SuperStiltzkin
Member
There is something wrong with a white woman playing a lead character with an unmistakably Japanese first and last name.
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Ghost in the Shell has Changed the Name of its Main Character
- Thread starter LordOfLore
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There is something wrong with a white woman playing a lead character with an unmistakably Japanese first and last name.
4 is a cutie
Banned
GITS has nothing to do with emotional race swaps
At the very least this movie appears to be GITS-adjacent
Yeah. I really don't get how going the King of Fighters way would be a better compromise.
MY NAME IS TOTALLY KYO KUSANAGI, GUYS
formasymphonic
Member
all the current marketing has implied that this is going to be a "who am I" story.
I'm not going to dive into whether thats what GitS is at its core
But the current speculation is that ScarJo is "Mira Killian" now and will... 'discover' that she was once actually Motoko Kusanagi.
If so there is probably someone somewhere patting themselves on the back for coming up with that and thinking that they've come up with a great plot-twist and are actually somehow honouring the source material by doing this.
...Meanwhile what they are actually doing is salting what was a whitewashed casting wound as it is.
I'm not going to dive into whether thats what GitS is at its core
, (for me its not).
If so there is probably someone somewhere patting themselves on the back for coming up with that and thinking that they've come up with a great plot-twist and are actually somehow honouring the source material by doing this.
...Meanwhile what they are actually doing is salting what was a whitewashed casting wound as it is.
Well, realistically, "Motoko" would be absolutely murdered by american pronunciation of japanese. At least they chose a name that is easier to pronounce while also being still pretty japanese.
Of course, it's unfortunate that it had to be changed, but all things considered I would say it's a net positive. My ears will be thankful and, at the end, it's just a name. Motoko's name could have been any other and the original story would be the same.
Of course, it's unfortunate that it had to be changed, but all things considered I would say it's a net positive. My ears will be thankful and, at the end, it's just a name. Motoko's name could have been any other and the original story would be the same.
English dubs have always called her Major almost exclusively, I see no reason why they couldn't here as well
GITS has everything to do with human-technology interaction and how we deal with those situations. Like, there have been multiple episodes of the show about that kind of thing
SuperStiltzkin
Member
Yeah. I really don't get how going the King of Fighters way would be a better compromise.
MY NAME IS TOTALLY KYO KUSANAGI, GUYS
Don't even have to dig that deep.
Didn't fly when Emma Stone was playing a half asian Allison Ng. It shouldn't fly here either. Changing the name is for the best.
navii
My fantasy is that my girlfriend was actually a young high school girl.
Her ghost was probably Japanese, but the shell could have been any sort of white or anything with a light skin complexion. Hell, it's a fucking robot, they could have made it any mix of racial features. So I'm ok with that. I can still believe the story, but changing the name means it's not Motoko anymore and loses the magic of gits for me. It's a mess. I hope it gets explained in the movie's plot.
Mira and Major seem to have the same mouth movement when you say those words, so they can still change them.
Mira and Major seem to have the same mouth movement when you say those words, so they can still change them.
Not to mention that with the technology they could actually recreate "Motoko Kusanagi" and given her that body.
Shogmaster
Member
Very good question
It seems like the plot is about them deceiving her about her past, so it would actually make sense that they'd create a completely different body.
Japanese audiences? They seem to be cool with it.
That and Western audiences unfamiliar with the source material.
Dark Ninja
Member
The general audience
SuperStiltzkin
Member
And when she finds out her past, she'll be played by an Asian actress in the sequel right guys? Right?! Wait what? She's gonna have a monologue at the end about how race doesn't matter and doesn't change who she really was and she's gonna keep her white body? Fuck.
True Savior
Member
I prefer Miro than The Major. The Major makes no fucking sense. They call her Major with some sense of familiarity with her, namely the ones who fought next to her. Not The Major.
Oh shit, here comes The Major.
Stop it. Please.
Oh shit, here comes The Major.
Stop it. Please.
Zoloft Sonic
Member
Only Hollywood could take a 22 year old film, quintuple it's budget, and make it worse. This won't make fans happy, and the LCD doesn't care about this kind of stuff. It's gonna Aeon Flux all over the place.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
I'd love to join in, but unfortunately I think the trailers looks incredible...
Just_myles
Member
They had one shot at this. Jeez
SuperStiltzkin
Member
It doesn't sidestep any accusations, but it's better than having a white person play Motoko Kusanagi. Tom Cruise didn't have a Japanese name in Edge of Tomorrow.
Well, that could explain it.
Mechanized
Member
Why do movies have to be whitewashed like this?
(they don't)
KonradLaw
Member
because no japanese actress is famous enough to carry movie with this kind of budget.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
I'm still hoping that ScarJo is just "cyborg body #1" and 3/4 of the way through she gets wrecked and relaced with an actress of a different ethnicity. Middle-Eastern, Latino, African, Asian. Just something else.
