With just a trailer out, Matt Damon's upcoming film "The Great Wall is already stirring controversy for alleged whitewashing.
The first trailer for the film released on July 29. featured Damon's character as a soldier in what appeared to be ancient China. Later in the trailer., Damon is shown fighting an unseen giant monster along with other soldiers. The trailer did not give any hints as to why Damon's Western-looking character is present in the particular time period.
Just hours after the trailer was released, Chinese citizens expressed their not so favorable opinion about the apparent incompatibility of Damon's Western character with the ancient Chinese setting, the Global Times reported. According to netizen Shirley Ren, the premise is like the Chateau de Versailles in France being Home to a British hero.
"Though I like Matt Damon...but the film The Great Wall . . . It's China's Great Wall. I cannot accept the lead hero being a white man rather than a Chinese," Ren remarked in her Wei go account.
Another netizen joked about Damon being "everyone's favorite Chinese actor."
Chinese-American actress Constance Wu was more unforgiving in her attack of the film's trailer. In her Twitter post, Wu directly accused the film of whitewashing. "We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that only a white man can save the world," she wrote in her post. We added that real-life heroes like Malala Yousafzai and Nelson Mandela are of different ethnicities and not just white.
Wu also accused the Hollywood movie industry of not giving enough opportunities for Asian actors to get lead roles. She also lamented that even movies like The Great Wall targeted towards the Chinese audience have to rely on big-name Western stars to sell.
Aside from Damon, other Western actors included in the film include Pedro Pascal and William Dafoe. They will also be joined by Chinese international stars like Andy Lau and Zhang Hanyu.
However, the movie was also praised for giving Chinese filmmakers like director Zhang Yimou the opportunity to helm a big-budget Hollywood production. Netizens also praised Zhang for bringing in Chinese elements into the film, the BBC reported.
The Great Wall is Zhang's first time directing an English-language film and is set to premiere in 2017.