Jim Sturgess in "Cloud Atlas"
Directed by Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, "Cloud Atlas" tells six stories, with settings ranging from a 19th century shipping expedition to a post-apocalyptic island after the fall of modern society. Because of the sprawling plot, actors are cast as a variety of races and both genders; in one story, set in Neo Seoul in 2144, non-Asian actors like Jim Sturgess and Keith David wear makeup to appear of Asian descent.
"It appears that to turn white and black actors into Asian characters, the make-up artists believed they only had to change their eyes, not their facial structure and complexion," Guy Aoki, Media Action Network for Asian Americans president, said in a statement.
Aoki isn't the first person to accuse "Cloud Atlas" of using offensive yellowface (the process of using makeup effects to have non-Asian actors appear Asian); in a blistering post on the website Jezebel, Laura Beck called the Too Faced chocolate bar eye shadow decision "ugly, lazy, and inexcusable."
For their part, the Wachowksis understand the criticism, but hope people will actually see the film first to better understand the significance of the decision.
"That's good that people are casting a critical eye. We need to cast critical eyes toward these things. What are the motivations behind directors and casting? I totally support it," Andy Wachowski told HuffPost Entertainment. "But our intention is the antithesis of that idea. The intention is to talk about things that are beyond race. The character of this film is humanity, so if you look at our past work and consider what our intention might be, we ask that those people give us a chance and at least see the movie before they start casting judgement.
Echoed Lana Wachowski: "Their suggestion is that our tribes have to always remain separate. That the things that makes us different are essential elements to our representation and our identity. Why we were attracted to the book is that the book has a bigger perspective. The book suggests that there is a humanity that is beyond our tribe, our ethnic features. A humanity that is beyond our gender. A humanity that unites all of us and transcends our tribal differences. As long as we continue to build these intractable and insurmountable walls between us to make these distinctions, we will continue to have intellectual apparatus that allows us to make wars and that allows to dominate, exploit and destroy others. Because we don't think of them like we think about our own kind, our own tribe."
For more on the Media Action Network for Asian Americans complaint, head over to THR.
Readers' Reply:
If the directors truly wished to portray a future where the races have blended, then I wish they would have just every actor put on makeup to portray a type of unified race. I do understand that they are trying to portray a unified race, and the directors could actually have been trying to use artistic license. However I can also understand the outrage given the trend in Hollywood.
It's hard to not be slightly oversensitive to this especially towards Asian male characters that are usually renegaded to being the clown or being outright replaced by a white actor. In the latest Iron Man movie, the directors decided to "reinterpret" the main villain even though his entire back story is dependent on the fact that he was Asian. If Hollywood didn't seem to consistently do this on multiple movies, there wouldn't nearly be as much outrage about this incident. ------Ishik
Come on Hollywood Charlie Chan is history. Italians playing Native Americans are history. Blackface on white people wouldn't be acceptable. Kirk Douglas as a Mafia Don was downright silly. Ethnic actors bring details to the characters that the mainstream culture is unaware of and gives depth to the story. That's why the "Godfather" was such a good film, ethnic actors included details that enhanced the movie. ------Gerald OHare
Those Technicolor westerns in the 1950s had some of the most Hollywood poolside tanned Indians with the bluest blue eyes. But, the point here is that the stars are each portraying multiple reincarnated(?) characters over time. I suppose one or more of the stars could have been Asian, but wouldn't they then have to play some characters in whiteface or blackface? -------splenetic
I understand the complaints. There is nothing more horrifying than seeing Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's as a Japanese stereotyped character. After reading Cloud Atlas, though, I can see a couple of reasons for having actors play multiple characters of various races. The part of the story that takes place in Korea is set far in the future when gene manipulation of humans is the norm. Who can say what people would look like in such a future? --------jayemjay
I remember when John Wayne played Genghis Khan and I thought, what a stupid idea. And all the Westerns Hollywood made and all the Indians were whites. The excuses sound exactly like the ones used back in those days and they don't hold water any better now than they did then. This sounds like "come watch the movie, see what we done and after we have your money in our pocket" it won't matter what you think. I don't believe they can come up with a really good reason other than they like working with well known white actors rather than Asian actors, if they even know any! Racism is not did in the movie industry. -------TheHandyman
The "Asian Character" story in Cloud Atlas takes place in the far future, where humans have used gene manipulation to extreme excess in order to create designer faces and bodies. NO ONE has their original facial structure, eye shape, skin color in that story. Context is crucial here. -------VoodooDarling
The theme of the movie is how everyone is connected through time. So, despite that section being set in Korea with Korean characters, the idea is that the same actors still show up, showing their connections through the eras. ----rad96
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