Constance Wu And Ming-Na Wen Against Hollywood's Racism

Last year, it was announced that Scarlett Johansson would be playing the main character, a Japanese woman, in Ghost in the Shell. Ever since the first photo of Johansson in Ghost in the Shell was released this past Thursday, fans have been hitting Twitter with backlash about the innate absurdity of having a white actress play an Asian character. In Hollywood, we call this "yellow face." By casting a white woman to play an Asian role, the producers of Ghost in the Shell are stripping Japanese of their voice in Hollywood. This is a stark example of symbolic annihilation in the movie industry; because Japanese actors aren't depicted in movies, it conveys a message that they do not exist in real life.

Along with angry fans, websites like BuzzFeed have reacted to the situation with shock and confusion (like here and here). In one article, Constance Wu and Ming-Na Wen, two Asian actresses, spoke out about their concerns with whitewashing in Hollywood. Both Wu and Wen emphasized important causes for whitewashing in the movie industry: systematic racism and the power of white producers in the industry. There is a call for action in Hollywood for fair representation of different races and the chance for different groups of people to have their voices be heard.