Despite being a topic that is discussed with more frequency today, whitewashing is a recurring problem that has existed in Hollywood for decades. Whitewashing is when a white actor is cast to play the role of a traditionally nonwhite character. In the 20th century, white actors often wore blackface or yellowface as a means to portray black or Asian characters, respectively. Given the controversy surrounding methods such as blackface or yellowface, directors who cast white actors in these roles now disregard the traditional race entirely. Both methods are wholly wrong and it disturbs me that despite blackface and yellowface losing their prominence, Hollywood and our society deem it better to disregard canon identity in literature when the method perpetuates the issue.
The reality that many people still do not comprehend is that just because it is wrong for white actors to be cast as characters of color does not mean it is wrong for actors of colors to be cast as traditionally white characters. Roles for actors of color are few and far between, which is another problem within the television and movie industry. Therefore, when the already so few roles are taken from these actors and are given to white actors, who the industry consistently serves, the former’s lack of visibility becomes greater.
There is an excellent analogy that one of my friends showed me on the Internet. If two children were each given a bowl of candy, one with significantly more candy inside of it than the other one, to take some from one or the other and give it to the other bowl would have different consequences. Typically, one would recognize that the child with more candy should distribute some of it and share with the other child so that they can be on a more equal level. However, if the child with more candy were to complain when candy was taken from him or her, the child would be exercising their privilege and in our society, would be considered spoiled, and rightly so. Alternatively, if the child with less candy were told that he or she had to give away their candy, there would be no sense of equality or balance between the two children who should otherwise be on the same level.
Therefore, to use a timely example, casting Scarlett Johansson – a white American actress – as Motoko Kusanagi, a distinctly Japanese character in the animation film “Ghost in the Shell,” is not the same as considering Idris Elba for the role of the next James Bond. While a white Englishman wrote Bond and may have had a particular image in mind, Ian Fleming never explicitly stated Bond’s race; it was assumed. These types of assumptions are where greater problems are generated and where greater limitations are set for creative interpretation that would enable more actors of color opportunities to portray roles that were not designated as a particular race.
Nonetheless, there are still people who think that if whitewashing is wrong that the opposite (changing the race of a character who was traditionally depicted as white) should be considered wrong as well. However, that does not factor in how the latest discussion is exemplary of how white privilege operates in our culture. I brought that reality to the attention of a Twitter with the user handle @StatsBritain recently. Below is the progression of our conversation.
Stats Britain, despite being a parody account, has a significant following of over 125,000 people, many of whom are likely on the younger side because they incorporate fandoms into their tweets. Moreover, their demographic is impressionable and they not only initially responded to my tweet in a direct message where only I could see it, but then a friend of mine who I tagged in a separate tweet texted me with a follow-up tweet that they posted.
It not only amazes me that Stats Britain thinks their actions in blocking me are justifiable, but more so that they are unwilling and unable to comprehend that one example of a character is not the same as the other because of the reality of particular opportunities that our culture and Hollywood has created for certain actors. The final tweet I sent to them was what another friend of mine sent to me regarding the entire experience. It touches upon the aspects of whitewashing that I mentioned above. Below is the full message she sent, as well as the tweet that I then sent to Stats Britain with her thoughts attached to it.
