At the end of the first part of the documentary in class, they briefly mentioned whitewashing in Hollywood. A big problem a lot of minorities have is a lack of representation in the Media. For years Hollywood has been contributing to this issue by having white actors play non-white characters or by not having any minority characters at all.
According to Lester Andrist, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, the whitewashing refers to "the tendency of media to be dominated by white characters, played by white actors, navigating their way through a story that will likely resonate most deeply with white audiences, based on their experiences and worldviews." Recently movies such as Doctor Strange, Aloha, The Last Airbender, and Prince of Persia have all been called out. In the first three movies, white actors were cast to play Asian roles or roles heavily influenced by Asian culture. In the Prince of Persia Jake Gyllenhaal was cast as the Prince of Persia. He is caucasian and not Persian
Today these casting decisions are met with a lot of uproar on the internet especially twitter. When Ed Skrein a white British actor was cast to play Hellboy a role in the comics that is half Japanese it was met with a large outcry. The day after the decision was announced Ed stepped down from the role saying “It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the arts.” Ed is the first actor to do this and his actions were met with a lot of praise. Although this is a step in the right direction still today actresses like Angelina Jolie have been cast to play Cleopatra and other ethnic roles and actors like Jim Sturgess are playing real-life MIT Blackjack Team-member Jeffrey Ma.
Additionally, while roles that have to be played by ethnic minorities now are played by them, roles that don't mandate a minority character are typically altered back to Hollywood’s default race: white. What can be done to stop whitewashing? Should concrete rules be put in place? Should actors like Ed be applauded for stepping down from roles or should they not take the role in the first place?
I believe it is important to fill roles with actors and actresses that adequately represent the character in terms of culture, race, and religion. For example, Scarlett Johansson should not have played the Major in “Ghost in the Shell,” a character that was supposed to be Asian. I think it’s good that the Internet is talking about her playing nonwhite roles because it may deter her from doing so in the future. However, I also believe Hollywood needs to stop promoting the “white savior complex,” where a white hero saves a group of minorities. I feel this perpetuates the belief that only white men can be heroes. For example, in “The Great Wall,” Matt Damon plays into this myth. Like with Scarlett Johansson, I feel the articles on the racial controversy in “The Great Wall” help bring attention to this so filmmakers are reminded to be more conscious in their casting decisions. https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/article/The-Great-Wall-of-racial-controversy-10918288.php
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