39 more messages?!
No kiddie gloves again, so keep in mind folks reading this, that I am not attacking you personally. I'm attacking points and having a lot of fun with crude humour.
So, as always, I'm gonna give it my best shot, guv'na.
Giving the benefit of doubt that casting a white woman in an Asian role was for creative reasons, calling that out makes no one racist.
1 The anger and rage stems from years of Hollywood racism. From denying blacks roles and having white actors black-face, to actually having white actors do the same to Asians with yellow-face.
Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's, for example.
2 And in this time America is so racially diverse that it pisses people off that it still happens, putting white people in roles of Asian characters.
3 Another example being Benedict Cumberbatch, a white British man, playing one of the most prominent Asians in comics,
Doctor Strange. While I do think he's great for the role (The same goes Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen), it's still apart of a bigger issue.
4 It's a representation issue that people are upset about. Media is influential on so many levels and frankly, white people will never what it's like to turn on the TV as a child and never see themselves, to only see racial stereotypes and have no one there to look up to.
5 That's why people are fighting so hard on the issue every time it pops up. So to say it doesn't matter? That's thinking selfishly. It doesn't matter to you because it doesn't effect you or how people view your race.
6 But for colored folks it does, and while there
are bigger issues, that doesn't stop lack of representation from being a problem.
7
1. Giving the benefit of the doubt is called innocence before being proven guilty. Until the creators of the film come out themselves and state it as such, I have no reason to believe race to play any part in their casting choices, and I will not hold them to "uplift" or "equalize" the playing field of Hollywood as a whole. It is entirely unfair to ask them to compromise their individual vision and to limit their hiring choices by race in the name of statistics games, and it is
absolutely racist to bring up the
race of the actress as a point against the film, or against those developing it. It's exactly the same as to why I would never bitch about a serious lack of white people in rap: It's dominated by black people. Are some of those black people racist against whites? Sure. Does that mean I should hold the entire industry accountable and become offended anytime a black person samples a white man's song as a beat to put their own lyrics over? No.
Because I can choose not to purchase RAP songs that contain racist and sexist overtures. I can choose to put my money where my mouth is and seek a market that will cater to what I want. If the market isn't catering, then I will create it myself, or learn to live without it. Movies are not necessary to life. Hollywood representation is not necessary to life. I seriously doubt the Japanese would demand American cartoonists to make more anime: They make their own. Does it have the same budget as giant ass CGI Hollywood productions? No. Does that stop them from making anime anyway? No.
2. I actually already addressed this point. This was a thing that we used to do. Holding people accountable for it
now makes absolutely no sense. Name me an example of a film produced with this shit that gained any real popularity in the past 30 years. I'll wait. No, obscure racist comedies don't count.
3. ... What? In 2010,
these were the racial demographics in the United States of America.
- White: 63.7%. It is the only demographic in the triple digits at 196,817,552.
- Black or African American: 12.2%. 37,685,848.
- Every Other Racial Demographic Combined: 74,242,138.
Even if you took every other racial demographic than whites (including hispanics and blacks) and put them together, they're still short by over
eighty four million people to match 1:1 with the number of whites in the US. Yes, the country is more racially diverse than ever, but white people are still an
overwhelming majority of the population. So, completely unsurprisingly, the majority of Hollywood roles go to... White people. Including roles whose characters were originally other races of people.
But surely, blacks would never get to take roles traditionally held by whites. No way. That's ridiculous. It would never happen. No sirree. Only white people take roles from all other racial groups, just like the old days.
Just how many white people work as voice actors in Japan's anime industry, anyway? Not the translations in North America, no no, directly in Japan's market.
I'd like to know.
I'm sure it's so racially diverse over there compared to here.
I'm sure the land of the rising sun has no issues with racism at every conceivable level.
Pot, meet kettle.
4. It's only a bigger issue if you allow the race of the actor to bother you at all. As a fan of Star Trek, I loved a character called Khan. Benedict Cumbertwat also played as Khan. This is a British Person who has skin paler than the fucking moon playing a role originally created and cast for
this glorious bastard. If you don't know him, his name is
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino. He was a Mexican, and he died a long time ago. Did I see a Mexican beating the shit out of Kirk? As hilarious as that image is, no. I saw Ricardo Montalban in one of his finest performances, playing the role of Khan.
Just as I saw Benedict Cumbertwat playing the role of Khan.
Ricardo being a Mexican and Benedict being British did not take away from the performance. I refuse to judge either by their race; merely their ability to reasonably act through the emotions of the character, in each their own portrayal. They both did a good job. (Though Wrath of Khan is objectively the better film, because Jar Jar Abrams doesn't at all grasp what Star Trek is about.)
