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Chinese people & other people of colour: Please boycott "The Great Wall" movie!

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I would be repeating what others have said, but why "people of colour" bs? What colour, blue or pink?

Call an Asian an Asian, a white a white and a black a black, that way we can actually understand what people are referring to.
I don't think this is an actual story about something that happened on the wall....
Original post by JohnGreek
The same could be said about getting a black actor to play Thor in a film last year, but I didn't see many complaints from the PC leftists back then.


No the complaints came from the right wing racists.
I am against racism as much as the next guy, but have you thought about the possibility that they choose the actor because he's MATT BLOODY DAMON not because he's white?
Original post by TercioOfParma
I would be repeating what others have said, but why "people of colour" bs? What colour, blue or pink?

Call an Asian an Asian, a white a white and a black a black, that way we can actually understand what people are referring to.

People of colour usually refers to all the groups mentioned as a collective. Would I have to say "Blacks, Asians, Whites, Middle-Easterners and Islanders" every time I wished to address all ethnic minorities?
Original post by oShahpo
People of colour usually refers to all the groups mentioned as a collective. Would I have to say "Blacks, Asians, Whites, Middle-Easterners and Islanders" every time I wished to address all ethnic minorities?


Yeah, I would be more specific. I would address exactly who I wanted to address explicitly.

Also, why address people collectively by their ethnicity anyway?
(edited 7 years ago)
If the film is boycotted and its a flop, then it will also undermine-
A Chinese studio.
Employing Chinese craftsmen.
Chines actors, just not the lead.
Chinese director.

Its a fantasy film so we dont know on what basis or excuse Damon is going to be in the film i.e how does the plot explain how a caucasian got there? there are also monsters in it which wouldnt be historically accurate either. Maybe if its a success, then western aduiences can become much more accpeting of Chinese films and actors and the industry wont have to just rely on the domestic audience. Without Damon would it have survived? i quite rate him as an actor and humanitarian.

Not that many chinese films make international box office.
I should be surprised? Sometimes Hollywood movies are pieces of junk.

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"How great a black Hermione" "What is wrong with a black person playing a british queen?"
"OMG A WHITE ACTOR IN A FILM ABOUT ASIA HOW RACIST" "GEEE LOOK AT THIS EVIL WHITE MAN"

Anyone sensing a problem. it is blaming everything on white men. you can clearly see the film is fictional

I mean if he was playing a Chinese emperor sure I would be a bit miffed but he is playing some random guy in some fictional film
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Virgil.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/29/the-great-wall-china-film-matt-damon-whitewashed

This is outrageous! The movie is about China 1,000 years ago and Chinese history, and yet instead of a Chinese actor yet again Hollywood has cast a white person in a role that clearly should have been portrayed by someone of relevant ethnicity.

Moreover, as the actress Constance Wu comments in the article above, Hollywood repeatedly perpetuates this myth people of colour would be nothing without the white man to come and save us!

This is just like the time recently when Ohio University decided to run a play on the civil rights movement and they picked a white actor to play Martin Luther King. Are you f*****ng kidding me?

It's disgusting, and I for one am sick and tired of the constant whitewashing that goes on in the media. We need to take a stand and show Hollywood and the media its not ok to write people of colour out of their own history, and the easiest way to do this is to boycott the movie.


It's not "Hollywood". It isn't as simple as that. Although it certainly has plenty of American involvement, it's also a Chinese film, filmed in China, with lots of Chinese money, and with a (fantastic) Chinese director. I will see it because Zhang Yimou is great. Seems a bit stupid to cast Damon because it seems historically inaccurate, but to boycott a film based on some moral reason, rather than because of the quality of the film, is an act for uneducated philistines.
Reply 30
Original post by KingBradly
It's not "Hollywood". It isn't as simple as that. Although it certainly has plenty of American involvement, it's also a Chinese film, filmed in China, with lots of Chinese money, and with a (fantastic) Chinese director. I will see it because Zhang Yimou is great. Seems a bit stupid to cast Damon because it seems historically inaccurate, but to boycott a film based on some moral reason, rather than because of the quality of the film, is an act for uneducated philistines.


Moral reasons are the only reasons to boycott anything
This is a complicated issue. hollywood are more likely to cast white well known actors bc they want to movie to be more popular. maybe there wasn't as many well known Asian actors that fit the role they were trying to fill (as famous as Matt Damon). However we don't have many famous Asian actors bc they're never cast as main characters in films, it's a big endless circle. What's happening now is people are realising this is unfair and starting to boycott movies that white wash, maybe this will bring some attention to the issue and Hollywood will stop.
I do have a problem with Hollywood bending race when it comes to historical films, whether it be casting a black woman to play the queen of England or a white man to play Malcolm x. However in works of fiction and movies set in modern day I see no problem. For example a TVs sow I watch based on a book series cast a black man to play a white character and there was a outcry for no reason.
Reply 33
Original post by Virgil.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/29/the-great-wall-china-film-matt-damon-whitewashed

This is outrageous! The movie is about China 1,000 years ago and Chinese history, and yet instead of a Chinese actor yet again Hollywood has cast a white person in a role that clearly should have been portrayed by someone of relevant ethnicity.

Moreover, as the actress Constance Wu comments in the article above, Hollywood repeatedly perpetuates this myth people of colour would be nothing without the white man to come and save us!

This is just like the time recently when Ohio University decided to run a play on the civil rights movement and they picked a white actor to play Martin Luther King. Are you f*****ng kidding me?

It's disgusting, and I for one am sick and tired of the constant whitewashing that goes on in the media. We need to take a stand and show Hollywood and the media its not ok to write people of colour out of their own history, and the easiest way to do this is to boycott the movie.
Did you protest in a similar way when David Oyelowo played Henry VI? Did you complain when Dominic Cumberbatch played Alan Turing, or when Jim Parsons plays Sheldon Cooper? What about when Eddie Redmayne played Stephen Hawking?

If not, you are a hypocrite.

It is "art", it is entertainment. Anyone can play any part. Race, gender, sexuality and disability are not important. Only the performance.

Oh, BTW, The Great Wall is a joint Chinese production, with a Chinese director, shot entirely in China - so not really "Hollywood".

The world is changing. It is time for people to let go of outdated and divisive notions of identity. Only good will come of it.
Original post by Virgil.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/29/the-great-wall-china-film-matt-damon-whitewashed

This is outrageous! The movie is about China 1,000 years ago and Chinese history, and yet instead of a Chinese actor yet again Hollywood has cast a white person in a role that clearly should have been portrayed by someone of relevant ethnicity.

Moreover, as the actress Constance Wu comments in the article above, Hollywood repeatedly perpetuates this myth people of colour would be nothing without the white man to come and save us!

This is just like the time recently when Ohio University decided to run a play on the civil rights movement and they picked a white actor to play Martin Luther King. Are you f*****ng kidding me?

It's disgusting, and I for one am sick and tired of the constant whitewashing that goes on in the media. We need to take a stand and show Hollywood and the media its not ok to write people of colour out of their own history, and the easiest way to do this is to boycott the movie.


Besides it being a fantasy film including monsters and all the other points I raised earlier, then given the choice would you rather the film didnt go ahead and all the chinese actors, craftsmen and other film technicians were not employed?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Virgil.
Moral reasons are the only reasons to boycott anything


The thing is, I'm gonna go and see a film which likely be incredible because it's directed by Zhang Yimou, and you're going to deprive yourself of that for some feeble reason that everyone has completely taken apart in this thread. The film won't be touched by your boycotting because even if you got the whole of America and the UK to stay at home, China will love it and it will make shed loads of money. So it's completely your loss.

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