All posts tagged: Whitewashing

‘3 Body Problem’ cast addresses whitewashing criticism from fans of the original Chinese novels

‘3 Body Problem’ cast addresses whitewashing criticism from fans of the original Chinese novels

Amid early criticism and fears of whitewashing, the cast of the highly anticipated sci-fi series “3 Body Problem” says it does justice to the original Chinese novels. The Netflix series, developed by writer Alexander Woo and “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss, follows a group of London-based scientists and authorities who band together to fight a seemingly ​​all-powerful extraterrestrial threat after a slew of suicides alarms the scientific community. When the Netflix series was announced, many fans voiced concerns that the novels would be culturally and thematically diluted in the adaptation. Based on Liu Cixin’s acclaimed “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, the eight-episode show is a departure from the source novels, which set the time-spanning story in China beginning during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, a time of violent upheaval. On Reddit, one user noted that separating the setting from the cultural context seemed “unnecessary and flagrant.” Another commented they had doubts about the adaptation being led by non-Asian creators who were “rightfully criticized for their treatment of both women and …

UK asbestos firm owners ‘whitewashing reputation’ with All Blacks sponsorship | Cancer

The owners of a company that was one of the UK’s biggest manufacturers of asbestos have been accused of whitewashing their reputation by spending tens of millions of pounds on sponsoring the All Blacks rugby team while rejecting pleas for a £10m donation towards cancer research. Altrad, the parent company of Cape Asbestos, has resisted calls from the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK (AVSGF) for a £10m contribution to mesothelioma research in light of its legacy, which the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on occupational safety and health said involved “knowingly putting people in danger”. But the company, which had revenue of €3.8bn (£3.3bn) in the last financial year, has spent up to a reported NZ$120m (£58m) on a six-year sponsorship deal that will emblazon its name on the New Zealand team’s shirts at this year’s Rugby World Cup. Documents released after a court challenge by AVSGF showed that, in 1969, Cape’s group medical adviser said the fatal cancer could be caused by “short and possibly small” exposure and that “no type of asbestos proved …

EU accused of whitewashing Tunisian regime in bid to stem migration | Tunisia

The children of prominent jailed Tunisian judges and politicians have accused the European Union of betraying its values by whitewashing the regime of President Kais Saied in the vain hope that he can stem the flow of migrants to Europe. The EU is set to provide Tunisia with €1bn (£860m) in aid despite the obliteration of democracy in the country over the past two years. The aid is partly contingent on the president accepting reforms linked to a $1.9bn (£1.5bn) International Monetary Fund (IMF) package, a move Saied has been attempting to defer. The call for EU assistance for the Tunisian government has been led by two prime ministers intent on clamping down on migration into Europe: Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, and Giorgia Meloni, the rightwing Italian leader. The aid package was offered when they visited Tunis on 11 June accompanied by the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. Critics say the use of European taxpayers’ money would mean Europe had both offered aid with no human rights conditions and strengthened Saied’s …

Problem of Hollywood ‘whitewashing’

Problem of Hollywood ‘whitewashing’

Actor Ed Skrein’s much applauded withdrawl from the role of Asian character, Major Ben Daimio, in the Hellboy reboot has again highlighted the pervasive practice of “whitewashing” in contemporary Hollywood. Whitewashing is not new. It was a common practice in classical Hollywood where some of its most egregious examples include John Wayne as Ghengis Khan in The Conqueror and Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Audiences know instinctively that whitewashing is bad – hence the criticisms of other whitewashing films and the resulting hashtag #StarringJohnCho that went viral in spring 2016. As a cultural practice, having white people play, replace and stereotype characters of colour obscures and erases their history, agency and power. Although it is fair to reject whitewashing as false and offensive on these ideological grounds, to do so without further scrutiny does not allow us to explore the reasons why it exists. Whitewashing happens in a number of ways. It can be the whitening through casting of a character who was originally a person of colour in historical or …