Jami Nakamura Lin Nicole Cardoza Jami Nakamura Lin Nicole Cardoza

End Hollywood whitewashing. 

Happy Tuesday!

With the recent release of Mulan and Concrete Cowboy, and the Oscars' new standards on diversity, I thought it might be a good time to discuss the role of whitewashing in Hollywood – and how it has perpetuated harmful stereotypes about people of color.

As many of us continue to stay home, WEAR A MASK, and scour Netflix for something new, it's a good time to invest in watching more diverse stories, celebrating the works of filmmakers of color, and analyzing how our worldview is shaped by what we watch. Jami does a great job of analyzing the many ways whitewashing persists, even in today's times.

If you're enjoying these newsletters, consider making a contribution. To support our work, you can give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), or subscribe for $5/mo on our Patreon.

– Nicole

Oh and one more thing – last night the Aurora council voted unanimously to ban the use of ketamine by law enforcement until the investigation is complete 🎉

TAKE ACTION

Pick one of your favorite movies or TV shows. Do a deep dive into the cast, directors, writers, and producers and reflect on the following:

  • Are they predominantly white?

  • Are there any people of color with decision-making ability?

  • How did actors and staff of color feel during production? (Twitter is often an excellent place to find behind-the-scenes information.) 

Ask yourself why you relate to the storylines or characters.

  • Do the characters look like you?

  • Do their experiences mirror yours?

  • Are you resistant to TV shows with main characters that aren’t like you? 

Speak out against whitewashing when you see it. Public backlash is one of producers’ strongest motivators.

Reject the idea of whiteness as the default. 

GET EDUCATED

By Jami Nakamura Lin (she/her)

In the Hollywood and media context, whitewashing usually refers to the practice of casting white actors as characters of color, though it can also refer more generally to “preferring white actors, directors, cinematographers, and so on, over equally qualified people of color, as in the Oscar nominations,” (Merriam-Webster). (Here, for ease of use, we’ll use the word actors to refer to people of all genders who perform).

 

Often whitewashing occurs when the film is based on the life of a real person or adapted from a book. In some cases, a white actor’s appearance is altered to fit the role, as when Jim Sturgess’s eyes were digitally altered to appear almond-shaped for his Asian character in Cloud Atlas (Hyperallergenic). While this technical ability is new, it is merely the latest step in a long history of white actors donning garish makeup and outlandish costumes to depict racist caricatures and stereotypes (Paste).

As our past newsletter on digital blackface explains, “Minstrel shows gained popularity in the 1830s in New York, where white performers with blackened faces (most used burnt cork or shoe polish) would don tattered clothing and imitate enslaved Black people. These performances characterized Black people as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, and hypersexual.” Later this tradition expanded into brownface and yellowface, with white actors performing as other races and ethnicities explicitly to dehumanize them. Many contemporary movies and TV shows still depict people of color as flat and stereotypical, as shown in a Native professor’s examination of Jane Krakowski’s Native character in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (CutchaRislingBaldy.com). 

 

Whitewashing also happens when characters that were people of color in the original material are changed to be white characters in the film, as in the movie 21 (IndieWire). While this bypasses the problem of blackface, yellowface, or brownface, it leads to the same result: rendering actual people of color invisible. Such casting often results from the belief that white actors are more capable than actors of color (Teen Vogue), or that it’s simply too difficult to find actors of color to fit the roles. 

 

In every whitewashing controversy, defenders often ignore the context in which whitewashing occurs. They often fire back responses like, “Is someone of British descent not allowed to play someone with French descent?” But this is deliberately obtuse in a media landscape when the flipside doesn’t apply: people of color are not considered for white roles and are underrepresented in general.

A study of the 100 top-grossing movies from 2013 showed the racial breakdown of cast members by race: “74.1% were White, 14.1% Black, 4.9% Hispanic, 4.4% Asian, 1.1% Middle Eastern, <1% American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 1.2% were from "other" races/ethnicities. No meaningful change has been observed in the frequency of any racial/ethnic group on screen in 600 popular films between 2007 and 2013” (University of Southern California). More broadly, whitewashing takes place alongside structural oppression. In those minstrel shows, white actors assumed Black roles while Black people were still enslaved; later, white actors assumed Asian roles while Asian people were still not allowed to enter America (Teen Vogue).  

 

These choices happen—whitewashed casts, stereotypical characters—often because the people making the decisions behind-the-scenes are also predominantly white. Despite people of color constituting almost 40% of the population, in 2016-17, they represented only 12.6% of movie directors, 7.8% of movie writers, and 9.4% of TV show creators, according to the Hollywood Diversity Report (University of California-Los Angeles). While detractors are quick to point out tentpole examples like Black Panther, these statistics prove that such movies are the exception, not the rule.

 

A goal, of course, is more representation for people of color in Hollywood across all roles. But representation is not enough. As Hari Ziyad explains, “ ‘Representation matters’ cannot be the beginning and the end of the conversation. Representation matters, but only when the white gaze doesn’t” (Afropunk). Hollywood is about veneers, and a diverse cast can provide cover for endemic behind-the-scenes problems. Even directors and producers of color can only do so much when we have an entire media system that privileges white stories and white identity, when Hollywood is inherently “imbued with white supremacy and a patriarchal structure designed to proffer advantages unequally,” as Elaine Low and Angelique Jackson outline (Variety). 

 

Most of us can’t control who gets cast in the latest blockbuster, but we can denounce the beliefs that lead to whitewashing. If we reject the idea that whiteness is the default (APA PsycNet), we also reject the idea that white actors can invisibly inhabit any role. We can support directors of color, Black filmmakers, indie studios, and other people pushing for change in media. We can question what stories feel relatable to us and why. “So long as whitewashing continues to occur, we need to be conscious of whose stories are being marginalized and whose stories are not being told in mainstream media,” sociologist and author Nancy Wang Yuen told Teen Vogue. 

 

Whitewashing exposes which identities Hollywood sees as being worthy of the big screen, what kind of audience it desires, and whose experiences it sees as universal and whose experiences it sees as niche. As moviegoers (during non-pandemic times!), we can make a difference with our wallets, our views, and our support.

Key Takeaways

  • In a Hollywood context, whitewashing is the practice of casting white actors in roles that were initially designed to be people of color, while overlooking actors of color (who are underrepresented in movies and TV).

  • America has a long history of white actors portraying people of color in dehumanizing, caricature-driven ways (as in blackface, brownface, and yellowface).

  • Despite people of color constituting almost 40% of the population, they represent only 12.6% of movie directors, 7.8% of movie writers, and 9.4% of TV show creators (University of California-Los Angeles).

  • While representation is a step forward, it is not enough in a Hollywood that structurally privileges white identities and white stories.

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