5. Okay. I'm going to be the one to break this to you, I guess, but home TV's didn't exist prior to the 1930's, and even then, they weren't really an American Household Staple until the 1950's. So for about 5,900 years of human history, we did not have "media" in the way that is often described for TV's. Somehow, by some good grace of God surely, people figured out how to tell stories verbally, and put words on paper. Stories which, from Homer to Shakespeare, greatly shook people at a fundamental level. Stories which included people from various races from time to time--some of which don't even really exist anymore. It seems that no matter how many stories white slavers invented to make black people feel inferior, black people yet still figured out that they were, in fact, not inferior. Hell, even taking the race angle out, slaves of all types rose up all throughout history to defeat their masters, no matter the tales told to try and keep them in line.
So, I'm going to have to be quite frank with you when I say that I am highly skeptical of the power of "media." Stories can move us emotionally and they can teach us enlightening ideas, but they never subsume the conscious angle of human nature: That we are more than the sum of our parts, that we can understand beyond that which the flickering electrons of the TV screen show us, and reject that which we do not find credible. Unless you are repeatedly and violently brain washed into it like it's a cult. Then you're just
a fundamentalist christian likely to repeat the cycle a victim of an actual crime against humanity. But, again, nobody forces you to watch the stuff on TV, and I really doubt that most TV channels show reruns of Mein Kampfy Chair: The Cartoon Stories of why the Aryan Race is the Master Race.
Now, if you're talking about "media" as in news media? Sure. I can see it. News media is a pretty overwhelming force for the corporate masterminds who want to run the country and keep the average American fat, dumb, and happy, or dividing themselves to make them easier to control... But I don't think that's the kind of media most people are talking about when referencing Hollywood.
Hell, to double down on how profoundly questionable this concept is: Some of the biggest franchises
ever that absolutely fucking exploded box offices world wide were about
anthropomorphic mutant turtles with green skin who fight a guy in a tin suit who is edgier than a Three Days Grace concert, and
literal talking robots that transform into whatever vehicles they want who came from a robot planet that fight each other because why the fuck not I guess. If children can associate with plumbers who throw fireballs, blue fucked up hedgehogs with a punk aesthetic who run really fast, countless fucking non-humans like talking dogs and cats and mice, the entire animaniacs franchise and most warner brothers cartoons, and
this horrifying cocaine-powered nightmare fuel... Then saying that children might not be able to associate with other characters because they're black or white is
absolutely fucking insane. How the hell is a green talking mutant turtle more relateable than a white person? Or a black person?
Yes, there are goofy black people stereotypes. There are also tons of villains that are all white people. Every villain in the original Star Wars Trilogy was a white person. Every villain in the prequel trilogy of Star Wars, if they weren't an alien, was a white person. I haven't seen the new Star Wars film yet, but I'm willing to bet my ass that in spite of having a good black guy and a good white lady, all the villains are probably white people.
So does Hollywood think that only white people can be evil? Hmm... I don't think so.
6. Except it does. It absolutely does. It is incredibly disingenuous to say that race tropes about one group of people don't affect them, yet race tropes of another group of people do. Make up your mind: Does media influence people psychologically, or doesn't it? Because if it does, then violent media should make us violent, sexist media should make us sexist, and racist media should make us racist.
This is an all or nothing answer. You don't get to cherry pick psychology.
I was fired from my job today because I am white. Racism affects everyone. It affects certain groups
more than others, absolutely! But
everyone is affected by racism. If media racism affects one group psychologically, it also affects everyone else.
If anything, I would say the News Media is
far more responsible for people's impression of blacks being murderers and thieves and other nasty, rancid shit, than Hollywood does. Everyone (who is not retarded or a four year old) knows that Hollywood is entirely fictional. Not everyone knows that the news media has a fucking hard on for constantly showing black people committing crimes, being wanted for crimes, rioting, or being murdered by cops under dubious circumstances.
7. Absolutely nobody else is responsible for your representation than you. Unless society as a whole legally prevents you from expressing yourself, you are your own enabler. The Japanese were bombed back to the fucking stone age. By the end of World War 2, entire cities had been reduced to rubble. Hundreds of thousands of people died from fire bombings, leave alone the nuclear devices and the subsequent radiation from Hiroshima and Nagasaki... And yet, they stuck to a simple principle that I adore: Shikata Ga Nai. Translation: It cannot be helped. With this mindset and a genuine desire for creativity, they proceeded to build up their own entertainment sectors. They started doing their own TV shows, their own animation studios. In spite of crippling poverty and a post-war reconstruction period that saw the entire civilization being forced to structure itself in a new way,
they made their own destiny. As a result, they are now
one of the world's premier economic superpowers, with some of the most
influential animation studios to exist world wide.
