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Japanese Reactions to the Ghost in the Shell (2017) Movie
- Thread starter Antiochus
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Garrett Hawke
Member
using SJW unironically
using Japan as a pinnacle of understanding race relations
whew op!
using Japan as a pinnacle of understanding race relations
whew op!
Laieon
Member
It doesn't but why does it have to be asian? or female for that matter?
EDIT> Recommented with spoiler tags
Huh? This seems perfectly acceptable, wouldn't you want a Scandinavian role be played by an actual Scandinavian instead of an American for example?
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
That is a good question. It's too bad the movie decided to use it to justify the casting. It didn't take the opportunity to explore identity politics.
Edit: Put a spoiler in my post.
Garrett Hawke
Member
I need this in my bio somewhere
Trickster
Member
His post history paints a pretty clear picture
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
That Kong poster is amazing.
Laieon
Member
At least Japan knows Lalaland truly deserved the win.
...
Chuckie
Member
Wait what?
It depends. For Memoirs of a Geisha they are all speaking in English and its based on a stupid American novel so no one should care. But otherwise, it would look strange if they cast a random Asian actress and fed her awkward Japanese dialogue.
On that note, I love that Quentin Tarantino actually changed Oren Ishi's backstory when he cast Lucy Liu for Kill Bill. Most directors wouldn't give a shit.
Huh, how did I miss your post? I even searched for the title in the thread :/
TatteredHat
Member
Please no.
When you really think about it, Ghost in the Shell was always about a bunch of Cyber Social Justice Warriors.
Chuckie
Member
It's ok though. The people should know Scarjo is stealing all the roles!
it's an adaptation of a story that's set in japan and the character was originally japanese. you're right in that the character could have been anyone - and that would have probably been the smarter way to go about the adaptation - but they chose to specifically use the original character in the original setting. when asian american actors are seriously unrepresented in the western film industry - through either not giving enough specific roles or whitewashing roles elsewhere - a film like this is literally the perfect opportunity to cast correctly. instead they went with scarlett johansson, of which the biggest defence over an asian american actress was that they needed to cast a big star to sell the film
- which has turned out to be a load of shit because it's bombed spectacularly. and seeing as you haven't seen the new film yet - without spoiling too much - it basically internalises this whole argument into the main plot and comes across totally tone deaf as a result. hence the controversy.
BudokaiMR2
Member
Yeah, I could see that happening.
However, I meant more in regards to fan reactions. Wouldn't it then be criticized for just being another example of Asians only getting lead roles when they are type-cast as sexy/cool martial artists? Of course, I don't think the controversy would hit the levels that Scarlett getting casted created, but it seems like it would be a valid complaint considering its another of the core issues with asian-american representation in Hollywood. I'm probably just over-thinking the issue I guess.
Garrett Hawke
Member
deadscreensky
Member
I'm going to disagree that it didn't take the opportunity to do that. They clearly and blatantly tried to do that. The problem is they did it poorly and with no real depth, just like with nearly everything else in the movie, so it has no genuine impact or effect on the viewer.
As a sort of aside, the Major in this film is a truly bizarre take on the character; I have no idea what they were going for. None of the traditional qualities of the character that people like (her professionalism, her intelligence, her confidence, her mysteriousness, in some ways even her sexy robot thing) are present, or at best they are severely and deliberately undercut. I understand shifting a character around, like how Oshii stripped out the Major's humor and sensuality because he disagreed with the manga's statements on 'complex robots', but this Major is just an entirely new character with none of the same appeal in any dimension.
SomedayTheFire
Member
if Denmark is in the Netherlands, sure. but it's not.
Haven't not seen the movie I can't say how much they touched on identity politics, but from my perspective I worked on a cyberpunk video game which the inherent premise of the game was bodies were disposable and consciousness were interchangeable between sex and race. It wasn't really a character driven game so we didn't really dig into the premise of what truly is an identity if bodies are interchangeable but there's different room for it on film or a more character driven game.
