When Scarlett Johansson was cast in the lead role in Ghost in the Shell last year, there was backlash. There was a belief that the character – named Major Motoko Kusanagi – should have been played by a Japanese actress. There was a belief that this was just another example of Hollywood’s utter tone-deafness on race and whitewashing. There was some backlash to the backlash, as Japanese fans of the original manga comic series claimed that the Major could have been played by any actress, of any race, and that the race of the character wasn’t really important. Now the trailer has been released and I have to say… it’s really noticeable that ScarJo is a white actress playing a character that should be Japanese. Here’s the trailer… NSFW-ish because of robot-butt, although this trailer did air on my local morning show without any edits, so maybe it’s fine. Here you go:
As I said, the main thing that strikes me is that the universe is “dystopian future Tokyo” and it literally makes no sense within that world that someone who looks like Scarlett Johansson would be named Major Motoko Kusanagi. It also feels very… white-savior-y. Like, only this white woman can save Dystopian Tokyo from violence, etc. Eh. Setting aside the significant racial issues, the movie does look cool/creepy though.
Also, ScarJo wore Versace to the trailer-launch event this weekend. The dress is cute. It would have been a nice touch if she had worn a Japanese designer though?
Scarlett Johansson wore an #AtelierVersace (@Versace) Fall 2016 Couture dress to the global trailer launch of #GhostinShell in Tokyo, Japan. pic.twitter.com/hBaI2WjJGA
— The Fashion Court (@TheFashionCourt) November 14, 2016
Photos courtesy of ‘Ghost in the Shell’, Getty.
I was set to get all SJW on their butts until I saw a picture of what the character looked like. Sorry, but she looks white to me. As a matter of fact, she looks like Scarlett. Can’t draw a white character then complain when a white person plays it.
agreed. i know nothing at all about the character but she is clearly not drawn as an asian.
google ‘Batou’ ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and you can see how different his face is drawn in that series in comparison to the main character. Browbone, nosebridge, cheekbones, jawline, etc. That is not just the difference between a man and a woman. Batou is clearly different from Kusanagi, and Batou is white.
I can agree that in many series it doesn’t seem very clear cut, but GitS is not one of those series.
GITS is a Japanese work that reflects a Japanese-centric mindset, regardless to how the orginial char was drawn. That is what is being lost here, the Japanese’s right to tell their own stories, and naturally Western audiences will be more indifferent to that. It’s definitely still whitewashing, jiust at a level that doesn’t bother you guys.
THIS!!! As someone who’s watched the anime and read the manga there’s so much more to GITS than what’s on the surface. This isn’t simply a matter of changing Kusanagi’s race, and a few details to make things gel. Everything about the series is rooted in being Japanese. A real event in Japanese history was even used to inspire a major plot in the series, and it was referenced several times. You can’t change that and have it be the same thing
Whitewashing does bother me. However, those people who say the anime looks more like Scarlett than say the average Japanese woman have a point. How can I argue whitewashing when the anime says it all? It seems to me that the original white-washers were the animators. Why draw a character with a Japanese name and make her look white?
@KHLBHL, if you don’t know what ‘looking white’ is, then I suggest you do a search of ‘white people’ and see what comes up. There won’t be anyone who looks Japanese. And yeah, you can ‘look Japanese’.
@jinni, I’m not white.
Agreed, KasySwee. The fact that the character doesn’t “look Asian” is a cop-out. It’s totally down to the art style – cartoon characters in general have big round expressive eyes, and manga/anime really goes overboard sometimes in that regard to the point where they barely even look human anymore, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still Japanese characters.
She lives in Japan and her name is Motoko Kusanagi, for goodness’ sake. She’s Japanese. Other characters by the same writer have non-Japanese names – Shirow generally envisions future Japan as a cultural melting pot – so if he gave her a Japanese name, he clearly meant her to be Japanese. The fact that the producers allegedly considered giving Scarlett a CGI makeover to make her appear “more Asian” suggests even THEY think of the character as Japanese. They should have cast an Asian actress.
Actually… https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/08/30/guest-post-why-do-the-japanese-draw-themselves-as-white/
I also can’t imagine a completely white person named motoko kusinagi.
