Ridley Scott’s The Martian has been hit with claims of ‘white-washing’ for not casting assumed Asian-American characters with Asian actors.
The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) believe that the roles of Mindy Park and Venkat Kapoor have both seen their races changed from Andy Weir’s novel.
‘This insulting practice of white-washing has got to stop,’ said MANNA president Aki Aleong in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. ‘Alarmingly, it has been increasing in frequency.’
Founding president Guy Aoki added: ‘Was Ridley Scott not comfortable having two sets of Asian-Americans talking to each other?
(Picture: Fox)
White actress Mackenzie Davis was cast as Mindy Park while Venkat’s name was changed to Vincent with black British actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor taking on the role.
Andy Weir, The Martian’s author, did tell MTV News that he didn’t physically describe the ethnicity of his characters though he did admit that he did have Korean-American in mind when he was writing Mindy’s character.
‘Unless a physical description is somehow relevant to the plot, OK, you know he’s missing a leg… then I don’t physically describe my characters at all,’
Park is one of the most notable surnames in Korean, however thanks to our melting pot of a world both Mindy and Venkat/Vincent could easily come from different multicultural backgrounds.
White actress Mackenzie Davis was cast as Mindy Park while Venkat’s name was changed to Vincent with black British actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor taking on the role.
Andy Weir, The Martian’s author, did tell MTV News that he didn’t physically describe the ethnicity of his characters though he did admit that he did have Korean-American in mind when he was writing Mindy’s character.
‘Unless a physical description is somehow relevant to the plot, OK, you know he’s missing a leg… then I don’t physically describe my characters at all,’
Park is one of the most notable surnames in Korean, however thanks to our melting pot of a world both Mindy and Venkat/Vincent could easily come from different multicultural backgrounds.
(Picture: Fox)
It’s not the only place in the film where a character has been changed, with Chen Shu playning Zhu Tao, Deputy Chief Scientist of the CNSA, a character who was originally male in the book.
The controversy however comes off the back of the Aloha controversy where director Cameron Crowe was forced to apologise after casting white actress Emma Stone as Alison Ng, a character from Chinese-Hawaiian-Swedish descent.
‘I have heard your words and your disappointment, and I offer you a heart-felt apology to all who felt this was an odd or misguided casting choice,’ said the acclaimed director.
Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone (Picture: Neal Preston/Sony Pictures Entertainment via AP)
Metro
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