Correcting Yellowface
June 8, 2016 8:38 AM Subscribe
These are wonderful.
posted by not that girl at 9:07 AM on June 8, 2016
posted by not that girl at 9:07 AM on June 8, 2016
i love this so much and would love to see it repeated by others.
posted by nadawi at 9:12 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by nadawi at 9:12 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is fantastic. I would also love to see more of this kind of thing.
posted by defenestration at 9:18 AM on June 8, 2016
posted by defenestration at 9:18 AM on June 8, 2016
I should have also linked to the neato burrito Photoshop project William Yu did called #StarringJohnCho. I love it too.
posted by Kitteh at 9:29 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 9:29 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]
Oh, I love this.
I have to say though that Emma Stone in Haole I mean Hawaii is the gift that keeps on giving. First it put the ball right on the tee for Kevin Kwan to say he would like Emma Stone to play every role in the Crazy Rich Asians movie, which is legendarily sassy. And now, if anyone ever asks me that stupid "Who would play you in a movie about your life" question, I can just say "Emma Stone" and figure out if they are down for the cause by whether they cackle with glee or just give me a confused look.
Also, don't forget #starringconstancewu!
posted by sunset in snow country at 9:47 AM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
I have to say though that Emma Stone in Haole I mean Hawaii is the gift that keeps on giving. First it put the ball right on the tee for Kevin Kwan to say he would like Emma Stone to play every role in the Crazy Rich Asians movie, which is legendarily sassy. And now, if anyone ever asks me that stupid "Who would play you in a movie about your life" question, I can just say "Emma Stone" and figure out if they are down for the cause by whether they cackle with glee or just give me a confused look.
Also, don't forget #starringconstancewu!
posted by sunset in snow country at 9:47 AM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
Tuptim is a Burmese princess who is given to the King of Thailand as a gift (slave) and lives in a gilded palace with a bunch of other wives. I am a mom from the Palisades having some kind of mid-life crisis dressed as a Thai fairy outside of Jumbo’s Clown Room.
So good. For those unaware, Jumbo's is a bar that rides the line between strip club and burlesque bar. It's right in the middle of L.A.'s Thai Town. Courtney Love used to dance there, I think.
posted by JauntyFedora at 9:49 AM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
So good. For those unaware, Jumbo's is a bar that rides the line between strip club and burlesque bar. It's right in the middle of L.A.'s Thai Town. Courtney Love used to dance there, I think.
posted by JauntyFedora at 9:49 AM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
Jumbo's Clown Room is the best thing ever!!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 10:08 AM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 10:08 AM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]
Yes! This is brilliant and I want to see more people doing it.
posted by zarq at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2016
posted by zarq at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2016
i love this so much and would love to see it repeated by others.
Well there was this.
posted by shala at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2016 [6 favorites]
Well there was this.
posted by shala at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2016 [6 favorites]
I love this! I am a white grandma with Asian daughter in law and half-Asian grandchild. I am ashamed to admit I did not know why white women played Asian characters in old movies, just thought it was strange, now I learn there were even laws about mixed race romance in movies? Mimi has done a wonderful job of duplicating the costumes and looks of old yellowface roles.
posted by mermayd at 10:31 AM on June 8, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by mermayd at 10:31 AM on June 8, 2016 [7 favorites]
I was so hoping she would do some men and include Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffanys.
posted by archimago at 10:51 AM on June 8, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by archimago at 10:51 AM on June 8, 2016 [6 favorites]
Sometimes, when other people aren’t doing things right you just gotta Do IT Yourself. During this project there were moments of empowerment, sadness, frustration, satisfaction and glee. Also, a bunch of money spent on props. And it was so worth it. Like most of my creative endeavors I was motivated by the simple desire to entertain myself and my kooky inner circle of friends and family. But there’s more to this. This photographic journey is a love letter to all my Asian brothers and sisters out there trying to break into a tough business. I feel your struggle. But please keep fighting the fight. You are talented. You are beautiful. And goddammit, we belong in the picture.
