Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the most popular anime series in the west! The story of two young men who tried to tamper with the laws of nature in order to resurrect their dead mom. But, ended up paying a costly price is one that resonates deeply within the hearts of many anime fans. Currently in development is a live action film of the series, which is sure to raise some excitement as the trailers continue to release over time. On April 7th of 2017, the latest trailer was released and shared on the New Trailer Buzz YouTube page.
The new trailer finally gives us a glimpse of the actors who will portray the young Ed and Al, before the fateful moment they tried to play god. The actors as expected are being played by two young Asian males, and some fans have taken notice of the hypocrisy between this film and Ghost in the Shell for quite a few reasons.
First of all, for those who need aren't familiar with the series, Fullmetal Alchemist is centered around a country with heavy Germanic influences. Supporting characters do include people from races based on the Middle-East, China, and even Russia. But, there are noticeably no Japanese characters in Full Metal Alchemist. While in no doubt this will not matter to anyone who wasn't originally a fan of the series, it does help to highlight the hypocrisy of fans who complain about "white washing" on films.
I will be the first one to say that I am not against changing the ethnicity of characters in roles for cinema. I'm more against people who complain about race altering than anything though. I can't just pick and choose, when I am trying to to be progressive towards equal opportunity. Take for example the role of the Kingpin of Crime in the 2003 film of Daredevil, that movie was horrible, but Michael Clarke Dunca was probably the best part of that entire picture.
Kingpin has always been Caucasian in the comics, and in this movie he was portrayed by an African American actor, who simply nailed the role magnificently. Literally nobody cared when this change was made, and nor should they have, he was great! But, by that same token, I can't complain about Scarlett Johansson playing a Japanese woman which was clearly depicted in the mukukoseki or "stateless" style. Literally anyone could have portrayed Major Kusanagi and it would have been fine. But, people who wanted to see them movie raised up a storm about the issue only because she Scarlett is white. Now, on Fullmetal Alchemist we have another case of race lifting in a major motion film, and barely anyone is raising a peep.
Alphonse and Edward are meant to be white, yellow-eyed, and blonde! You can clearly tell where Edward and Al are from based on not only their appearance, but also their country's architecture and their naming thematic. It's incredible what people will complain about, but will completely ignore as to appear progressive. I know, I'll probably catch heat for stating this, but you can't pick and choose, when to be unhappy with race tampering in a movie, and then turn a blind eye for the same issue on a different film. What makes this worse is that there have been movies and shows that alter the races of the main characters, to no ill-effect.
Plenty of movies have altered the races of their characters, some good, some bad. For a more recent display of alteration, take the reception to the characters of the Netflix original: A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the show, Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine were both originally aimed to be non-nondescript white people, but on the show they're played by actors who are very clearly of different origins. Both are fantastic in their roles, and play the parts magnificently.
I think people have to stop pretending this is about faithfulness to the source material, and it's more about the apparent racism in Hollywood and within themselves. A racist mind is a racist heart as they say. If we're going to be progressive, let's start by breaking the wall of roles being assigned to specific characters. As long as the actor portraying them does their best, and plays the part properly, this should not be an issue we're still having to this day.