Live-action Cowboy Bebop writer brings up Scarlett Johansson’s Ghost in the Shell in a discussion about on-camera diversity. The issue of whitewashing in movies has been a major point of contention for years, and very much came to a head in 2017 when Johansson was cast as the lead in the live-action adaptation of legendary manga series Ghost in the Shell.
As every fan well remembers, the original GITS manga follows the adventures of law enforcement officer Motoko Kusanagi, an advanced cyborg blessed with high intelligence. But for the Hollywood adaptation the character’s name was changed to the non-Japanese-sounding Mira Killian, and decidedly non-Asian actress Johansson was given the part. Johansson’s casting was defended on the grounds that her name helped sell the movie to general audiences, but many didn’t buy the explanation, and the film was widely denounced as a prime example of Hollywood’s long-standing tradition of casting white actors in roles that should rightfully go to people of other ethnicities.
Speaking to Gizmodo, Cowboy Bebop writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach assured fans of that classic anime series that whitewashing will not be a problem for the forthcoming Netflix adaptation. And he brought up the Ghost in the Shell controversy to make his point, saying:
“Spike Spiegel has to be Asian. Like, you can’t Scarlett Johansson this s--t. We are making a show that takes place in a future that is multicultural, that is extraordinarily integrated and where those things are the norm.”
Interestingly, Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop has come under its own share of fire for having a largely white and male creative team, but the Puerto Rican Grillo-Marxauch pointed out that the show does have the original anime’s creator Shinichirō Watanabe on board as a consultant and that season one writers Karl Taro Greenfeld and Vivian Lee-Durkin are both of Asian descent. As for the on-camera talent, the cast is as diverse as could be, with John Cho, Alex Hassell, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine and Mustafa Shakir heading up the ensemble.
The fact that Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop means to honor the original anime’s multi-cultural character makeup certainly comes as great news given the aforementioned long Hollywood history of casting actors like Johansson to play Asian characters. Of course, such practices were much more glaring back in the early days of Hollywood, when the screen was filled with incredibly offensive depictions of Asian characters carried out by white actors in makeup. But the Ghost in the Shell controversy showed that even in comparatively more enlightened modern times, movie studios will still try to get away with similar things for what they think are sound financial reasons.
Though it appears whitewashing will not be a problem for the show, Cowboy Bebop undoubtedly has many other hurdles to get over when it comes to satisfying hardcores, considering the legendary nature of the source material in the world of anime fandom. Fans have certainly waited a long time to finally see the Cowboy Bebop story get the live-action treatment, and when that wait will finally end is still anyone’s guess.
Source: Gizmodo