Whitewashing in Hollywood

Whitewashing is the casting of white actors in the roles of minority characters. In recent years, this practice has drawn negative attention through social media channels and professional news outlets.

History

Although attention has only recently been drawn to whitewashing, there have been many instances of whitewashing Asian characters through American film history. Examples date back to 1937 when Louise Rainer as a Chinese farmer in “The Good Earth” and 1944 with Katherine Hepburn as a Chinese woman in “Dragon Seed”. In 1956 John Wayne played Genghis Khan in “The Conqueror” and Marlon Brando played a Japanese interpreter in “The Teahouse of the August Moon.” More famously, Mickey Rooney played I.Y. Yunioshi in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in 1961.

Mickey Rooney, a white actor, playing a Japanese character in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Recent Whitewashing and Public Response

More recently, Emma Stone played the role of a mixed-race Asian character in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha. After months of backlash Stone released a statement saying “I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important”. The media continued to criticize her and Crowe despite this.

Emma Stone as a mixed-race Asian character in Aloha (2015).

Additionally, Scarlett Johansson has been cast to play Motoko Kusanagi in “Ghost in the Shell” which caused a large dispute on Twitter. Ming-Na Wen, most famously known for voicing Disney’s Fa Mulan, tweeted “Nothing against Scarlett Johansson. In fact, I'm a big fan. But everything against this Whitewashing of Asian role." There was even a petition launched in 2015 that aimed to have Johansson removed from the role that gained over 65,000 signatures . In the upcoming release of Doctor Strange, The Ancient One, an Asian male character, will be played by Tilda Swinton, a white actor. The directors of the movie defended their choice in saying that casting a woman in a male role was already to increase diversity but this excuse is not valid to many Asian visibility groups.

Implications

Many producers and directors brush off the use of white actors in Asian roles in television and often relate it back to what will sell the best in theatres. Whitewashing has many social implications that must be weighed more heavily than economics. The practice of whitewashing Asian characters in film is problematic because it emanates Eurocentrism, construction of the other, and ultimately racism.

Eurocentrism

Eurocentrism is the “discursive tendency to interpret the histories and cultures of non-European societies from a European (or Western) perspective". As far back as the fifth century B.C.E., a Greek historian refers to Asians as barbaric and “despite splendid architecture, lack European individuality”. In the Western World, European or American perspectives are taken as the default for many things, such as history. History classes in the United States typically follow a single narrative on injustices such as the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the slavery of African Americans. One US History textbook was found to have a caption reading “The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations”. These single eurocentric perspectives are reiterated not only through history books but the news and film. It creates a narrative that only white Americans can contribute to. This leads to minority actors in supporting roles as sidekicks and stereotypes.

Construction of the Other

It is apparent through Western culture that white is widely accepted to be the standard or the default. Any other racial group is a subset of this and is defined by the features that deviate from the standard and set the group apart. Features of customs that do not fall under the European umbrella are considered to be weird and different, hence being categorized as other. Othering minorities also robs them of their “defining characteristics of the ‘Same’, reason, dignity, love, pride, heroism, nobility, and ultimately any entitlement to human rights”. This explains why film is primarily composed of white actors (73% in 2014). The white narrative is considered standard and any actor that isn’t white would not be able to suitably fill the role. This leaves only minor roles based on stereotypes for minorities. Even when lead roles are specific to minority groups, minority actors often still do not get the role.

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