The Marvel movie “Dr. Strange” came under racism allegations by casting Tilda Swinton in the role of the Ancient One, a character that is a Tibetan male in the comics. In an email exchange, Tilda Swinton reaches out to Margaret Cho, a Korean-American comedian, and actress, in an attempt to understand why Asian-Americans were offended.
The reason why Tilda Swinton is confused is because “I [was]impressed that, for once, they aimed to disrupt the ‘wisdom must be male’ never-ending story – and, by the way, for once, wanting to feature a woman who’s a badass, over 26 and not simply bursting out of a bikini. The biggest irony about this righteous protest targeting this particular film is the pains the makers went to avoid it.”
Essentially, the problem is this: Asian-Americans asked for an Asian actor (or actress!) to portray a male Asian character. The directors responded by finding a white actress.
Yes, it is forward-thinking to have a woman in a male’s role, but Asian-Americans are asking for a very simple solution: PUT AN ASIAN ON SCREEN!!!
“Ghost in the Shell,” a Japanese manga starred Scarlett Johansson as the main actress. Granted, the main character is a cyborg, so it is a bit hard to tell the race. “Dragon Ball Z” a manga turned into a movie, is not as ambiguous as Ghost in the Shell. Son Goku is based on Son Wu Kong, the Monkey King from Chinese folklore. Emma Stone was cast as a Chinese-Hawaiian in the film “Aloha.”
Typically the argument for not casting Asian leads is because they are not famous enough, and thus people will not come watch the movie. But it’s not like there is no movie industry in Korea, Japan, China, or other Asian countries. If they cast an Asian actor or actress, their over-sea fans will come watch the film. By not casting an Asian in a movie, the backlash ends up hurting its ratings anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DhoBuU1Dtc
Of course, the anger over white-washing is not shared by all Asians. In fact, many Japanese people don’t care at all, or agree that white people should take these roles. Those some points I do agree, because Naruto is a white character with his blonde hair and blue eyes, it is easy for Japanese people not to care about white-washing because they’re always represented in Japan. It is the Asian-Americans that feel frustrated over the lack of representation.
Sources cited:
Tilda Swinton article : https://jezebel.com/tilda-swinton-sent-us-her-email-exchange-with-margaret-1790203875