Whitewashing the Movies: Asian Erasure and White Subjectivity in U.S. Film Culture [Paperback]

Whitewashing the Moviesaddresses the popular practice of excluding Asian actors from playing Asian characters in film. Media activists and critics have denounced contemporary decisions to cast White actors to play Asians and Asian Americans in movies such asGhost in the ShellandAloha. The purpose of this book is to apply the concept of “whitewashing” in stories that privilege White identities at the expense of Asian/American stories and characters. To understand whitewashing across various contexts, the book analyzes films produced in Hollywood, Asian American independent production, and US-China co-productions. Through the analysis, the book examines the ways in which whitewashing matters in the project of Whiteness and White racial hegemony. The book contributes to contemporary understanding of mediated representations of race by theorizing whitewashing, contributing to studies of Whiteness in media studies, and producing a counter-imagination of Asian/American representation in Asian-centered stories.Whitewashing the Moviesaddresses the popular attention of excluding Asian actors from playing Asian characters in film. Including movies such asGhost in the ShellandAloha, media activists and critics have denounced contemporary decisions to cast White actors to play Asians and Asian Americans. The purpose of this book is to theorize the popularly used concept of “whitewashing” in stories that subjectify White identities at the expense of Asian/American stories and characters.DAVID C. OHis an associate professor of communication arts at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah.Introduction
1 Whitewashing Romance in Hawai’i:Aloha
2 White China Experts, Asian American Twinkies:Shanghai CallingandAlready Tomorrow in Hong Kong
3 White Grievance, Heroism, and Postracist, Mixed-Race Inclusion in47 Ronin
4 Satire and the Villainy of Kim Jong-un:The l£‰