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Ghost in the Shell's ending spurs new accusations of even worse whitewashing

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JordanN

Banned
"This is why Trump won"

It's always funny to hear that because Trump is literally the opposite of "stop getting offended"

Dude wants to sexually assault women because he's rich, build a wall because he's scared of immigrants, wants to use nuclear weapons at the SLIGHTEST provocation, would even refuse to accept the election results had he lost.

And that's not even the full bucket list of how offended he gets at every little thing in life.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Trump was about to lose the election but then an Asian person said, "it would've been cool if she was Asian".

The world was never the same after that.
 

norm9

Member
LOL Pretty soon these Asians will start taking these Asian roles fron good working White folk.

emsttrs.gif
 
So I watched this yesterday. That twist ending felt so unnecessary and so contrived. Obviously easily avoidable with an Asian actress. I also thought AnnCast's podcast was right on the money, pointing out how ridiculous it was for the Major's
grave, in a sea of Japanese grave-yards conveniently have a tombstone that reads "MOTOKO KUSANAGI" all in English.

Aside from the whitewashing stuff, it was a bummer to see the movie strip away all the philosophy and transhumanism topics that the anime delve into. The movie broke things down to a really over-simplified black and white narrative, which was a bummer.

Visually, it was amazing though.

In retrospect, I really wish this whole project was a Netflix series instead. Would have really given the whole thing time to stew and flesh out the characters and concepts that GitS is all about.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Guys, I think the ending is a metaphor for how the Democrats co-opted Sanders and tried to use his shell to trick the left into voting for a while woman, Hilary.
 
I watched this movie with really low low expectations, because usually Anime -> Movie adaptations are kind of...horrible!

Was actually surprised with the movie quality, even though I didn't like the last....10/15m
the spider tank thing, I thought it was really low quality stuff

Now I must be really really insensitive in the way that it never occurred to me, any single time while watching the movie, that the producers were being racist.

This is a bit too extreme. If they did the other way around I wouldn't be the least offended by it.
 

Zoe

Member
Asian Americans, like Latinx Americans, have the tendency to gravitate towards Black culture because Black people are the most visible PoC group in America. Since Black people are the most visible PoC group, they're given a platform to export their culture through the US', granting them an audience abroad. This is why you see a lot of Latinx rap and a lot of native Asians with rap infused songs. Asian Americans and Latinx Americans that enjoy Black culture doesn't make them any less of their cultural heritage. If you want an example for this, MIA, an Asian musician, borrows heavily from Black culture. It doesn't make her any less Sri Lankan.

It doesn't matter what Jhene is "considered" in America though. Americans have the tendency to paint in shades of White, Black, and Brown. It's not right at all, you can't just erase her heritage just because she "looks" Black in America. And Bruno Mars is, without a doubt, Pinoy as fuck. A lot of Filipinos have Spanish ancestry from the get-go considering... the Spanish occupation in history. You just think he looks ambiguous because there's really no frame of reference for what a Filipino person "should look like" in America where the default "Asian look" is connoted with Eastern Asian features.

A lot of my biracial friends always tell me about their struggles of not really being accepted by either of their racial groups because they're mixed. It ain't right to just cut that part of them out just because of what society perceives them to be.

None of that accomplishes anything if they don't put that part of their identity up front and center. The general public has no idea he's Filipino, as with 99% of the other Filipinos in American entertainment.
 
None of that accomplishes anything if they don't put that part of their identity up front and center. The general public has no idea he's Filipino, as with 99% of the other Filipinos in American entertainment.

There are plenty of Blasians in the Black community. My Mom is one, one of my best friends is half Black, half Filipino. They would acknowledge their ancestry but they would still consider themselves Black because that's how everybody else views them and how America has labeled them for centuries. My Japanese grandmother was disowned by her Japanese parents for marrying a Black man. It's just hilarious to me how this is relatively a new phenomenon of other groups claiming them once they become big despite the prevalence of Anti Blackness sentiment in non Black cultures.