The character doesn’t look white. Anime is a highly stylized type of drawing that uses craze hair and eye color to distinguish characters from on another. Do you really think that an entire country would be making art that has heavy influences in Japanese culture and identity, is set in Japan but it wouldn’t also mean the characters are supposed to be Japanese? When a character is supposed to be Caucasian is is made very obvious by the name of the character and it is usually said int the story that the character is not Japanese.
But I am not shocked that once again some white people automatically assume a character is white after the Rue from Hunger Games situation.
Look up the article “why do the Japanese draw themselves as white”- tried to link to it but got taken down. I also can’t even imagine a non- Japanese or fully white person named Motoko Kusinagi.
Also, what does “looking white” look like, especially in anime and cartoons? Because she has “big eyes” and double eyelids? Seriously, that seems to be the determining factor for people to insist that this character is white. Lots of Asian people have “big” eyes (contrary to the stereotypes) and double eyelids. Motoko Kusanagi is a drawing. You can’t just determine ethnicity from that alone. You have to look at the context. And as multiple people commented above, this specific anime/manga is heavily, heavily rooted in Japanese culture and the nuances of post-war (post-atomic bomb) Japan. So you cannot cast someone who can’t understand the multilayered identity behind the character or can’t portray the character with authenticity.
All the anime my husband watches, that I’m watching-by-proxy, seems like most of the characters don’t actually look Japanese. Like the artists aren’t drawing them with typical, (and to me, beautiful) Japense/Asian physical characteristics. Especially the females.
I personally have no idea why that is, I find Asians and Pacific Islanders super-attractive beyond caucasoids. But I’m not going to fault an actor for playing a role. Playing something other than yourself is basically the spirit of acting.
“Playing something other than yourself is basically the spirit of acting.”
True, but the problem here is that a plum role that should have gone to an Asian actress has been given to a white woman, as though no Asian woman exists who could *possibly* play this part better than Scarlett Johansson. So some Asian actress out there is deprived of a good role, a paying job, and an audience of Asian girls is deprived of an opportunity to see a character onscreen who looks like them. It sounds trivial but it matters.
It wouldn’t be an issue if there were more parts available to other ethnicities, but there aren’t. Asian actresses (or any other POC) don’t get to cross over the same way, nobody’s handing them roles that are written as white, nobody says, “I know Mina Harker is written as a white woman but I really want to see Rinko Kikuchi in the role, so what difference does ethnicity make?” Maybe once in a while you get a Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford, or Ruth Negga as Tulip, but those are few and far between, and the fanboys ALWAYS bitch about how they’re supposed to be white.
One day if the world is totally harmonious and undisputed racial equality has been achieved at every level in society, then it won’t matter anymore if Scarlett plays a Japanese character, because over on some other set, Lupita Nyong’o is playing Clarice Starling and John Cho is playing The Sandman and nobody cares what race ANYBODY is.
The issue with this mindset is that you are assuming that being white is the norm. Many people assume that Sailor Moon is white, because she has blonde hair and blue eyes. She is still Japanese, regardless of these characteristics. That being said, I don’t think it’s wrong to cast different races in different roles. However, the issue is that this often happens in a way that stifles minority voices and denegrates representation. To me, the issue is not about being “true to the character.” The issue is the refusal to cast a Japanese actress based on pure racism.
She just doesn’t strike me as right for the part in multiple ways. I know she is black widow I just don’t find her realistically athletic enough for these roles. Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron and others have a more physical presence. I just always found SJ to be a bit awkward.
None of those actresses are ‘athletic’ either, they’re just taller. Honestly, an athletic woman who can physically pull that moves/strength would look like Serena Williams.
In Hollywood they’re still miles away from showing us female characters who actually ‘can’ fight as warriors (even if the original material is a cartoon or a game).
Same here. To me she looks chubby and not athletic at all.
Trailer looks good.
