entertainment

'Hellboy' casting prompts backlash over 'whitewashing'

23 Comments
By JAKE COYLE

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

23 Comments
Login to comment

social-media outcry = people with no jobs looking for trivial things to get mad about

-3 ( +12 / -15 )

if you want o get mad, get mad that the plot is ridiculous, girls grandmother was a "Japanese Imperial assassin in World War II" how many female Japanese assassins were there in WWII? shut up already..

"Death Note" also drew criticism for transferring a Japanese story to Seattle without any Asian actors.

maybe if Japanese could speak English they could use them in a movie sold to Americans

-11 ( +5 / -16 )

where is the outcry over a Japanese girl wearing an orange wig playing Annie with no American actors? Oh I see anybody but whites are allowed to be angry

-3 ( +10 / -13 )

Well considering the last Hellboy was Ron Perlman who is so white that you can see him with the lights off, why the uproar now?

Anybody else notice that most of the superhero parts have been going to British or Aussie actors using American accents? Where did all of the American lead actors go?

-11 ( +0 / -11 )

"White people, stop being knights who need to defend minorities" - Social justice warriors

"White people, why you can't be fair and give minorities more chances!" - Also social justice warriors

2 ( +5 / -3 )

where is the outcry over a Japanese girl wearing an orange wig playing Annie with no American actors? Oh I see anybody but whites are allowed to be angry

WTF are you talking about?

6 ( +9 / -3 )

WTF are you talking about?

The Japanese adaptation of Annie. No problem with that but Americans adapting Death Note? Noooooooo

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Ah, more race bating news... I wonder when this will end? Better question, how will it end?

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

These are the same people who campaign for a black james bond.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

where is the outcry over a Japanese girl wearing an orange wig playing Annie with no American actors?

You'd have a point if there were an abundance of American actors that can speak and sing in Japanese. The situations aren't the same.

maybe if Japanese could speak English they could use them in a movie sold to Americans

There are a lot of Americans that are Asian that speak English perfectly.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Actually, Mr Bum, they exist.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Kestral, I'm not saying they don't exist. There's just a lot less of them for the Japanese production of Annie to choose from than Asian Americans that speak English in America.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

But, according to the logic involved here, the white annie should get the part.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

But, according to the logic involved here, the white annie should get the part.

Technically, yes... But there are so many other factors that make the situation in both countries different.

Japan's lack of diversity in who gets their acting roles is pretty reflective of their largely homogeneous population. There are probably very few non-Asian actors to choose from at the moment that speak Japanese and can actually act well. It's getting more diverse every year though, so eventually, that should be reflected back into the acting roles when it works for the roles (e.g., Annie).

The US is already way more diverse than Japan though, and Asian American actors have very few opportunities as it is. That's why it hurts for them to lose roles tailor-made for them to white actors. The one in the article is not even a lead role... Minority actors (Asian in this case) just can't catch a break.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Ahem, Helboy is a red demon, Ron wore a full body suit and full makeup.

So anyone could have played him, how about an Indian 'Shaft', mexican Kojak or similar?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

in the end its a movie, who gives rip?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Pacint, I demand a demon be given the role, this judeo-christian conspiricy has maligned and undermined hard working, tax paying demons for too long!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Changing the race of a character has been done many times, why not? this is Hollywood, they are stories not reality, dear god they have changed history before now, not to mention constantly moving the venue of stories to the USA and dubbing any accent that isn't a states one lest the halfwit audience can't understand.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If a movie will entertain and sell to the paying public, it is a good movie regardless of the cast make up or attitudes of the PC crowd.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Is it really that hard to find a Japanese-American actor?????

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"the Japanese manga adaptation "Death Note" also drew criticism for transferring a Japanese story to Seattle without any Asian actors."

Hmmmm....

The Seven Samurai was transferred to the American West as The Magnificent Seven -- no Asian actors.

Rashomon was transfered to the American West as The Outrage -- No Asian actors.

Yojimbo was transfered to the American West (by way of Italy) as A Fistful of Dollars -- No Asian actors.

The Hidden Fortress was transferred to a Galaxy Far Far Away...

Well, in this case the cast was more ethnically varied with each succeeding episode. Indeed, it is worth nothing that the one actor with his face on more action figures than any other human in history is Polynesian. Temuera Morrison, from New Zealand, played Jango Fett, and by extension, ALL of the Clone Troopers, the most popular figure in the Star Wars toy line.

Minor distinction perhaps, but one that is not likely to ever be matched let alone surpassed.

As for the character in the new Hellboy -- yes this is a missed opportunity. There is a wealth of acting talent across all ethnic lines here in the US so why not put it to work? A missed opportunity indeed.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

That should be: "...it is worthing noting..."

Auto-correct will be the death of communications in the digital age.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Guys, we're talking dollars here and, if Hollywood throws in an Asian 'star', the unconscious native racism which is a constituent of a majority of Americans will depress the domestic box office 'take'. We Whites haven't been forced to 'accept' Asians in films as we have Blacks because, other than perhaps people like Jackie Chan or Jet Li, we have not been exposed to superior Asian actors whose power forces us to unconsciously adopt as quasi-White such as Will Smith or Morgan Freeman. And, to the American mind, Asians often suggest intellectualism over brainstemism and, other than race, Americans have no greater prejudice at this time than toward intelligence. There are, have been, Japanese (tatoeba) such as Toshiro Mifune who could out testosterate any American actor but few, if any, who speak American English. 'Screen presence' is really an indefinable quality and must vary by culture and few film directors of any culture, least of all Hollywood, are in it for raising cultural awareness. It's just 'business'. Asians don't yet 'sell'. When we are fully able to capture an actor electronically, we may see movies from iconic sources which 'star' different actors in the lead in the same movie in different markets, for example, Johansson's face and physique in America, Zhang Ziyi in China, etc. The 'star' has a great deal to do with the attractiveness of a movie to the average viewers mind which is why this question arises at all. Purity of vision does not guarantee profits like having a 'big name' star does.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites