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- Jul 10, 2012
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So I just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir (loved it, totally recommend it), and I hopped on to Google and looked up the movie casting. Looks good so far, until I got to the choice for Mindy Park. When I read "Park" in the book, yanno, my assumption was Korean-American. But nope, they cast a white actress. Okay, whatever. I have like 50 Korean-American friends with the last name "Park", but then I also have one white friend with last name "Park", so FINE. Improbable, but you could argue that she could very well be white. Who knows, maybe she married a Korean-American guy and changed her last name.
Then I came across the casting for Ryoko. White actress*. SERIOUSLY?? Are you fucking kidding me right now, Hollywood??!?! Is there something weird going on that the rest of us aren't aware of, like are white babies in the US being named RYOKO?? And Ryoko has such a tiny, tiny role. But I guess casting an Asian actress for that super minor role would just horribly tank the movie or something.
I used to think that naming your characters Ryoko would be enough to signify that they're of Japanese descent, but apparently that's not the case. Thank you, Hollywood, for reminding me of the giant shit machine we're continuously trying to fight.
THIS is why whenever I see people say that you don't have to be explicit with your character's ethnicities, I say, in an ideal world, it won't even be an issue. You could name someone Ryoko and rest assured that nobody in their right mind could think of that character as white. But in our world, right now? We're not there yet.
Of course, if you're writing alternate-world fantasy or a story that isn't set in our current world where the labels we have aren't applicable, then it becomes more difficult to be clear. But if we're writing contemporary, or even some SF/F that's set in our world, I think it's important to be clear about our characters' ethnicities. I didn't think it affected the story in a negative way when Dashner said Minho was "Asian". In fact, I appreciated the way it was just said so matter-of-factly and then it wasn't ever repeated again (that I remember of). The story didn't let us dwell on his ethnicity, it just kinda went "This Asian kid appeared. So anyway, then this happened..."
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just saw the list and went, ARRGRGGHHHHHH. I dunno. I guess I'm just...tired. This battle feels endless, and it seems like we're just taking one step forward, two steps back...straight into Hollywood's warty, shit-spewing anushole.
*ETA: Thanks to Buz and Backslashbaby for the clarification! Actress playing Ryoko is... half-white, half-Indian.
Then I came across the casting for Ryoko. White actress*. SERIOUSLY?? Are you fucking kidding me right now, Hollywood??!?! Is there something weird going on that the rest of us aren't aware of, like are white babies in the US being named RYOKO?? And Ryoko has such a tiny, tiny role. But I guess casting an Asian actress for that super minor role would just horribly tank the movie or something.
I used to think that naming your characters Ryoko would be enough to signify that they're of Japanese descent, but apparently that's not the case. Thank you, Hollywood, for reminding me of the giant shit machine we're continuously trying to fight.
THIS is why whenever I see people say that you don't have to be explicit with your character's ethnicities, I say, in an ideal world, it won't even be an issue. You could name someone Ryoko and rest assured that nobody in their right mind could think of that character as white. But in our world, right now? We're not there yet.
Of course, if you're writing alternate-world fantasy or a story that isn't set in our current world where the labels we have aren't applicable, then it becomes more difficult to be clear. But if we're writing contemporary, or even some SF/F that's set in our world, I think it's important to be clear about our characters' ethnicities. I didn't think it affected the story in a negative way when Dashner said Minho was "Asian". In fact, I appreciated the way it was just said so matter-of-factly and then it wasn't ever repeated again (that I remember of). The story didn't let us dwell on his ethnicity, it just kinda went "This Asian kid appeared. So anyway, then this happened..."
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just saw the list and went, ARRGRGGHHHHHH. I dunno. I guess I'm just...tired. This battle feels endless, and it seems like we're just taking one step forward, two steps back...straight into Hollywood's warty, shit-spewing anushole.
*ETA: Thanks to Buz and Backslashbaby for the clarification! Actress playing Ryoko is... half-white, half-Indian.
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