Yes it’s a shame that it seems not one Asian person was cast as the main character, but the original cartoon characters didn’t actually look Asian either. But manga characters rarely do, and that’s a whole other cultural problem there where fantasy characters are always made do look more white and less Asian…
So in that sense, Johannsson does sorta look the part…
But they could have still cast an Asian person regardless, lets be honest, when has the physical appearance of a character ever deterred a director from casting an actor that they want
Awh look at that . Another white is better at being Asian than an actual Asian would be. Had enough of that with the sh*t Doctor Strange pulled.
It looks like every other CGI movie ever and very much catered to males so wont watch
Well. At least it’s a woman that saves the world
Lol. Agreed, and while Im a ScarJo fan Im more looking forward to Wonder Woman.
And there it is. All discussion how a Japanese woman was robbed of a role that should have rightfully gone to her due to the context of the show is gone because ‘at least a woman saves the world’. And hurray for a female led film with a primarily white cast coming out later this year that describes being a secretary as slavery even though no black women were in the trailer. Even though suffragetes like Susan B. Anthony uses racism and the outcast of black men to get their vote.
Oh and ‘at least a woman saves the world’ one who is not only a Zionist who agrees with the oppression of Palestinian woman but who also is a staunch defender if Woody Allen. But ‘at least a woman saves the world’.
White feminism in a sentence.
Hopefully it goes Aluminum Foil, I’m actively hoping sh!t like this goes the way of the Christian Bale Fake Moses White people of Egypt Movie
This trailer looks fantastic it’s a very well edited trailer and the music goes perfect but yeah I’m a big Scarlett fan but it would sit better with me If they cast a Japanese actress in the role. Scarlett has box office power though and if they want it to make money I guess that’s the decision they thought was best. Remember she done no promo for LUCY and it took a sh*t ton of money. Money comes before diversity in Hollywood. It sucks.
Hollywood Diversity is having actors of color play salad dressing to white leads.
What? Lucy Lui was too busy (and yes I know she’s Chinese, but she was badass in Kill Bill)
Her acting is so horrendous that she can only do this?
Not sold on this. It’s set in Tokyo, most people in the trailer look Asian, why would they restore her as a white person? I’d be more inclined to believe they’d restore her the way South Koreans plastic surgery themselves these days, i.e. some interesting combination of Asian and white and just fantasy features, but not a straightforwardly white person
The Major (scarjo) character is a human who as a child was in a plane crash and got a cyborg body. The character purposely chooses to be Caucasian to blend. It’s not true whitewashing in my opinion.
She’s blending so well into all Asian Tokyo…
black widow with a new haircut -_-
That Versace dress looks awful on her.
It’s possible to be Asian & have no traces of the typical Asian features. Google Garrett Gee or Bucketlistfamily.
His kids are 1/4 Asian & doesn’t look Asian.
From what I can gather of the story in this trailer, it seems like they really screwed the pooch on the Major’s personality and origin story. They make it seem like her “cyberization” is unique. In 2029 Tokyo, almost everyone is to some degree “cyberized”. Anyone who read the manga and watched the anime films/TV episodes knows that. Also, this movie makes her seem unsure of herself and vulnerable. The Major has always been very self-assured. In the manga, she did have some off moments following her encounter with the Puppeteer, but she was back to her normal self after merging with “it”. Also, what’s with this thing about her life being stolen? Where did the script writers come up with that bit of nonsense?
I can only assume many of these changes were in order to make the work more accessible to those who are not familiar with the source material. Shirow Masamune’s manga actually include extensive notes in the back about such minutiae as weapons tech, his vision of the cyberization process, Eastern philosophy, and how technology both connects and isolates us simultaneously.
Watching this trailer… I´m really not convinced about this movie. The Major doesn´t seem like the Major if you know what I mean, I think they may have screwed up the writing on this one, if the writing had been right I think ScarJo caould possibly have pulled of the role but just seeing this I´m wondring what the f¤¤k they´ve done to majors origin story…
Well, the trailer looks awesome, but I won’t see this movie because, after Trump’s victory, supporting institutionalized racism makes my stomach churn, and that’s what it is if you see this movie. Hollywood is overwhelmingly liberal, and yet, out of fiscal terror, they make decisions that are functionally equivalent to racism and thus just as harmful.