Issue of Asian American Representation in Movies

The Media Issues Surrounding Asian American Inclusion in Films

The writing addresses the media issues surrounding Asian American inclusion in films. It investigates incidents that occurred prior to the Super Bowl performance, which was to star well-known artists such as Beyoncé and Coldplay. Over the aforementioned era, the pair received a great deal of criticism for their newly released music video, Hymn for the Weekend. The explanation for this is that it stole a significant portion of Indian culture in the song, which did not please the bulk of their followers. As if that was not enough, during the Academy Awards which was branded Oscars So White, the notable comedians; Ali G and Chris Rock cracked jokes that seemed rather anti-Asian. The latter attracted a lot of condemnation from the Asian American actors such as Sandra Oh and Ang Lee and the directors who attended the function. All these coupled with Ghost Whitewashed in a Shell just worsens the issues on Asian American films. I plan to use this article to make it serve as a key to understanding the reason as to why the movie director decided to cast Scarlett and not Major Kusanagi Motoko.

Chow, K. (2016). Why Won’t Hollywood Cast Asian Actors? The New York Times.

In the events that the movie, Ghost Whitewashed in a Shell did not cast Major Kusanagi Motoko as its leading role player, one of the critical questions that Asians had was the reason behind it. According to them, Hollywood was not for the idea of casting Asian actors and not just Major Motoko. Their concern is genuine since the anime was of Asian origin it was preferable to use an actor of Asian descent. This article was featured in The New York Times magazine in the United States of America by Keith Chow on April 22, 2016. Just knowing that it is of American origin means that the pressure from the people was too great for Hollywood movie directors to handle so they might have decided to call for a press gathering to address the issue in the hope of calming the heightened controversies. It discussed the fact that it was quite difficult to be an Asian American actor in Hollywood and speaks volumes of the disappointment that such actors get when Asian roles are given to the whites. I intend to use this article to explain the feeling of those whitewashed in Hollywood movies and the controversy regarding the same.

Cohen, D. S., & Taylor, R. (2017). The Art of Ghost in the shell.

Movies that turn out interesting make people wonder of the manner in which the events behind the scenes might have been, and that is what this article gives. The artwork behind the creation of a movie may be a time fascinating more than the film itself, so some of the people opt for the events behind the scenes before the compilation of the movie. According to most of the critics about the movie, Ghost Whitewashed in a Shell, it had an incredible artwork that drove them to watch the film itself. I would prefer to include this article in my writing owing to the high tension caused by the whitewashing that Scarlett did in a movie that was initially meant to cast Major Motoko as its main cast. I opt for it as I feel that it will be a great way to calm the heightened controversy developed by almost all the audience about the film. Also, I chose this article that it will assist in bringing my point of view clearly in the essay I intend to write.

Robinson, C. K. (2016). Role whitewashing. Guardian (Sydney), (1731), 11.

The article gives a profound exploration of the roles that whitewashing plays in movies. Often, the audience major on adverse impacts that whitewashing has and forget to look at the positive side of it. Every community in a particular locality is recognized for its cultural practices say the Asians and so if a person from another continent can try to play their roles and do it perfectly, then it’s a great way of appreciating the people’s culture. In so doing, the audience get to know the history behind certain traditions by the community emulated in the movie since the film brings them to the limelight for individuals to learn about them. Also, it is used as a way of instilling curiosity in the audience so that they develop a deep urge to watch to movie. This is because they are eager to see how the whitewashing character turns out. I intend to use it to explore the reasons behind the whitewashing practice. However, the limitation of the article is that it does not work on quelling the controversy the people may be having regarding the whitewashing of characters in movies.

Thakur, H. (2017). A Shell without A Ghost: Ghost in the Shell (2017).

Despite the negative criticism that the movie got from a broad audience, there are still some of those that thought it turned out just fine even though there was an arguably feminist stand in it. This article by Thakur explains how the movie became a landmark the time it was released and how it had people in several places talking about it. It is common for women to get fascinated with movies knowing that the leading cast is a woman and they make it their source of inspiration which might have served to give the movie positive criticism. The features of the movie such as that of animation turned out fantastic even though it was produced on a small budget. The film A Shell without A Ghost was a movie that was produced in 1995 which featured a female cast in lead role playing which makes it relevant to Ghost in the Shell that was released in the recent years. The duo seems as though they are a replica of one another and it was the reason I chose to mirror Ghost in the Shell with A Shell without A Ghost. The only limitation with the latter is that the quality of the movie is incompatible to Ghost in the Shell which may be attributed to technological advancement in the film industry.