Media Matters Part 2 (Older)

Whitewashing

He’s Just Not That Into You

Baltimore, MD65% black, 31% white population

He’s Just Not That Into You

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

• Original: Sinbad is Arab, grows up in Bagdhad

• Disney: Sinbad is Greek, grows up in Syracuse and sounds a lot like Brad Pitt

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Prince Dastan Jake Gyllenhaal?

Making Angelina Jolie black:

Mariane Pearl and Angelina Jolie

21

From Asians to white guys…

Can you tell these men apart?

“Believe me, I would have loved to cast Asians in the lead roles, but the truth is, we didn't have access to any bankable Asian American actors that

we wanted… If I had known how upset the Asian American community

would be about this, I would have picked a different story to film.”

-DANA BRUNETTI, 21’s producer

Just about every single Asian American that you see on screen on American movies or tv shows today is there for a very specific asian reason

(yes, i do know there are exceptions…but they are very, very few). They don’t exist as most

Asian Americans exist in America today: as real, three dimensional, everyday people… Yet when

it comes to American media and those who create it, the asians on screen have to be

justified through some sort of asian reason.

Asian-American actor Roger Fan

Can you think of some “Asian reasons” why Hollywood casts Asians in films?

A reason like this?

Challenge Question:

• Come up with a movie where one of the main characters is Asian or Asian-American and does not do martial arts.

Controversy in Avatar casting

“I think it’s one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan,” he said of the

transformation he’ll go through to look more like Sokka. “It’s one of those

things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.”

-JACKSON RATHBONE

Suspend disbelief?

Avatar and the Lost Airbender cast:

Good vs. Evil

Avatar and the Lost Airbender cast:

Challenge Question:

• Name a movie where the good guy is foreign and the bad guy is American.

“Bad Guys” in The Hangover

Disney’s Aladdinboth characters from Arabian city of Agrabah

GOOD EVIL

Xerxes gets a makeover for 300

Bond villains

Accents in Ratatouille

• Rats and Linguine have no accent

• Everyone else does!

• They’re ALL French

War movies

Changing nature of bad guys

• In 1984 it’s the Russians

• In 2010 it will be the Chinese

Recent Films with Foreign Bad Guys:

• Quantum of Solace• Hancock• Watchmen• Hulk• Angels and Demons• Taken• G.I. Joe• Star Trek

Us vs. Them!

The Ultimate Us vs. Them!

The Ultimate Us vs. Them!

Where are the nice aliens?

“Aliens?”

Xenophobia?

Challenge Question:

• Name a movie with Arab, Muslim, and/or Middle Eastern characters who are not evil.

Casting of Arab/Muslim characters:

• There are about 400 million Arab people in the world today.

• There are about one billion Muslims.

• Most are not terrorists… except in Hollywood.