The Incomparable Differences between Whitewashing and Racebending

WE ARE GEEKS OF COLOR: Whitewashing is a concept that has been around for quite literally decades, especially from the early days of film. Simply put: whitewashing means to cast a white actor to play a role that is traditionally, historically, and/or written for a person of color, essentially erasing the poc perspective and experience from the role in favor of a white actor. Whitewashing is nothing new, and Hollywood is far from a stranger to it. From Laurence Olivier doning blackface to portray Shakespeare’s Othello in 1965 and Mickey Rooney doing yellowface to play Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, to the more recent instance of Scarlett Johansson portraying Major Motoko Kusanagi in Paramount Picture’s 2017 film Ghost in the Shell based on the popular Japanese Anime.