Paramount admits that whitewashing hurt 'Ghost in the Shell'

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Michele Selene Ang posted this picture of herself.

EVERYBODY IS TALKING about whitewashing now -- now that a Paramount executive admits that the whitewashing controversy affected the box office.

Kyle Davies, Paramount Studio's domestic distribution chief, admitted to NextShark  that Ghost In The Shell's tanking was due to the casting of Scarlett Johansson in the role of Major Motoko Kusanagi, a Japanese character.

In its first weekend, the movie earned only $19 million, way below expectations. It did so badly that there is doubt the film will make up the $101 million it cost to make.

“We had hopes for better results domestically. I think the conversation regarding casting impacted the reviews,” said Davies who was quoted by CBC News.

“You’ve got a movie that is very important to the fanboys since it’s based on a Japanese anime movie,” he added. “So you’re always trying to thread that needle between honoring the source material and make a movie for a mass audience. That’s challenging, but clearly, the reviews didn’t help.”

REVIEW: Scarlett Johansson fails to save 'Ghost'

Most reviewers faulted the movie for simply not living up to the high expectations based on its source material. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received an approval rating of 45 percent based on 171 reviews.

Not even megastar Johansson could save the film from the fans' ire and intense social media criticism.

Scarlett Johansson got some unwanted notoriety by a t-shirt worn by Actress Michele Selene Ang, who plays Courtney Crimsen in the new Netflix series 13 Reasons Why,

Ang posted the picture on her Instagram account and it went viral.

In case you're not up to speed. These are the names of actors who have been accused of whitewashing in recent Hollywood-made movies.

At least Scarlett got top billing. The other names refer to Emma Stone, who played a Chinese/Hawaiian in Aloha; Tilda Swinton who played the old Tibetan monk in Dr. Strange, and Matt Damon, who plays a European who saves China (technically, no whitewashing but white savior.)

The shirt ($20) is available at AsianAFMerch.com, and proceeds go to benefit the Asian AF Show at Upright Citizen’s Brigade, an improv comedy institution in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, AAPI actors tell us in the video below what impact whitewashing has, not only on their careers, but on them personally, who grew up without seeing themselves in popular media.

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Scarlett Johansson fails to save 'Ghost In The Shell' from so-so reviews

Scarlett Johansson plays a Japanese woman who is "improved" by making her white.

THE REVIEWS are in and box office receipts have been counted after the first weekend of the Ghost in the Shell debuted on American theaters and it doesn't bode well for the sci-fi action feature.

First off, Scarlett Johansson has got playing an artificial being down pat. In case you didn't pick it up, I mean that with a note of sarcasm. After playing a 'bot in the movies Her and in Lucy, playing a cyborg was a sinch since the role calls for a minimum of emoting.

The casting brouhaha over whitewashing - casting a white woman in a Japanese role  - required an explanation that is not in the anime originals. Major Motoko Kusanagi  is in fact, Japanese but her new outer shell is a white female. Uh ... OK.

That raises another concern even more insidious than whitewashing. By making the Major white, is that considered an "improvement" over the original Japanese body? The idealization of Major's synthetic body serves to advance Eurocentric (white) standards of beauty, something that eye surgeons in Asian countries are already too familiar as their patients seek to emulate the round-eye look.

But, I digress. The lukewarm reception was reflected at the box office with Ghost garnering a weak $19 million in its domestic opening[ behind Boss Baby and Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Internationally, it fared much better, finishing No. 1 in 11 markets, including the Hong Kong,China and Japan markets. Despite that success, because of its poor showing in the American market, It is now expected that the movie will not recoup the $110 million cost of production.

What is the big difference between the U.S. audiences and overseas? Since the casting of Johansson was announced, the movie has been under a cloud of controversy over the whitewashing of the Major's role. The choice of box-office star Johansson in the lead role was an issue only on this side of the Pacific.

The criticism was recently and especially strong in social media where AAPI users have greater influence than on the pages of mainstream media. The one certain thing the criticism did, it raised the discussion of whitewashing beyond the AAPI community, which has struggled with the issue for decades.

“Many in Japan have been so brainwashed by Western culture that they’ve developed an inferiority complex about their own. They assume that in order for an American film to be successful, it has to star a white actor," Guy Aoki, founding president of Media Action Network for Asian American, told The Hollywood Reporter. "Tell that to Zhang Yimou, who spent $150 million directing The Great Wall starring Matt Damon only to see it flop worldwide and receive terrible reviews. He’s not going to make his money back.”