Applies to more than acting in movies, tbh. A great book I discovered in a secondhand store in San Francisco (I used to live 2 blocks from Chinatown for groceries) was Warrior Lessons
posted by infini at 11:00 AM on June 8, 2016
Applies to more than acting in movies, tbh. A great book I discovered in a secondhand store in San Francisco (I used to live 2 blocks from Chinatown for groceries) was Warrior Lessons
posted by infini at 11:00 AM on June 8, 2016
I'd love to see this done for all the varieties of cinematic white-washing. Persian guys dressed as Gyllenhaall's Prince of Persia, Egyptians dressed as the Gods of Egypt, Spanish guys dressed as Maximus from Gladiator, etc., etc.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:12 AM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 11:12 AM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
Jumbo's Clown Room is the best thing ever!!!!!
This is how you can tell the LA natives from the people who just moved here ;-)
posted by sideshow at 11:17 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is how you can tell the LA natives from the people who just moved here ;-)
posted by sideshow at 11:17 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wow. This is an amazing example of a good idea taken to the next level by fantastic execution.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:33 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:33 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]
Awesome on so many levels. Awesome for the yellow face correction, for the photography, the costuming and makeup, just for the sheer joy of it.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:46 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:46 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
It was also one of the most challenging photos to shoot. One, because it’s Katharine Hepburn and I didn’t want to disrespect the queen may she rest in peace. And two, trying to recreate one of our greatest actors’ expressions while that actress’s face has been tampered with is just some crazy gymnastics. I really got into my head here and it wasn’t pretty. I considered calling this post Wictor Wictoria because it occurred to me that I was an Asian woman trying to be a white woman trying to be an Asian woman.
I thought it was interesting that Villemaire uses "actor" as a gender-neutral term to refer to performers (including herself) but consistently uses "actress" to describe Hepburn. I'm not sure if that's was a conscious choice or just rhe result of actress being the term usually applied to Hepburn during her lifetime.
This role should have gone to my girl Anna May Wong but back then it was illegal for People of Color to play opposite white people as romantic leads.
Is this literally true? I tried to research it but couldn't find confirmation, and it's not clear to me whether Villemaire is reporting it as a fact or using hyperbole to convey the levels of race segregation in '30s cinema.
posted by layceepee at 11:52 AM on June 8, 2016
I thought it was interesting that Villemaire uses "actor" as a gender-neutral term to refer to performers (including herself) but consistently uses "actress" to describe Hepburn. I'm not sure if that's was a conscious choice or just rhe result of actress being the term usually applied to Hepburn during her lifetime.
This role should have gone to my girl Anna May Wong but back then it was illegal for People of Color to play opposite white people as romantic leads.
Is this literally true? I tried to research it but couldn't find confirmation, and it's not clear to me whether Villemaire is reporting it as a fact or using hyperbole to convey the levels of race segregation in '30s cinema.
posted by layceepee at 11:52 AM on June 8, 2016
Nicely done but it's sad that the last two are from contemporary films. You'd hope that we'd made some cultural progress since 1937 but not so much.
posted by octothorpe at 11:53 AM on June 8, 2016
posted by octothorpe at 11:53 AM on June 8, 2016
Miscegenation was against the Motion Picture Production Code so it wasn't really illegal but against the rules agreed to by the studios.
posted by octothorpe at 11:56 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 11:56 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]
Even if it wasn't true, I don't think it's fair to characterize PoC not allowed to act in romantic roles opposite white people as "hyperbole" in the course of a discussion of, y'know, erasing PoC characters entirely.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2016 [8 favorites]
Check out the music video for Safe by dumbfoundead. It's basically the same idea, but using motion matching.
posted by growli at 12:31 PM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by growli at 12:31 PM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]
Even if it wasn't true, I don't think it's fair to characterize PoC not allowed to act in romantic roles opposite white people as "hyperbole" in the course of a discussion of, y'know, erasing PoC characters entirely.
I agree completely; if it weren't true that it was actually illegal, then saying PoC were not allowed wouldn't be hyperbole and saying that it was illegal would be hyperbole.
My intent, though, was to see if someone with better research skills or superior knowledge than me could tell me whether calling it "illegal" was fact or hyperbole.
posted by layceepee at 12:42 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
I agree completely; if it weren't true that it was actually illegal, then saying PoC were not allowed wouldn't be hyperbole and saying that it was illegal would be hyperbole.
