It does seem pretty hypocritical that the supposedly progressive Hollywood continues to have non-Asian actors play Asian roles:
A live action remake of Disney’s “Mulan” is set to release in 2018. For now, Disney hunts for actors and actresses with the potential to play the heroic roles of the movie. It was rumored that Disney set its eyes on famed actress Jennifer Lawrence for the role of Mulan. Lawrence is known for many heroic roles, including Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games trilogy. It is also rumored that actor Zac Efron will be playing the role of Li Shang from the original animated film. Despite both celebrities having great success in such movie roles, they are terrible candidates to take roles in the film, all due to racial background.
In the original story, Mulan is portrayed as a young Chinese woman taking her father’s place in serving in war by disguising herself as a man and secretly leaving her family. In recent days, heroic lead roles in Asian settings have been given to American actors. The upcoming 2017 American-Chinese fantasy epic, “The Great Wall”, stars Matt Damon (The Bourne Saga) as the lead role. The main question to stress is if the film industry is discriminating and disregarding people of color and the culture they represent.
Since there are several films where whitewashing has occurred, the main and only intent of the film industry is money. [Korea Times]
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