'Cloud Atlas' Receives Racial Criticism for Bad Makeup and Casting (TRAILER)
The characters of Cloud Atlas are receiving some racial criticism as the actors in the play are a little whiter than the fans of the anticipated novel thought.
This is because of the use of Caucasian actors (Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, etc) to play the South Korean characters in the film, which debuts on Friday.
According to SheKnows.com, founding president of Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), Guy Aoki, said in a statement, "Cloud Atlas missed a great opportunity."
"The Korean story's protagonist is an Asian man - an action hero who defies the odds and holds off armies of attackers," Aoki added.
The storyline of the play is set in South Korea in the year 2144.
According to Aoki, every major male character in the Korea story is played by non-Asian actors in really bad yellowface makeup.
"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. But instead, they cast Jim Sturgess in yellowface," Aoki said.
"In modern age of movie makeup, it is disturbing to see poorly done Asian eye prosthetics to make Caucasian men look Asian. It appears that to turn white actors into Asian characters, the makeup artist believed they had to change their eyes, not their facial structure and complexion."
"Would the directors have used blackface on a white actor to play (the slave) Gyasi's role? I don't think so. That would have outraged the African American viewers. But badly done yellowface is still OK," Aoki said offended.
The directors of Cloud Atlas, Andy and Lana Wachowski, however, have a different view of the situation.
"That's good, that people are casting a critical eye," Andy Wachowski told the Huffington Post.
"But our intention is the antithesis of the idea," Wachowski said.
He explained that their intention was to talk about the things that are beyond race.
"The character of this film is humility, so if you look at our past work and consider what our intention might be, we ask that those people give us a chance and at least see the movie before they start casting judgment."