My intent, though, was to see if someone with better research skills or superior knowledge than me could tell me whether calling it "illegal" was fact or hyperbole.
posted by layceepee at 12:42 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
Miscegenation was against the Motion Picture Production Code so it wasn't really illegal but against the rules agreed to by the studios
To give you an idea how strong a taboo this was , the movie "Pinkie" about an African American woman who passes for white, could not be played by an African American actress at all (Lena Horne wanted the role and was flat out rejected) and many theatres in the south and texas refused to show it because the male characters didnt instantly reject her after finding out she was black.
Speaking of Horne, one of the reasons she git a contract is cause black GIs got in trouble for putting pictures of white actresses up, there was a need for a "black pin-up", and even then she was alwags paired against asexual grandfather types and given scenes that could be cut from the movie fir southern markets.
Akso races mixing socially was seen as DIRE COMMIE PLOTS so it wadnt happening anyway.
posted by The Whelk at 12:53 PM on June 8, 2016 [17 favorites]
I'm beginning to suspect that maybe America has some fucked-up issues about race.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:14 PM on June 8, 2016 [39 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 1:14 PM on June 8, 2016 [39 favorites]
Hyperbole implies intentional exaggeration, and I think this is neither.
On the "intentional" side, I think it's probably just a misconception on the blogger's part. You'll sometimes hear people say it was "illegal" to show people kissing for more than three seconds (which was also part of the code, and not an actual law).
And while technically untrue, is it an exaggeration? The effective outcome is basically the same, and interracial marriages were illegal in much of the U.S.
I think that's what people are objecting to. It's not hyperbole, it's a factual error.
posted by sunset in snow country at 1:14 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
On the "intentional" side, I think it's probably just a misconception on the blogger's part. You'll sometimes hear people say it was "illegal" to show people kissing for more than three seconds (which was also part of the code, and not an actual law).
And while technically untrue, is it an exaggeration? The effective outcome is basically the same, and interracial marriages were illegal in much of the U.S.
I think that's what people are objecting to. It's not hyperbole, it's a factual error.
posted by sunset in snow country at 1:14 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wow, she out-Hepburns Katharine Hepburn!
Also, Scarlett Johansson cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi is a huge wtgdfh? Not only does her face look nothing like Kusanagi, her body type is also totally off.
posted by porpoise at 1:19 PM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]
Also, Scarlett Johansson cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi is a huge wtgdfh? Not only does her face look nothing like Kusanagi, her body type is also totally off.
posted by porpoise at 1:19 PM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]
Yeah, literally illegal, no. Practically impossible? Strong yes.
Also Loving v. Virginia wasn't settled until 1967. Perspective.
posted by The Whelk at 1:25 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also Loving v. Virginia wasn't settled until 1967. Perspective.
posted by The Whelk at 1:25 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is great. Perfect photos, I hope her agent calls her with a role and yay Jumbo's Clown Room!!! (also, ew, jumbo's clown room - I mean, have you actually been? It's kinda nasty.)
posted by Sophie1 at 1:44 PM on June 8, 2016
posted by Sophie1 at 1:44 PM on June 8, 2016
I LOVED this! Thank you for posting it. The execution is terrific, the commentary so sharp. As a half-Asian woman myself, yellowface (and the general lack of Asian representation in western media) drives me crazy.
It's embarrassing to think I ever felt like this, because it feels like a betrayal of my mom and her family. I am proud of my Chinese heritage now, but reading her post brought me back to those childhood feelings. Yellow face and Asian erasure really does mess you up.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:47 PM on June 8, 2016 [18 favorites]
Myrna Loy was one hot white- I mean Chinese girl! Shooting this one really started to mess with me and my ideas of beauty. That face! Those eyes! Those gorgeous BLUE eyes! Let’s be honest, blue-eyed peoples’ eyes are like crystal prisms the way they catch the light and throw it around. When I was eight I wanted so desperately to look white that I used shampoo for blonde people and put clothespins on my nose to try to make it narrower. I’m proud of my half-Asian heritage now- very proud- but those were some dark days. Trying to recreate a pic of Myrna Loy brought me back.Ohhhh...wow. This really speaks to me. I remember wishing so hard when I was that age that I had blonde hair and blue eyes (like some of my white cousins). I wanted blue contact lenses. I wanted my nose to be thinner. I also did the "shampoo for blondes" thing and tried to colour my hair with a yellow highlighter. I'd open my eyes really wide in photos so they looked more round and less "Asian." (My family has a lot of weird pictures of me as a kid where I look like a deer caught in the headlights, because I'm opening my eyes so wide.)
