Why Does Hollywood Keep Whitewashing?

Racism in Hollywood has been around for about as long as the camera. The first narrative film “L’Arroseur arose” was made in 1895; the first use of “Blackface” was used only ten years later in 1905. It was then used in films up until the 1940’s. Ever since then, the film industry has relied on a disturbing amount of racist trends in films.

Since “Blackface” was deemed bigoted in the 40’s, we’ve had many different genre and cinematic stereotypes, regarding race. Historically in horror, black characters were more likely to die first or were unable to make it to the end credits. And then there’s the Indian shopkeeper or taxi drivers that white characters can’t understand. We’ve also had numerous examples of Japanese characters who are superfluously kooky. Audiences are presented with an ignorant and unrealistic stereotype and, in turn, a distorted view of the world. The film industry is a key offender in perpetuating unhelpful stereotypes and, in a time of political turmoil with the likes Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump dominating the headlines, such stereotypes need to be dismissed or else risk fuelling more political ignorance. One would think that after such a sordid history, Hollywood would have made more radical progress in terms of diversity with in the cinematic medium.

While blackface may have been banished from our screens (and rightfully so), a new medium of cinematic racism has appeared: Whitewashing.

Whitewashing is the act of casting a white actor in a non-white role. Hollywood has been doing this for years. Not only are non-fiction roles whitewashed, such as Argo and Stonewall, which gives audiences an inaccurate portrayal of history, but fictional roles as well. The most recent example of this is the upcoming Ghost in the Shell. Scarlett Johansson was cast in the lead role as Motoko Kusanagi – now renamed as The Major – this caused uproar. Johansson had to be ‘orientalised’ in order to play a role – not too far from the act of black-face.

Many people protested against the film and called for it to be either recast or canned. If all this offense and anger is caused by whitewashing, why does Hollywood continue to do it?

Money.

As always, everything Hollywood does is down to money. Screenwriter Max Landis summed it up the best. “There are really only ten or fifteen men who get movies made. Two of them are black, Denzel and Will Smith. The rest are white. Then there are about five women who can get your movie made. One of them is Scarlet Johansson. And I think they’re all distressingly white.”

When Hollywood risks a lot of money of a niche comic book such as Ghost in the Shell, they want reassurance that they’ll get their money back. Hence why Scarlet Johansson was hired – she is a bankable star and the studios know her name alone will entice interest. This thus highlights a greater problem in the film industry: self-imposed lack of diversity. In Hollywood morals, diversity and equality are thrown out of the window; it is money that makes the reels go round.

If major studios allowed non-white actors to play characters of their own race, instead of whitewashing, possibly more bankable non-white megastars would exist. However, time after time Hollywood and the major studios snub diversity in the face of security and money. Viola Davis in her Emmy speech highlighted this problem in spectacular fashion. “Let me tell you something: the only thing that separates women of colour from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there,” she eloquently speaks with tears in her eyes. The message is clear.

Since #oscarssowhite began trending, Hollywood found itself under scrutiny not only by actors but by cinema audiences as well. Creed and Straight Outta Compton were box office successes not only because of their pre-destined fan bases. They were different to what we are used to seeing. Different perspectives and stories that are unforgivably rare on the silver screen. Hollywood has thrown too much money into this system for them to radically change it now. Unfortunately, the system is one wrought with institutionalised racism, dating back to the first days of cinema. The two are so ingrained in each other that, unless there is a complete overhaul of the powers that be, change will only come slowly and gradually.

Big budget juggernauts franchises, such as Star Wars, have pushed boundaries in terms of diverse castings. In the latest installment, which was made to appeal to an entirely different audience. John Boyega was cast as a Stormtrooper  and Oscar Isaac as a X-Wing pilot. This shows that Hollywood can make casts more diverse and succeed in doing so.

Hollywood and the big studios need to realize that we live in a multi-cultural society. Star power usually is not enough to get bums on seats. Perhaps films with an actor whose life and culture is reflective of the character’s story rather than a bankable white star could be the solution?

Words by Harry Longstaff