Cultural Appropriation in Media: Movies

     Due to recent news that actress Jennifer Lawrence is being considered for the role of Disney's live-action version of Mulan, a new petition has been created to stop the "whitewashing" of the film. The petition, created by Natalie Molnar, has garnered a whooping 110,000 signatures, just 10,000 shy of it's goal. Whitewashing films in Hollywood has become very popular bringing about a negative response from the public. When a film is whitewashed, a caucasian person is portraying a role that is considered to be culturally incorrect for their race. Many people believe that a role, such as Mulan should be portrayed by a Chinese actress and not a caucasian actress, since in the animated film Mulan is a Chinese woman.

      

     Castles, Capes & Clones via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

-Amanda McBain