My Final Thoughts: Changing Source Material Isn’t Always White-Washing But It’s Also Not Always A Good Thing

We end the debate.

Ladies and gentleman, I’m gonna break some news to you that you may or may not like. The new live-action Ghost in the Shell movie is not a victim of white-washing. Nope…it’s not. What Ghost in the Shell is is a North American adaptation of a Japanese anime…that is all. Is that to say that Paramount could’ve cast Asian actors and actresses just like the animated film? Sure. But, the decision not to cast Asian actors has nothing to do with racism…it has everything to do with money.

You see, here in America, movie studios have exceptional skills that include taking a turd of a script, and still somehow make money off it. It’s called, “hire a big-time actor/actress $20 million to save our asses”. Unfortunately for Hollywood, there’s only a handful of women capable of taking a really terrible script in Ghost in the Shell and make it profitable and one of them is Scarlett Johansson. Sony literally JUST pulled this same song and dance late last year with the theatrical release of Passengers starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Here was a script that wasn’t very good, but Sony bought it anyway, paid $35 million (or about a third of the production budget) for Jennifer and Chris to be front and center for every single poster, because you’re gonna get the casual movie goers who love The Hunger Games and Guardians of the Galaxy to maybe check it out because, hey, IT’S THE SAME PEOPLE!

Also, the practice of adapting source material for a local audience happens all over the world. Fans of The Office will note the differences of the UK and US versions of the series. Also, have you ever been to China? When you do, find a network that airs The Simpsons and note, that all the English-speaking voice actors are instead replaced with Chinese voice actors coupled with altered scripts. It’s more of standard of cultural differences than it is of replacing anyone with any specific ethnicity or racial background, and in China’s case, is done at the behest of the government.

And it’s not like the actors and actresses aren’t in on it…they know EXACTLY what they are doing when they sign that measly $3 million per film contract with Marvel (as is the case with Scarlett). They know, with the powers and the unofficial backing of Disney, that they can go ahead and split their careers into two: taking advantage of movie studios when they have a shitty script that they HAVE to produce AND/OR take advantage of the ability to be able to make really good independent films in exchange for almost no money but with the better chance of getting nominated for Academy Awards. Surprised? Don’t be. Pop quiz…where do you think Scarlett Johansson makes her money that buys her houses and puts food on the table for her kid…from movies like Hail, Caesar! that are well-directed with fabulous scripts or movies like Ghost in the Shell where Scarlett’s built-in fanbase of 18-35 males (regardless of ethnicity) coupled with a huge anime franchise will assure that this thing doesn’t bomb at the box office? I’ll give you a hint…it’s the movie that rhymes with “Roast in the Hell”.

BUT! Altering the ethnic backgrounds in the adaptation of Ghost in the Shell brings up another issue that also happened this week whilst I was reviewing Fuuka…when is it OK to change from the source material and what kind of repercussions could take place if that happens?

Let me tell you what I mean. Earlier this week, Funimation streamed a brand-new English-dubbed episode of Fuuka. In the original manga, Fuuka Akitsuki gets literally destroyed by a truck which causes her band Fallen Moon to have to get a new lead singer, and a new eventual love interest for protagonist Yuu, in Fuuka Aoi. In the anime, the producers change this and instead offers Fuuka Akitsuki the chance to live in exchange for the opportunity to sell out the band in favor of a solo career, thereby setting up episodes where the band is gonna have to make some choices.

With this MAJOR change, can the producers of the anime adaptation of Fuuka continue to walk the same path as the manga? Fans of The Walking Dead can surely attest to when the producers change certain characters’ deaths from the comics to the TV series, the ripple effects that has as the series continues. In some cases, changing from what happens in printed source material makes for a better animated or live-action adaptation. Be honest, whenever you see Samuel L. Jackson as “Nick Fury”, can you REALLY imagine anyone better playing that role? I know I can’t. Yet, the original Nick Fury in the Marvel comics was a white dude. If the producers of Marvel comics and movies had kept everything status quo from the source material, we very well could’ve been stuck with someone terrible playing the role of Nick Fury like Pauly Shore or Tom Green and NO ONE would want that.

However, there are other times when altering from source material sucks. Sony Pictures is learning this the hard way with their Spider-Man movies in that we’re now staring down our THIRD take on the popular comic star’s origins in under 17 years and a lot of it has to do with that for everyone one thing that worked in the Spider-Man movies of the early “naughties”, we would get something just as stupid in return like no sign of Gwen Stacy or the dude from That 70’s Show nearly ruining Spider-Man’s most notable villain. And oh yea, you can read my colleague Moe Long’s review of the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie where he goes into great detail the features not present in the live-action film versus the animated film that causes the Johansson-starrer to fail miserably at being anything close to the greatness that is Ghost in the Shell. 

BUT! That doesn’t matter, does it? Because Scarlett Johansson is your “Major” and as of this writing, Ghost in the Shell is set to make about $35 million in its first weekend (up from the projected $25 million) on a probably $200 million budget after you factor in P&A, and you can bet your ass that after Paramount distributes this bad boy all over the globe, I can guarantee that you’re gonna be pretty close to the half-a-bil that ScarJo was able to help pull in for Lucy, another so-so script that she had to save (the Luc Besson film would eventually make close to $500 billion WW). You still think Scarlett Johansson’s casting of the lead role has anything to do with an “ethnic-cleansing”? Grow up…it’s all about the money.

In conclusion kiddos, it can be a real mixed bag when studios alter source material in favor of dollars. You can’t sell book bags at Hot Topic with Fuuka Akitsuki’s face on them if you’re gonna blind side her with a Mack truck. You can’t have a live-action of a Japanese anime unless if a huge megastar is attached to the script…regardless of race or ethnic background. Will Smith for YEARS out-earned most white actors for a good 15 years because he was a bankable mega star that will help return a studio’s investment on scripts both good and bad. It doesn’t matter if the movie star a white actor, an Asian actress, or disabled. At the end of the day, shots from outer space are gonna showcase a blue ball of a planet with countries colored green for a reason…because that’s where the money is and production studios want a taste.