It's embarrassing to think I ever felt like this, because it feels like a betrayal of my mom and her family. I am proud of my Chinese heritage now, but reading her post brought me back to those childhood feelings. Yellow face and Asian erasure really does mess you up.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:47 PM on June 8, 2016 [18 favorites]
Apparently Hollywood didn't show an actual interracial kiss until 1957's Island in the Sun.
posted by octothorpe at 1:47 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 1:47 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
Scarlett Johansson cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi
holy cow
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:10 PM on June 8, 2016
holy cow
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:10 PM on June 8, 2016
Scarlett Johansson cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi
holy cow
Right? Can you believe that shit? All the marketing shit just refers to her character as "The Major", which indicates they even knew how fucked up it was (THEN WHY DO IT???) and just decided to cover it up.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:34 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
holy cow
Right? Can you believe that shit? All the marketing shit just refers to her character as "The Major", which indicates they even knew how fucked up it was (THEN WHY DO IT???) and just decided to cover it up.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:34 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]
"All the marketing shit just refers to her character as "The Major", which indicates they even knew how fucked up it was (THEN WHY DO IT???) and just decided to cover it up."
Major Motoko Kusanagi is commonly referred to as The Major in the GITS franchises and by fans a like. Just go to her Wikiepdia page and ctrl+f for "the major".
But, yeah, I understand the reasoning of why they cast ScarJo but I also think that that reasoning is very poor and short-sighted. Also I don't understand why they cast Beat Takeshi as Aramaki. It's like the people doing the casting don't understand the fans no the franchise nor the characters themselves.
posted by I-baLL at 6:02 AM on June 9, 2016
Major Motoko Kusanagi is commonly referred to as The Major in the GITS franchises and by fans a like. Just go to her Wikiepdia page and ctrl+f for "the major".
But, yeah, I understand the reasoning of why they cast ScarJo but I also think that that reasoning is very poor and short-sighted. Also I don't understand why they cast Beat Takeshi as Aramaki. It's like the people doing the casting don't understand the fans no the franchise nor the characters themselves.
posted by I-baLL at 6:02 AM on June 9, 2016
Ghost in the Shell without Japanese characters is not Ghost in the Shell at all.
posted by Etrigan at 6:33 AM on June 9, 2016
posted by Etrigan at 6:33 AM on June 9, 2016
Major Motoko Kusanagi is commonly referred to as The Major in the GITS franchises and by fans a like. Just go to her Wikiepdia page and ctrl+f for "the major".
ctrl-F: "The Major" 1 of 9 matches found
ctrl-F: "Kusanagi" 15 of 24 matches found
ctrl-F: "Motoko" 18 of 29 matches found
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by Krom Tatman at 6:56 AM on June 9, 2016 [5 favorites]
ctrl-F: "The Major" 1 of 9 matches found
ctrl-F: "Kusanagi" 15 of 24 matches found
ctrl-F: "Motoko" 18 of 29 matches found
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by Krom Tatman at 6:56 AM on June 9, 2016 [5 favorites]
Don't forget this guy. If I remember correctly, they turned away Bruce Lee for that role. Bruce. @#$%ing. Lee.
posted by prepmonkey at 7:44 AM on June 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by prepmonkey at 7:44 AM on June 9, 2016 [1 favorite]
Speaking as an actual Major who is routinely called that because A) it's easier for people to pronounce correctly than my name, and B) that is very much just a thing that people in the military (and similar hierarchical organizations) do; I hereby do not grant Hollywood the license to whitewash my ethnicity just because not everyone has always used my slightly ethnic surname every single time they have ever addressed or referred to me.