I may ramble here but I guess my point is, even disregarding the
body/consciousness
I'm not attached to GITS in the slightest but it's an interesting social construct where someone like Superman is iconic and recognizable character associated as muscle bound Caucasian, black and blue eyes. There'd likely be a fairly big uproar (probably from myself included) if he was depicted on film as anything else.
Perry White is recast as black in Man of Steel? no big deal, his race isn't associated with his character.
Is Scarlett Johanson's character inherently Asian? to the point her
manufactured body
For some, perhaps she is as iconicly Asian as Superman is Caucasian but I don't think she is globally or at least in the US.
Was there this much controversy with the 2013 remake of Old Boy with Josh Brolin? should their have been?
Its not even unusual. Look at the Tekken or Blood: The Last Vampire movies. Even Star Trek.
ronaldthump
Member
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/02/zoe-saldana-nina-simone-black-makeup-film-trailer
its not just asians.
Zoe Saldana copped a lot of heat for taking the role meant for a black actress.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Nowhere in the movie does it say it takes place in Japan, so that one dude's opinion on Asians pretending to be Japanese is irrelevant.
DarthMasta
Member
Asians in countries where there is local movie production aren't going to need to look up to a US movie to see themselves on screen. Sucks for Asian Americans, but it is what it is...
Oh man I should not have trusted my instincts. I could have sworn he was from the Netherlands. My bad. My fault for not double checking. I only even knew that because I got in an argument with my brother who swore she was from South Africa.
Well, the numbers just show, that argument is total rubbish. Scarlett has the star power to keep a niche product selling internationally which a movie like Power Rangers has not. That is also why Ghost made 2-3 times the money Power Rangers did on the international market in the first week alone. So it is actually true, you need somebody to sell the product and everything people made up, is just not supported by facts or numbers.
Casting Scarlett may be the only things they made right, else it would have probably bombed as hard as Power Rangers did.
So anyone could play the Major?
Why is there Japanese everywhere? Roads, signs, everything.
There's quite a bit of Hangul in the film too afaik
SomedayTheFire
Member
honestly when I read your post I was like "yeah, yeah" but something was bugging me and I had to check.
was about to cape for power rangers with regards to budget till i realised they nearly cost the same amount
Chuckie
Member
Ah yes, Copenhagen...beautiful capital of the Netherlands.
There is also Chinese and English. But most of the stuff on roads and city signs are Japanese.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Technically yes. Any Asian actress would have been fine.
The setting was a melting pot of other cultures.
Not particularly. About as much as I'd want them casting an ex-plumber to play one.
This one bomb bombed slightly less than this other bomb. So it somehow completely negates the argument that star power no longer sells movies
If anything, Goku should be Chinese, or an extraterrestrial.
I thought he was a monkey.
I have to imagine that it's terrible Karma to remind people that the Dragonball movie exists.
And nobody cared
That's because they all just went and watched the superior version of the film with Noomi Rapace.
Slightly? Have you seen the numbers on the international market? Ghost will probably make more than twice of the money Power Rangers did and that with a very bad result in the US.
That is some serious star power.
I imagine some Japanese people may be thrilled that the live adaptation of a major Japanese property features a big Hollywood actress.
For the American market, it would have been great if she was portrayed by an Asian actress. I would've liked to see a Japanese lead.
Personally, I often cringe when movies mix up their nationalities. I have no desire to watch Memoires of a Geisha, being an English voiced historical epic with Chinese leads. I don't know if they had any desire to sell the movie in Japan, but the casting shows a fundamental lack of understanding of Japanese culture (Spielberg just shot himself in the foot, etc.).
For the American market, it would have been great if she was portrayed by an Asian actress. I would've liked to see a Japanese lead.
Personally, I often cringe when movies mix up their nationalities. I have no desire to watch Memoires of a Geisha, being an English voiced historical epic with Chinese leads. I don't know if they had any desire to sell the movie in Japan, but the casting shows a fundamental lack of understanding of Japanese culture (Spielberg just shot himself in the foot, etc.).
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