What's the point of heritage if their heritage only reflects the Black part?

How does Bruno Mars infuse pinoy heritage in his music or dances? Why is he backed by all Black members?
I don't like this pretense that you're forced to incorporate elements of all your cultures in your music though. A lot of Asian Americans that are children of first generation immigrants already become Americanized. So they either occupy or take interests in what is dominant in American culture: which in music today, in my opinion, is heavily dominant by Black artists. Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, Kendrick, The Weeknd. Just because you're a certain ethnic group does not mean you should be confining yourself to only listening or portraying aspects of your culture when you live in America. Just because you're Japanese doesn't mean you should only listen to Japanese artists, it doesn't make you any lesser if you enjoy American media. And just because you're biracial, it doesn't erase all of you just because a certain part of your descent is more visible than the other.

He faced backlash from the music industry because he was Asian, a lot of execs wouldn't back him because of that fact. It's just rather unfortunate that you have to constantly remind people that you're Southeast/Southern Asian in America when you don't fit the general mold of what "Asians are supposed to look like." You have to constantly remind people "hey, I'm FILIPINO, I'm INDIAN, I'm THAI" in everything you do or you're not "Asian enough," whatever that means. You literally have a group out there named Far East Movement and people were trying to serve dazed and confused when they found out they're Asian because their hit song, Like A G6, borrowed from Black culture.

Regardless, how do you suggest he puts his culture in full display musically? In Filipino entertainment, it's heavily Americanized. A lot of the variety shows and larger interest in music are primarily dominanted by American artists. Sure, Filipino musicians co-exist with them on the charts, but they're mostly driven by Filipino rock or Filipino ballads or hey, Filipino rap, which heavily borrow from American culture itself.

And to address your anti-Blackness point:
I don't speak for all cultures here. But I feel anti-Blackness is moreso about skin tone rather than race in a non diverse country. American exportations drive a lot of perceptions about Black people abroad but there were already negative connotations with darker skintones in those nations prior to imperialism so that already muddies and worsens the situation a bit.
 

sandy1297

Member
Now I must be really really insensitive in the way that it never occurred to me, any single time while watching the movie, that the producers were being racist.

This is a bit too extreme. If they did the other way around I wouldn't be the least offended by it.

Yeah, was surprised that the movie have quite a diverse cast.

I found this more enjoyable than Attack on Titans that get 'japanwashed'

im an asia asian
 

Buckle

Member
Prototype booked on Dave Rubin's show in 3, 2, 1....

God I'm tired of this half-brained "lol social justice caused Trump! freedom of ideas!!" drivel.
It really is the fucking worst.

"Don't rock the boat, guys. The assholes have to dictate everything on their own terms."
 

Pachimari

Member
Just came out of the movie and I loved the ending and how she turned out to be Motoko all along. I see the problem of white washing and how it was made worse though so it wasn't the wisest decision on their part but personally I had no issue with it and loved the ending.
 
I personally liked the ending. It gave more meaning to the emptiness Major felt. She was into a totally different person for superficial, corporativist and racist reasons. People are misunderstanding this imo
 

Alienfan

Member
Could someone explain to me (genuine question, so don't be mean :p ) why Ghost in the Shell's casting is considered white washing, but The Grudge, Godzilla, The Ring remakes aren't? I feel like I don't quite understand the definition fully, just looking for some help
 

Zoe

Member
Could someone explain to me (genuine question, so don't be mean :p ) why Ghost in the Shell's casting is considered white washing, but The Grudge, Godzilla, The Ring remakes aren't? I feel like I don't quite understand the definition fully, just looking for some help

None of those people were playing characters named Motoko Kusanagi.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Also different time. People weren't really considering the ramifications of Hollywood casting in that era.
 

Degen

Member
Saw this last night. The reveal was actually handled in a really cool way.

Shame that the movie didn't get good until it was two-thirds over.
 
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