Zach McGowan 'Ni’ihau' Casting Sparks Whitewashing Controversy

Hasn't Hollywood learned yet?

May 10, 2017

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It seems like Hollywood just can't get it right.

This week it was announced that The 100 and Black Sails actor Zach McGowan would be portraying Hawaiian native Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele in the upcoming WWII movie Ni’ihau. It's another botched casting decision to add to the list of the pervasive whitewashing in Hollywood.

Zach, a white actor, will assume the role of a Hawaiian native who had brown skin and dark features, a man who played a major part during WWII in the Ni’ihau Incident. When Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi, who helped with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, crashed his plane into a Hawaiian island, Ben rescued him. Shigenori eventually teamed up with three local Japanese people to cause chaos in the state but was eventually killed by Ben and his wife. Ben was honored as an American hero for helping keep the island from being taken over.

The story very much sounds like it's about the heroics of Ben and what he did for the United States to prevent a hostile invasion. Casting a white man to portray the courageous Hawaiian man is not only a disservice to his legacy, but to Pacific Islanders, Asian-Americans, and Americans of color. Hollywood and execs have continued to value stories and narratives from non-white cultures, but instead of honoring them by having actors that identify with those characters, they have chosen to book white performers for these roles. It sends this message of "hey, your culture or your background is really interesting, but we don't value it enough to do it complete justice." The ideas are deemed profitable, but the actual people are expendable. Furthermore, with already so few roles available for actors of color, this casting robs one of those valuable opportunities from an actor who would be better suited to depict Ben.

There are various examples of whitewashing in recent memory. Marvel was called out for casting Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, who's originally a mystical character of Tibetian descent in the source texts. Ghost in the Shell was continually grilled for turning the iconic main character Major Motoko Kusanagi white with Scarlett Johansson, a decision that likely paid a huge role in the film adaptation's supreme flop at the box office.

And the case of Ben isn't the first time that a Hawaiian character has been at the center of the controversy. In the 2015 movie Aloha, Emma Stone faced criticism for playing the quarter-Chinese, quarter-Hawaiian and half-Swedish character Allison Ng. She later went on to address the situation, telling Australian news outlet News.com.au "I've learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important." 13 Reasons Why star Michele Selene Ang even called out all these actresses helping contribute to the problem with a T-shirt that quickly caught the attention of the internet.

With so many widely-discussed incidents, it is curious that the creators behind Ni’ihau would make the same mistake that so many before them have made. And while it may be easy to point fingers at Zach himself, it's not like he's a big name actor like Tilda or Scarlett who can be a bit pickier with what roles they choose. It's more so that he's part of a system that has continued to perpetuate whitewashing.

Some performers even tried to address the problems with Ni’ihau before the current controversy. SecretIdentities.org editor-in-chief Jeff Yang pointed out what actress Tamlyn Tomita had to say in response to being asked to read for the script.