First Picture of Scar. Jo. as Major Kusanagi in GitS Movie

[xaszatm]

I'm still wondering what her actual name is going to be. She's supposed to be Matoko Kusanagi, but she obviously doesn't look Japanese, so how are they going to get around that? Are they just going to call her 'the Major' and forego her name entirely, are they going to call her 'Kusanagi' and hope her Japanese esque hairdo will sell it, or are they going to pull an 'Edge of Tomorrow' and just give her a Western name?

None of that matters. The entire schtick is that Matoko Kusanagi is just a consciousness inside a cybernetic body (hence the "Ghost" in the "Shell"). She can be any enthnicity or gender she wants because it's a synthetic body. Hell, she could probably be implanted in a cyborg dog if she wanted to be.

Yeah, but she is still a Japanese looking cyborg in the original source material, with a Japanese name. You can say it doesn't matter since she's a cyborg and can inhabit any body her consciousness can be implanted in, but she isn't, she's in this particular body that makes her recognizable as Matoko Kusanagi. It could actually be an interesting idea for this movie to have her switch from body to body, thereby making her question her own identity since she's always changing form, but I doubt they'll go that direction as the movie obviously wants to make the most out of ScarJo's draw.

So how are they going to sidestep her "ethnicity" and (if maybe) her name, without basically making her an entirely different character? This wouldn't be so much of an issue if she wasn't the most iconic thing about the franchise. And that icon is a Japanese looking cyborg with a Japanese name.

Simple:
-Her last body got destroyed and she's temporarily using this one.
-She had to go undercover doing something where looking more like ScarJo was helpful.
-She wanted to try something else.

You could literally make up anything you wanted to and explain it in one sentence in the movie. This is no different than if they ever get around to making an "Altered Carbon" movie: the main character is just a consciousness in a shell, their ethnicity (hell, really their gender) doesn't even matter.

Ok, let's go with your idea. Let's say that the Major, for some insane reason, while living in Japan, decides to buck the trend and have a "white" shell. It's stupid, but fine. Can someone then explain why EVERY OTHER CHARACTER IN THIS MOVIE WITH EVEN A MINOR ROLE IS FREAKING WHITE!?! Why have a movie that takes place in Japan, stars "Japanese" characters, is still supposed to be entirely involved with Japanese imagery and culture. Yet every character just happens to decide that having a white "shell" is for the best!?! Even if it wasn't stupid beyond reason, it's incredibly arrogant thinking for a director to do this! And that's not even getting to the fact that the studio had the "brilliant" plan to use special effects to make all the actors look Asain! GAH! Fuck this idiotic idea! Just hire an Asian Actress!

There's actually not even any confirmation the movie's going to take place in Japan at this point. The plot synopsis thus far is: "A cyborg policewoman attempts to bring down a nefarious computer hacker". That's it.

Then why are all the character still under Japanese names? I mean, I'd still annoyed if they changed the names, but at least it's become divorced enough from the source material like Edge of Tomorrow. But according to the official casting page, Scarlet Johanson is not playing "The Major" but "Major Kusunagi". Pilou is not playing "Bob" but "Batou". Michael Pitt is not playing "Kevin" but "Kuze".

And, once again, what about the fact that the directors tried to use VFX to make the actors and actresses more Asian-looking. All evidence is pointing that this still takes place in Japan. So no, all you're doing is trying to twist yourself stupid trying to justify a non-Asian (At this point I don't really care if she's Japanese) taking an Asian role. I mean, it's not like Rinko Kikuchi wasn't available! Or, you know, they go to Japan and find an actress who can speak English. It's not that hard actually.