Demanding that the industry better represent you, is nonsensical and ironically selfish. If you want change, go out and make change. If society bars you from making change, then, feel free to point it out. I'll be there beside you, fighting to ensure your voice can be heard.
As a personal example: I had a best friend who is a lesbian. I loved her. Years ago, there was not a lot of LGBT representation in Hollywood productions, or on TV. So I decided that, while making Legend of Renalta--my fantasy universe--I would make a universe where LGBT characters existed. Not LGBT characters that existed to be stock minority role fillers, or to be shot in the head for tragedy--no no, fuck that. I made, straight up, fully fleshed out LGBT characters. I fucked up the first few times I tried too. I would make them "too gay" in the stereotypical fashion. (Haha, god dammit Mikan. You foxy minx, you.) It took me a while to learn how to write them, but I chose to create them, to go out of my way to make them, because I wanted my best friend to have a story she could read anytime she wanted that had LGBT characters in it.
Legend of Renalta is
still LGBT friendly, and
still has LGBT main protagonists on a regular basis. I am a heterosexual white man, I am not gay, I have never been gay, I will never be gay. I will also never be a transexual, I'm pretty comfortable with my dick. In fact, I quite frankly love my dick, it has way less maintenance than a vagina does. (Yay not having periods!) But I wanted a universe with LGBT people in it. That could be LGBT. Where that's normal. Where discrimination doesn't have to be the goddamn life story of every LGBT character in it.
I made the change I wanted to see. Does that mean that Hollywood will make it into a movie? Probably not. It would probably be a shitty movie anyway, God knows I'm not the best writer, I still have a long way to go. Hollywood will probably continue to mass produce nonsensical schlock that makes my eyes roll hard enough to propel me to Mars where it concerns LGBT characters and their portrayals. However, I'm not going to demand Hollywood change as a whole to suit my tastes, or to better represent the things I like to see.
I will make those things. And I will fight to make sure that anyone who wants to make their things can make their things. Whether that's some guy making a Japanese story starring a white chick, or a certain black voice actor who wishes to break into the industry. I will not view them by race, unless they demand I do so.
And if Hollywood wishes to cater to me and earn my dosh, they can feel free to vomit up science fiction stuff anytime. I'll probably give it a whirl even if it's shit. I'm a sucker like that.
As for the topic. I love Ghost in the Shell, it's great. I don't particularly get why people are pissed about Hollywood being a business. Don't like it? Don't support it. Shrug and go watch the old thing for old times' sake. I think the Last Airbender is a great show with a shitty live action movie, but here's the funny thing. While I can vividly remember a lot of these great moments for the cartoon, I've already forgotten exactly what kind of movie it was I walked out of because... It was just a shitty movie. Who cares?
The more attention you give to something you hate, the more publicity you're giving it. How many people do you think bought the Twilight series just to see how horrible it was or they could be edgelords and burn it on video? Congrats, guess where that money went and guess with what message.
I love you. In a completely and unfortunately expressly heterosexual way.
I think the anger is more about losing the promise.
They heard news of the movie, they get excited about it hoping that it's good, and then learn stuff that they feel will ruin it.
But, see, this is different. Here, let me make a chart.
- A. You think this movie's casting choices are bad because the actors and actresses are generally shitty, because they're bad at their jobs. I'm liable to agree with you.
- B. You think this movie's casting choices are bad because the actors and actresses do not reflect the race you want. That's racist as fuck, get out.
If it's racist to point out that the last Fantastic Four remake turned a white guy into a black person for no reason, then it's racist to point out that Ghost in the Shell now stars a white woman.
I refuse to live by double standards. Unless it's a historical piece that is aiming for historical accuracy, I don't care about the race of the actors playing it. If someone wants to make an all black or all asian version of Arthurian legends, let them. I'm pretty sure Black Lancelot would be fucking badass as shit.
I just want to know one thing. Why does everyone think the role was just handed to her?
I'm an actor and currently assisting a few professional writers with some projects. So I'm doing both, for your information.
Can I watch and/or read and/or listen to any of these? If any of it interests me, I can pay monies to support your creativity and show my support.
This also happens if you're black in China...
You know what else happens in China? Wage slave labour and environmental devastation on a level that makes oil manufacturers blush with furious envy. They've got a lot of issues to overcome, societal racism on a wide scale is definitely one of them.
-Pushes the thread back on topic-
Am I the only one who thinks that she was cast because she's playing a cyborg? I mean, have you seen her acting? She could totally pass as a cyborg.
Enjoy.