posted by Etrigan at 7:49 AM on June 9, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 7:49 AM on June 9, 2016 [6 favorites]
IIRC, in the original anime (I didn't read the manga), they call her Major as a designation, like how in the field soldiers and officers usually just call each other by their rank if there was no need for further distinction. Her name has always been Motoko Kusanagi, like I know for a fact they utter that many times in the show.
posted by numaner at 7:53 AM on June 9, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by numaner at 7:53 AM on June 9, 2016 [4 favorites]
Mod note: A whole mess of comments deleted. Krom Tatman and beerperson: stop it. If you have a problem with someone's comments, flag them or come to the contact form, don't do this endless sarcastic put-down thing. I-baLL, drop it, and stay out of threads on this subject.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:12 AM on June 9, 2016
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:12 AM on June 9, 2016
I own the manga. All of them (there are three trades; only a fraction of the info gets into the movies and tv show). I've also seen all of the shows, though GITS: Innocence really isn't worth it (read the second manga trade instead for Batou suffering). I love the philosophy and style, hate the sexism, am pissed the movie is adding racism, can talk way too long about the whole thing.
In the manga Motoko Kusanagi was shown in dress uniform in one of the episodes and Section 9 is a fictional part of the real police force, so that implies the designation was official. She is no longer called "the Major" in Man-Machine Interface (the third or second manga trade, depending on how you count); she's called either Motoko or Mistress (by her AI team), which reinforces the Major less as part of her self-identification and more as her (now abandoned) work title. The way Masamune Shirow (the manga author) uses names is meaningful, and who calls Motoko what and when contains a lot of information. He never gave her a history in the manga and the sequels are mostly concerned with the fallout of her merging with the puppetmaster and having a bunch of ghost children (The Net is Vast and Infinite).
The TV show went a lot more into her background, and I've no idea how involved Shirow was, so make your own determination to the canonical nature of info from that source; her background there is that she met Batou as part of a multi-national strike force where people called her the Major even though that wasn't her designation, and Batou continued to use that as a title for her after becoming part of her team in Section 9. It's been ages since I last watched it, but I don't think Aramaki (her boss) ever introduces her as a Major. The implication I picked up is that her team calls her the Major out of a mixture of respect and fear because she's THAT much better than all of them despite being a woman.
posted by Deoridhe at 5:02 PM on June 9, 2016 [2 favorites]
In the manga Motoko Kusanagi was shown in dress uniform in one of the episodes and Section 9 is a fictional part of the real police force, so that implies the designation was official. She is no longer called "the Major" in Man-Machine Interface (the third or second manga trade, depending on how you count); she's called either Motoko or Mistress (by her AI team), which reinforces the Major less as part of her self-identification and more as her (now abandoned) work title. The way Masamune Shirow (the manga author) uses names is meaningful, and who calls Motoko what and when contains a lot of information. He never gave her a history in the manga and the sequels are mostly concerned with the fallout of her merging with the puppetmaster and having a bunch of ghost children (The Net is Vast and Infinite).
The TV show went a lot more into her background, and I've no idea how involved Shirow was, so make your own determination to the canonical nature of info from that source; her background there is that she met Batou as part of a multi-national strike force where people called her the Major even though that wasn't her designation, and Batou continued to use that as a title for her after becoming part of her team in Section 9. It's been ages since I last watched it, but I don't think Aramaki (her boss) ever introduces her as a Major. The implication I picked up is that her team calls her the Major out of a mixture of respect and fear because she's THAT much better than all of them despite being a woman.
posted by Deoridhe at 5:02 PM on June 9, 2016 [2 favorites]
There was a period where every time I started a conversation with my sister with, "So, I had Turner Classic Movies on yesterday..." and sounded annoyed, she would know to finish my sentence with, "...and Alec Guinness was in yellowface again?"
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:25 AM on June 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:25 AM on June 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
Meanwhile Leonardo DiCaprio may be getting cast as Rumi.
posted by Songdog at 7:01 PM on June 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Songdog at 7:01 PM on June 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I still refuse to believe that's anything other than an incredibly tacky joke.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:26 PM on June 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 8:26 PM on June 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
Which is the exact same reaction the box office has to these things, yet Hollywood still isn't getting the hint.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
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posted by quaking fajita at 8:52 AM on June 8, 2016 [12 favorites]