Forum - View topicNEWS: Live-Action Sword Art Online Producer: Series Sold to Netflix, Will Have Asian Lead Actors
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13556 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Now, if the Amer. film industry in general could get such an idea to do similar practices with anime-based movies.
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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Not by much, sure, BUT he more closely resembles Goku than Chow Yun-fat resembles Roshi. They at least made Chatwin's hair semi-Goku like and he dons the clothing later in the movie. But Chow Yun-fat has nothing resembling Roshi outside of the Hawaiian shirt, he's too young-looking, has hair, and doesn't have a beard, turtle shell, or cane. IIRC there was even a Japanese news site that commented on the initial photos of the cast in costume, saying that Goku and Piccolo were somewhat recognizable but weren't as convinced with Roshi. And also, EVERYONE'S acting was bad in that movie, white and Asian cast both. So Dragonball Evolution is not exactly a good example to argue that an Asian cast will automatically guarantee better acting (that varies from every individual and also how good a director they have) and/or resemblance of the characters (which is generally in the hands of the costuming department and such). |
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Mr_donutsu
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Both of you have a point actually... Some ways of expression and/or reactions toward certain situation differs from culture to culture. Sometimes what is normal in a certain country/community might be inappropriate in other places and might translate well, should be acted on/by other countries, or it might not just translate at all. This is why race is of a somehow significant importance when adapting works such as the one being discussed here. Well this only matters if the adaptation aims to be on point. This, however, would not be the case should the adaptation be aiming to create something with the source material acting only as a reference rather that treating it as an absolute rule to follow in writing. If that is the case then race won't matter as long as the narrative itself does not require it to be. |
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Animeking1108
Posts: 1244 |
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It's really sad that the Hollywood adaptation to get it right with casting had to be "Sword Art Online." Hopefully, due to cultural boundaries, things like the cousin incest subplot, Asuna's damselization, and the sexual assault scenes get altered.
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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True, but completely irrelevant to reality - if Hollywood whitewashes it, then people who'd never have heard about SAO until the press release (or premiere) will come a' howling. This casting decision has nothing to do with the story, and everything to do with avoiding bad publicity from the ignorant activist masses. The story is from Japan, therefore the adaptation must have Japanese actors - whether it makes sense or not. |
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Lord Oink
Posts: 876 |
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You should probably wait before you pat them on the back. Specifically citing Kirito and Asuna makes me think the other characters are free to white/black/brownwashing, and there's no way they won't. Hollywood can't help itself. They're addicted.
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1035 |
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Because Asian actors have a hard enough time getting roles in Hollywood already, even without characters who are canonically Asian getting turned into white people. |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Um, people NEED to understand that cousins="NOT incest". Especially in Japan, where they can marry. Incest= mother x son, father x daughter, brother x sister. That is what incest is, mmkay? |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1035 |
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Is that any different from casting Sean Connery as a Lithuanian submarine captain in The Hunt for Red October, or Brad Pitt as an ancient Greek warrior in Troy? |
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2025 |
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I guess this is the easiest way to direct the attention to the actual show, so its merit isn’t overshadowed by controversy. Casting non-Asian celebrities might be more negative at this point.
I’m no fan of SAO though, so my interest is limited, but I still hope this turns out well. Hopefully it has better pacing and character development than the anime. |
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Esidici
Posts: 5 |
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Would have been much easier if they just make a spinoff that takes place in the same universe but with a slightly different cast.
For the record, Agil is a Black guy living in Japan.
Well he's also the most bizarre choice for Goku too. |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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But in SAO's case, it is intended to titillate as incest because they've grown up and see each other as siblings. Suguha calls Kirito "onii-chan". It's the full fantasy of getting to shag your little sister (a younger girl who idolizes you and depends on you), and it's not even "morally reproachable" because she's not really your sister. Just like all those "but actually we're not related by blood, so it's perfectly fine" |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Exactly. People who say "the race of the actor doesn't matter, as long as they act well" seem to think that Hollywood is a fare meritocracy. They miss one of the main complaints people have about whitewashing: that actors are rejected because of their race all the time, despite being good actors! Blind casting is unfortunately rare, and most casting directors are looking for white actors and only white actors. If you actually look at what Asian-American and other minority actors have said about their experiences being dismissed and rejected *because* of how they look, you'll come to realize that the problem *isn't* that there are not enough good, talented Asian-American actors, the problem is that they're not offered opportunities for roles. Now, in this show's case, I got the impression that they might be interested in a truly international cast to expand the scope of the story, which would be awesome. But even if they're planning to only use Americans/Native English speakers for the roles, there's nothing wrong with the screenwriter saying: "these characters were Japanese in the original novel, so Japanese (or Japanese-American) actors should play them in the show". I'm surprised such a simple, basic idea is getting so much pushback. You'd think a black actress was cast to play Hermione in a Harry Potter play every day, the way people think that the best actors always get the good parts (TL;DR Blind casting is good. Specifying minority actors for roles may not be as good, but it's better than the standard "rejecting minority actors and only casting white actors by default"). |
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Zomb1e13
Posts: 50 |
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Honestly it wouldn't be hard for them to find and use a Japanese actor and actress who can speak english rather than using an american. Its not like they come up with the lines on their own and even if their pronunciation isn't perfect at the time of casting it wouldn't be all that hard to coach them to make them more understandable. |
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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The Philippine Daily Inquirer sure has some high-quality journalism/proofreading. 
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Would you cast this punk as Goku? Does he LOOK like Goku? 
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