Asian-Americans and persons of Asian descent make up an estimated 5 percent of the total U.S. population. But it is estimated that Asian actors account for only about 1 percent of Hollywood’s leading roles. Now a social media movement using the hashtag “StarringJohnCho” is pushing creative industry to showcase actors of all backgrounds.
John Cho as James Bond; John Cho as Captain America; John Cho as The Martian— these edited film posters offer a “sneak peek” of a more inclusive Hollywood, swapping out Tinseltown’s typical leading men to give one Asian American actor his shot at a starring role.
The images are lighthearted, but William Yu, the 25-year-old digital whiz doctoring the designs, says challenging Hollywood’s lack of diversity is no laughing matter.
“As much as it is humorous to Photoshop someone’s face on another body, I think what’s kind of come out of this is, why do people find it funny? Why is this question of an Asian American playing a romantic lead humorous?” Yu said.
Yu launched #StarringJohnCho, a now viral social media campaign raising awareness about the lack of leading roles available to non-white actors. He featured one of the industry’s few leading Asian actors in the Photoshopped posters to pull the race card on Hollywood at a turning point.
“You have so many conversations that are happening right now, with #Oscarssowhite and with the recent whitewashing of Asian roles And so, for me, I think this was a relevant and opportune time to further the discussion,” Yu said.
Hollywood has a long track record of casting white actors in roles originally written for minority talent, but recent incidents of this so-called “whitewashing,” like casting Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi in the upcoming “Ghost in the Shell” movie, is attracting new backlash.
Some studios argue that movie-goers prefer predominantly white casts. But recent studies show films with diverse casts result in higher box office numbers, and from 2013 to 2014 minorities bought the majority of tickets for the highest grossing film that year.
“People want to see themselves as part of movies, and television. They want to feel vindicated like they are part of society. So the more you put Asians, Blacks, Asian Americans in films, they’ll pay to see it, statistics prove it,” said Guy Aoki, Media Network For Asian Americans.
Guy Aoki has been advocating for minorities in the industry for decades, and says social media campaigns like #StarringJohnCho could help to break an age old cycle.
“Unless movie studios develop Asian American actors in movies, they are still going to have the same excuse. They are going to say we want to put an Asian person as the star but we just don't have big Asian stars. Well, because you never start using us,” Aoki said.
Yu says he hopes movie-makers take note of his campaign, because if they could not imagine an Asian actor in a leading role before, they no longer have to.
