The casting of Scarlett Johansson as cyber super-cop Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, the big-budget Hollywood movie adaptation of the classic manga (Japanese comic book) series, created an online furore.
When the first image of the American actress sporting the character’s traditional black, bob haircut first appeared on the internet, the choice was seen as yet another example of Hollywood whitewashing Asian characters out of movies.
It echoed the anger aroused when Tilda Swinton was cast as the Ancient One in last year's Doctor Strange, while Cameron Crowe's Hawaii-set comedy Aloha flopped following criticism of the decision to cast Emma Stone as Alison Ng, a character of Chinese and native Hawaiian descent.
Hollywood history is littered with other examples of controversial cross-racial casting benefiting white actors: Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow, Jim Sturgess in 21, Burt Lancaster in Apache, Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Peter Sellars in The Party and Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins, a character who in the comics is of Arab descent.
Ghost in the Shell underperformed at the North American box-office when it was released last month – and the casting of Johansson in the lead role and the controversy it generated – was highlighted as one of the reasons for its failure.
Whitewashing is a real problem in Hollywood, but a deeper look at the history of Ghost in the Shell – and manga and anime in general – show that in this instance the argument is not quite so clear-cut.
Ghost in the Shell first appeared as a manga in April 1989. Written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow, it is set in the mid-21st century and is about a counter-cyber terrorist organisation led by Major Motoko Kusanagi.
In 1995, director Mamoru Oshii's animated movie version (anime) of Ghost in the Shell became an international hit. His 2004 sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, was the first manga-inspired animation to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The franchise has also inspired animated TV series, novels and games. Only Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, and its 1988 animated movie, can rival it in terms of worldwide name recognition of an anime film.
Ghost in the Shell's influence in Hollywood can be seen in films such as Minority Report, The Matrix and Avatar. In all these movies, the boundaries between reality and cyberspace become blurred and human consciousness is able to operate outside the physical body.
The use of such avatars and automation in Ghost in the Shell creates a grey area over the casting of Johansson, according to anime director Oshii.
“What issue could there possible be with casting her?” he told IGN. “The Major is a cyborg and her physical form is an entirely assumed one. The name ‘Motoko Kusanagi’ and her current body are not her original name and body, so there is no basis for saying that an Asian actress must portray her.”
There are other more complex reasons why the casting is arguably not as controversial as it first appears. The history of Japanese anime has its own troubled history with representation.
After the Second World War, Japan was decimated and its sense of national identity was eroded. The emperor lost sovereign power and became a figurehead. The country – devastated by the war effort, two nuclear bombs and forced demilitarisation – needed to rebuild its economy.
With scant resources, entrepreneurs began recycling discarded food tins, remodelling them into cheap toy replicas of American jeeps. They became immensely popular both with the Japanese populace and occupying allied troops, and Japanese manufacturers realised that their products needed to appeal to the children of American soldiers to be profitable.
Toymakers, seeing the popularity of Disney cartoons, began creating their own animated characters, giving them a mix of American and Japanese characteristics: bigger heads, massive doe-eyes and softer faces.
In their pursuit of profits, Japanese toymakers had essentially erased Japanese features.
This might help to explain why the casting of Johansson did not seem to be such a controversial issue in Japan.
That the film did not succeed there either, despite this, suggests the film’s mediocre American box-office has as much to do with a lack of familiarity with the franchise and a poor adaptation as with casting.
Also, the Japanese are used to seeing people who look like themselves represented in local media. So the casting debate seems to be a peculiarly American problem, in a country and industry where whitewashing is prevalent and persistent.
The picture that emerges is that it is not the casting of Johansson, in and of itself, that is the problem here, given the roots of manga and anime.
But put into the context of a long history of Hollywood whitewashing, the casting choice does seem somewhat unwise.
• Ghost in the Shell is in cinemas from April 20
artslife@thenational.ae
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
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Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5