I think white-washing could be seen as a form of institutional racism, Hollywood and mainstream cinema being the institution, or maybe even white-washing is a form of new racism? Hollywood and America thinks it is past racism to where it can ignore a terrible history of black face actors and continual white-washing? No, I don't think so. Even movies like Tropic Thunder satire the ongoing white-washing in Hollywood.
Several questions have to be asked in regards to white-washing; Hollywood is a business, so are white actors a bigger box officer draw? Or is there just an over abundance of white actors? Doing some minor research on the former question, answers can be found by looking at a few list about movies, actors and actresses in 2015.
In 2015 the top grossing movie was obviously Star wars: The Force Awakens, which features three non-white actors in major roles, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Lupita Nyong'o. The third highest grossing movie was Furious 7, which featured nine non-white actors in major roles.
Out of the top ten highest paid actors in 2015 five were non-white with Jackie Chan and Vin Diesel in the second and third spot respectively.
So it can't be money then? Maybe these are just exceptions to the rule? I think this is a sign of the winds changing, that cinema is worldwide and old conventions are falling apart. More and more films are coming out that embrace the new world of global cinema and diversity, these movies are big hits too not just indie flicks. Just look at Pacific Rim for another example.
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwgNh3tKXjE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Db-hqo7FLg
http://www.slashfilm.com/highest-paid-actresses-actors-of-2015/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_in_film
i think your blog is really interesting and there would be many reasons to white washing, i think it could be to do with the process in which roles are filled. Theres quite a lot of money involved (acting schools, agents, traveling to auditions). So this could be a reason which is actually linked historically to the poverty people of colour had and still are experiencing specifically African Americans.
ReplyDeletei think your blog is really interesting and there would be many reasons to white washing, i think it could be to do with the process in which roles are filled. Theres quite a lot of money involved (acting schools, agents, traveling to auditions). So this could be a reason which is actually linked historically to the poverty people of colour had and still are experiencing specifically African Americans.
ReplyDeleteI think you’re right in saying that Hollywood white-washing is institutional racism and if you look into the context of those counter-examples there is still some racism. In the case of star wars people were outraged at seeing John Boyega as a storm trooper and in the case of Jackie Chan, most of his big Hollywood movie rolls have relied heavily on Chinese stereotypes and have often alienated his characters from their American counter-parts. So I don’t think money may be the best indicator in this case. After all the Oscars (huge target lately of white-washing accusations) doesn’t take wealth or popularity into account when deciding on nominees (I hope not anyway). Nice post :)
ReplyDeleteI also agree that white-washing is institutional racism but the dangerous thing about it is how we have become accustom to it. Seeing Christian Bale as Moses and Jake Gyllennhaal as an Egyptian prince seems t be only picked up by the educated critical thinkers. The fact that the Oscars once again was dominated by white nominees shows the power of Hollywood and its normalization of whites in its cinema. The fact that the majority of people who visit the cinema will be unaware or clue on to the fact that a character of a different race is being played by a white person is testament to the power Hollywood has. Its domination and influence in cinema is dangerous as it clearly feeds the stereotype and normalizes whites in key/dominant roles.
ReplyDelete