[ SECRET POST #4491 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4491 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 21 secrets from Secret Submission Post #643.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

You can change Naomi Scott's makeup and styling, though, and she would look "right".

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe. I haven't seen the movie so I can't judge it yet. But based on stills like this
https://ewedit.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/AL_21783812821938301321.jpg?w=768
I'm going wow, if you told me that's a still from a movie where Jaz, a plucky girl from modern day California is transported to a fantasy world and wearing a costume, I'd believe it.

It's not just the actress's skin color or non stereotypicalness that make up the "looking white," like the other commenters here are saying. And when you start with an actress that's half-white and sometimes visibly so, the proper styling matters even more.

Costume change aside, compared to live-action Jasmines at Disneyland for example, or even Jasmines from Aladdin the musical, the styling on Jasmine for the live-action movie is much more soft, bronzed, Western and the effect is very different from striking eyebrows, heavy kohl-dark eyes, et cetera.

I understand they may not be going for the exact same look as the movies, musical, or live-action Jasmines at the theme parks, but it definitely is a more "white" look they are going with for the movie.

[(Anonymous)]

And to continue the Mulan comparison, I would be equally disappointed if the actress playing Mulan looked like a Western-styled mixed-Asian American from modern day Flushing, and not like wuxia-esque fantasy.

[(Anonymous)]

...yo, Mulan the Disney cartoon had no real Wuxia roots nor much connection to even the original tale, so the only thing they need to nail in a remake is a spiritual and aesthetic connection to the original film while ensuring that it’s tonally appropriate for 2019. There’s no real reason they HAVE to make it “Wuxia-esque”, not even modern Chinese productions really go for that.

I happen to think the actress they did cast is mediocre (never getting over her disappointing Xiaolongnu, never mind all the other bleh stuff she’s been in) so aside from looking “right”, I doubt Yifei will do the character justice. That’s what looks-based gets you, something that’s also quite rampant in modern Chinese productions come to think of it. Not sure a mixed Chinese-American from Flushing could do any worse (and I think the derisive way you phrased that is really disrespectful).

[(Anonymous)]

No disrespect meant to half-white Chinese Americans to prefer Western styling from Flushing. I would simply be disappointed in Disney if they chose to cast a half-white person for a main role of a Chinese character set in ancient fantasy history.

To be clear: there should be more canon mixed-POC roles and characters and opportunities to play them. That's a separate issue that doesn't negate the first part.

I also never said that Mulan the story itself is wuxia. It's not. It's fantasy history. I also never said I am pleased with the casting for live-action Mulan, so please don't put words in my mouth. I was comparing them because the story of Aladdin is ancient fantasy history in the exact same way Mulan is. What I meant by wuxia-esque is that Mulan's styling and makeup should be more wuxia-esque than like Western convention, if you are sticking to the fantasy history idea.

I also am fairly certain that the casting of Yifei and putting on an "authentic" Chinese face is less about trying to be accurate and more to please the Chinese market which is going to be huge for the movie, so the issue is complicated and racism manifests in all kinds of ways, etc.

However, it is not inherently disrespectful or derisive to say something is wrong for a piece. I would say the same of a half-white woman playing live-action Tiana. Does that mean any 100% black woman is better? No. But if they mysteriously can't find a single black actress who is better fit than a half-white one, that's disappointing, yet mysteriously seems to happen quite often in Hollywood.