[img='http://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimages6.fanpop.com%2Fimage%2Fphotos%2F36900000%2FRinko-Kikuchi-mako-and-raleigh-36995651-1920-1080.jpg&key=qpqpMSRce0MCx9RBJOroQA&w=800&h=513']http://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimages6.fanpop.com%2Fimage%2Fphotos%2F36900000%2FRinko-Kikuchi-mako-and-raleigh-36995651-1920-1080.jpg&key=qpqpMSRce0MCx9RBJOroQA&w=800&h=513[/img]

Why hire SJ when you have a much more faithful adaptation quite literally staring you in the face?

 

[happyninja42]

I don't like Attack on Titan, so I don't know what you are referring to.

That the fact that the majority (every single character, but Mikasa) of the cast is of European decent is a major fucking plot point. Including the fact that those of oriental decent have been purposefully breed out of the gene pool by the royalty.

That was ignored when the live action adaptation had a fully Japanese cast.

A Japanese film studio, adapting a Japanese intellectual product, that has a huge following in Japan. Yeah, I can't at all think why they might get Japanese actors for it. And considering how low budget it looked to me, they were probably just getting actors from nearby, instead of you know, paying tons of money to transport European/American actors for their project.

 

[happyninja42]

Why hire SJ when you have a much more faithful adaptation quite literally staring you in the face?

Maybe because she's not that good of an actress? I mean I like Mako in the Pacific Rim, but she was not the most talented actress. Of course plenty will say the same about SJ, but just simply based on time in the job, SJ's got a lot more experience. Especially at playing emotionless female killing machines. Which is pretty much what the protagonist from GitS is.

 

[Dango]

People are seriously complaining about her hair? You want her to have a purple mullet?

I'm just curious if they'll change her name, because, for obvious reasons, I can't really but Scarlett Johansson being having a Japanese name.

 

[madwarper]

A Japanese film studio, adapting a Japanese intellectual product, that has a huge following in Japan. Yeah, I can't at all think why they might get Japanese actors for it. And considering how low budget it looked to me, they were probably just getting actors from nearby, instead of you know, paying tons of money to transport European/American actors for their project.

It's not that I wasn't expecting this response, but I'm still amused as the entire argument is predicated on a) a practically nonexistent understanding of the plot of Attack on Titan, and b) the ill informed assumption that there are no non-Japanese actors in Japan. Lest we forget, the singer that sang the opening credits for SAC and SAC2... was White.

Spoiler: Origa (RIP)

 

[MatParker116]

I'm still wondering what her actual name is going to be. She's supposed to be Matoko Kusanagi, but she obviously doesn't look Japanese, so how are they going to get around that? Are they just going to call her 'the Major' and forego her name entirely, are they going to call her 'Kusanagi' and hope her Japanese esque hairdo will sell it, or are they going to pull an 'Edge of Tomorrow' and just give her a Western name?

None of that matters. The entire schtick is that Matoko Kusanagi is just a consciousness inside a cybernetic body (hence the "Ghost" in the "Shell"). She can be any enthnicity or gender she wants because it's a synthetic body. Hell, she could probably be implanted in a cyborg dog if she wanted to be.

Yeah, but she is still a Japanese looking cyborg in the original source material, with a Japanese name. You can say it doesn't matter since she's a cyborg and can inhabit any body her consciousness can be implanted in, but she isn't, she's in this particular body that makes her recognizable as Matoko Kusanagi. It could actually be an interesting idea for this movie to have her switch from body to body, thereby making her question her own identity since she's always changing form, but I doubt they'll go that direction as the movie obviously wants to make the most out of ScarJo's draw.

So how are they going to sidestep her "ethnicity" and (if maybe) her name, without basically making her an entirely different character? This wouldn't be so much of an issue if she wasn't the most iconic thing about the franchise. And that icon is a Japanese looking cyborg with a Japanese name.

Simple:
-Her last body got destroyed and she's temporarily using this one.
-She had to go undercover doing something where looking more like ScarJo was helpful.
-She wanted to try something else.

You could literally make up anything you wanted to and explain it in one sentence in the movie. This is no different than if they ever get around to making an "Altered Carbon" movie: the main character is just a consciousness in a shell, their ethnicity (hell, really their gender) doesn't even matter.

