10 Movies Changes Influenced By The Fans' Feedback
7. Digital 'Re-Asianing' - Ghost In The Shell
Oh Hollywood, when will you ever learn? The choice to have the whitest of American actors, MCU poster girl Scarlett Johansson in the role of Major Motoko Kusanagi, was the kind of mind bogglingly stupid and insensitive decision only Hollywood producers could make. Considering the amount of talented Asian-American actors who would have been perfect for the role, choosing Johansson just felt lazy.
With accusations of whitewashing flooding in from the very fans of the anime the Producers were targeting , the decision was made to...make Scarlett Johansson look 'more asian'. Yes, that is correct, the producers choice to address issues of whitewashing was to make a white woman look less white. Yikes.
Unsurprisingly the changes did nothing to quell the concerns of the fans of the anime, the final product proving particularly mediocre. Attempts to justify a white actor being present is attempted in several plot devices, but just makes the film a bit of a mess. The film failed to break even after publicity costs, their big name actress failing to get bums on seats.
Considering the film had strong visuals and great source material to fall back on, one can only ponder if the choice of a talented young Japanese actress like Rinko Kikuchi or Rila Fukishima in the lead role could have allowed for a better film product. At least the fans of the anime would have been more likely to embrace the product.