The anime version of the Ghost.

Johansson named the top grossing actor of 2016 by Forbes, tried to defend herself in the March issue of Marie Claire magazine.

"I certainly would never presume to play another race of a person," she said. "Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive." That's a good rationalization, but her defense wasn't good enough for the AAPI community.

Johansson, who facies herself a progressive politically, just didn't "get it." She couldn't put herself in the shoes of the Asian/American actresses who were not even considered for the role. How can AAPI actors ever become "bankable" if they are never given an opportunity to "break through" with a substantive role?

“Apparently, in Hollywood, Japanese people can’t play Japanese people anymore,” quips MANAA President Robert Chan. The whitewashing controversy wasn't the only reason the film got such poor reviews, but it did cast the project in a negative light even before the first frame was edited. By the time the project was ready to be seen, critics already had high expectations because of the questions raised by social media networkersParamount could tell by the Google searches it was monitoring that in the final week before the film opened, potential moviegoers were checking out reviews before making a decision in higher than usual numbers.

Initially, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score rose as high as 71 percent positive reviews, based on the first enthusiastic fanboy reactions and critiques from Europe. But as the week progressed and more reviews poured in, the movie’s score began to plummet, eventually falling to 42 percent. Ghost’s tracking, which initially suggested the film might open in the high-$20 million range, maybe even cross over into low-$30 million territory, hit a wall.

“It was very Rotten Tomatoes-sensitive. Lots of people were seeking out information about the film,” says Colligan. “And we got hit pretty hard by the print journalists.”

The reviews have not been that good. Get a load of this sampling

This is smart, hard-lacquered entertainment that may just trump the original films for galloping storytelling momentum and sheer, coruscating visual excitement. Full review
- Guy Lodge, Variety

... a heavily computer-generated enterprise with more body than brains, more visuals than ideas, as if the original movie’s hard drive had been wiped clean of all that was dark, poetic and mystifying.
- Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

Enjoy the credits because they offer some of the more arresting, inventive images in this visually cluttered yet often disappointingly drab movie. Full review
- Manohla Dargis, NYTimes

So heavily derivative it doesn’t feel like anything new, and there’s little depth beneath that slick surface. But it’s solid and attractive, at least, with a retro appeal to its cyberpunk stylings. Full review
- Dan Jolin, Empire

"Ghost in the Shell" struggles to dig below the surface of its thought-provoking concepts and bring real depth to its striking visuals. Full review
- Sandy Schaefer, Screen Rant

The filmmakers think little of the emotional and intellectual connection fans already have with this property, and have put all their chips on the aesthetic. Full review
- Emily Yoshida, Vulture

One can hardly blame cyborgs for not coming across like flesh-and-blood characters but it’s not easy to care what happens to any of the protagonists since they so rarely generate moments of human emotion.
- Lisa Nesselson, Screen International

Ghost In The Shell promo backfires: I am ... laughing

THIS IS HILARIOUS! At the risk of creating more buzz for the movie Ghost In The Shell, I had to share how the movie's ad campaign backfired. Instead of promoting the film, it provided reasons not to go see it.

Ghost In the Sheil‘s official Twitter just tweeted out a new videofor fans, along with a viral website. The video shows footage from the film, with the lines, “I am hunted. I am the hunter. I am fearless. I am coming for them. I am Major.” You can go to a new website, IAmMajor.me, and upload who you are along with your picture to post on your social media accounts.

RELATED: Asian/Americans decry whitewashing

The "I am Major," campaign refers to Major Motoko Kusanagi,  the lead character in the manga hit, In the film, Scarlett Johansson plays the lead character, which (as you can tell by the name) was originally conceived as a Japanese character.

Netiziens - you gotta love them - took the opportunity to make a strong statement about their opposition to the practice of whitewashing characters of color so that white actors can take over the role. 

Here are some of their creative responses.

 Ghost in the Shell is not the first to practice whitewashing, and sadly, it probably won't be the last. The "I  Am Major" campaign was used to criticize another TV show, Iron Fist, that appropriates Asian culture and cast a white actor in the main role.,  and the upcoming The Great Wall starring white savior Matt Damon even though it was shot in China.

Finally ...

No matter how you try to defend why an actor like Johansson should play the lead in a film like Ghost in the Shell, you can’t deny the impact it will have on audiences.

