What Japanese Think of Whitewashing

[Rokujou-sama]

 

 

 

[mysongeve]

this has already been posted (though i still find it weird how she said how she finds white people fascinating and said "as expected")

[sakurahanabira]

I hate videos like these because it never ever takes diasporas' opinions into account.

[Darling]

White washing? The way anime characters are depicted is already heavily influenced by White people

[ToujoursSistar]

I am not surprised

[CareBear08]

"it's just the way things are because it's hollywood"

 

sadly i think change will happen outside of hollywood first before inside.

[Nini Bear]

White washing? The way anime characters are depicted is already heavily influenced by White people

I guess most people also expect majority of anime characters to be Japanese even though a large number of them aren't Japanese at all. but ya, idk, if they don't see the problem I don't know why they make it such a big deal. I do agree that actors/actresses should be cast per skill though, so hopefully they don't just pick one over an Asian actress because she's white... but what do we know from behind our pretty little screens.

[Silver.]

White washing? The way anime characters are depicted is already heavily influenced by White people

If it is stated in the original material that the person is American, then there is no problem with an American playing it. If the writer says that the person is Japanese, that is the end of the argument. 

[Mephistopheles]

It is interesting to the Japanese though, it's a pretty much homogeneous culture, and if you looked at it from a Western perspective, it's interesting when Japan make shows or movies based on Western stories. Really what matters is how Japanese and other East Asian people in America feel about it, since they have a completely different experience. 

[Darling]

I guess most people also expect majority of anime characters to be Japanese even though a large number of them aren't Japanese at all. but ya, idk, if they don't see the problem I don't know why they make it such a big deal. I do agree that actors/actresses should be cast per skill though, so hopefully they don't just pick one over an Asian actress because she's white... but what do we know from behind our pretty little screens.

 

I agree

 

 

If it is stated in the original material that the person is American, then there is no problem with an American playing it. If the writer says that the person is Japanese, that is the end of the argument. 

 

I think it's a double edged sword. There is no point in denying the fact that anime characters are heavily influenced by White people, but I agree that if a writer says the person is Japanese it should be respected

[EVA02]

When I see anime characters I don't picture them as any race, but if I try to picture what they'd look like in real life I automatically picture them as white. The characters in 'Oniisama e' look very white.

 

You've watched Oniisama e? I wouldn't have thought it will be your cup of tea because of the butch female leads and the inaccurate depiction of lesbian couples 

[valentinna]

well i have seen hollywood actors/actresses that have played as germans, britain people, even latin people when they are not.. i never thought of it as something bad, like i never saw people complaining about it until now

[sane]

They don't care because they do it all the time themselves. Japanese people unfortunately view race erasure as a nonissue.

 

Motoko is actually explicitly white in the anime though, so Scarlett will be a white actress playing a white character, not a white actress playing an Asian character. In this case, assuming she's Asian just because she's Japanese is the actual race erasure. I'm sure that's lost on most people who are upset about her playing the role in the first place though.

[EVA02]

What inaccurate depiction of lesbian couples? There's not any lesbian couples in the show. I don't even view most of the characters as lesbian. Rei and Mariko could be lesbian. Nanako is bisexual.

 

In one episode there is a story about a lesbian couple that committed suicide under the elm tree. They clearly state that one of them dressed as a man and the other one was feminine.

Also have you noticed when the girls have a crush on another girl, one of them is masculine while the other one is feminine?

ie: Rei and Nanako, Rei and Fukiko, Mariko and Kaoru (although this one was unrequited)

[EVA02]

They don't care because they do it all the time themselves. Japanese people unfortunately view race erasure as a nonissue.

 

Motoko is actually explicitly white in the anime though, so Scarlett will be a white actress playing a white character, not a white actress playing an Asian character. In this case, assuming she's Asian just because she's Japanese is the actual race erasure. I'm sure that's lost on most people who are upset about her playing the role in the first place though.

 

How is Motoko white when she has a Japanese name? and Japanese people are Asian (Mongoloid as a scientific term) by race

[Property of Goddess Irene]

How is Motoko white when she has a Japanese name? and Japanese people are Asian (Mongoloid as a scientific term) by race

 

An anime is not real life. They paint 'god' as a white man even though even by their terms it wouldn't look human at all, in addition to making Jesus look pale and feminine.

[Treepotbisho]

Motoko is a non-human entity. Stop this non-issue.

[indigo]

this has already been posted (though i still find it weird how she said how she finds white people fascinating and said "as expected")

 

I think she meant, that 'white people' have features that are so different from what is possible in Japanese people, it's natural to intrigued by it? There's this naturally red head youtuber who lives in Japan and she says people openly gape at her when they see her, ask to take pictures with her, and just generally her appearance draws a lot of attention. 

 

Idt us white brunette are that fascinating for them   because they always single out blonde/red hair and blue eyes. 

[sane]

How is Motoko white when she has a Japanese name? and Japanese people are Asian (Mongoloid as a scientific term) by race

 

Ghost in the Shell isn't based on current Japan, it's a futuristic post-WW4 Japan that's had a major demographic shift. Basically there's been a huge influx of people from around the world, especially from other parts of Asia, due to Japan being one of the only countries to survive relatively unscathed from WW3 (plus a couple other major wars centered in Asia). It also started shifting towards more isolationist policies like in the past, and so while it's not explicitly stated one way or the other that I know of, it's possible that they started forcing people to adopt Japanese names when taking Japanese citizenship again. Bottom line is I don't know what ethnicity she was born as, but somewhere along the line she ended up in a Caucasian body, and it was normal enough that nobody batted an eyelash.