Ghost in the Shell (2017)

[Taiko]

Originally Posted by headingtoDenver

Also, concerning the whole "she should be Japanese", really doesn't come into play. For one, she is a robot and not Japanese. The only thing Japanese about her is her brain. The rest of her is from a factory and who knows what all the other robots look like from the factory (we know of just one other from the movie and he was also a white actor). Were the shells actually made in Japan or a factory elsewhere in the world? I took the film to be that the robot was never meant to be an exact match of what she initially looked like.


Also, here is an interview from the producer and his thought on this.
The Producer Behind the Ghost in the Shell*Movie Finally Responds to the Casting Controversy

Unfortunately for the film in the present political realm saying its just a robot in much of the west is taken as code for we are racist and will find any reason we can find to cast a white person. When I think the decision probably came from Asia like it did with Matt Damon in The Great Wall as they didn't understand the fast social evolution here of such issues and casting a white actor in the lead of anything which has its roots in a "minority" culture is now a detriment and not an asset no matter how many Oscars or billion dollar films the actor has in his past.

Originally Posted by William Taylor

I agree with these reviews. The visuals were stunning and rather innovative, but the story was lacking in content. But I also thought it was worth the ticket price for the visuals.(But at a matinée price. ) Also, I loved the Spider Tank. But I guess I have a thing for giant spiders.

But one thing that I thought was conspicuously incongruent. And that is that with the kind of cybernetic technology that they had in this movie, they had to have existed pretty far in the future. But yet, they still drove automobiles instead of flying cars.

On the other future, or present technology front, The CEO taking over the operation of the Spider Tank reminded me of the Robo-Cop remake. His entering the system served to do nothing but slow the tank down. To ignore a primary target because a rifle with effect hit it with a few bullets.

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by Taiko

Unfortunately for the film in the present political realm saying its just a robot in much of the west is taken as code for we are racist and will find any reason we can find to cast a white person. When I think the decision probably came from Asia like it did with Matt Damon in The Great Wall as they didn't understand the fast social evolution here of such issues and casting a white actor in the lead of anything which has its roots in a "minority" culture is now a detriment and not an asset no matter how many Oscars or billion dollar films the actor has in his past.

My Millennial daughter leans toward SJW, and she's also a long-time fan of anime (used to do the cosplay thing at conventions in her high school years). At first she intended to boycott the live-action GiiS, but after her mother and I saw it and her film-student fiance urged her, she went to see it.

Even she had to admit the whitewashing thing is overblown in the context of this movie. "Racism" doesn't hold water when you read the credits. They chose an actor who looked like the character, and the choice perfectly fit the details of the plot. Within the pure context of the movie, the choice was fine.

When you start factoring in the racial economics, Japanese movies aren't guaranteed sells worldwide, and this is already very close to being a Japanese movie. Nor could they have cast a Chinese, Korean, or any other "Asian" into a Japanese role without running into problems somewhere in the "Asian" market. Scarlett Johanssen is about as acceptable as a lead character, if not more so, in an otherwise Japanese movie to the overall Asian market as any Asian actor would have been.

[Canaan-84]

Originally Posted by William Taylor

I agree with these reviews. The visuals were stunning and rather innovative, but the story was lacking in content. But I also thought it was worth the ticket price for the visuals.(But at a matinée price. ) Also, I loved the Spider Tank. But I guess I have a thing for giant spiders.

But one thing that I thought was conspicuously incongruent. And that is that with the kind of cybernetic technology that they had in this movie, they had to have existed pretty far in the future. But yet, they still drove automobiles instead of flying cars.

Like others have said flying cars seem like a bad idea considering how badly people drive. As to cybernetics we've advanced quite a long way, I've seen cybernetic prosthetic limbs some even created by university students. So I wouldn't at all be surprised if we had this tech in 20-30 years from now. I mean Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, co-founder of Solarcity)has just launched a company who's sole purpose will be to find a way to merge the Brain to the computer. He's so paranoid about AI one day advancing enough to revolt against us he thinks the only way to prevent it is to merge with them (kind of like in the film).

[jim9251]

Watched this tonight, thought it was pretty good, visually stunning. And Scarlett Johansson nuff said!