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TGIF FEATURE: Celebrities fight voter apathy

Writer and producer Joss Whedon was able to convince some of his Hollywood friends to be in his video.

JOSS WHEDON has slain vampires, battled super villains, fought off aliens and saved the universe but he may be tackling his biggest villain yet - voter apathy.

To help him on this daunting task, he's assembled his own team of Avengers to appear on the PSA debuted by Save the Day, a video production company dedicated to getting people registered to vote and to the ballot box on November 8. 

“It’s about getting people to vote, because it’s frightening the apathy that people are treating the most crucial election of their lifetimes with,” Whedon told The Hollywood Reporter. 

The creator of Buffy, the Vampire Killer, Firefly and Marvel's Avengers franchise launched the first video Important Wednesday (Sept. 21) featuring 27 celebrities — including Avengers Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, and Mark Ruffalo, as well as other famous people like Randall Park, Julianne Moore, Keegan-Michael Key, Matt McGorry, James Franco, Jesse Williams, Cobie Smulders, Martin Sheen, and Neil Patrick Harris. He plans on 15 to 25 more before the November elections.

While the first video never mentions Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by name, in it, Cheadle stresses the importance of keeping “a racist, abusive coward who could permanently damage the fabric of our society” out of office. And Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. wonders aloud why we’d want to “give nuclear weapons to a man whose signature move is firing things.” 

In short, Whedon’s super PAC makes no secret that they would prefer people vote for Clinton.The prospect of a Trump presidency makes him break out in a sweat, he told BuzzFeed.

“We’re going to anger a lot of people, I’m sure,” he continued.

Save the Day makes its mandate clear with its position statement, posted in bold so it’s the first thing you absorb when you visit the site. “We are a short-form production company dedicated to the idea that voting is a necessary and heroic act,” it reads. “That every voice in this wonderfully diverse nation should, and must, be heard. That the only thing that can save democracy is the act that defines it. We are committed to fighting the apathy, cynicism, and honest confusion that keeps citizens from using their vote. And to reminding an increasingly out-of-touch and compromised set of representatives that they are answerable to the people they were hired to serve.”

Whedon's effort is similar to the PSA produced by Asian Americans Advancing Justice targeting the AAPI community with Asian;American celebrities making the same appeal.

This PSA was made possible in partnership with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Imprenta Communications Group, The Great Company, and Asian Pacific American Leadership Foundation.

Have questions or need help voting? Call 1-888-API-VOTE (1-888-274-8683). Bilingual assistance is available in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

• Register to vote. 
• http://apiavote.org/learn. 
• Share this video using this link. 

#VoiceYourVote: This year, be sure to uplift #AAPIVoices and make your voice heard by registering to vote and voting in the elections

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Asian/Americans decry whitewashing of Asian characters

IT'S BEEN a hell of a week for Asian/American actresses. They lost out three prominent roles that called for Asian characters.

After the #OscarsSoWhite controversy regarding diversity in the movie and TV industries, some thought that perhaps if we had more Asian writers and Asian-centric stories we would be able to generate more roles  for Asian actors.

Apparently, that was a blind alley.

Recently, the Internet has been buzzing about the casting of Scarlett Johansson as Ghost in the Shell heroine Major Motoko Kusanagi.

"It was particularly heinous because they ran CGI tests to make her look more Asian," said Constance Wu during a luncheon last week. She was one of the Asian/American actresss on the panel. Paramount has since denied that the studio tried to alter Johansson's appearance via computer graphics.

Wu, one of the stars of TV's Fresh Off The Boat, explained that the problem with the alleged tests is that "it reduces our race and ethnicity to mere physical appearance, when our race and culture are so much deeper than how we look."

Speaking out on issues always runs the risk of adverse reaction by Hollywood power-brokers but that didn't prevent Ming-Na Wen of Agents of SHIELD, who upon seeing the image of Johansson "with her Asian-esque haircut," she tweeted, "Nothing against Scarlett Johansson. In fact, I'm a big fan. But everything against this Whitewashing of Asian role."

The tweet went somewhat viral, which Wen said made her feel "happy and afraid, because to get back on the soapbox is scary, but I feel I need to. It's about accepting that part of the job," as reported in the Hollywood Reporter article about the panel.

