Way back in January of 2015, the rumor mill spit out that Scarlett Johansson was picked up as the lead in Ghost in the Shell to the tune of $10 million. Today, Paramount released the first image of Johansson in costume as Motoko Kusanagi aka The Major.
If you haven”t noticed, ScarJo isn”t Japanese. Whitewashing of Asian characters seems to be a theme this week in Hollywood. First Doctor Strange, now this. Macau-American actress Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) took to social media to vent her frustration.
Nothing against Scarlett Johansson. In fact, I'm a big fan. But everything against this Whitewashing of Asian role.???? https://t.co/VS6r6iish9
– Ming-Na Wen (@MingNa) April 14, 2016
Hollywood has been getting better with PoC representation in recent years, but week”s like this prove we still have a long way to go. Oh! And if you need a refresher on why it”s okay to convert a white character to a minority but not the other way around, head over here.