'Annihilation' Criticized for "White-Washed Casting"

[hewontgo]

'Annihilation' Criticized for "White-Washed Casting" https://t.co/uSt3tPhura pic.twitter.com/rrrCMooXFR
- Heat Vision (@HeatVisionBlog) February 12, 2018
The Biologist Lena is played by Natalie Portman, the character is of Asian descent in the books

Comments

[melodiee]

That's disappointing. :( I'm Asian-American and had been looking forward to seeing this because of the strong female roles.

I often feel like Asian-Americans aren't even in the conversation for representation in media. Black Panther is causing a lot of talk around how it's great for black representation and in an NPR interview the interviewee said that Halle Berry as Catwoman, Wesley Snipes as Blade, Will Smith as Hancock don't count because those were more focused on the actor than the character. He said it's great that all his nieces and nephews can see themselves in this movie. There are no big blockbuster movies starring Asian-Americans as superheroes. The ones that should have been were whitewashed, e.g. Ghost in the Shell. What about little Asian-American girls and boys? Same goes for Native Americans--they are often left out.

[getbacknow]

YEP "intersectionality" here is the intersection between white people and black people.

[lalaloopsy98]

Mte

[julescw]

When will Hollywood learn? How do they miss all the backlash white-washed movies get throughout the years?
Oh that's right they don't give a shit..

[turtleisland]

I thought the races of the characters didn't come out until the second book, and the movie was already underway?

[swells]

I'm almost 100% positive that they at least discuss The Biologist's race in the first book.

[littlelistmaker]

they definitely don't.

[swells]

Ok that kind of does make me feel better, then.

[beaarthursdrug]

Its The Martian all over again

[veep_throat]

Omg the casting for that was hot mess

[ishumy]

The Martian, Big Hero 6, Death Note... Many producers and creators seem to think that replacing one race for a black (and sometimes Latino) person somehow makes up for the whitewashing of some other character.

[reluctantlylove]

smh