Nostalgia Critic ED- Is White Washing Really Still a Thing?
21 replies, posted
This was an insightful editorial on white people playing characters of other ethinticity and our history of getting crap past the radar in the past. His 2nd best editorial compared to "Where do Jokes go Too Far?" one imo.
[sp]Height Washing,[/sp]HAH!
[url]http://channelawesome.com/is-white-washing-really-still-a-thing/[/url]
Youtube version coming Wednesday.
White-washing aside I still think SJ just wouldn't be a good fit, she doesn't give off the hardboiled vibes that you would expect from Kusanagi. With Tilda Swinton it's the opposite, I think she does look the part and isn't out of place for the role of a mystic or a monk.
tbh white washing is really only bad if you're passing off a white actor, or a group of white people, as another race to the point where it's offensive or it actually hinders the story in a way.
Offensive would be any Rob Schneider role and hindering the story would be that one egypt movie with british actors.
I'm glad he is doing these editorials. Much better than his usual stuff and actually pretty good.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50385769]tbh white washing is really only bad if you're passing off a white actor, or a group of white people, as another race to the point where it's offensive or it actually hinders the story in a way.
Offensive would be any Rob Schneider role and hindering the story would be that one egypt movie with british actors.[/QUOTE]
Such as racial stereotypes or pigeonholing the acting into said stereotypes?
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;50386629]Such as racial stereotypes or pigeonholing the acting into said stereotypes?[/QUOTE]
A white character playing a black character for a role meant for a black character is white washing.
A white character playing a black character for a role meant for a black character whilst trying to pass off as a black character is white washing + racist.
I think another part of why this issue is so muddled, is that it's not strictly a ethical issue. A lot of people just prefer that stories and characters remain true to their roots. Other people are happy to see stories and characters remixed. I don't think either point of view is wrong, they're just two different points of view and different people have different thresholds for how much they are willing to see a story or character changed. But people tend to ignore this and lay all the blame upon prejudice or pandering.
This is also part of the reason I believe it's less of an issue in animation. When you can't see the actor trying to pass themselves off as another age, sex or race; people are better able to suspend their disbelief so long as the character themselves is still their appropriate age, sex and race.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50386695]A white character playing a black character for a role meant for a black character is white washing.
[b]A white character playing a black character for a role meant for a black character whilst trying to pass off as a black character is white washing + racist.[/b][/QUOTE]
[img]http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/4400000/Robert-in-Tropic-Thunder-robert-downey-jr-4499988-720-480.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=SpartanXC9;50387791][img]http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/4400000/Robert-in-Tropic-Thunder-robert-downey-jr-4499988-720-480.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
But it was deliberately written to be a white man playing a black man while trying to be a black man. If they cast a black actor the joke would be lost and its statement about blackface would be meaningless
the cowboy bebop keanu thing really isn't a sound argument because spike probably isn't asian and cowboy bebop isn't dependent on the setting or characters being japanese, while GITS has a japanese cast, is in a (neo-)japanese setting, and most importantly deals with issues regarding the japanese government and society
my main gripes with casting johansson are that she's not a very good actor and she isn't nearly as hot as SAC kusanagi
[QUOTE=Jund;50388083]the cowboy bebop keanu thing really isn't a sound argument because spike probably isn't asian and cowboy bebop isn't dependent on the setting or characters being japanese, while GITS has a japanese cast, is in a (neo-)japanese setting, and most importantly deals with issues regarding the japanese government and society
my main gripes with casting johansson are that she's not a very good actor and she isn't nearly as hot as SAC kusanagi[/QUOTE]
Spike is jewish iirc
but he's from mars and was mostly raised by the chinese mafia I think? so it's a moot point really.
[QUOTE=Empty_Shadow;50388089]Spike is jewish iirc
but he's from mars and was mostly raised by the chinese mafia I think? so it's a moot point really.[/QUOTE]
bullshit he only has a jew score of 8
[url]http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=703[/url]
[QUOTE=Jund;50388143]bullshit he only has a jew score of 8
[url]http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=703[/url][/QUOTE]
This is such an amazing website. Thank you for sharing.
Here's the Youtube version. Oh boy there are obnoxious flame wars going on in the comments section! :goodjob:
[video=youtube;1WUdQpuVRtw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WUdQpuVRtw[/video]
I think it's annoying to cast the same damned white actor/actress in replacement for actual new talent, that's what I think is the worst part about it.
