Assignment 16 - Erin

Erin Inouye

AP Language and Composition

Mr. Logsdon

13 December 2017

Whitewashing

I love movies.

No, really.

I. Love. Movies.

I love the experience of getting absorbed into a story, connecting with characters. I love seeing how society is reflected through film. I love picking apart why some movies are so engaging. What makes them like that? How were they made like that? What kind of thinking went into them? What does one movie have that another doesn’t?

Well I can tell you what a LOT of movies don’t have: people of color. Why is that? If the United States is becoming a “minority-majority” then why aren’t we seeing it on screen? Where is the representation?

A major contributor is the ever-mounting issue in Hollywood to cast white actors in place of actors of color. Whitewashing. This problem has been ingrained into the industry almost forever, and most people choose to ignore it. In 1951, the legendary John Wayne was cast to play Mongolian Chief Genghis Khan in The Conqueror. Ten years later, Mickey Rooney would appear in Breakfast at Tiffany’s as Mr. Yunioshi: a fictional Japanese man, who is the epitome of a disgusting stereotype. What makes it even worse? Both of these actors, and plenty others, would be praised for their performances.

And guess what? It gets worse.

Last year brought another link in the Marvel Studios Cinematic Universe: Doctor Strange. And in the pivotal role of the mystical, Tibetan-monk inspired “Ancient One,” was ….Tilda Swinton? Literally one of the whitest actors to ever grace this earth.

This year, 2017 –over half a century after John Wayne in The Conqueror – Hollywood adapted a well-known Japanese manga (or comic) entitled Ghost in the Shell. It follows the story of a “cyber-enhanced human soldier” named Major Motoko Kusanagi. And who better to play this iconic character than …. Scarlett Johannson? Blonde haired, blue eyed, Scarlett Johannson of Danish descent! Playing black haired, dark eyed, Motoko, a Japanese woman!

Now you may have noticed that I get quite impassioned on the topic of whitewashing. It’s mostly because, and this may alarm you, I’m not white. And neither is a large portion of the United States population. The same population consuming the fruits of Hollywood’s labor. So many of us have grown up with almost no representation in the media. Doubly so for people like me: Asian-American women.

We are a diverse nation. The Melting Pot! Minorities make up nearly 40% of the U.S. population (WebTeam), and that percentage is rising. The U.S. Census Bureau expects the minority population to rise to 56% of the total population by 2060 (Wazwaz), thus leading us to really become a “minority-majority” demographically.

This year, the University of California Los Angeles released a Hollywood Diversity Report, with data that has been analyzed and collected from the 2014-2015 box office year. This report found that “people of color purchased 45% of all movie tickets” sold in 2015. That’s nearly half of all of 2015’s movie tickets. That means that almost half of Hollywood’s audience was entirely made up of people of color.

However, when you look at the numbers for who was on screen the same year, it doesn’t seem to add up. Only 13.6% of leading actors in 2015 films were minority races. To put that into even more perspective, the report quantified the amount of diversity in films overall for the year. They found that 38.5% of all films had casts made of 10% or less minority actors.  Think about it like this, if you had a film with 100 characters in it, at its best, only 10 would be people of color. Contrast that with the tiny 7% of all films’ casts were made up of 51% or more minority actors.

Statistics like these elicit a set of defenses from the filmmakers responsible. The most prominent of these defenses goes all the way back to the origins of whitewashing: “We wanted star power.”

They often base their defense on the power of celebrity; the idea that in order to be successful, a film must have a well-known star. Of course, most of these people define success as relative to box office earnings rather than the actual quality of the films and who they affect. In 2014, the release of Exodus: Gods and Kings sparked controversy over the fact that all of the leading roles were ancient Egyptian characters but portrayed by white actors. In response to this criticism, director Ridley Scott was quoted saying “I can’t mount a film of this budget...and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such.” (Hughes) –inadvertently summing up the incredibly racist star power argument.

However, plenty of evidence exists to counter this argument. I hate to break it to directors, but most big name celebrities got their starts as unknowns. The biggests stars –regardless of race– had to begin by receiving an opportunity, and then showing what they were capable of. Before the first X-Men Hugh Jackman had never landed a leading role in a film. Mark Hamill had never done a film before he became Luke Skywalker. And the same goes for actors of color! They just need to be given a chance! The virtually unknown British-Nigerian actor John Boyega was given such a chance in 2015 when Star Wars returned to the big screen. He became one of the new faces of the franchise, and is quickly becoming a household name. The talent is out there!

So then, what can be done to make sure that talent is showcased? If I leave you with anything, let it be this mission: support any film you can find that has actors of color in the leading roles. Or any major roles for that matter. It is the support of the audience that matters. Hollywood is watching for the numbers. It counts what films you choose to purchase tickets for. Look at films like the Academy Award winning Moonlight, with a leading cast entirely made up of African Americans, but it never received a wide theatrical release, and many people will never know of its existence. Find those films. See those films. Support those films. And speak out when you see the injustices of whitewashing. Social media provides such a unique and accessible platform for everyone to share their voice. It makes it so easy to speak up about this kind of issue. Inciting change is at our fingertips. The tide is turning. It’s up to us to turn it on its head.

Works Cited

Hong, Edward. “In Hollywood, Asian American Actors See Few Lead Roles, and Pay Discrepancies When They Land One – LA Times.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2017, www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-hawaii-five-0-asian-actors-20170708-story.html.

Hughes, Jonny. “11 Unknown Actors Who Landed Major Roles.” Goliath, 31 Dec. 2015, www.goliath.com/movies/11-unknown-actors-who-landed-major-roles/.

LastWeekTonight, director. Whitewashing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). YouTube, YouTube, 23 Feb. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XebG4TO_xss.

Levin, Sam. “'We're the geeks, the prostitutes': Asian American actors on Hollywood's barriers.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Apr. 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/11/asian-american-actors-whitewashing-hollywood.

Miss Representation. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Girls’ Club Entertainment, 2011.

Reyes, Mike. “Why Ridley Scott Had To Cast White People As Egyptians, According To Ridley Scott.” CINEMABLEND, CINEMABLEND, 1 Dec. 2014, www.cinemablend.com/new/Why-Ridley-Scott-Had-Cast-White-People-Egyptians-According-Ridley-Scott-68458.html.

Rose, Steve. “'The Idea That It's Good Business Is a Myth' – Why Hollywood Whitewashing Has Become Toxic.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 Aug. 2017, www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/29/the-idea-that-its-good-business-is-a-myth-why-hollywood-whitewashing-has-become-toxic.

Wazwaz, Noor. “It's Official: The U.S. Is Becoming a Minority-Majority Nation.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 6 July 2015, www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/06/its-official-the-us-is-becoming-a-minority-majority-nation.

WebTeam, SSC. “NEW: 2017 Hollywood Diversity Report.” Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, 26 Oct. 2017, bunchecenter.ucla.edu/2017/02/21/new-2017-hollywood-diversity-report/.