Cloud Atlas is here.
Released Friday, the adaptation of David Mitchell's novel is directed by Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run) and The Wachoskis (Matrix Trilogy). The story moves across countries as well as centuries and is quite futuristic as one would expect from this group of filmmakers. Film critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the most ambitious films ever made."
And, as they should, the filmmakers have come under fire for making their white actors up in yellowface.
The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, and Jim Sturgess.
It also features actual Asian actresses Doona Bae and Xun Zhou as well as actual Black actors Keith David and David Gyasi.
One of the most controversial segments of the film takes place in South Korea in 2144. Jim Sturgess, Hugo Weaving, and James D'Arcy were made up to play Asian characters.
Founding president of the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans (MANAA), Guy Aoki, said, "It's an artistically ambitious approach to film-making. Unfortunately it reflects the same old racial pecking order that the entertainment industry has been practicing for years. Every major male character in the Korean story is played by non-Asian actors in really bad yellowface makeup. The Asian-Americans at the [preview] screening burst out laughing because [Weaving] looked terrible – like a Vulcan on Star Trek."
He continues:
“Cloud Atlas missed a great opportunity. The Korea story’s protagonist is an Asian man—an action hero who defies the odds and holds off armies of attackers… It would have been a great, stereotype-busting role for an Asian American actor to play, as Asian American men aren’t allowed to be dynamic or heroic very often.”
It makes sense that filmmakers wanted continuity in actors as they hop from scene to scene but filmmakers spent $100 million on the project and could have found some Asian and Asian American actors to play these roles. If they wanted to.
The last time we checked, yellowface was was not okay. Blackface is not acceptable. Brownface and Redface are unacceptable. The latter three have largely been phased out of mainstream film. It is sad to think that Hollywood still lags behind the enlightenment curve in regard to treating Asian Americans will that same respect.
Two person boycott.
More about this sad attempt at racebending here.
And a special note to all of you considering the use of face paint for the upcoming Halloween festivities. The only face painting that is acceptable is painting your face orange if you are dressing as a pumpkin or painting your face green if you are a witch. (Think: Mask, yes - blackface, no.) But other than that, if you are white/Black/etc. you probably shouldn't paint your face to try to match the color of another race. (Rule of thumb: You can paint your face, just not the color of another race.) But if you do, expect the shunning. And maybe a shift kick to some part of your body. SBW obviously doesn't support violence but we've seen it happen before.
You've been warned.
