OT: Asian Actors respond to Whitewashing in Doctor Strange
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Hassan_Scarborough — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 10:06 AM)
http://variety.com/2016/film/news/asian-actors-whitewashing-doctor-strange-comic-book-films-1201910076/
With Doctor Strange opening this weekend, the whitewashing controversy surrounding the casting of Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange has resurfaced.
Both director Scott Derrickson and writer Jon Spaihts have defended Swinton, rationalizing that casting a woman in the role of a man was already a diversity choice.
But some Asian visibility groups, notably the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), have rejected these rationalizations, arguing that an Asian woman could have been cast instead of the British actress. As MANAAs former president Guy Aoki noted, whitewashing of Asian comic book characters has happened before, citing The Mandarin (Guy Pearce) in Iron Man
and Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) in The Dark Knight Rises as examples
.
Variety spoke to several Asian actors who have appeared in comic book films and TV shows to discuss whitewashing in the genre.
Benedict Wong, who plays Wong in Doctor Strange, defended his costars casting. Lets champion this as a real piece of diversity, the actor explained, echoing the writers sentiments. We have two strong females leads in Tilda and Rachel [McAdams]. We have Chiwetel [Ejiofor], Mads [Mikkelsen], posh Benedict [Cumberbatch] and not-so-posh Benedict [Wong].
Wong further explained how Derrickson and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige dispelled stereotypes around his own character. The idea of a man servant and tea-making sidekick isnt that appealing, the British Chinese actor said. Scott and Kevin said vehemently were not doing this. And I said, Fantastic, because neither am I.'
Kelly Hu has had the fortune of playing comic book characters true to their Asian origins. (Michael Buckner/Variety/REX/Shutterstock)
Kelly Hu has been fortunate to be cast in roles true to their source material, including Japanese cyborg Lady Deathstrike in X2 and supervillain China White on Arrow. I think its a shame, the Chinese-American actress said of whitewashing. From what Ive been told and what Ive read, its because [studio executives] think that Asian actors and actresses dont pull in the numbers that people arent going to pay to see Asians on screen. With all these borders opening up and movies going global these days, Asians make up a huge part of the population in the world, and I hope that will start reflecting in Hollywood.
Lewis Tan, who stars as villain Zhou Cheng in the upcoming Netflix series Iron Fist, had his own experience with whitewashing.
Although Iron Fist is Caucasian in the comic books, fans pressed Marvel for an Asian lead.
I originally auditioned for the lead and was highly considered for it, but they went a different way, Tan explained. In the original comic, he was a Caucasian guy with blue eyes, blonde hair. I think Finn Jones fits that character very well, so I have no issues with that.
I think there is a large, multicultural, diverse group of people who arent seeing themselves represented the right way, as far as being heroes and love interests. Thats what I do stand for.
When asked about Swinton, Tan responded, Im not the biggest fan of that casting choice. I can see why they wanted to switch it up. Producers, studios, directors, writers theres a lot of voices. I think that an Asian woman wouldve been fantastic cast in that. They said she would be too much of a Dragon Lady or too stereotypical, but I disagree.
Lewis Tan says he was considered for the titular role of Iron Fist, but was cast as villain Zhou Cheng instead. (Katie Jones/Variety/REX/Shutterstock)
Asian actors have played Asian comic book characters in other comic book films: Olivia Munn (who is half-Chinese) portrayed Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse. Vietnamese-American actress Lana Condor portrayed Jubilee in the same film. Over in the D.C. Universe, Japanese-American actress Karen Fukuhara portrayed Katana in Suicide Squad. None of these would be considered major roles.
The one exception is Marvels The Wolverine, which featured Japanese actors in major roles, including Rila Fukushima as Yukio, a female ninja and Wolverines sidekick, and Hal Yamanouchi as Silver Samurai. However, since the story took place primarily in Japan, the use of an Asian supporting cast was a necessity.
By whitewashing the role of The Ancient One in Doctor Strange a film thats going to dominate the box office is a major blow to diversity and visibility, critics argue -
OdumC — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 10:14 AM)
I think the "old asian master" is an overdone cliche anyways. if they had gone that route it would have really made the character seem generic.
Thanks to Batmeh v Supermeh Yawn of Justice, the "S" now stands for Sidekick -
Hassan_Scarborough — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 10:38 AM)
Agreed and what's funny is the article claims most of the Asian actors, particularly, Kelly Hu were "cast perfectly"
Which is a joke. Kelly Hu is English, Chinese, and Hawaiian, not Japanese.
That's probably why China is adamant about certain casting choices.
