MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Movies being accused of "whitewashi...

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I don't know about that, but there have been movies where white actors were casted to play roles for ethnic people. For instance, casting an Australian who's skin is as pale as snow to play a Persian.......[giveup]

So, in some cases, I do think the claim is true. But as all claims go, they begin to be used to ad nauseum and end up losing credibility.

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Argo had Ben Affleck playing Tony Mendez, the movie also had many other historical innacuracies.

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I just like my characters to be cast appropriately. And it goes in any way. I give it a pass with non-major characters, though.

Michael B Jordan playing Johnny Storm? Nope.
Johansson in Ghost in the Shell? Nope.
Tilda Swinton playing an old asian guy? Come on now.

Vondie Curtis-Hall playing Ben Urich? Hell yeah, that man did a fantastic job!

Really in the end I think you should just respect the original.

PS: I'm aware I'm not answering your question, but hey...

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"21" had white kids cast instead of the Asian kids who really went from MIT to vegas.

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What if they made an all black 'Snow White' or "The Little Mermaid'. If white people dared to say anything, they would be called racist.

Why can't white people remake "Asian stories"? It's just a story.

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You noticed I complained about a black guy playing a white guy too, right?
Like I said, I just want people to respect the original work.

Also you can remake an Asian story, just don't be silly, change its location while you're at it. Don't use a full caucasian cast if your movie is set in Japan.

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I'm half latina/white and I just heard that latinas don't want white people wearing hoop earrings.


No race has ownership over earrings!
Can I eat Asian food without being called racist? Can only Asians eat rice?
Where does it end?


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Did you see the It's Always Sunny in Philly episode where they briefly talked about this subject? Would you like to see an all White Remake of "Boys in the Hood" with Orlando Bloom?

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Would people watch it though?
I can watch anything with Chris Hemsworth or Charlie Hunnam. I'd like to see an all hot male gang.

Magic Mikes in a gang in the hood!!
yeah..I can watch that alllll night.


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" Would you like to see an all White Remake of "Boys in the Hood" with Orlando Bloom? " Sure, they could call it "Rumble Fish"....

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People calling out such things are silly, ignore them.

The problem with movies is that most of us like a great adaptation, right? Because you want to look at this movie and say "see people? That's the stuff I like" (which is why I have a hard time with the MCU, but I digress).

It's just a matter of loving the original work too much, there's no racism involved here.

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Well, a lot of Americans do not want to read subtitles. that's a huge problem too.
They remade Oldboy, so Americans would actually watch it.

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Oh I noticed the utterly ridiculous way America is making remakes/buying rights of acclaimed foreign movies instead of just bringing them on American soil. I mean, come on, dubbing is a thing.

Anyway, as a foreigner, I think this is funny in a way.

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😛

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"Vanilla Sky -Open Your Eyes was the original"

I'd even say Abre Los Ojos ;-)
But yeah I generally agree with you.

One of the thing that pisses me of the most in these cases is people being too dumb to know which one is the original. I was browsing the French IMDb once and saw a comment under the movie Quarantine. It went something like this:

"Exceptional movie, way better than their shitty Spanish remake, REC."

O_O

Same thing happens all the time with songs...

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😛

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"Also you can remake an Asian story, just don't be silly, change its location while you're at it. Don't use a full caucasian cast if your movie is set in Japan."

I agree, the Japanese themselves "localize" Western stories all the time. Keeping everything Japanese except the actors is just silly. It seems Death Note did change the names, but even in that case I wonder what the problem is with watching a Japanese adaptation. I'd personally prefer it.

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I agree producers should be able to cast films the way they want... it's their money... however, when an Asian American has a 4 to 5% chance of winning an Oscar (in other words, similar odds to the amount of Asians in America)... I'll stop being pissed at racist casting policies. Although African Americans have made big strides in Hollywood... an Asian American has about the same chance of winning Powerball as they do winning an Oscar... so yeah, it sucks when a film like 21 gets whitewashed.

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Brandon lee (The Crow) was hot and a good actor, he could've been a huge Asian movie star, sadly if he didn't die.'

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Watch an Asian soap opera... there are many hot actors if they bothered to try and not only half Asian actors like Brandon... You can be a hideous Jewish or Italian actor and get cast all the time... it's the nature of the business. On the other hand, I've seen improvement, especially in television/Netflix casting. But you should be aware that there has been a historically shameful bias against Asians and only in the last decade or so have they begun to address it. Jim Sturgess's career hasn't really done much... they should've given an Asian kid a chance.

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Yeah, Sturgess has turned out to be a dud rather than a stud. Maybe he can play a Star Wars villain at some point?

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He's not bad but just very average in talent, looks, charisma... an example of someone whom almost any competent actor could have taken his place.

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Wasn't there a controversy a few years ago about Emma Stone playing a Chinese and Hawaiian character in the movie Aloha? It was a box-office bomb so I didn't hear much about it for long.

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I dunno, but Tilda Swinton is playing an asian in a current remake.
Margaret Cho was publicly mad about it.

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Cactus, Swinton played "The Ancient One" in "Doctor Strange", which isn't a remake. "The Ancient One" is an Asian man in the comic book on which the film is based on. She's not "playing Asian". She's just playing a strange character.

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Oh, I don't read the books.
People are calling it an "Asian role".

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Understandable. But, she didn't wear offensive makeup or speak with an offensive accent. She just played the role as her strange self.

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I love the "What about a WHITE SHAFT"? Argument. Sure, they could make a white version of Shaft, he'd be any white, hard boiled detective. He wouldn't speak "ebonically" (I don't believe "John Shaft" did either...). He could curse, bed women, do all of the things that ANY hard boiled private eye did. He's be "Mike Hammer". No big deal there.

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