Five months after a controversy formed around the casting of Scarlett Johanssen as a Japanese woman in Ghost in the Shell, the teasers are here. For the uninitiated, Ghost in the Shell is a manga and anime classic that does not star a white woman.
Look, you can see why the filmmakers might think it was ok: Johannsen's character is a robot infused with another person's consciousness. And this isn't the first time that a dude has tried to make a robot in Scarlett Johansson's image. Not only that, but she's also the highest-grossing actress of all time and one of the few bankable women action stars.
But, movie stars don't really open movies anymore. At least not in America. It's not like we see Carey Grant and say, "Oh I'm seeing that" regardless of the reviews. Quality matters. Integrity matters. And there are tons and tons of Asian actresses that would have killed this role. To pick a name out of the air: Lucy Liu! Remember how great she was in Kill Bill? We would watch that character for hours and hours. Or, insane thought, break a Japanese movie star over here. Instead, we're given an (amazing) white actress in a role that could rightly have gone to an Asian woman.
It's a shame, because the teasers look pretty amazing. Check them out below.
— Ghost In The Shell (@GhostInShell) September 22, 2016
— Ghost In The Shell (@GhostInShell) September 22, 2016
— Ghost In The Shell (@GhostInShell) September 22, 2016
— Ghost In The Shell (@GhostInShell) September 22, 2016
— Ghost In The Shell (@GhostInShell) September 22, 2016
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