The first news I heard of this had to do with the upcoming movie of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," which isn't really an anime but is heavily influenced by the style and has to do with Asian culture. This wasn't actually the first movie to be based on an anime and star white people: Speed Racer did it over the summer. But this was the first time that I thought about how problematic it was to have a white person star in a movie based on a cartoon that has Asian characters in it, and soon I started noticing a trend. A few weeks later, my friend told me "Dude, they're making a movie of Dragonball and it's going to have Chow Yun Fat in it." My immediate response was "Sweet! That's so awesome that he's going to play Goku!", but then my friend told me "No, he's playing someone else, the teenager from War of the Worlds is going to play Goku," to which I probably said "What the fuck?" But it didn't stop there: soon I was reading in Giant Robot magazine about how Leonardo DiCaprio was going to produce a live-action movie of Akira. My initial response was "Cool, he's really talented, I bet he'll find some good Japanese actors for it. I mean, it IS set in Tokyo." But then I read about how it was basically going to be a vanity piece for him which he, along with Joseph Gordon Levitt, another great actor, but one who doesn't really fit the character description, is going to star in. The day after I learned about this and spent a good deal of time wondering why this bizarre trend was occurring, my friend told me that Keanu Reeves was going to star in the movie of Cowboy Bebop. When I heard this, it was like a pain in my heart. Cowboy Bebop was one of my favorite anime shows back in the day, and I wish it was being shown more respect.
What, you may ask, is so problematic about this? Well, the answer is pretty straightforward. Anime shows and movies are usually made in Japan by Japanese people, and therefore they are usually about Japanese people as well. People always say that anime characters look white, but this is really just a matter of perception. In America, whiteness is viewed as standard (I could go into why this in itself is problematic, but I'll save that for another time), so generic looking characters are assumed to be white, and non-white characters are usually given distinctive physical features. In Japan, as would be expected, being Asian is viewed as standard, so generic looking characters are assumed to be Asian. Because of this, when white people see a generic looking character in anime they assume that they are white. This is of course a broad generalization, but it has been written about before and makes a lot of sense.
Anyway, it logically follows that if an anime is about Japanese people, and a live action version of it is going to be made, then Japanese people should be cast for it. Well, apparently other people don't think so because of this issue of perception. When white Americans make live action versions of anime shows or movies, they see "standard" characters, assume that these characters are white, and then cast white people for the roles. Again, the fact that white people are all of a sudden all jumping on board to make (presumably) Americanized versions of Japanese movies and shows could in itself be viewed as problematic, but it wouldn't be viewed in this way nearly as much if Japanese people, or at least Asian people, were cast in the leading roles. The reason why this whole situation is fucked up is because it shows how easy it is for white actors to get movie roles compared to Asian actors (and non-white actors in general). Even in movies that are based on Japanese media, set in Japan, and about Japanese people, white people are the stars. This is just beyond ludicrous. I mean, now that Leonardo DiCaprio is going to star in Akira, what's next? Is Tom Cruise going to star in a samurai movie? Is a heavily made-up white guy going to play an Asian Bond villain? Is Ben Kingsley going to play Gandhi in a biopic? Come on, let's not be ridiculous.
Anyway, it's pretty easy to see that the film industry is prejudiced to a startling degree in favor of white people. I wouldn't say this if I was only talking about one movie (even though it's true), but this is more: it's an entire trend in film that's in full force right now. When white people play Asian characters all the time but the reverse is not true nearly as often (to my knowledge, at least), you know that there's absurd amounts of bias within the industry. But even if you don't care about race and you think anyone should be able to play anyone (which even if you think is good is not what the industry is actually like), you have to admit that this whitewashing of Asian media is leading to shittier movies. For one thing, they're just not plausible if you stop to think about them. Avatar and Dragonball are definitely bad in this regard, but Akira is by far the worst. I don't know about you, but I don't think there are very many people with blond hair and blue eyes named Tetsuo who live in Tokyo.
Now, the Cowboy Bebop movie could be considered an exception to this implausibility. For one thing, Keanu Reeves is half Asian. For another thing, the show takes place in outer space, not Japan, and Reeves's character, whose name is the very American/European sounding Spike Spiegle, was born on Mars, which could mean anything in terms of his race. But even with the plausibility significantly increased, Keanu Reeves is a terrible actor. It's bad enough that he just destroyed one of my favorite 50s sci-fi movies, but now he has to ruin one of my favorite Anime shows. In the original show, Spike was an incredibly compelling character, but Keanu Reeves has never been compelling in his life (well, except for when he played Ted Theodore Logan). The reason why I say that Cowboy Bebop deserves more respect is not because of any issues of representation; I simply think it should star someone who is talented enough to play Spike.
This isn't the only case where a sub-par (well, in this case half) white actor has beaten (presumably) talented Asian actors for a role. Jim Sturgess, the British guy from Across the Universe, was supposedly chosen to play an Asian person in the movie 21 because "producers simply sought the best actor for the job, regardless of race. Ultimately, this meant passing over many Asian American talents in favor of London born Jim Sturgess, who required a dialect coach to speak with an American accent." Seriously? A white British guy who needed a dialect coach to even sound like the character was chosen to play an Asian American character, even though tons of people who both looked and sounded like the character auditioned for the role? Even if Sturgess was the best actor overall who auditioned (which I doubt was the case), was he really "the best actor for the job" if he didn't fit the character description at all and required special treatment in order to play the part? I don't buy it, and if the producers of the Dragonball or Cowboy Bebop movies tried to use this argument on me I wouldn't buy it either. Keanu Reeves? That whiny dude from War of the Worlds (no, not Tom Cruise, the other one)? They were really the best actors you could find? I doubt it. The only case where I might buy this argument is with Akira. I think that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt are both insanely talented actors, and that in many cases they would be better than anyone else auditioning for a part. But in the case of Akira, we run into the issues of representation and plausibility again. I'm sorry, but it's just wrong to have DiCaprio and Levitt be the stars of a movie set in Tokyo, unless it's a remake of Lost in Translation or something (which I probably wouldn't want to watch anyway). Maybe they'll set the movie in a different city to make it more believable, but if that were the case then so much would be lost. The movie would be taken completely out of context and lose lots of meaning, which happens a lot when cultural artifacts are appropriated.
And again, the real problem in this case that arises from cultural appropriation is that it is obviously so much easier for white actors to get movie parts than Asian actors. If Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt were chosen over Asian actors to play characters whose race was not already specified then that wouldn't really be a problem; I would totally believe that they were the best actors for the job and I would probably be excited for the movie and want to go see it (I can't say the same thing for Keanu though). But I'm not excited for the remake of Akira, even though I love the original movie and both actors who will star in it. I think it's absurd and unfair that DiCaprio and Levitt have been cast for the movie, which will be much less authentic and much more removed from the original as a result.
0 comments :: Why, Leo, Why?
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