Just because an actor is "Asian" doesn't automatically make them the right choice. -
yukio14 — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 10:56 AM)
well. the problem with white peoples
they didn't know the diversity of asian people
if you just cast any asian to play the ancient one
it wouldn't do the character justice
you need a tibetan actor
but name any tibetan actor you know
the thing about asian is nationality not race
this race-movie-problem is a only problem to american
asian outside america didn't give a sh*t about this problem
So.Yeah.Um.Pineapple! -
Hassan_Scarborough — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 11:03 AM)
well. the problem with white peoples
they didn't know the diversity of asian people
if you just cast any asian to play the ancient one
it wouldn't do the character justice
you need a tibetan actor
but name any tibetan actor you know
I agree and good point.
the thing about asian is nationality not race
this race-movie-problem is a only problem to american
asian outside america didn't give a sh*t about this problem
But could it be that American born Asian people are the problem?
That they want "diversity" in American cinema when it has been in existence in their native lands for a century? -
yukio14 — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 11:16 AM)
to be honest i would prefer any american actors than asian-american
i don't know how to explain it
maybe because i'm an asian
the way they said things like they're a representative of asian
when they spent all their lives inside america
it make me cringe
diversity is something that an american want, which is good
but why having a white woman as a master in tibet is wrong
isn't that's a diversity ?
So.Yeah.Um.Pineapple! -
Hassan_Scarborough — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 02:26 PM)
to be honest i would prefer any american actors than asian-american
i don't know how to explain it
maybe because i'm an asian
the way they said things like they're a representative of asian
when they spent all their lives inside america
it make me cringe
I totally understand because it's as if American directors cast any Asian person and some are biracial, some don't even share the same heritage as the character they are portraying.
diversity is something that an american want, which is good
but why having a white woman as a master in tibet is wrong
isn't that's a diversity ?
Indeed it is. You have a good point. -
Skaathar — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 02:20 PM)
That's a silly argument. Caucasian people are also not all the same. Some are American, Canadian, British, Australian, German, Russian we don't complain where they're from when they're cast to play a caucasian character as long as they can pull it off. Why should we care which part of Asia an actor is from when they play an Asian character? As long as they look, sound and act the part then I see no issue.
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Flamboyant_Little_Devil — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 11:05 AM)
there's also the political side of it. I don't think the chinese would swallow a tibetan guy playing the Ancient One [and Marvel would lose the chinese market, meaning, less profit].
In other news, Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson are playing portuguese Missionary in an up coming movie [Silence]. I have zero problems with that [and I don't think any portuguese have any sort of issue with it].
The chinese, however, have their [political] reasons.
You're more advanced than a cockroach, ever tried explaining yourself to one of them? -
yukio14 — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 11:24 AM)
if you're an asian you'd hate chinese
to chinese there's no such things as tibetan or taiwanese
if you think i'm exaggerating
just try to find any mention on tibetan people or taiwanese people on chinese media
So.Yeah.Um.Pineapple! -
RealModernMan — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 12:20 PM)
I knew very little about Doctor Strange, so I had no idea they gender swapped the Ancient One and changed his race.
To be honest, had I been a die hard fan of the character, that might have made me angry.
How does it feel to be deconstructed? -
OdumC — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 12:29 PM)
It's just a supporting character, It'd be like getting pissed that Perry White is now black. and amusingly enough, amongst all the talk about "white washing" characters, this little bit or irony slips through the cracks.
http://screencrush.com/442/files/2015/06/chiwetel-mordo-pic.jpg?w=720&cdnnode=1
Baron Mordo, screen vs comics.Thanks to Batmeh v Supermeh Yawn of Justice, the "S" now stands for Sidekick -
Skaathar — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 02:17 PM)
I'm half Asian and half Latino, and I will say that I'm disgusted by all these complaints against racism in casting. I want the studio and the executives to cast the BEST actor they find for a role, without thinking about race at all. Of course, BEST choice would mean you get someone who closely resembles the original character. I don't want them to cast a specific actor/actress just to appease complaints of racism or sexism or whitewashing. So it irritates me to no end when people complain about a movie just because their race wasn't "represented" properly. It's too much "special snowflake" mentality for me. That said, I also hate the fact that the ancient one was changed to female. I prefer they stick to the source material.
So I will complain about the casting choice because they didn't follow the source material. I'll hate on the Mandarin because they completely messed up the character. But I will not complain about it because of "whitewashing". -
brickfire — 9 years ago(November 05, 2016 11:10 PM)
There is a number of black supermen in dc comics now.There is asian wonder- woman and asian bat-man in the new super-man comic book.New super-man is asian.
Oh and this below.There was another asian superman too in the past.
Asian justice league.
By
monitor_earthprime
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Thanks to another site I have figures out what I was remembering. It was The Sino-Supermen from Batman Family. They had Chinese versions of Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Firestorm.
http://s430.photobucket.com/user/monitor_earthprime/media/Global Guardians/Sino-Supermen 3_zps83sie88j.png.html
Thread: EXCLUSIVE: DC's "New Super-Man" Introduces New Bat-Man, New Wonder-Woman
http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?76714-EXCLUSIVE-DC-s-quot-New-Super-Man-quot-Introduces-New-Bat-Man-New-Wonder-Woman/page4