SuperStiltzkin
Member
That new body better be the main lead if this blows up enough for a sequel then.
CloudyTuba
Member
Then maybe she wasn't the right actress to play Makoto.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
I had typed that and deleted it! I love that idea. And her "ghost" (and original body) can be Japanese and still be Japanese in flashbacks.
KonradLaw
Member
Righht, because everybody elses suceeds so much when remaking decades old movies with more budget. Only Hollywood gets it wrong..lol.
Fancyarcher
Member
Given that Steven Paul was a producer, I always figured this film was gonna be shit, but this just adds another layer to the idiocy.
The effects in any adaptation would likely be shitter though.
The effects in any adaptation would likely be shitter though.
formasymphonic
Member
I can see it ending with some faux high brow monologue on identity not just about being the body your in etc etc, that they think is true to the spirit of GitS and serves a metacommentary on identity and diversity completely obtuse to the metacommentary they themselves are sending with the way this has all been handled.
Sunster
Member
Which is why it's good that they are apparently making the character not Japanese I guess.
SuperStiltzkin
Member
It would be the only way I accept the cyborg body excuse for casting Scarlet. If they have the balls to actually switch out actresses for the potential sequels without any excuse for retconning her back into Scarlet body.
Meant to mention this the other day but forgot. Saw the IMAX preview thing thinking it was a full on screening of the film.. waited 75 minutes to see about 10 minutes, lol. Got a cool little mini poster at least.
One thing to keep in mind -- they are going all in on our her being a human who was alive before her brain/"ghost" was implanted into the Major's new synthetic body. It is possible that the Major has a name other than Mira but we didn't learn about that. I certainly thought it was a good idea though to give her an ostensibly English name to avoid some of the whitewashing concerns. If she was Motoko Kusanagi before her death, it would have been pretty ridiculous.
The little 5-10 minute teaser thing they showed was actually quite entertaining, for what it's worth. My wife was absolutely dreading going to it and then got even more disappointed when we found out it was just a preview event thing, but she thought the footage was interesting. I think it sold her on actually going with me to the film itself. I'm not sold on the fact her body is effectively her suit though. Kind of a bizarre and unnecessary thing. The effects were very well done though.
One thing to keep in mind -- they are going all in on our her being a human who was alive before her brain/"ghost" was implanted into the Major's new synthetic body. It is possible that the Major has a name other than Mira but we didn't learn about that. I certainly thought it was a good idea though to give her an ostensibly English name to avoid some of the whitewashing concerns. If she was Motoko Kusanagi before her death, it would have been pretty ridiculous.
The little 5-10 minute teaser thing they showed was actually quite entertaining, for what it's worth. My wife was absolutely dreading going to it and then got even more disappointed when we found out it was just a preview event thing, but she thought the footage was interesting. I think it sold her on actually going with me to the film itself. I'm not sold on the fact her body is effectively her suit though. Kind of a bizarre and unnecessary thing. The effects were very well done though.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Um, why? Looks pretty good.
Forsaken82
Member
Purists will keep crying about every little thing and still see the film.
I will continue to wait for the actual film before passing judgement.
I will continue to wait for the actual film before passing judgement.
American sci-fi fans who can't appreciate foreign stuff.
Unfortunately ScarJo is big enough of a star that if she signed a contract to play the lead in this and if it isn't a giant piece of shit, she's going to have signed a contract to continue playing the lead.
Zvonimir Boban
Banned
Love how the budget excuse always comes up in these discussions.
Can't have an Asian/Arab actor as the lead on a movie this expensive but Hollywood has no problem pissing away $150m+ on a movie trying to make guys like Sam Worthington or Taylor Kitsch a thing.
This Ghost in the Shell news keeps on getting more laughable everyday and from the start I always assumed they would call keep her last name but not her first name.
It's the same argument that people apply to Marvel movies in order to increase diversity, and I think it's a good one.
Ideal world: more representation; Japanese Motoko.
World we live in: if we have to have ScarJo, I'd rather she played Motoko than character-who's-not-Motoko-but-is.
Moreover, I think that some - not all - of the people who want ScarJo to have a "white" name are the kinds of people who get confused when they meet black people with Scottish accents.
Welcome to Hollywood. It's bullshit, but it's also reality right now.
It's slowly starting to change for the better, but the keyword there is slowly.
SuperStiltzkin
Member
Let me requote these examples for why it's a bad thing. Do you accept these?
Yeah. I really don't get how going the King of Fighters way would be a better compromise.
MY NAME IS TOTALLY KYO KUSANAGI, GUYS
Don't even have to dig that deep.
Didn't fly when Emma Stone was playing a half asian Allison Ng. It shouldn't fly here either. Changing the name is for the best.
Is there a white person with a Japanese name? Yeah probably. There's probably an Asian person with an African name, but I wouldn't say that makes it okay for an Asian person to play Black Panther. You actually are excusing Hollywood by saying "well there are white people with Japanese names so it's okay."
So you've already seen this movie?
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