From Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of I.Y Yunoshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s to recent controversy of Scarlett Johansson playing Motoko Kusanagi in the Ghost in the Shell live action adaptation. Many Hollywood films give various roles meant for minorites to Caucasian actors but is it really racism or just Hollywood not quick enough with times to adapt to our rapidly changing world.
I think another issue the article writer might tackle is the justification I've heard that even some global markets prefer white/light-skinned actors and how this affects actors of color worldwide. Concerning just America, I've seen a lot of discussion about the effects on Asian-American actors when whitewashing happens. Gene Yang, a Chinese-America graphic novelist and proponent on diversity, made a comic about The Last Airbender's whitewashing. Constance Wu and Ming-Na Wen have addressed The Ghost in the Shell. Another older film to look at could be The Conquerer with John Wayne as Genghis Khan. – Emily Deibler8 years ago
As an Asian, I really take this issue quite personally. I would recommend the person looking into this article and accompanying video http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11477914/hollywood-asian-whitewashing. It speaks about Asians being underrepresented or portray as a fool. I don't think it should be considered revolutionary to cast a Japanese for a Japanese role. It's galling to see that "yellow face" is still acceptable in 2016. – Jill8 years ago
The former, people don't realise it but this is a more subtle form of racism. – sandrazemingui8 years ago
Al Jolson and Robert Downey, Jr. in blackface, separated by about seven decades. Now that's inertia. – Tigey8 years ago