Ghost in the Shell: White Wash Complex

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Ghost in the Shell: White Wash Complex

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

I really love Ghost in the Shell and its sequel, and the series Stand Alone Complex. It's really frustrating to me to see such a horrible looking unfaithful adaptation of the anime. The least Hollywood could have done was hire all Japanese actors, cause you know the characters in the anime are kinda all Japanese and they live in Tokyo. Instead for some reason we get an entire cast of all white Americans??? I lost a lot of respect for Scarlett Johansson, she is just as responsible for accepting a role she knows she has no business being in. Hollywood really needs to be forced to be more responsible with the art it decides to steal.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2016 14:35

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 2, 2024 06:18

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Yaws posted:

I wish they'd have gotten a better director for this

Just straight up not making this movie period is the only acceptable outcome.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2016 14:42

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Corek posted:

�Ghost in the Shell� Producers Reportedly Tested Visual Effects That Would Make Scarlett Johansson, White Actors Appear Asian

http://screencrush.com/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-scarlett-johnasson-vfx/

According to multiple independent sources close to the project, Paramount and DreamWorks commissioned visual effects tests that would�ve altered Scarlett Johansson in post-production to �shift her ethnicity� and make the Caucasian actress appear more Asian in the film.

It�s the latest, and most extreme, case of �beauty work,� the new trend in Hollywood to discreetly use visual effects to tweak an actor�s appearance, making them thinner, younger or stronger. The Ghost in the Shell tests were conducted by Lola VFX, the same company that aged up (and down) Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and is considered the industry leader in so-called beauty work. Though the tests were requested by the production team, once they were developed and reviewed, the idea was rejected �immediately,� says an insider.

loving-a, this is so lovely and frustrating to read. This is god drat Hollywood, they can absolutely find talented Japanese actors and actresses, they exist. The fact that Paramount and DreamWorks refuses to even try is undeniable proof of how racist Hollywood is.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2016 03:15

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Neurolimal posted:

They did an entire episode of robot spiders with child voices arguing robot philosophy, with the bare minimum of action framing around it, which was cool.

Doubt it was hard to sell "in this episode our animators take a break because none of the robots have mouths" to the producers

That was one of the best episodes tho!

# ¿ Apr 17, 2016 06:23

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

bullet3 posted:

what would happen is they'd offer it to one of the other 2 white actresses, and if they refused, the movie wouldn't get made, end of story.

This is the only acceptable outcome to be honest.

Guy Mann posted:

Obviously they should have have just made Batou the protagonist, then they wouldn't have to worry about the shape of the lead actor's eyes.

It would work. He has been a lead character in the past, such as the sequel movie.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2016 15:11

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

I saw Ghost in the Shell over the weekend and enjoyed it.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2017 15:06

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Neo Rasa posted:

I'm less down on Ghost in the Shell and more just surprised that what is sold as a sci-fi action movie starring Scarlett Johansson with a lot of marketing is already going away. Like Lucy made crazy money and was around here for an absurdly long time. I've been really critical of a lot of aspects of the movie's production throughout this thread I'm not going to act like I wasn't, but I genuinely expected it to do really well just from the combination of Scarlett Johansson + sci-fi stuff + action movie.

Ghost in the Shell got destroyed by the white washing which turned out to really not be the case about the movie and is apart of the story, but good luck explaining that to people.

SleepCousinDeath posted:

a movie with the highest grossing opening of all time, or a movie that wont be released for another two weeks

I've never seen any of the Fast & Furious movies and don't intend to.

I said come in! fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Apr 21, 2017

# ¿ Apr 21, 2017 02:13

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Snowman_McK posted:

The trailers sure as poo poo didn't explain that. Or anything else.

Ooh totally, the marketing was really bad.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2017 03:00

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Panfilo posted:

I agree the whitewashing aspect was problematic. This is the kind of film I would've assumed an actress like Rinko Kikuchi to play the Major, personally. What made it particularly jarring was that the head of Section 9 only spoke Japanese the whole time. It bugged me that they called her 'Major' which I guess was relegated to a callsign because it was obviously not a military rank like I remember the TV series Major to have.

Aside from this, I wonder if anime adaptations suffer the same problem that video game adaptations suffer- producers feel that the subject matter itself is too niche and need to expand (in this case, get a white actress to play the Major) bowderdizing and anglicizing stuff to the point that nobody is happy; the weaboos are going to be complaining about all these little details that didn't carry over and people unfamiliar with anime are going to be even at the most watered-down presentation.

It makes you really wonder about the dubious prospect of Battle Angel Alita or Akira as a live-action production.

The whole point of the live action remake of Ghost in the Shell is that Major had her identity taken away from her. Calling her Major wasn't just some pointless call back to the anime, it was the entire point of the story. She was a Japanese teenage girl that was kidnapped by a corporation that specializes in cybernetic implants, and they transport her brain into a cyborg body that is a white woman, this decision was made by a white American man of all people. How wrong it is to erase the identity of a person, and seeing it done by a white man at that, is the whole basis of the movie.

I said come in! fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Apr 22, 2017

# ¿ Apr 22, 2017 15:52

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 2, 2024 06:18

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Macarius Wrench posted:

Would having an Asian actress have made this film better

No

Well the story would have to be completely different then so possibly?

# ¿ Apr 23, 2017 15:24

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Ghost in the Shell: White Wash Complex