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GHOST_REACH

                                                      May 6, 2016
On the Scarlett Johansson as
Major Motoko scandalette.                    WHITEGHOST

The need to win a debate prompts some
to stretch points, to reach for some           And what underlies
very unsteady positions.                       this deep need to win
                                               such debates?

                                               WHITEGHOST_TRACES

                     [ref]

  "While most fans understand that
  whitewashing is just something Hollywood
  does, that doesn’t mean they are simply             There's something more
  going to keep accepting it. Especially when         than a little peculiar
  it concerns, as Tumblr user fistopher says,         about this argument--
  'a blonde-haired white woman playing the            it's a racist casting
  Japanese cyborg squad leader of Japan’s             decision because it
  Section 9 with a stock Japanese body in             doesn't comply with our
  order to blend into ethnically homogeneous          stereotype of a standard
  Japan.'"                                            Japanese look.

     The idea that The Major has any                  And we all know,
     interest at all in "blending in"                 somehow, that this
     or even looking normal is really                 standard look isn't
     reaching-- Motoko's signature                    going to change at all
     look is a leather jacket worn over               throughout the entire
     a one-piece bikini.                              21st century.

     When she really needs to "blend in"              The ethnic homogeneity of
     she becomes completely invisible                 Japan has actually been
     via her "themo-optic camouflage".                somewhat exaggerated (a
                                                      thesis argued in the book
                                                      "Multiethnic Japan")...

                                                      MULTIETHNIC_JAPAN


"Mazlow" remarks:     [ref]

  "... Read the actual manga, watch the actual
  anime. Her cybernetic body doesn't resemble ANY
  race, it has purple eyes and at one point blue,
  at one point violet, hair. Yes, anime has a habit
  of giving Japanese characters eccentric hair
  colors, but this isn't the case in GITS-- all         Here's a case where
  other characters are depicted with realistic hair     someone on "my side"
  and eye colors, so this is clearly meant to be        is reaching: Batou
  the actual color of her hair and eyes."               looks Normal?
                                                        Togusa's brown-hair
                                                        looks Japanese?




                  Intellectual standards in internet
                  debates can be remarkably low.
                  We ought to be able to do better
                  than this.




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