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Ghost in the Shell bombs at the box office

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kswiston

Member
Listen, whether we like it or not, a white male is going to be given a lead/supporting role somewhere in Mulan. It's not a possibility, it's a guarantee

Disney has been trying for more diversity lately. Look at Moana. Pretty much the entire cast were at least half Polynesian, other than the Chicken. If that was made 10 years ago, Dakota Fanning would have been Moana.
 
Listen, whether we like it or not, a white male is going to be given a lead/supporting role somewhere in Mulan. It's not a possibility, it's a guarantee

Disney has been trying for more diversity lately. Look at Moana. Pretty much the entire cast were at least half Polynesian, other than the Chicken. If that was made 10 years ago, Dakota Fanning would have been Moana.

Ya and those are voice roles

Disney doesn't really need name people, they'll grab whoever
 

kswiston

Member
Ya and those are voice roles

Disney doesn't really need name people, they'll grab whoever

But they didn't grab whoever. They grabbed a bunch of people who had Polynesian heritage. If there's anything that you can get away with whitewashing, it's animation.

I don't know how well it will end up doing, but I expect Mulan to have a predominantly Asian starring cast, with a better known (non-Asian) comedic actor playing the dragon.

If the film flops, you'll get a "We tried, but audiences weren't interested. Here's Ariel"
 

ultracal31

You don't get to bring friends.
Ya and those are voice roles

Disney doesn't really need name people, they'll grab whoever

As a contrast to Disney, there's that isle of dogs animation movie by Wes Anderson currently in production with a bunch of white actors doing voices (this is a bit of a grey area for me)

Hint, one of the voice actresses in that movie is in Ghost
 

kswiston

Member
As a contrast to Disney, there's that isle of dogs animation movie by Wes Anderson currently in production with a bunch of white actors doing voices (this is a bit of a grey area for me)

Hint, one of the voice actresses in that movie is in Ghost

While Wes Anderson films are as white as a Larry the Cable Guy stand-up comedy show, I think that there's a pretty good chance that all of the white actors in that film are playing dogs. They do have a few Japanese actors cast as well. Presumably for the boy and his family.
 

ultracal31

You don't get to bring friends.
While Wes Anderson films are as white as a Larry the Cable Guy stand-up comedy show, I think that there's a pretty good chance that all of the white actors in that film are playing dogs. They do have a few Japanese actors cast as well. Presumably for the boy and his family.

Yea it's hard to tell when it's still in production plus as I said it's a bit of a grey area for me as it's voices
 

Jakoo

Member
T I watched this movie without watching the anime. [...] For never watching the original, I enjoyed this movie. It wasn't a great movie, but not horrible either.

This is pretty much where I am at. I tried watching Ghost in the Shell in middle school but never really had much affinity for it. I had little to no expectations for this movie and came away pleased while watching it, but I can't say that it seems like it's a movie that will stick with me in any profound way.

Coming in mostly blind to the context surrounding this movie or the source material, I thought it was a merely-OK summer blockbuster action movie. I thought Scarlet Johansson did an admirable enough job as the main character, giving that her natural state of looking self-reflective and pouty seemed to somewhat benefit the state the main character was in as well. While there definitely were some distinctive and memorable action scenes though, I can't say any of the plot points were all of that imaginative or engaging.

Overall though, the world GitS presented was more interesting than the story they told in that world. This movie causes me to want to rewatch Stand Alone Complex to see if I could appreciate it more now than when I did as a kid.
 

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
Big fan of GitS, mostly the sequel "Innocence" and SAC and I have zero interest in seeing the movie. The story isn't compelling enough to get mainstream folks in, and if there are people like me that would rather watch a 20 year old cartoon than ScarJo this movie will flop.

I'll catch it on HBO in a year or so, but I'm not paying to see it in theaters.
 

Vidiot

Member
I didn't go see it but it had nothing to do with the lead not being asian. I just didn't think it looked very good. Sometimes movies just don't click with people and it's as simple as that.
 
I didn't go see it but it had nothing to do with the lead not being asian. I just didn't think it looked very good. Sometimes movies just don't click with people and it's as simple as that.

It definitely wasn't just the casting controversy. As I said earlier, I was willing to overlook it if the movie was good and apparently it's not.

It's really hard for me to separate the source material from a remake/live action version. And according those who like the 95 movie and saw this, it wasn't good as an adaptation or as a regular movie.

It's no wonder it isn't doing well. Hollywood needs to realize that crowd pleasing/well written movies are what makes bank... not a name. This isn't the old days; people have many more outlets to get their media fix. It's sad that I'd rather watch a fan film than watch Dragonball Evolution.
 
Not suprising since the source material was pure garbage to begin with.
JU8vmus.gif
 

Fuchsdh

Member
This movie and the rest aren't failing because they put some white people ini it instead of full-blooded Japanese. It's nonsense, just like the idea conservative Hollywood guys keep clinging to that adding nonwhite characters hurts box office or international appeal. Whatever impact that stuff has, it's far and away much lower than the impact on receipts by having the movie actually be good or not.
 
Which should be interesting in its casting choices as the story is inherently one of a white savior coming to a planet of Buddhist Muslim superhuman tribesmen.

Well they weren't superhuman, and the spice/oil analogy is obvious. I would hope he would cast brown people seeing that they spend a good amount of time outside in the sun and equally in caves.
 

Not

Banned
Listen, whether we like it or not, a white male is going to be given a lead/supporting role somewhere in Mulan. It's not a possibility, it's a guarantee

I want to clandestinely record a meeting where some exec is like, "So can we make him white? Who is going to be white?"