Hollywood isn't so much racist as it is just too cautious. They do this sort of thing because they don't want to bring on new people. Studios know that if they get SJ, they can rake in the cash from loyal fans.
For fucks sake. If Japan made an Asian superman it wouldn't be a problem because how fucking likely is there to be a white Japanese actor? America has plenty of actors of all groups of people, they have absolutely no excuse to white wash characters meanwhile Japan actually does have a valid reason to "asian wash" theirs.
Meanwhile, the Fullmetal Alchemist movie has all Japanese actors, even though 90% of the characters are literally German and Asians are specifically shown to be distinct from them in the show, but no one has a said a thing
[QUOTE=ShadowSocks8;50393602]Meanwhile, the Fullmetal Alchemist movie has all Japanese actors, even though 90% of the characters are literally German and Asians are specifically shown to be distinct from them in the show, but no one has a said a thing[/QUOTE]
That's because as Daniel mentioned above, the Japanese film industry doesn't have a large ethnically diverse pool of actors to pick from. Hollywood does.
[QUOTE=Jimesu_Evil;50395470]That's because as Daniel mentioned above, the Japanese film industry doesn't have a large ethnically diverse pool of actors to pick from. Hollywood does.[/QUOTE]
Which brings us back to why Hollywood never tries to be diverse in films. One word: money, because doing it 100% right would be too much of a waste in resources in something they could only view from tiny lenses. Scarlett Johansson is expensive, though the payoff from a big name actress from her fans plus having the film be based off a popular anime like GoTS will rake in more cash from fans of the show. Double profit, even if it sucks unless moviegoers pull a "After Earth crash" and tell other movie lovers that it sucks day one through word-of-mouth.
On top of that; do you know what Katara is played by a white person (Nicola Peltz) in The Last Airbender? Because her father is a billionaire who who had ton of licenses and wanted to get his daughter in a lead role despite little to no acting credentials. Since she was white, the rest of the characters in the Water Tribe had to go all white to fit the theme. Snapple and Wendey's money was too good to let go, but then Shyamalan and Hollywood got back ~$500 from it's opening weekend because it bombed.
If Hollywood wasn't so quick to make extra bucks, they'd have tons of films and leading roles for all Americans outside of art films, side roles, or awesome little projects ie Pacific Rim.
[QUOTE=maddogsamurai;50396967]Which brings us back to why Hollywood never tries to be diverse in films. One word: money, because doing it 100% right would be too much of a waste in resources in something they could only view from tiny lenses. Scarlett Johansson is expensive, the the payoff from a big name actress from her fans plus having the film be based off a popular anime like GoTS will rake in more cash from fans of the show. Double profit, even if it sucks unless moviegoers pull a "After Earth crash" and tell other movie lovers that it sucks day one through word-of-mouth.
On top of that; do you know what Katara is played by a white person (Nicola Peltz) in The Last Airbender? Because her father is a billionaire who who had ton of licenses and wanted to get his daughter in a lead role despite little to no acting credentials. Since she was white, the rest of the characters in the Water Tribe had to go all white to fit the theme. Snapple and Wendey's money was too good to let go, but then Shyamalan and Hollywood got back ~$500 from it's opening weekend because it bombed.[/QUOTE]
Funny you mention that Katara is played by a white person in the movie because she's voiced by a white person in the show, Mae Whitman. Would you call that white washing? That's pretty much the only part of the video I disagreed with when Doug insinuated that the thing I just mentioned was the case.
[QUOTE=TectoImprov;50396992]Funny you mention that Katara is played by a white person in the movie because she's voiced by a white person in the show, Mae Whitman. Would you call that white washing? That's pretty much the only part of the video I disagreed with when Doug insinuated that the thing I just mentioned was the case.[/QUOTE]
There's a difference between a voice actor and live actor. A live actor needs to be on screen while a voice actor could be anyone behind a mic that could mimic an accent. Wouldn't it be better to have someone that represents the likeness of the Water Tribes in the live action The Last Airbender ie a Native American because it fits the theme and culture of the people rather than a white person because the VA was also white? Whitman's great, but it wouldn't make sense for her to be in the film in-universe.
I dislike changed races and genders of source material in all forms not just "white washing"
Even small details like blonde James Bond mildly bothered me.
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