Ghost in the Shell Notes
Representation/Stereotypes:
- Asian men played roles that enabled tokenization, as the “diverse” sidekick in assisting the two central white characters funneling into the model minority trope. Asian men also fulfilled the role of the villain which seemed to hint reference to the Yakuza, demonized as being criminals and violent yet were strategically placed to remind the viewers that (fem) white bodies are the most beautiful and desirable especially in the eyes of nonwhite men. And let’s not forget Major’s boss who only spoke Japanese the entire movie and was completely othered as a perpetual foreigner in the seemingly “Neo Tokyo” inspired environment decorated with oriental aesthetics but with a lack of human Asian representation.
- As for Japanese women their lack of presence in the film was instead replaced by geisha robots that served to fulfill every fetishized personality and physical attribute white men adore about east Asian women, from their petite stature, lips so teensy and pursed they dare not move nor wiper an opinion or thought. They are of coarse painted as submissive and docile by “nature”- or in this cased programing, adorned in traditional/”exotic” apparel. They presence represents the following stereotypes, “Geisha Girl/Lotus Flower/Servant/China Doll: Submissive, docile, obedient, reverential; the Vixen/Sex Nymph: Sexy, coquettish, manipulative; tendency toward disloyalty or opportunism; the Prostitute/Victim of Sex Trade/War/Oppression: Helpless, in need of assistance or rescue; good-natured at heart.” But after being hacked, they take on a demonic, Grudge like appearance complete with pitch black eyes. They are never seen as people but as servants, decorations and disposable props only equipped to pour tea, satisfy the male gaze and to market products on holographic billboards.
Other Themes:
- Consent
- “Trans-racial”
- Eugenics
- Dehumanization/Re-humanization
- Reincarnation
- Science/Ethics???
- Eurocentric Beauty Standers/ Plastic Surgery
- Assimilation/(Forced Assimilation)
- Internalized Racism
- Whitewashing-film surrogate
- PTSD
- Orientalism
Prior to our in class viewing of the American re-make of Ghost in the Shell I remembered seeing this interview done by Yuta being weaponized as a tool to minimize the experiences of racism and oppression experienced by Asian Americans, (in this case Japanese Americans) specifically in the context of America. This method of divide and conquer is nothing new to white supremacy and in the realm of pop culture, especially weeaboo heaven (anime) nothing less can be expected, when you see white viewers trying to validate the whitewashing , by pinning misinformed native Japanese peoples opinions against the opinions of Japanese Americans who directly are effected by these fetishized, demonized and dehumanizing images in American media.
What Japanese Think of Whitewashing (Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Interview)
Note: Once Yuta gives them more context they are taken back and seemingly less sure how to feel about the directorial choices.