Whitewashing In Hollywood
In the past decade, commendable efforts to diversify and include more minorities in Hollywood and TV admittedly have been made, in terms of race as well as sexuality, gender and disabilities. Nonetheless, Hollywood’s ingrained practice of whitewashing, or casting of white actors to play historically non-white characters, continues. Whitewashing, as well as erasure of LGBT and disabled characters, indicates Hollywood’s lack of acceptance for minorities. When whitewashing first originated during the beginnings of Hollywood, it was a direct insult to people of color (POC). In cult classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s, actor Mickey Rooney portrays a Japanese man as buck-toothed and squinty eyed, reinforcing the negative Japanese stereotypes that were
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rampant after World War II. The practice of whitewashing was originally designed to keep positive depictions of minorities out of Hollywood. However, many directors still justify whitewashing by claiming that casting a well known white actors draws a bigger audience. Consequently, POC are vastly underrepresented in Hollywood. A 2015 USC study found that 73 percent of all roles in 2014 movies were white and only 0.4 percent of all speaking or named characters were gay or bisexual. Even efforts to diversify sometimes fail to be truly inclusive. For example the Stonewall movie, which attempted to pay homage to the LGBT rights movement, instead pushed the founders who were trans women of color into minor roles and featured white, gay males.
Moreover, moviemakers purposefully omit certain traits that may weaken the image of an idealistic white male character. For instance, The Imitation Game, a biopic about World War II hero Alan Turing does not indicate anything about Turing’s autism. Though the movie could have positively represented autism, which is rare in Hollywood, the opportunity was wasted.
Subtle whitewashing continues to permeate Hollywood, even in high profile productions.
The Hunger Games trilogy whitewashed two of the main characters, yet this went mostly undetected by audiences, particularly by those who had not read the books in which the movies were based upon. In the books, Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne are characterized as having “olive skin,” which is most common among Asian and Latin American people. However, the casting calls were open to only Caucasian actors. Casting white actors into the roles of the protagonists diminishes the underlying theme of racial tensions originally found in the books. The directors may have chosen Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth as the main characters because they, in general, think that investing in high profile actors will make the movie more successful.
Even today, defenders of Ghost in the Shell argue that the Japanese main character, Major, could be portrayed as Caucasian because her brain is placed into a cyborg body. Creators then cast Scarlett Johansson as the main character, but still chose to use CGI to alter her facial features, specifically her eyes to look more Asian. Also, the movie is set in Neo-Tokyo but features very few Japanese people, using the Japanese aesthetic without using Japanese people. The movie appropriates and profited off of Asian culture, or at least attempted to, without paying respects where they are
due.
More recently, people have been recognizing and protesting the lack of minority representation as well as praising diverse films, indicating that we are transitioning into a more socially aware society. Criticism of whitewashing was spread throughout social media with hashtags such as #OscarsSoWhite and #NotMyStonewall. Moreover, revivals of old movies that incorporate more POC is also a popular trend, as seen with the success of movies such as Annie and Star Wars, both of which feature a more diverse cast than the original works. The 2014 remake of Annie featuring an African American Annie, who is a stark contrast from the original fair-skinned Annie, grossed $133 million. Additionally, the Power Rangers remake stars an Indian Pink Ranger, a black and autistic Blue Ranger, a Latina and bi-curious Yellow Ranger and an Asian Black Ranger.
Even children’s TV shows are including different types of characters. In addition to cartoons such as Gravity Falls and Steven Universe that feature canonically gay, colored characters, Sesame Street featured its first autistic character Apr. 10. Exposing children to different types of people may teach them about tolerance and acceptance at a young age.
Although there are long ways to go to fully diversify Hollywood, the ongoing discussion about racism, homophobia and ableism in the industry will hopefully push towards a more equal film world. As a whole, audiences have become more critical and aware of the lack of minority representation in media and continuing to call it out will persuade producers to cast more minority actors and actresses and properly portray various cultures in movies.
rampant after World War II. The practice of whitewashing was originally designed to keep positive depictions of minorities out of Hollywood. However, many directors still justify whitewashing by claiming that casting a well known white actors draws a bigger audience. Consequently, POC are vastly underrepresented in Hollywood. A 2015 USC study found that 73 percent of all roles in 2014 movies were white and only 0.4 percent of all speaking or named characters were gay or bisexual. Even efforts to diversify sometimes fail to be truly inclusive. For example the Stonewall movie, which attempted to pay homage to the LGBT rights movement, instead pushed the founders who were trans women of color into minor roles and featured white, gay males.
Moreover, moviemakers purposefully omit certain traits that may weaken the image of an idealistic white male character. For instance, The Imitation Game, a biopic about World War II hero Alan Turing does not indicate anything about Turing’s autism. Though the movie could have positively represented autism, which is rare in Hollywood, the opportunity was wasted.
Subtle whitewashing continues to permeate Hollywood, even in high profile productions.
The Hunger Games trilogy whitewashed two of the main characters, yet this went mostly undetected by audiences, particularly by those who had not read the books in which the movies were based upon. In the books, Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne are characterized as having “olive skin,” which is most common among Asian and Latin American people. However, the casting calls were open to only Caucasian actors. Casting white actors into the roles of the protagonists diminishes the underlying theme of racial tensions originally found in the books. The directors may have chosen Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth as the main characters because they, in general, think that investing in high profile actors will make the movie more successful.
Even today, defenders of Ghost in the Shell argue that the Japanese main character, Major, could be portrayed as Caucasian because her brain is placed into a cyborg body. Creators then cast Scarlett Johansson as the main character, but still chose to use CGI to alter her facial features, specifically her eyes to look more Asian. Also, the movie is set in Neo-Tokyo but features very few Japanese people, using the Japanese aesthetic without using Japanese people. The movie appropriates and profited off of Asian culture, or at least attempted to, without paying respects where they are
due.
More recently, people have been recognizing and protesting the lack of minority representation as well as praising diverse films, indicating that we are transitioning into a more socially aware society. Criticism of whitewashing was spread throughout social media with hashtags such as #OscarsSoWhite and #NotMyStonewall. Moreover, revivals of old movies that incorporate more POC is also a popular trend, as seen with the success of movies such as Annie and Star Wars, both of which feature a more diverse cast than the original works. The 2014 remake of Annie featuring an African American Annie, who is a stark contrast from the original fair-skinned Annie, grossed $133 million. Additionally, the Power Rangers remake stars an Indian Pink Ranger, a black and autistic Blue Ranger, a Latina and bi-curious Yellow Ranger and an Asian Black Ranger.
Even children’s TV shows are including different types of characters. In addition to cartoons such as Gravity Falls and Steven Universe that feature canonically gay, colored characters, Sesame Street featured its first autistic character Apr. 10. Exposing children to different types of people may teach them about tolerance and acceptance at a young age.
Although there are long ways to go to fully diversify Hollywood, the ongoing discussion about racism, homophobia and ableism in the industry will hopefully push towards a more equal film world. As a whole, audiences have become more critical and aware of the lack of minority representation in media and continuing to call it out will persuade producers to cast more minority actors and actresses and properly portray various cultures in movies.