My producer and actor Jennifer Soo (who plays Laura Yip in our film FOR IZZY) mentioned to me earlier in the week about commenting on the recent controversy over Scarlett Johansson’s casting as Motoko Kusanaki in a live action adaptation of the Japanese anime GHOST IN THE SHELL (http://variety.com/2015/film/news/scarlett-johansson-signs-on-to-star-in-dreamworks-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-1201320788/). Not to mention rumors of Dreamworks and Paramount testing visual effects to make the white actors appear more Asian (http://screencrush.com/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-scarlett-johnasson-vfx/).
I just want to make my own films. I don’t normally soapbox much about racial politics. But sometimes these issues need to be discussed.
And in thinking about what to say when it comes to the persistent whitewashing of roles in mainstream films, I’m reminded of Einstein’s refrain “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
When was the last time that aged well? Mickey Rooney’s yellow face role in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S is a part of his legacy, even if he expressed regret near the end of his life for having taken the role in the first place. I mean, have blackface and minstrel shows aged well?
In the 1960s and earlier, films such as BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, BEN HUR, CLEOPATRA, THE KING AND I, and countless other historical epics used white actors to play non-white lead roles.
But that was the 1960s. That was fifty years ago.
And yet, these cynical casting choices seem to stem from applying a mid-20th century business model to 21st century audiences. Over and over again. Even when they’ve stopped working and even worse, when these bad decisions receive more blow back than they ever have before.
In certain large markets like China and India, home grown movies are competing if not outdoing “Hollywood” in terms of box office receipts (and likely far more profitable given that the production and marketing costs are lower). In the US and abroad, there’s a market for adult fare – which has moved into episodic television (which has seen a diversity of stories, characters and casting choices that reflect the 21st century).
The audiences and world have changed and evolved, yet the gatekeepers of mainstream “Hollywood” fare are stuck in the 1960s mode of thinking. Big (white) stars are necessary. Big audiences are necessary. And an unconscious bias that white American culture is the status quo when even in their everyday lives in west LA, they only need to look around to see that that’s no longer a reality. It’s perhaps why the box office potential of STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON was severely underestimated by the studio that helped produce it. It’s like they forgot that hip hop, one of the biggest cultural movements globally over the past 30 years, a movement led overwhelmingly by African-Americans, has become mainstream fare not only in suburban America, but in the hookah lounges in Lebanon, dance halls in northern England, and the streets of Vietnam.
So why does this whitewashing of roles continue to be a persistent problem?
Because the main rationale behind whitewashing in casting is a profoundly cynical one: the illusion of short-term money. Yes, the gatekeepers may know that chances are it won’t age well. That it’s not “whitewashing” but “star washing” – that these stars are “brands”.
But it’s also incredibly bad and misguided business sense.
Products don’t create brands or loyalty. The relationship with the customer does. Branding works when the buyer (the audience) believes in something to be authentic and not just a cynical cash grab. Audiences can sense when you’re trying to pull a fast one on them. And whitewashing is just one of those disingenuous and cynical decisions – few if any audiences will love it (“yes, I’m so happy they cast a white person as an Asian!”), many may be indifferent or unaware of it, and some if not a lot will be angry about it (and outspoken about their anger).
Scarlett Johansson is a star. But that doesn’t mean Scarlett Johansson in yellow face or black face is going to make a movie sell tickets.
It’s a cynical decision to protect one’s downside, applied to something (whitewashing casting) that only has downside.
It’s like doubling down on an already shitty investment idea.
This is Business 101, but then again, the brightest business minds in the world aren’t working in the entertainment industry (you hear complaints of Hollywood being taken over by MBAs, but if you poll any class at Harvard, Stanford or Wharton, hardly anyone is clamoring to work as an assistant to the mail room clerk at William Morris or CAA because they can actually manage a product at Google, Apple or Facebook). The best business minds are a few hundred miles up the coast in the Silicon Valley, or in newer companies rooted in tech culture like Netflix and Amazon (I don’t think it’s coincidence that American episodics featuring such diverse casting in ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, MASTER OF NONE, and TRANSPARENT were acquired by these very companies – they’re using Big Data to create new products and services, and not to cynically protect what they are terrified to lose – a version of a 1960s Hollywood business model that is no longer relevant).
That’s why this whitewashing phenomenon especially in mainstream feature films is really a sign of the end of Hollywood itself. The decision makers haven’t run out of ideas, but of hope. They are too cynical to believe that there’s a new way to make films. A new way to tell stories. And new stories to emerge altogether.
The major studios and television networks today will become like IBM, Yahoo! and Microsoft – they’ll still be around in the future, but nowhere near as relevant, necessary or at the forefront of the most engaging, creative, and innovative stuff out there.
And that’s a beautiful thing. Even in the most dire of circumstances, the greatest storytelling comes from an inspired place, not a cynical one. And we need to make room for new voices.