Beyond Barbie: Hollywood's blurred boundaries & confused ethnic identities

Misrepresentation of borders and whitewashing of characters continues, with 87% American directors being white

After the much-anticipated Barbie movie ran into a controversy in both Vietnam and the Philippines, Warner Bros has come out in defence of its marquee offering. The film has a scene that depicts a version of the world map with the "nine-dash line". It is a representation of China's territorial claims to the South China Sea – a demarcation opposed by Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, and which was repudiated by an international tribunal in The Hague in 2016.

The scene has led to the film's ban in Vietnam. However, the studio has defended the map as a “child-like crayon drawing” with no intended meaning.

Vietnam is not the only country to have had issues with Hollywood’s depiction of political borders. India, too, has made strong objections against a long line of American movies over the depiction of Kashmir and its fraught borders with neighbours Pakistan and China.

In 2018, the information and broadcasting ministry asked the external affairs ministry to “intervene” in regard to the “improper depiction” of Jammu & Kashmir in the Hollywood blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The Tom Cruise-starrer had several references to Kashmir, some of which were removed or altered on the directions of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) before the movie’s release in India.

The film also showed a map that misrepresented J&K’s boundaries. Besides this, the CBFC sought the removal of the words “Indian-controlled Kashmir”, which it said should be replaced with the “Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir”. It also sought the removal of maps that misrepresented the state’s borders, and demanded a disclaimer stating that the film “does not intend to hurt the feelings/sentiments or defame persons of any region, community, nationality, religion, or organisation.”

The changes were not made in the global version of the film.

While the representation of India’s northern borders has long remained a matter of controversy across news and popular media, including Al Jazeera and Amazon, Hollywood films have drawn flak for not just getting geographies wrong but cultures and ethnicities as well.  

Asian communities have historically been marginalised in the United States. Miss- or cross-casting of Asian characters is common as is ‘Whitewashing’, the practice of casting white actors in non-white roles.

In 2012, for example, the movie Cloud Atlas drew criticism for making many of the non-Asian actors play Asian characters for part of the film. Also, Scarlett Johansson starred in the live-action adaptation of classic Japanese manga series Ghost in the Shell; Jake Gyllenhaal played a Persian prince in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time; and Tilda Swinton played an originally Asian character in Doctor Strange. The list goes on.

There’s also the mixing of ethnicities on-screen. Often, West Asian characters are played by Mexican or Latin-American actors; and Chinese- and Japanese-American actors are cast in roles for other Southeast Asian nationalities such as Filipino, Vietnamese etc. The most infamous example comes from the Indiana Jones series, wherein Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies is cast as Sallah, an Egyptian excavator and old acquaintance of Jones.

Films such as Lawrence of Arabia and even recent superhero web series such as Iron Fist and Arrow have faced bans and protests in countries like Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and others. While several media watch groups have protested against such representations, these practices continue.

In a research article published by the Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository, Russell Robinson, a Walter Perry Johnson professor of law at Berkeley Law School, points out that 87 per cent of American directors are white. He says, "Any person in this decision-making chain might exclude an actor or an entire category of actors based on race or sex-based considerations, yet this discrimination would normally remain concealed from the excluded applicants and the public." He points out that "implicit biases” often lead to a significant amount of race-bending and whitewashing within the film industry.

Media and broadcasting ministries and departments across countries have now become more sensitive to such obfuscation of borders and mixing of ethnic identities. Films such as Barbie are, therefore, inviting sharper scrutiny.

In sharp focus

* Mission: Impossible – Fallout invited CBFC's intervention for its depiction of Jammu & Kashmir

* Cloud Atlas had many non-Asian actors playing Asian characters

* Indiana Jones series had Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies cast as Egyptian excavator Sallah