Of Asians and Aliens

by Eric Peterson

Earlier this week, British actor Ed Skrein (Deadpool, Game of Thrones) was cast as Ben Daimio in an upcoming reboot of Hellboy, based on the comic book published by Dark Horse Comics. Daimio, the character, is of Japanese descent. Skrein, the actor, is not. Controversy ensued.

Ed Skrein (L), Major Ben Daimio (R)

And the controversy was, let's be honest, sort of predictable. It reminded a lot of people of Tilda Swinton being cast as "The Ancient One" in Marvel's Doctor Strange and Scarlett Johannsen's work as Major in Ghost in the Shell, based on a Manga comic.

In both of those cases, a white performer was cast as a character originally written as Asian, and the decision was roundly criticized. Some argued that Hollywood was essentially taking a role away from an Asian performer, others lamented the fact that Asian audiences wouldn't have the pleasure of seeing themselves represented on screen.

But there was something different about this story, and it is this: within days of the casting decision being announced, Ed Skrein withdrew from the movie. He announced his withdrawal on Twitter.

Needless to say, many were happy to see this. Wired magazine published a piece called, "Ed Skrein leaving Hellboy Proves How Easily Hollywood Could Stop Whitewashing," and the headline at the Guardian was "White Actors Must Stand Up to Whitewashing. Ed Skrein Shows How."

But, naturally, there were some detractors, who believed that Skrein was both the victim and a perpetrator of political correctness. The conservative website The Daily Caller noted that "with Skrein out of the picture, the Hellboy production team will have to find an actor more suitable for the role — or at least an actor without any qualms about pretending to be someone he isn’t."

Which sort of misses the point. Skrein wasn't hired to play an Asian character (hopefully the days of Mickey Rooney as the Chinese landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany's are behind us), but — what is far more likely — the film was just going to make the character white. By stepping down in the way that he did, Ed Skrein has all but guaranteed that the producers of Hellboy will cast the role with an Asian actor. And the character will once again be Asian. And, as others have noted, it will now be more difficult for white actors to play characters who were originally people of color. People will wonder why they accepted the role. After all, look at what Ed Skrein did.

In other cross-racial comics casting news, Senegalese actress Anna Diop (24: Legacy) was cast as Starfire in Titans, a new television series based on DC Comics' The New Teen Titans. Starfire's given name is Koriand'r, and she hails from the planet Tamaran. Koriand'r, the character, is an alien with orange skin. Diop, the actress, is not. Controversy ensued.

Koriand'r (L), Anna Diop (R)

Not many people are stepping forward to own their outrage over this particular piece of casting news, but a quick search of internet comment threads — where stupid goes to die — is full of outraged fanboys. I suppose the fact that Starfire is orange and the most famous orange person in America happens to be a white nationalist is confusing to some.

Aside from the orange skin, Starfire also has green eyes — not green irises, but green eyes — like, the entire eyeball is green. Also, when she flies, her enormous hairdo becomes, in the words of George Perez, who created her look, a "Mighty Mouse contrail."

My point is that Koriand'r possesses an ethnicity that no human being possesses. She's literally an alien. And yet, because fans of Teen Titans have never really thought of her as a black girl, some people feel something upon seeing her face and hearing this news, something between irritation and outrage. It must be tempting for some to conflate these two stories, to wonder why Anna Diop can play a character who isn't black while Ed Skrein should be celebrated for stepping away from work when his character isn't white. But these two stories are not the same.

Firstly and most obviously, Ben Daimio is of Asian descent. Also, Asian actors exist. Meanwhile, Starfire is an alien. There weren't any Tamaranean actors in the SAG directory for Greg Berlanti to call. Secondly and more importantly, white audiences are not in need of seeing themselves represented on screen. If a young white boy wants to see people like him wear a silly costume and save the world (or the universe), he's got Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Henry Cavill as Superman, Chris Evans as Captain America, Ben Affleck as Batman, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Chris Helmsworth as Thor, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, Zachary Quinto as Lieutenant Spock, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, and the list goes on and on. Let's say you're a black girl who likes comic books, and you'd really like to see yourself up on screen, well ... there's Halle Berry as Storm. At one point, there was also Halle Berry as Catwoman, but she's not really a hero and the movie was also not great. There's Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura. There's also Zoe Saldana as Gamora, but she's not really black; she's ... green. And now there's Anna Diop. Who might end up being orange, and will almost certainly have alien eyes. These two situations are not, in any way, equivalent.

Perhaps when a white audience member can prove that anything has really been taken from them when a person of color is cast to play a role with an ethnicity that doesn't exist, I'll be able to equate the two. Until then, congratulations, Anna; thank you, Ed. Because of you, our fantasy worlds now look a little bit more like reality. And believe it or not, that's important.