This past week, the first image(s) from Paramount's upcoming manga-based movie, "Ghost in The Shell" were released. Why is that a big deal? Well, those images caused a major uproar on the Twittersphere due to the fact that the main character, Motoko Kusanagi, a Japanese cyborg, will be played by Scarlett Johansson, a white woman. Personally, I never really got into the whole manga/anime universe, but I, like many others got really pissed off after hearing about Paramount's more-than-questionable casting choice.

Johansson isn't the first white actor to portray a character of another race or ethnicity. Whitewashing in Hollywood has been a common practice since the beginning of film. Back in the 60's, one of America's most famous white guys, Elvis Presley, played a Native American in one of his lesser known movies, "Flaming Star." (That definitely was not the last time a white person was cast as a Native American either, but different rant for a different time). Before that, even more famous white guy, John Wayne portrayed Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror." Natalie Wood (also white) played Maria (a Puerto Rican) in West Side Story (a casting choice that has plagued me with inner emotional turmoil for years, because that's one of my favorite movies). More recently, Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings" casted mostly white actors to play Egyptian characters on the oh-so-good basis of star-power, basically claiming that there are not any Egyptian actors famous enough to make a movie financially viable. (P.S. The movie still tanked at the box office, so joke's on you Mr. Scott). It really blows my mind that that kind of structural racism is still going on in an industry that claims to embrace inclusion.

So, why is this still a thing?!!? There is, literally no excuse for Hollywood to ignore non-white actors. If there's one thing our country is proud of, it's that we are a cultural melting pot with an overwhelming variety of stories and experiences. Whether they are imaginary or grounded in reality, stories told by Hollywood should reflect the diversity in the United States as well as the rest of the world. There are so many Japanese, or Asian actresses, in general that would have kicked some serious butt as Kusanagi and it upsets me that Hollywood continues to cover their ears while "lalalalaling" in an effort to deny their guilt in this, and other similar poor casting instances. Until the film industry acknowledges the fact that actors of different races/ethnicities exist who are more than ready and able to play such parts that are (literally) made for them, Hollywood should not be allowed to tell those stories.