Ok, let's go with your idea. Let's say that the Major, for some insane reason, while living in Japan, decides to buck the trend and have a "white" shell. It's stupid, but fine. Can someone then explain why EVERY OTHER CHARACTER IN THIS MOVIE WITH EVEN A MINOR ROLE IS FREAKING WHITE!?! Why have a movie that takes place in Japan, stars "Japanese" characters, is still supposed to be entirely involved with Japanese imagery and culture. Yet every character just happens to decide that having a white "shell" is for the best!?! Even if it wasn't stupid beyond reason, it's incredibly arrogant thinking for a director to do this! And that's not even getting to the fact that the studio had the "brilliant" plan to use special effects to make all the actors look Asain! GAH! Fuck this idiotic idea! Just hire an Asian Actress!

There's actually not even any confirmation the movie's going to take place in Japan at this point. The plot synopsis thus far is: "A cyborg policewoman attempts to bring down a nefarious computer hacker". That's it.

Then why are all the character still under Japanese names? I mean, I'd still annoyed if they changed the names, but at least it's become divorced enough from the source material like Edge of Tomorrow. But according to the official casting page, Scarlet Johanson is not playing "The Major" but "Major Kusunagi". Pilou is not playing "Bob" but "Batou". Michael Pitt is not playing "Kevin" but "Kuze".

And, once again, what about the fact that the directors tried to use VFX to make the actors and actresses more Asian-looking. All evidence is pointing that this still takes place in Japan. So no, all you're doing is trying to twist yourself stupid trying to justify a non-Asian (At this point I don't really care if she's Japanese) taking an Asian role. I mean, it's not like Rinko Kikuchi wasn't available! Or, you know, they go to Japan and find an actress who can speak English. It's not that hard actually.

[img='http://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimages6.fanpop.com%2Fimage%2Fphotos%2F36900000%2FRinko-Kikuchi-mako-and-raleigh-36995651-1920-1080.jpg&key=qpqpMSRce0MCx9RBJOroQA&w=800&h=513']http://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimages6.fanpop.com%2Fimage%2Fphotos%2F36900000%2FRinko-Kikuchi-mako-and-raleigh-36995651-1920-1080.jpg&key=qpqpMSRce0MCx9RBJOroQA&w=800&h=513[/img]

Why hire SJ when you have a much more faithful adaptation quite literally staring you in the face?

Because her performance in that wasn't the best? Plus no studio wants to be the one that gave an Asian female lead a chance only for the film to flop.

 

[DementedSheep]

You were expecting purple anime hair in a live action?

 

[SweetShark]

Yes, because we need another protagonist who is 100% beautiful...
No any kind of characteristics at all, just the same Anime face....btw HOW you copy exactly a Anime Face to the Real world exactly?

At least she is interesting. She is not a baby doll just for the shake to look like an Anime Girl...she have some REAL characteristics.

 

[Vanilla ISIS]

Isn't it funny that the movie can be declared as "RUINED" after 1 picture?
On the other hand, it's nice to know that people on the internet have super foresight analysis powers.

Here's the reason why she's in the movie and not some Asian actress:
Lucy was R rated, not based on anything and not very good but it made $463 million, in large part due to her star power.
If any woman right now can lead GitS and make it a success, it's her.

 

[JimB]

I'm sure that all the white nerds who protested the idea of a black Johnny Storm are gonna be screaming over this, right? Right?

I was okay with black Johnny Storm because my complaint against whitewashing isn't about faithfulness to the source material or insisting I'm color-blind when it comes to race; it's about how few roles exist for people of color. In that same sense, I disapprove of casting a white woman as a Japanese character, but I tend to forgive this at least somewhat because I understand how quickly roles vanish for women over the age of twenty-five. I hope Ms. Johannson beats the odds and becomes a Cate Blanchett who can reliably get high-profile acting jobs into her middle age, but I can't bring myself to condemn her too heartily for taking what she can get while she can get it.

