TENTINDO: Scarlett Johansson perpetuates Hollywood yellowface in “Ghost in the Shell” casting

This week, Scarlett Johansson and the filmmakers behind the upcoming movie “Ghost in the Shell” fell under criticism for the decision to cast Johansson in a role as an Asian woman. The movie, produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, is still set to be released in 2017 despite this criticism.

Johansson was cast as the cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi in the film adaption of the popular Japanese anime and manga series — a Japanese character. Much of the criticism surrounding Johansson was directed toward casting a white woman in the lead role of a uniquely Japanese story.

Unfortunately, the casting of white actors for Asian roles is still very prominent. This practice, referred to as “yellowface,” is seen in Hollywood and the media as a whole in countless instances. Only recently, Emma Stone played a half-Hawaiian woman in the movie “Aloha,” and the actors in a 2014 episode of “How I Met Your Mother” all tried to look more stereotypically Asian as a riff on samurai movies.

Yellowface is widespread and hardly frowned upon in Hollywood. Many studios have cast white actors in Asian roles, and this is a part of a larger problem of whitewashing films. When white actors take roles from people of color, it not only ruins the chances for brilliant actors to showcase themselves in big movies, but it also presupposes that people of color cannot star in these potential blockbuster films, which is an absurd notion.

Whitewashing is founded on the belief that white actors appeal to the mass market, and therefore must be cast as leads in said potential blockbusters. This idea is not only racist, but actively reinforces notions of white ideals. When the media does not portray roles of color, it only perpetuates the idea that movies with white roles are the only commercially successful movies, which is completely false. See: “Straight Outta Compton” and “Creed.”

To defend whitewashing is to say that white people are better at playing people of color than people of color. Whitewashing roles is disappointing because it takes away opportunities to increase the diversity of the predominately white landscape of Hollywood.

In many ways, Hollywood changes much later than the rest of the country. Reliant on formulas proven to entertain, it is hard for the industry to break from the binds of history. As the number of actors of color grows, so does the inability of these actors to crack into stardom with successful films. The industry does not want to risk making a movie — particularly a lesser-known story like “Ghost in the Shell” — without bankable and trusted actors, almost all of whom are white.

This points to another issue with whitewashing. Whenever it occurs, it is never really resolved. Activists on social media blame the makers of the movies, who in turn blame the industry itself and the culture of the consumer — an intangible enemy. The buck needs to stop somewhere, because at this point in time, the movie and entertainment industries often shove the blame off of themselves and act as if they are under contract to not cast people of color. In reality, whitewashing is a choice — a choice that will hopefully become less and less acceptable.

Studios have denied rumors that the producers played with CGI to make Johansson’s appearance appear more Asian, but the rumors are upheld by ScreenCrush, which published an exclusive on the alleged CGI. This quickly began trending and spread online. Despite the studio’s denial, “Ghost in the Shell” has already damaged its reputation. The rhetorical question, “Could they really not find any Asian actresses?” is easily answered with a simple “no.” In fact, many actresses were proposed online after Johansson’s image was released.

This problem is larger than Johansson’s casting. Whitewashing a Japanese story and character is something that studios should not even consider. In the future, studios should trust actors of color with bigger film roles. While some may cry out that these roles should not be handed to an actor solely due to their race, in reality, the roles will be given to talented actors who increase the diversity of stories told in the entertainment industry. In fact, the negatives of whitewashing are so extreme and situational that it is hard to imagine that the entertainment industry still considers it an acceptable practice.