RELATED: Another egregioius case of 'whitewashing'

For those of you who are not familiar with Ghost In A Shell and feel they've been dropped into an alternate universe, Ghost is based on a Japanese comic book, created by Japanese writers and artists, takes place in a Japanese setting and features an all-Japanese cast of characters.

This is not a case of Magnificent Seven's John Sturgis stealing Seven Samurai from Akira Kurosawa. At least in Magnificent Seven, by changing the setting to the Old American West, they could easily cast Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, et al, as the lead characters.

Ghost will still take place in a futuristic Tokyo, the values and mysticism will lean heavily on Buddhist principles and values and the SUPPORTING characters will still be Japanese, or at least, Asian.

At least they died Johansson's hair black. That will make her blend in, right?

Tilda Swinton, almost an albino, plays The Ancient One.

Another role made for an Asian actress is The Ancient One in Marvel's Dr. Strange. The producers tried to throw fans off balance by gender-bending the role by having a woman play the role of the Tibetan wise man. Maybe that makes it OK that Tilda Swinton, one of the whiter than white actresses, got the role of the monk.

"Well, it's not actually an Asian character — that's what I need to tell you about it. I wasn't asked to play an Asian character, you can be very well assured of that," Swinton is quoted as saying.

Duh, well ... not anymore. But the character still wears Asian-inspired clothes, and Dr. Strange still has to travel to Tibet to learn the mystical arts. The Ancient One's "power" seems to derive from his/her mastery of chi, or inner force, much in line with goals or higher levels of consciousness espoused in several Asian religions or martial arts.

UPDATED: Earlier versions of this post did not have the reaction of screenwriter Robert Cargill, which were made to The Guardian after the original posting.

Screenwriter C. Robert Cargill gives an explanation of turning the role the Tibetan monk to a Celtic wizard:  “[The Ancient One is] a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in [a] very weird political place,” he said in an interview for the Double Toasted Podcast, via The Guardian.

“He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he’s Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that’s bullsh*t and risk the Chinese government going, ‘Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We’re not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.’”

But the Chinese haven't erased Tibet as an entity and still recognize it as a identifiable part of their country. And if that's the best Cargill can give as an explanation, consider this: Asian audiences, particularly China's market, identify easier with Asian characters than non-Asian characters.

Cargill went on to say that if they cast the character with a Chinese actress, they risk the ire from other Asians. “If you are telling me you think it’s a good idea to cast a Chinese actress as a Tibetan character, you are out of your damn fool mind and have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about,” he said. “Oh, ‘she could be Asian!’ Asian? She should be Japanese, she should be Indian, really? The levels of cultural sensitivity around this thing is, everyone is staking out their one particular place and not realizing that every single thing here is a losing proposition.”

Elizabeth Bank's Rita Repulsa has been updated
to be more sexy and evil-looking.

AAPI actors didn't have time to recover from this double whammy of whitewashing when pictures were released of actress Elizabeth Banks as the villain Rita Repulsa in the reboot of the Power Rangers.

The character, though not specifically Asian, was an Asian creation using Asian source material. The role has been played historically by actresses of color. In the last live-action movie, Repulsa was played by Filipina/American actress Julia Cortez.

The newest reincarnation of Repulsa has been updated so she doesn't look so comedic in her two-cone headgear. She's a villain, after all.

So what exactly is happening in Hollywood? What happened about all the promises made surrounding #OscarsSoWhite?

Nothing new is happening that hasn't been done before. There have been more white actresses playing Asian women who have won Oscars than there have been Oscars awarded to actual Asian actresses: Luise Rainer, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for playing a Chinese woman named O-Lan in The Good Earth and Linda Hunt, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing male Chinese-Australian photographer Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously. The sole REAL Asian woman to win an Oscar was Miyoshi Umeki  for her supporting role in Sayonara.

RELATED: Hollywood grapples with 'whitewashing' Asian roles - AGAIN!

I'm not sure which disappointed me more: the fact that these actresses were cast in Asian roles or the fact that they agreed to play those roles. I thought better of them.

I could almost understand the casting of Scarlett Johansson. She's one of the most bankable stars around. Her appeal is worldwide, not just in the U.S. Any project she's associated with will earn big bucks. But how will the film explain the existence of a white character as played by Johansson in a futuristic Tokyo and everybody else is Asian?  We'll have to wait and see. 

But Tilda Swinton and Elizabeth Banks? I really like their work but I wouldn't put them in the same category as Johansson. The economic argument for their casting is weaker. Certainly there are Asian/American and Asian actresses who are fully capable of playing any of these roles.

