Why I think Hollywood needs to be reminded, 'Yellowface' is still offensive

Last week we were treated to a double scoop of exciting movie news - the trailer, external for Doctor Strange and the first images, external of Ghost in the Shell. Sadly, this also came with a double serving of good ol’ fashioned racism - thanks, Hollywood!

I am, of course, referring to Tilda Swinton appearing as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange and Scarlet Johansson being cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, choices that have led to a fair bit of controversy, external.

The terms 'whitewashing' and 'cultural appropriation', external have been bandied about, but in my mind, these casting choices deserve a far more damning label: Yellowface.

If you haven’t heard of the term Yellowface, just see it as the ‘your mum’s Chinese/your dad’s Japanese’ of the entertainment world. Simply put, if someone isn’t East Asian, but they’re dolled up to play a character that is East Asian or (more likely) a hodgepodge of East Asian stereotypes, then they’re doing Yellowface.

One of the most famous instances of Yellowface is in Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

This was obviously a bad judgement call made in a less enlightened time. Today, we no longer have the luxury of hiding behind ignorance - so what are the excuses for Ghost in the Shell and Doctor Strange?

A quick summing up of why the studio's casting choices are just so iffy:

Major Motoko Kuanagi is a Japanese character with a Japanese name and is the head of a Japanese taskforce that deals with cybercrime in, you guessed it, futuristic Japan. She is now being played by Scarlett Johansson, who is a white woman.

The Ancient One is a Tibetan monk who's up to his eyeballs in orientalist stereotypes. He is now being played by Tilda Swinton, who is also a white woman.

The Producer of Doctor Strange claimed, external that casting a woman was a move away from 'stereotypes' - but why wasn’t an East Asian woman cast? In one fell swoop, it would have provided representation, crushed poisonous stereotypes of East Asian women and created a badass female action role. Instead, we have a white woman (dressed as an East Asian stereotype) teaching a white man (also dressed as an East Asian stereotype) some Vaguely Eastern Skills™.

For me, the more sinister problem with this casting is that it was done under the name of progress and shows that ignorance is still rife within Hollywood.

I get it - Hollywood has always been a hustle. Studios need big names for financial backing, but to deny actors of colour even the opportunity to become a big name is simply discrimination. And if we’re talking money, can we look at the most obvious casting choice for this film? Rinko Kikuchi of Pacific Rim fame has proven her mettle not only at the box office (Pacific Rim grossed $407 million worldwide) but also with the critics, being the first Japanese woman to get an Oscar nomination in 57 years.

Perhaps the most shocking story, external to come out of this controversy is that producers reportedly looked into using CGI to give white actors more Asian facial features for Ghost in the Shell. If true, this act of digital Yellowface is both scary and surreal. These roles could have provided greater representation for East Asians, not an opportunity to develop more elaborate ways to render them invisible.

In many ways with these films, it’s a case of one step forward, two steps back. The fact that Ghost in the Shell is an action film with a female lead is fantastic - and praise for this is rightly deserved. Same goes for the good, if somewhat misguided, intentions behind The Ancient One casting. However, this has to be emphasised: replacing a white woman where a person of colour should be is not progress. It’s simply replacing one inequality with another.