Whitewashing
Feb. 24th, 2012 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficWell, this is disheartening. I went to see a movie the other day, based on a very popular foreign book series, and I was shocked to see that the setting and ethnicities were completely changed. Even the names were different. It was like a systemic effort was made to purge this book of its cultural identity and replace it with another.
I'm talking, of course, about The Secret World of Arrietty.
Based on a British book, full of authentically British characters like Crampfurl, Rosa Pickhatchet, and Umbert Underfart, this "adaptation" is instead about Shō, Sadako, and Haru. I don't have to tell you how underrepresented British people are in Japanese media. They come in twenty-second out of all depicted ethnicities, behind girls with green hair, girls with blue hair, and girls with white hair.
On the left, the character as originally intended by the author. On the right, the character as "interpreted" by Studio Ghibi. See the difference?
I did a little more research and I was shocked to discover this is just one of many British stories that have been appropriated by Japanese racists. There's also--
Doctor Who - A harem comedy in which the Doctor's ridiculously spiky-haired regeneration (one of the few bits of faithful adaptation) must fend off the affections of Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, and River Song. The TARDIS is a giant mecha.
Harry Potter - A Magical Girl anime about Harriet Potter, Rona Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Dracette Malfoy. Snape is reimagined as having a wand that can only cast spells that cause panty shots. The Prisoner of Azkaban plotline is completely changed due to Professor Lupin having tentacles instead of turning into a werewolf.
Sherlock - Instead of solving crime, Sherlock and John now build inexpensive quality cars.
This, of course, coincides with the rise of Japanese-on-British crime in Japan. Several innocent tourists have reported their cravats winkled, their monocles broken, and even their tea served with an improper amount of milk. And now I see quotes online that Hayao Miyazaki can't even tell the difference between the Welsh, the Anglo-Irish, and the Anglo-Scot. How racist can you get?
I'm talking, of course, about The Secret World of Arrietty.
Based on a British book, full of authentically British characters like Crampfurl, Rosa Pickhatchet, and Umbert Underfart, this "adaptation" is instead about Shō, Sadako, and Haru. I don't have to tell you how underrepresented British people are in Japanese media. They come in twenty-second out of all depicted ethnicities, behind girls with green hair, girls with blue hair, and girls with white hair.
On the left, the character as originally intended by the author. On the right, the character as "interpreted" by Studio Ghibi. See the difference?
I did a little more research and I was shocked to discover this is just one of many British stories that have been appropriated by Japanese racists. There's also--
Doctor Who - A harem comedy in which the Doctor's ridiculously spiky-haired regeneration (one of the few bits of faithful adaptation) must fend off the affections of Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, and River Song. The TARDIS is a giant mecha.
Harry Potter - A Magical Girl anime about Harriet Potter, Rona Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Dracette Malfoy. Snape is reimagined as having a wand that can only cast spells that cause panty shots. The Prisoner of Azkaban plotline is completely changed due to Professor Lupin having tentacles instead of turning into a werewolf.
Sherlock - Instead of solving crime, Sherlock and John now build inexpensive quality cars.
This, of course, coincides with the rise of Japanese-on-British crime in Japan. Several innocent tourists have reported their cravats winkled, their monocles broken, and even their tea served with an improper amount of milk. And now I see quotes online that Hayao Miyazaki can't even tell the difference between the Welsh, the Anglo-Irish, and the Anglo-Scot. How racist can you get?
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Date: 2012-02-24 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-25 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-25 05:04 am (UTC)