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Whitewashing the Movies
Asian Erasure and White Subjectivity in U.S. Film Culture
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David C Oh
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2022
About this book
Whitewashing the Movies addresses 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 as Ghost in the Shell and Aloha. 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.
Author / Editor information
DAVID C. OH is an associate professor of communication arts at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah.
Reviews
"David Oh offers a compelling study into the ways that Whiteness has shaped films. His analysis sheds light on the ways how films are influenced, and frames how are they are consumed in a process he calls whitewashing. His brilliant and insightful study challenges how we understand Asian and Asian American media representation."
— Tom Nakayama, Editor of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication"David Oh’s Whitewashing the Movies proffers an incisive and captivating critique of the cinematic Whitewashing work that has stripped Asian American subjectivity since 2008. Oh provides a detailed and thoughtful dissection of the operations and elements in such Whitewashing. And the book does not stop there though; it reimagines what Asian American subjectivities would look like if no such cinematic Whitewashing took place. With this, Oh provides a reimagination of Asian American representational and real worlds (our own cinematic future)."
— Rona Tamiko Halualani, Professor of Intercultural Communication, San Jose State UniversityTopics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Introduction
1 -
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1 Whitewashing Romance in Hawai’i: Aloha
25 -
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2 White China Experts, Asian American Twinkies: Shanghai Calling and Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong
42 -
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3 White Grievance, Heroism, and Postracist, Mixed-Race Inclusion: 47 Ronin
61 -
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4 Satire and the Villainy of Kim Jong-un: The Interview
79 -
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5 White Survival in Southeast Asia: No Escape and The Impossible
92 -
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6 Whitewashing Anime Remakes: Ghost in the Shell and Dragonball Evolution
111 -
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7 Transnational Coproduction and the Ambivalence of White Masculine Heroism: The Great Wall, Outcast, and Enter the Warriors Gate
133 -
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Conclusion
154 -
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Acknowledgments
161 -
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Notes
163 -
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References
165 -
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Index
187 -
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About the Author
199
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 6, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9781978808669
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978808669
Keywords for this book
film; films; movies; movie; white; whitewashing; Asian actors; asian; asian characters; asian actresses; media; activist; activism; white actors; Asian Americans; Ghost in the Shell; Aloha; privilege; White identities; AsianAmerican stories; China; US-China co-productions; Whiteness; media studies; White racial hegemony; AsianAmerican representation; Hawai’i; White China; Kim Jong Un; Whitewashing anime; Transnational; White masculine heroism; The Great Wall; Outcast; Enter the Warrior’s Gate; 47 Ronin; The Interview; The Impossible
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
