And then they make a black heimdall or talk of making a black james bond and it's all rwarrrgraaorrraage again.

There were a few folks who went ballistic in this forum when the last Fantastic Four came out with a black Johnny Storm.

So, question. Are they the same who go ballistic when they hear "whitewashing", or are people coherent about that sort of stuff ?

I'm very excited about the whole thing really.

It looks appropriate to the original, I'm not worried about dragonball-itis at all. Dragonball is what happens when the director hasn't even seen the original anime, doesn't look like that's the case here at all.

I think she's a great choice, and she looks a lot like the Major really.

wait...

They should´ve hired Colours of Benetton to decide on the protagonist role...........But then again, something like "The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures" would´ve come out.

As long as they don´t make a remake of "Hachi: A Dog's Tale"

Starring........

Uh, guys, this is a matter of representation. Hollywood is a massive entertainment industry with very little room for the north american ethnic minorities to work in. Most roles are already given to caucasian white people, specially main roles, while people of other ethnic groups rarely ever get anything other than secondary roles or villainous roles. Since cinema is culture, it contributes to the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, cultural misunderstandings and social exclusion.

This is the reason why people complain so much about whitewashing, but praise similar sounding situations like turning Valhalla into Space-Magitek-Brazil* or half the Fantastic Four black. It’s the reason why people wanted so much to have caucasian white character and old “white guy who is better at being a kung fu master than chinese people” trope Danny Rand changed into an eastern actor/character.

When you’re white, these kinds of changes may feel like a major loss, but really isn’t because there are so many other white heroes and role models out there. When you’re black/latino/japanese/something else, on the other hand, having a main/hero character be closer to who you are is a much bigger win.

Hollywood, like any other industry, was built on market segmentation and is allergic to changes, because changes are, frequently, a painful and sure way to lose a shitload of money while searching for the new norm.

So while I personally take absolutely no offense on Major Motoko Kusanagi being reworked into “The Major”, I understand why a lot of people, sofa activists or not, are upset.

*Ps.: We Brazilians look like anything, really. I’m caucasian white, my daughter is half-japanese, my girlfriend is of so many different ethnic backgrounds that you guys would be impressed.

I don't think there's a problem with casting ScarJo, but I agree that this can be a vicious cycle. And sadly, it's either Hollywood that doesn't want to break it, or the movie-going public who may only want to watch movies with already famous actors.

Well, to be fair that actually was a more problematic issue just from a story standpoint. They made Johnny black, but not Sue, and so one of them was adopted... I think. I really don't remember much about the movie. But it was more than just changing a character's skin color, it actually was a major change in those characters backstory. Good, bad or neither is a debatable, but it was more than just "argle bargle black". The whole thing was of course rendered entirely meaningless by how bad the movie and everything about it was.

What's next, a "Shaft" remake with Nicholas Cage?

i'd watch that but, he's like my heraldic spirit animal so, my perspective is skewed


How about a Shaft remake with Nick Nolte? what a Mindjob that'd be

Considering Hollywood bemoans that franchises are the new box-office draws and they can't sell a movie on an actor's star-power alone anymore, I think I place the blame more on them than the public actually, though I'm certain at least in a small part the blame lies with them as well.

It's what Falci said above

As it is now, I think the problem lies in considering white the "default race" when casting roles.

When a character is written from the ground up to be of a specific ethnicity they will cast a non-white actor, but these roles are hard to come by and are often mired in stereotypes.

When they write someone to whom their race just isn't a part of their character at all, which I believe is most of them, instead of thinking "We can cast the best actor for this role, whatever race they may end up being", they think "They didn't specify the character's race, that must mean they're white, we'll cast a white actor then".

If they allowed themselves to do genderblind casting on characters where the race doesn't matter at least some of those parts would go to non-white actors, these people would be able to carve a niche for themselves, maybe starting small on TV and eventually when there is a part meant to be played by a certain ethnicity we would have well-known actors that fit the bill.

Johnny Depp may be doing caricatures of native-americans on the big screen on the back of his massive fame now, but he started on the 21 Jump Street series on TV back in 87.

All of that is true, but I'd like to add a touch of optimism, pointing out that there's quite a bunch of black hollywood stars, nowadays, that are regularly cast out of mere charisma and/or acting abilities, to portray characters whose skin colour have no relevancy to the plot.

True, things have improved for black actors, and I guess we should always look on the bright side of life after all.

Other ethnicities could still stand to see some improvement. I hold on to my cynicism because I'm just afraid of people seeing someone like The Rock, who is samoan on his mother's side, always being cast on stuff, and thinking that means, for example, that things are great for pacific islanders on Hollywood. Call that the "It's cold right now therefore climate change is a hoax" effect.


Although, not to end entirely on a sour note, in 2015 we had the very white Emma Stone playing the mixed ethnicity Allison Ng in Aloha, and just the next year there was Auli'i Cravalho of native hawaiian descent playing Moana, even though it was just voice acting and they could've conceivably gotten away with it, and last I heard she was cast on a pilot for NBC. So maybe things really are starting to improve a little in Hollywood.

Trailer music - Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode (Ki Theory remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_1-oylPHjs

Hype + hell yes.