloved, classic tale of a failing foreign culture saved by a white man."



How does a story about "The Last Ninja" turn into "the beloved, classic tale of a failing foreign culture saved by a white man"? Whitewashing, baby. This "behind the scenes" CollegeHumor sketch is silly as hell, but you have to imagine this is not too far off from how these whitewashing scenarios might actually go down.

Take a look:

How to Make Scarlett Johansson "More Asian"

An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the visual effects for 'Ghost in the Shell,' courtesy of RocketJump.



Sometimes the situation is so pathetically ridiculous, you just have to shake your head and laugh. In response to the widely-decried casting of Scarlett Johansson in the live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell, here's a funny video from the folks at RocketJump, in which they imagine the behind-the-scenes special effects tinkering it takes to turn the movie's white star into a Asian robot cyborg.

Yellowface in 'Ghost in the Shell': There's an app for that.

Studio reportedly ordered visual effects tests to make Scarlett Johansson look "more Asian."



So the first image of Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell was released the other day, and a large portion of the internet responded with a collective "OH HELL NO." As most of us have been saying for a very long time, a whitewashed live-action remake of the manga/anime classic is a fantastically bad idea. Is it hard to believe that producers were considering using yellowface? Nope.

It's amazing what those darn computers can do these days. Paramount and DreamWorks apparently foresaw the pesky issue of casting white actors in an inherently Japanese story. The solution: computer-enhanced yellowface. Screencrush reports that the studio commissioned screen tests for several of the movie's non-Asian actors to try using CGI effects to "shift [their] ethnicity" and make them appear more "Asian."

Our first look at Scarlett Johansson in 'Ghost in the Shell'

And now the full whitewash cycle is complete.



So this is really happening, huh? Production has begun on DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures' live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, based on the classic manga series by Masamune Shirow. And here is your first look at Scarlett Johansson as the character they're calling "The Major." I guess they didn't have the guts to refer to her by the character's original name: Major Motoko Kusanagi.

And now the full whitewash cycle is complete.

According to the studio's press release, Ghost in the Shell follows the Major, "a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic's advancements in cyber technology."