And post it EVERYWHERRRRRRE

Post-racial my ass
 
But they didn't grab whoever. They grabbed a bunch of people who had Polynesian heritage. If there's anything that you can get away with whitewashing, it's animation.

I don't know how well it will end up doing, but I expect Mulan to have a predominantly Asian starring cast, with a better known (non-Asian) comedic actor playing the dragon.

If the film flops, you'll get a "We tried, but audiences weren't interested. Here's Ariel"

I was agreeing with you swiss goddamnit

As a contrast to Disney, there's that isle of dogs animation movie by Wes Anderson currently in production with a bunch of white actors doing voices (this is a bit of a grey area for me)

Hint, one of the voice actresses in that movie is in Ghost

meh animation is meh
 

wazoo

Member
This movie and the rest aren't failing because they put some white people ini it instead of full-blooded Japanese. It's nonsense, just like the idea conservative Hollywood guys keep clinging to that adding nonwhite characters hurts box office or international appeal. Whatever impact that stuff has, it's far and away much lower than the impact on receipts by having the movie actually be good or not.

I think that people not seing the movie are more impacted by a bad marketing than by a bad movie. The only thing most people will be exposed is the marketing.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Well they weren't superhuman, and the spice/oil analogy is obvious. I would hope he would cast brown people seeing that they spend a good amount of time outside in the sun and equally in caves.

They are most certainly super human compared to the rest of humanity because of their time long time living and adapting to the incredible harsh conditions of Arrakis combined with being so immersed in the spice since a babe only enhancing their incredible abilities.
 

New002

Member
This movie and the rest aren't failing because they put some white people ini it instead of full-blooded Japanese. It's nonsense, just like the idea conservative Hollywood guys keep clinging to that adding nonwhite characters hurts box office or international appeal. Whatever impact that stuff has, it's far and away much lower than the impact on receipts by having the movie actually be good or not.

I think this is the reality of it really :/

At the end of the day movies like Dragonball and Avatar certainly had casting controversy, but realistically what did them in was that they were shit movies apparently. If they had come out and been amazing they would have been hits I imagine. I haven't seen GiTS so I can't speak to the quality, but based on reviews it sounds like a pretty shell with no soul. I'll have to watch it for myself to see how I feel about it obviously.
 

methane47

Member
Wow this is sad.
In terms of the whitewashing done in Hollywood I feel like GITS is one of the least egregious examples...

And I like the property. Haven't seen the movie yet. Will check out in IMAX this week I think
 
Considering the controversy around ScarJo being cast as Major it probably turned a lot of fans off from seeing it.

I personally thought it looked interesting but don't plan seeing the film
 
What a terrible show.
The 'whitewashing' is pretty overblown.
There is a pretty diverse cast playing the characters, even Chinese for Japanese.
Yes there is a big name playing the lead role, and it's a necessity to get it to Budget approval.

But, all of this is unimportant compared to the sheer boredom and uninspired product we got.

I could forgive the tepid build up to the last act if we got a good ending, but we got a bottom of the barrel tank battle on a dark setup, so minimal vfx work needed to be done.
Seems like all the money was spent on Koi's.

People should be complaining about the POS that was delivered, not the POC:
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
People should be complaining about the POS that was delivered, not the POC:

I won't address the rest because I've covered it time and time again in the last week but regarding this sentiment in particular: no, no they shouldn't.

The matter of Asian American representation in Hollywood and American media in general far, far outweighs the significance of the quality of any single movie. There is a larger context here that goes to the very heart of the peculiar brand of prejudice faced by America's more "welcomed" ethnic minority, Asian Americans.

This is why the GITS controversy has blown up lately. Not because people really care about GITS (although personally I care very much), but because GITS spotlighted a problem society's been ignoring for a long time now, and we're taking this chance to get our voice heard.
 

Loudninja

Member
What a terrible show.
The 'whitewashing' is pretty overblown.
There is a pretty diverse cast playing the characters, even Chinese for Japanese.
Yes there is a big name playing the lead role, and it's a necessity to get it to Budget approval.

But, all of this is unimportant compared to the sheer boredom and uninspired product we got.

I could forgive the tepid build up to the last act if we got a good ending, but we got a bottom of the barrel tank battle on a dark setup, so minimal vfx work needed to be done.
Seems like all the money was spent on Koi's.

People should be complaining about the POS that was delivered, not the POC:
What?

I just dont get this line of thinking at all.
 

televator

Member
What a terrible show.
The 'whitewashing' is pretty overblown.
There is a pretty diverse cast playing the characters, even Chinese for Japanese.
Yes there is a big name playing the lead role, and it's a necessity to get it to Budget approval.

But, all of this is unimportant compared to the sheer boredom and uninspired product we got.

I could forgive the tepid build up to the last act if we got a good ending, but we got a bottom of the barrel tank battle on a dark setup, so minimal vfx work needed to be done.
Seems like all the money was spent on Koi's.

People should be complaining about the POS that was delivered, not the POC:

The same fucking arguments over and over again. Take a bingo card pal. Fill it out yourself.


 
I know I've said this before, but I like how GAF is always so ready to condemn racism. Except when it involves Asians. Then it's just those uppity chinks making a big deal over nothing.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
"That's my fetish"?

WUT

I never said that and never will. You guys just try to twist me into something I'm not. Typical internet behavior. Really weak and mostly childish idiotism.

Asian, especially Japanese women are my favorites. Why do you think my username is Amaterasu? It's a fetish.

I still enjoy how he tried to throw anime watchers under the bus as part of his defense. Also:
I don't think it's so much that but the fact that he straight up said they don't look Asian unless they have small eyes.

May I ask why you find this offensive? I personally find the eyes to be one of the most attractive traits of the Japanese.
 
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