I’m sure most of you remember the Ghost in The Shell casting controversy, where Scarlett Johansson was cast as the main role in a live-action movie based on a classic anime. Numerous people criticized this decision and the movie also ended up flopping. Later, she came under fire for signing up to play a trans man in a movie called Rub & Tug. She had to back out of it due to all the backlash she received and talked about how political correctness shouldn’t affect casting decisions. However, if we look closely into the matter, then yes, casting should be politically correct and intentionally inclusive.
How long are we going to ignore POC and ‘othered’ voices? We’ve all been subjected to horrible adaptations of non-English language content into extremely whitewashed and watered-down Hollywood presentations. This is offensive not only culturally, but also artistically. The film industry really needs to look at itself and see where it’s going wrong. It shouldn’t take trends like ‘Oscar so white’ to make producers, directors, and studios realize they need to do better. Just take a look at some of the reasons why political correctness is needed in casting decisions.
Whitewashing
This is the classic issue in a whole lot of movies. The Ghost in The Shell movie was not the first and definitely not the last perpetrator of this. Marvel is particularly problematic in this regard. Just take the casting of white Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, a monk of Tibetan descent. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige acknowledged this error, but we didn’t really see any improvement.
Studios really need to be introspective and make better casting decisions. There are numerous POC actors out there with immense skills who should fill these roles. It is a fallacy that whitewashing is ‘good business’. Today’s audience is much more aware of these issues and is actively asking for more representation.
Discarding POC Voices
Another major issue is when POC voices are discarded, and their problems are presented through a white lens. The Help was an award-winning movie that was shown as an excellent portrayal of racism. However, it fell victim to a white saviour narrative, which defeats the point.
When non-POC voices tell POC stories, they tend to gloss things over and misrepresent issues. Therefore, there is a dire need for POC voices to take back their narrative and create their own content. Just look at Bong Joon-Ho’s critical success with movies like Parasite. When we amplify POC voices, we get such masterpieces. Jordan Peele is another example of this, with his horror movies Get Out and Us taking fans by storm.
Cultural Appropriation
This is a particularly egregious problem in Hollywood and is downright offensive. Just take a look at Johnny Depp’s role as Tonto in The Lone Ranger. He stated that he wanted to represent Native Americans in cinema, but was heavily criticized. After all, when actual Native Americans barely have any representation in the mainstream, this is an extremely tone-deaf point.
Furthermore, we’ve all seen how common cornrows and other aspects of Black culture are used in movies by non-Black actors. Cultural appropriation also takes place in much more subtle ways, with certain elements of POC culture. La La Land was presented as a homage to Jazz, but ignored the heavy influence of Black culture in it.
Racial & Ethnic Stereotypes
Hollywood has played a major role in perpetuating various stereotypes. Think of the last time you saw South Asian representation in a movie. Were the characters portrayed as regressive, did they have exaggerated accents, and did they have ‘classic’ South Asian jobs like taxi drivers and call centre representatives? If you say yes to any of these questions, then you know such movies are presenting stereotypes.
Just like the Bechdel test for female representation, British actor of South Asian origin Riz Ahmed called for a test that measures proper Muslim representation in media. Such tests are necessary for every ethnic, religious, and racial minority to counter common stereotypes.
Content Integrity
Political correctness also helps maintain the integrity of the content sources. The recent spate of failed live-action adaptations of anime movies and shows on Netflix are solid proof of this. With all the cultural nuances lost and lack of any spirit in these adaptations, they were heavily criticized and even mocked.
Therefore, if studios actively respect the source material and are inclusive, these shows would work much better. Take shows like Dear White People and Never Have I Ever as an example. Both of these represented POC issues in an accurate light, without resorting to stereotyping.
In conclusion, political correctness is necessary these days in TV shows and movies. This is not only the socially responsible thing to do but also benefits creators and studios, with how discerning people now are about what they watch.