 

[Michel Henzel]

So the first picture of Scarlett Jo. as Major Kusanagi in the live-action Ghost in the Shell film has been released and...I...I....

have no problems with this. Why? Because, there's a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation for why she doesn't look the exact same as other iterations.

IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME. SHELL.

We all know where the name Ghost in the Shell comes from... Right?

This is effectively the same thing I said to a coworker today when he showed it to me. "It doesn't bother me if she doesn't look exactly right. It's stated in the series that for all anyone knows, the Major was originally a man."

So not looking exactly like her is the least of this movie's potential problems.

I'm fairly certain that SaC and one of the movies made it abundantly clear in no uncertain terms that the Major has always been a girl, even pre-prosthetic body.

I can confirm that she does go into her backstory in SaC upon seeing a young girl thats in the exact same position that she was in at her age. Though I don't recall most of the details, it did confirm she was a young girl at one point and reminisces about why she had to get a full cyborg body(it was more or less do it or die IIRC).

In the first movie it's left kinda vague, in SaC her body was too far gone due to a plane crash at the age of 6 if I recall correctly, and in Arise she was a cyborg from birth, as in from womb to cyber body. So in Arise she was technically never born with a human body.

 

[Old Father Eternity]

Slight side note, the location is most likely japan as it seems to be an adaption of the first season of SAC , given that the cast had 'laughing man' listed.

 

[DoPo]

So the first picture of Scarlett Jo. as Major Kusanagi in the live-action Ghost in the Shell film has been released and...I...I....

have no problems with this. Why? Because, there's a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation for why she doesn't look the exact same as other iterations.

IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME. SHELL.

We all know where the name Ghost in the Shell comes from... Right?

This is effectively the same thing I said to a coworker today when he showed it to me. "It doesn't bother me if she doesn't look exactly right. It's stated in the series that for all anyone knows, the Major was originally a man."

So not looking exactly like her is the least of this movie's potential problems.

I'm fairly certain that SaC and one of the movies made it abundantly clear in no uncertain terms that the Major has always been a girl, even pre-prosthetic body.

I can confirm that she does go into her backstory in SaC upon seeing a young girl thats in the exact same position that she was in at her age. Though I don't recall most of the details, it did confirm she was a young girl at one point and reminisces about why she had to get a full cyborg body(it was more or less do it or die IIRC).

In the first movie it's left kinda vague, in SaC her body was too far gone due to a plane crash at the age of 6 if I recall correctly, and in Arise she was a cyborg from birth, as in from womb to cyber body. So in Arise she was technically never born with a human body.

Is the Arise thing a retcon or a different timeline/continuity?

It's completely different. A "reimagining", if you will.

I didn't really like it, to be honest, but not because it was different - the movies and TV series were already different universes (as is the manga, as far as I know). I dunno, just didn't really flow well for me. But if you have the chance, do check out the first episode of Arise - I thought that was amazing, it's just the rest that didn't really mesh together.

 

[FalloutJack]

Right, so the actress who's very good at playing deadpan character roles is somehow not gonna be able to play this well-known deadpan character role. Granted, the Major wasn't always deadpan, but she could go quite a stretch. How about we wait and see before you all decide to ghost-hack yourselves?

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Okay, yeah it's not exact, but maybe if you want to see something exactly like the original, maybe you should just go rewatch the original.

 

[Tanis]

Paramount admits trying out digital yellow face?
GitS fandom justified it pre-released hatred of film?
-None of them recall the horrid Kite movie with Sam Jackson.
Dis isnt eve-van my fi-nal forum!

Amazes me how Hollywood with it's 'we so liberal, we love everyone long time' is allowed to pull this crap.
You'd think they were part of Trump's campaign.

When there ARE 'main stream Asians' they could have cast, who are better actors than Scar. Jo.