![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Whitewashing of Akira
And once again, Hollywood gives Kikuchi reason to bang his head against the wall...
(For non-Haru fans, that's a reference to my "Comeback" series fanfics set in the Haru wo Daiteita universe.)
Warner Brothers is producing a live action version of the classic sci-fi anime Akira--great, right? Well, no, actually it's not so great. Jamie at Yellow Peril reports on his blog that WB is changing the setting from Neo Tokyo to Neo Manhattan, and has a link to a video by Prince Gomolvilas which provides a humorous suggestion on how to handle the whitewashing of Akira. (This is the same guy who did the 21 Reasons on Why This Movie [21] Sucks, which was also hysterically funny.)
Racebending.com provides further information, reporting that the actors being courted for the main roles are Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy (for Tetsuo), and Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix (for Kaneda). And gee, guess what? None of those actors are Asian! Now why does this sound familiar...? *koff* The Last Airbender *koff koff*
One might argue, "But gee, if it's set in Manhattan, why shouldn't the main characters be white?" Here's Racebending.com's reply, which pretty much says everything that I would have said, worded a bit more logically and eloquently:
Given the current lack of lead roles for actors of color in the science fiction genre, the complex characters of Akira would be a great opportunity for Asian American actors. Last year, a Racebending.com volunteer ran a count of the 241 Warner Bros movies from 2000 to 2009 and found that only 2% had an Asian first-billed lead. Aside from The Matrix trilogy starring Keanu Reeves, the majority of films with Asian leads starred Asian nationals like Jet Li and Rain.I think it sucks that they're changing the setting of Akira, because it does play a major role in the story, and the change comes off as merely an excuse to justify casting white actors in the lead roles because, y'know, Americans can't relate to Asians. Ooh wait--except that some of us Americans are of Asian descent, but I guess we don't count as "real" Americans! But if they are going to change the setting and whitewash the cast, then I wish they would at least change the names of the characters too, because honestly, I think it's kind of dumb to have Robert Pattinson and Justin Timberlake playing characters named Tetsuo and Kaneda. In fact, as Angry Zen Master suggests, why don't they just change the name of the damn movie to Steve?
Although Asian American actors are sometimes cast as supporting actors in films like this month’s Sucker Punch, they still struggle for representation in leading roles in Warner Bros. films. If not in a film called Akira, for characters named Kaneda and Tetsuo, when will Asian Americans get to star in a Warner Bros film?
In contrast, even though 40% of movie tickets are purchased by people of color, 90% of the films released by Warner Bros between 2000 and 2009 featured a white lead.
Because one out of every 10 modern-day Manhattanites are Asian American (Lower Manhattan is 41% Asian,) it would make just as much sense–if not more sense, given the names “Kaneda” and “Tetsuo”–for the leads to be Asian American as it would for the leads to be white. Tetsuo and Kaneda should be cast with Asian American leads.
And why is it when there is a hit movie with a non-white cast and/or leads such as Joy Luck Club or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Slumdog Millionaire, or even Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Hollywood never seems to think, "Hey, let's make more of these kinds of movies," or at least, "Hey, maybe we have an untapped market here that we should explore," but instead seems to regard them as exceptions to the rule and just goes back to making the same old movies with the same old (mostly white) casts?
That's a rhetorical question, mostly--I just felt the need to vent. And Kikuchi feels the need to point out in a wry voice, "Well, at least I'm not losing the role to Keanu Reeves this time!" (Although Kikuchi is too old to play either of the lead roles, since they're supposed to be teenagers--although most of the proposed actors are well past their teens, too. By that standard, Onozuka and Miyasaka would be eligible, if the producers were willing to hire actual Japanese actors--and if they were real people instead of manga characters. ~_^)
no subject
They never learn, do they...
no subject
The best thing I can say about the whole debacle is that at least Keanu has nothing to do with it!
no subject
no subject