The Good Earth (1937) is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis, which was itself based on the 1931 novel The Good Earth by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin, Victor Fleming (uncredited) and Gustav Machaty (uncredited).
The film's budget was $2.8 million, relatively expensive for the time, and took three years to make. Although Pearl Buck intended the film to be cast with all Chinese or Chinese-American actors, the studio opted to use established American stars, tapping Paul Muni and Luise Rainer for the lead roles.
In 1935, when MGM Studios was planning to make The Good Earth into a movie, Anna May Wong was considered a top contender for the role of O-lan, the Chinese heroine of the novel. However, because Paul Muni was of European descent, the Hays Code's anti-miscegenation rules meant his character's wife had to be played by a white woman.
So, MGM gave the role of O-lan to a white actress and offered Wong the role of Lotus, the story's villain, but Wong refused to be the only Chinese American playing the only negative character, stating: "...I won't play the part. If you let me play O-lan, I'll be very glad. But you're asking me – with Chinese blood – to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters."
MGM's refusal to consider Wong for this most high-profile of Chinese characters in U.S. film is remembered today as "one of the most notorious cases of casting discrimination in the 1930s".
In 1979, CTV's W-5 news program carried a feature story on foreign students. The aim of the story was to highlight inequalities in the education system in Canada. The report focused on the large number of 'oriental' students who were shown as occupying much needed space in Canadian universities. The reporter explicitly stated that she was not being racist. Rather, she just wanted to show the unfairness of the system. The reporter interviewed three other students separately who had been denied placements at an Eastern Canadian university. All of the three were white, and according to the report, all three had left high school with above average grades. They were portrayed as victims of the system, denied what was their's by right.
The equation Canadian = white was explicit throughout the report. The connotations surrounding the portrayal of the 'foreign' students were more negative. It was implied that these students were a drain on the economy, that they were taking unfair advantage of the situation and further, that their actions were legitimized by government authorities who were obviously inept and unaware of the 'real' situation.
The inaccuracy of this coverage was pointed out by Chinese Canadian students who launched a massive protest in response to the show. They pointed out that many of the so-called foreign students were in fact Canadians. Further, the evidence presented in the report was found to be contrary to the actual reality of the foreign student population in Canada. CTV responded by issuing an apology, but this was months after the initial protest was launched.
The film became controversial due to the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans accusing it of whitewashing the cast, and Crowe has apologized about Emma Stone being miscast as a character who is meant to be of one quarter Chinese and one quarter Hawaiian descent.
In June 2015, Crowe responded to the backlash: "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. As far back as 2007, Captain Allison Ng was written to be a super-proud one quarter Hawaiian who was frustrated that, by all outward appearances, she looked nothing like one. A half-Chinese father was meant to show the surprising mix of cultures often prevalent in Hawaii. Extremely proud of her unlikely heritage, she feels personally compelled to over-explain every chance she gets. The character was based on a real-life, red-headed local who did just that."
However, Sony Pictures defended the film's portrayal of Hawaiian culture stating, "While some have been quick to judge a movie they haven't seen and a script they haven't read, the film 'Aloha' respectfully showcases the spirit and culture of the Hawaiian people."
Emma Stone later said she regretted letting herself be miscast, and acknowledged whitewashing as a prevalent problem in Hollywood.
The casting of Scarlett Johansson as the Major brought accusations of whitewashing. Pavan Shamdasani of Asia Times wrote: "The original is about as Asian as things get: Japanese cult manga, ground-breaking anime, Hong Kong-inspired locations, Eastern philosophy-based story. Most of that's been downright ignored with its big-screen adaptation, and Scarlett Johansson's casting as the dark-haired, obviously originally Asian lead sent netizens into a rage." In April 2016, ScreenCrush reported that the filmmakers had commissioned the use of CGI and other visual effects testing to alter Johansson's appearance to make her appear Asian, spurring further backlash. Paramount stated the tests were short-lived and did not involve Johansson. Some fans and industry employees argued that the controversy is a symptom of a bigger issue: that modern Hollywood fears casting non-white actors would bring less profit. Marc Bernardin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the only race Hollywood cares about is the box office race".
Johansson said of the criticism: "I certainly would never presume to play another race of a person. Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive." She said she was drawn to the role as playing the female protagonist in a potential franchise is a "rare opportunity".
The film attracted further criticism for its ending, which reveals that Johansson's character was originally a Japanese girl, Motoko Kusanagi. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans accused Johansson of lying when she said she would never play the role of a person of a different race than her own Japanese-American actress Ai Yoshihara, speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, said she felt the twist was "white people trying to justify the casting." Another Japanese-American actress, Atsuko Okatsuka, concluded: "Hanka Robotics [the corporation in the film] is making a being that's the best of human and the best of robotics. For some reason, the best stuff they make happens to be white.