.jpg)
On Friday, April 10th, Dragonball Evolution is going to premier in theatres around the United States. Here's the official trailer:
And of course, since DBE is the first Americanized live action film of the popular series, Dragonball fans have no problem picking out the flaws of this movie, even way before its release.
Hell, I bet that Dragonball fans wouldn't mind going Goku on 20th Century Fox's ass right now. They'd be like Kaaaa- meeeeeee- haaaaaaa- meeeee- haaaaaaa and destroy the cast and crew who dared to mess up one of the greatest anime series of all time.
Ok, to be honest, I didn't watch a lot of Dragonball or Dragonball Z when I was a kid (I was more of a Sailor Moon kind of girl), but I could understand why Dragonball fans would want to do that: because DBE ruins the series and because it'd be awesome if anyone really had the ability to do the Turtle Striking Wave.
So all of my friends who happen to be lovers of the Dragonball series, or is at least really familiar with the franchise, are constantly complaining about the "Whitewashing" going on for the movie. "Whitewashing" is basically when white actors and actresses are hired to play characters who are not white but are instead a different ethnicity.
In DBE most of the major characters are white. For instance, Justin Chatwin plays Son Goku, the protagonist, in the movie.
Fox had also cast Emmy Rossum as Bulma Briefs, the main female protagonist.
Emma Rossum as Bulma Briefs
You see, I have no problem with Justin Chatwin and Emma Rossum. I loved Chatwin as Tom Cruise's son in War of the Worlds. And Rossum was great in the both The Day After Tomorrow and The Phantom of the Opera. Plus I know that everyone needs to make a living some way or another, including actors, but casting Chatwin as the main character was kind of a bad choice. It only pisses off a majority of fans who will go so far as to boycott the film.
These fans are angry because 20th Century Fox had cast a white guy and girl to play the major characters who are obviously Asian. Along with the fact that there are only two Asians in the film playing the larger roles. Jamie Chung and Chow Yun-Fat are playing Chi-Chi and Muten Roshi respectively. Some fans may even call this tokenism since only two Asians have been chosen to play main roles.
People also wonder why Fox couldn't have hired lesser known Asian actors for these roles instead of white actors who are already accomplished. This movie could have given a struggling Asian actor a chance of fame.
OR Fox could have hired Aaron Yoo, you know that dude who played Shia LeBeouf's best friend in the movie Disturbia? Many fans seem to think he would have been a better choice for Goku.
Honestly though, I'm on the fence when it comes to this whitewashing issue. I understand that the Dragonball franchise is wholly based on Asian, and more specifically Japanese culture, and choosing white actors/actresses as the main roles in DBE only ruins that fact.
BUT we have to remember the demographics. This film was made in the United States, and whites make up the majority of the population. Which would mean there are more white actors then there are black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.
And we also have to ask ourselves, before we criticize Fox as being racist for choosing mostly white actors, aren't we being a little bit racist too? Does the ethnicity of the stars really matter and shouldn't the talent of the stars count for more?
What do you guys think?
Posts
6 comments:
Yes, the race of the actors matter. Because in this case, the characters are clearly Japanase. Can you imagine them making Sue Storm from Fantastic Four black? Yes, they cast Jessica Alba who is hispanic, but she didn't play hispanic. They made her blonde and blue eyed.
I don't agree with your point that America being majority is a reason for casting white actors. America is also a "melting pot" as people like to say. Asian people watch movies with white people. Can't white people do the same.
It's not being racist. It's wanting the movie to be well done, which is valid.
*sigh*
I don't even want to let this movie contaminate my mind. I'm one of those major DBZ fans, and the race thing is really anoying to die hard fans. Since a major company like 20th Century Fox is behind the film, the race issue could have easily been avoided along with a lot of other things.
You'll find many complaints about the film in general. Why isn't Piccolo really green? Since when does Bulma know how to fight and wield so many guns, and what happened to her hair? why isn't good ole Roshi bald with a white beard?
Meh, I don't think this movie will be received well.
I never liked DBZ so I have nothing to add but you told me to comment so hi. =D
hmm, well personally the race thing isn't really surprising, I mean if they really wanted to be accurate Piccolo should have been played by a black actor, since the creator even said that Piccolo in his mind was black, and this is more than likely going to be a let down of a movie but I still plan to see it, because I am a pretty big fan of DBZ it's probly going to suck but a small part of me is still going to be happy as hell when I see the kamehameha.
Wait, Piccolo was supposed to be black? Fuck yeah
anyway, the screwing up of dragon ball z was to be expected. to this extent makes me sad but interested
but whitewashing the characters totally blows my mind. i remember watching the trailer and thinking, where's goku and what are all these white people doing here
overflow of white actors my ass. white actors are a majority on screen to a much greater extent than in their actual population in the u.s. plus, white people love to see asians in their films if it's an action film. i don't know what they were thinking.
Idk why, but I wouldn't mind a multiracial cast. Piccolo was a G in the show, and he def. should've been black. Jessica Alba was hot, but that's just my ignorant semi-shallow black mind talking. Otherwise, pretty valid reasoning: the movie is gonna be wack. If it was animated, different story. I'd actually rather have Pokemon be live-action/CGI though.
<3
Post a Comment