How can any Asian or Asian/American actress get to Johansson's level of popularity and bankability if they are never given the roles that would elevate them to that status? 

"Culturally, I think it is not in our (Asian) nature to confront these types of conflicts, to voice our concerns, to band together to voice our concerns, and that needs to change," Wen said in the panel discussion.

She said that African/Americans were right to protest #OscarsSoWhite and demand more opportunities for African/American actors. Asians should learn a lesson from that. "We have to fight our own fight," said Wen.

Another egregious case of Hollywood whitewashing a person of color

Scarlett Johansson (right) is signed on to play Motoko Kusanigi (left):
 female, check; action hero, check; looks good in black, check; Japanese ... uh, oh!

HERE WE GO AGAIN! 

Last Spring, director/producer Cameron Crowe got lambasted for yellow-facing by casting Emma Stone as a part-Hawaiian, part-Chinese, part-haole character in his movie Aloha. The blonde, freckled, light-skinned actress couldn't convince the audience of her mixed racial heritage. 

In another case of whitewashing, Scarlett Johnasson is being cast as Motoko Kusanigi in the American remake of Masamuni Shirow's anime classic Ghost in the Shell, due to start filming the first quarter of 2016.

It appears that a petition to replace Johansson is being ignored by Dreamworks. Forbes has recently reported that the studio has already made arrangements with Paramount Pictures to co-finance the American big screen adaptation of the cartoon epic "Ghost in the Shell."

The character, Major Motoko Kusanigi, is a cyborg detective who works cybercrime cases. The production company still has the film set in dystopian Japan and cast the rest of the characters as Japanese. The biggest change is the ethnicity of the lead character.

Aren't there enough roles asking for white actresses that Asian actresses cannot auction for? When one of the few roles written for an Asian actress comes around, Hollywood finds it easy to change it by yellow-face casting. Are they going to tape her eyes back and make her wear buck teeth too ala Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's?

Johansson must have impressed Dreamworks honcho Steven Spielberg with her work in Lucy, in which she plays a robot, or her voice in Her, in which she is the disembodied voice for a computer.  

The cartoon character to be
played by Scarlett Johansson
is Japanese.

I get it. Any movie with Johansson is probably going to have big box office appeal. I probably would have less objection to the project if they just took the storyline and set it in an American setting, much like what was done with Magnificent Seven, a takeoff on the Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai.

But to stay true to the original setting and characters in Japan then throw out all pretense by casting Johansson - well, its just so jarring ... and wrong on a number of fronts.

Ghost in the Shell was originally a Japanese manga, a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels aimed at adults as well as children.

The storyline focuses on Section 9, a branch of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission which combats cybercrime and cyberterrorism under the command of purple-haired, bi-sexual cyborg Commander Motoko Kusanagi.

Section 9 is populated by crime fighters with cybernetic implants while Kusanagi has entirely replaced her human body with one that is fully artificial.

The petition reads:

"Fans of the iconic 1995 animated Japanese sci-fi film Ghost in the Shell have been anticipating a live-action remake for years -- but now, instead of casting an Asian actress, Dreamworks has selected Scarlett Johansson for the lead role! The film revolves around Major Motoko Kusanagi, a member of a futuristic security force tasked with tracking a mysterious hacker.

"The original film is set in Japan, and the major cast members are Japanese. So why would the American remake star a white actress? The industry is already unfriendly to Asian actors without roles in major films being changed to exclude them. One recent survey found that in 2013, Asian characters made up only 4.4% of speaking roles in top-grossing Hollywood films.

"Dreamworks could be using this film to help provide opportunities for Asian-American actors in a market with few opportunities for them to shine -- please sign the petition asking them to reconsider casting Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell and select actors who are truer to the cast of the original film!"

If you would like to add your name to the petition, go to care2 petitions.  

At least Crowe saw the error of his casting for Aloha and he issued an apology to his critics. Even Emma Stone is a bit embarrassed for her role in the miscasting. 

RELATED: Why 'Aloha' means 'forget it!"

“I’ve become the butt of many jokes,” says 27-year-old Stone. 

“I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important,” she acknowledges.

If only Johansson and Dreamworks head Spielberg, both purportedly part of Hollywood's liberal community and whom you would expect would be sensitive to the complaint of whitewashing, can understand the conversation referred to by Stone, and learn from that message.

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