Aw, Gaiman, why you gotta play like that?
Neil Gaiman is scripting the James Cameron-assisted movie version of Journey to the West.

I feel really kinda queasy about this. There are no few Asian writers for whom this story came with their milk teeth, like Cinderella does to an English-speaker, and Gaiman has been...bad...about stuff relating to other cultures before. I really doubt that having been for a visit to China is enough to justify his treatment of the script.

(And let's not talk about James Cameron. Ick.)

Mercredigirl over at Dreamwidth has more to say.

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	oxfordcomma 2011-03-28 03:26 am UTC (link)
	Yikes. This is... worrisome, to put it mildly. Two trips to China do not magically do away with issues of cultural appropriation. Even the fact that they're filming in China isn't about recognizing China as culturally authoritative here -- it's about saving money! AUGH. (Reply to this)(Thread)

rosehiptea
2011-03-28 07:50 am UTC (link)

Even the fact that they're filming in China isn't about recognizing China as culturally authoritative here -- it's about saving money!

Yeah, that really stuck out to me too.

And I'm tired of the idea that there has to be Western/American/white people version of everything. There really doesn't.

Note: I know Neil Gaiman isn't American, but Hollywood does this on a regular basis, so.

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	full_metal_ox 2011-03-30 01:46 am UTC (link)
	And I'm tired of the idea that there has to be Western/American/white people version of everything. There really doesn't. And--strange to relate--there are actually Western American white people who are perfectly capable of enjoying a story without some pasted-on white Viewer Proxy there to hold their hand. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rosehiptea 2011-03-30 05:35 pm UTC (link)
	Oh that film. I didn't see it, mostly because I don't like Tom Cruise, but also because I kept saying to myself "Hold on, how is the Last Samurai a white guy?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	full_metal_ox 2011-03-30 10:03 pm UTC (link)
	As far as I'm concerned, the role Cruise played in The Last Samurai was Guy Blocking My View Of Sanada Hiroyuki. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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