Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) slammed the casting of a "white" Scarlett Johansson in the role of Japanese character Motoku Kusanagi who was originally in the manga series. This claim and the casting of Michael Pitt for the role of Kuze (originally named Hideo) surfaced days before the opening weekend of the film.
According to the organization, Johansson was lying because she has declared in an interview in "Good Morning America" that she would never attempt to play the role of a person of a different race. The whitewashing done on the film was highly-condemned by the group.
The "Lucy" star reiterated further in the interview that her casting was in line with what she claimed about playing a different race. She said that for her, the character has no identity whatsoever because she was a human brain in a machinate body as per Mercury News. The fans that will watch the film can attest to her.
However, after watching the film, the MANAA leaders were pissed off and declared that Johansson was lying. In a report by Los Angeles Times, the MANAA claimed that casting the "Avengers" star for the role of Kusanagi was plain "whitewashing." The 32-year-old actress plays Kusanagi who is an Asian heroine. In 2015, a backlash erupted after the announcement of the actress getting the role for Masamune Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell" which the group joined.
They claimed that it is obviously being conveyed that Japanese actors cannot play Japanese roles in Hollywood. The group leader Robert Chan said that there is no reason why Asian heroes like Kusanagi and Hideo cannot be played by Japanese or Asian actors.
He further explained that the original "Ghost in the Shell" was shot in Japan and the new film did not specify its location but obviously some were filmed in Hong Kong. There are many Asian actors who can play the role perfectly well.
On the part of the people behind the film, their defense was first, the fame of Johansson (although it was originally offered to Margot Robbie). Second, they have actors in the film who are of different races. Lazarus Ratuere (Fijian), Takeshi Kitano (Japanese), and Pilou Asbæk (Dane) were cast in the film.
The casting in-charge claimed that "both the original 1989 manga and 1995 animated Japanese film were vague about Major Motoko Kusanagi's original ethnic identity before her brain was placed into the body of a cyborg, this film verifies she was Japanese; her real name, in fact, was Motoko Kusanagi (her cyborg identity, implanted with false memories, was Major Mira Killian)."
The film was released on March 31, 2017. The Scarlett Johansson film is currently running but it recorded a poor performance with $20 million on its opening weekend and $57 million worldwide against a budget of $110 million. According to Vanity Fair, the controversy has hugely affected the influx of moviegoers. The source also wrote that possibly the failure of "Ghost in the Shell" will end whitewashing in the industry.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
