Wow, SHOCKER. If only there was another way... Following Ghost in the Shell's dismal opening weekend, during which it earned just $19 million at the box office compared to its $110 million budget, a litany of articles have emerged all asking the same question: will this be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Have we finally reached a point as a media-consuming society where conversations about whitewashing are mainstream enough to carve significant chunks out of ticket sales? And if so, who or what tipped the needle on the issue of Asian erasure in film and television from liberal social concern to bottom-line disrupter?
The outspokenness of popular Asian and East Asian actors like Kal Penn, John Cho, Constance Wu, Aziz Ansari, and Ming-Na Wen on social media has certainly amplified criticisms of whitewashing and the dearth of roles for Asian-American performers. According to a 2016 MPAA study, this increase in discourse comes at a time when Asian-American filmgoers between the ages of 18 and 24 are attending more movies, while Caucasian film attendance is declining. These two factors on the domestic front, combined with the lucrative promise of East Asian film markets, may be snowballing into a sea change for the politics of representation in Hollywood. The crusty dogma that Caucasian stars are a prerequisite for international success has been jostled, unsettled by the recent success of diverse films such as Star Wars: Rogue One.
Paramount has framed the issue as one of choosing between either mainstream box office success or catering to demanding, originalist fans, but such a trade-off no longer describes audience's demands. In Hollywood Reporter's interview with four Japanese actresses about the film, Keiko Agena lamented: "As a fan, as a human Asian-American, I want to see that star being born. That was the part that hurt [...] This is such a star-making vehicle. And they can find people [...] this could have made a young, kick-ass Asian actress out there a Hollywood name and star.” Casting directors and studio executives should see Asian roles not as a nuisance to be addressed by casting established Caucasian stars, but rather as opportunities to create new stars. The excuse that there are no Asian stars that have the same drawing power is a self-perpetuating one which is only ameliorated by providing leading roles to Asian actors.
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