By Guest Contributor Sunny Huang
Two weeks ago, Big Hero 6 premiered to critical acclaim at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Even earlier, it made a big splash at New York Comic Con. And it will open tomorrow as a likely box-office success — a projected $51 million in its first weekend — in the U.S. But with less than a full day to go, I am surprised by the lack of substantial criticism for it.
Frozen generateda firestorm of controversybefore it was released in mass and niche publications, yet there is little for Big Hero 6, which goes to show just how much Asians and Asian-inspired media are pushed out of the conversation. And the only criticisms that have appeared focus on the film’s episodic storytelling and choice of Fall Out Boy for the soundtrack, instead of its lackluster Asian representation and continued cultural appropriation by Disney. In fact, Big Hero 6 is being lauded for transcending these problems, when it is the very embodiment.
Don’t get me wrong. I used to be excited for Big Hero 6.When the first trailer and voice cast were released, I cried.
After spending my childhood barely seeing myself and my people represented on screen, I immediately made my brother watch the trailer. As a 20-year old, I was so happy that my 10-year old brother would have the chance to grow up without self-resentment. I was so grateful to know he would have the chance to not loathe his race because he would see characters who looked like him be appreciated. It was a chance I did not have.
When the trailer was over, I yelled at him. Look, look!An Asian character! Another character who’s Asian besides Mulan! From the biggest animation studio today! Do you know how many people like us will see how progressive this movie is?! To that, he just stared at me and said—
What? I thought he was white.
It was then I realized something was wrong. This movie was being marketed as progressive and beyond its time for giving its studio the opportunity to address “its historical reputation for ethnic homogeneity and cultural appropriation.” But if an Asian-American kid could not identify the main character as Asian, as part of his own group, then what else was wrong?
Turns out, a lot. The protagonist’s racial ambiguity just started the conversation.
The film is based off the Marvel Comics characters of the same name, but with major differences—many of them questionable, and some of them outright wrong.
SPOILERS for both the movie and the comic under the cut.
Hiro is Not the Asian or Biracial Hero We Deserve
Unlike the original version of the character, Hiro Hamada is not Japanese, but a biracial Asian-American. Aside from his westernized last name—which they “Americanized” from the already manageable “Takachiho” for easier pronunciation for the West—apparently making the main character and his brother completely Asian was too controversial to do. With this decision, we can assume that according to Disney, 2014 American audiences wouldn’t have the cultural capacity to accept a lead who isn’t at least part-white for once.
Despite its cast voicing their appreciation for the movie’s progressiveness, it can be said that the studio resorted to racebending to fulfill its apparent belief that this movie with a 100 percent Asian lead would not perform as well in the market as 2016’s Moana, which will feature a Pacific Islander female lead. In this vein, Disney is no better than Universal Studios, which chose to shoehorn a biracial hero into 47 Ronin’s historically Japanese setting.
No wonder my brother couldn’t identify Hiro as Asian. Because like Tiana’s original natural hair in The Princess and the Frog, his physical features were changed. Some have applauded the choice to round out Hiro’s eyes, as not all Asians possess Mulan’s eyes and we shouldn’t police how Asians are “supposed to look.”
However, there is nothing inherently wrong with portraying Asian eyes as Western animation has traditionally drawn them, as long as it isn’t outright racist and deliberately turned into caricatures in the name of offensive “humor.” There is a history of using those physical traits to mark Asians as “the Other,” but in the modern age, it is generally accepted that this is how Asian appearances are depicted by the Western mass media. These design elements are so ingrained that they are no longer used to “Other” Asians. It is what it is.
Before more diverse diversities in race can be represented, there first needs to be a set precedent for Asian representation on screen. To achieve that, I suggest that Asians first need to be more clearly established on the big screen before they can be expanded and reimagined, even if it means retaining older designs. Here, Disney tried to introduce an element of interracial families, biraciality, and diverse appearances, but it is unfortunate that its representation of Hapa characters, which is needed, is not sincere or respectful.
Hiro’s Asian parentage and overall experience as a mixed character are not explored. Rather, the film capitalizes upon the whiteness and “exotic” qualities his mixed background offers to fulfill his role as a tokenized character for the “diversity quota.” In the context of the entire film and its problems, erasing Hiro’s Asian background, removing his physical markers, and killing his brother with the more “Asian” features” are not only deliberate attempts to erase the main character’s heritage, but to dilute the Asian presence in the media.
Anti-Asianness in the “Asian” San Fransokyo
There is a noticeably disproportionate representation of whiteness in a supposedly Asian-centric film.
Hiro and Tadashi’s Asian parents, relatives, or any other sign of that part of their heritage are not to be seen. Even when orphaned, they are being cared for by their white Aunt Cass instead of their Asian relatives. Perhaps the Hamada brothers were made biracial to negate the possibility of a completely Asian family and more Asian characters.
In a “shimmering hybrid city called San Fransokyo” that is praised for its Japanese inspiration, the two brothers are mentored by Professor Robert Callaghan, the head of the robotics department at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Yet another white character in a substantially Asian technology field. Apparently it was too ridiculous to make the leader of a prestigious robotics department in an Asian-modeled city Asian.
Despite Disney’s Trailblazing, GoGo and Asian Characters Are Still a No Go
Surely, a hybrid between Tokyo and San Francisco, where 98 percent and 33 percent of their respective populations are Asian, must have more than one supporting character of Asian or part-Asian descent who isn’t killed like Tadashi. Unfortunately, there is only one other Asian character in the movie, GoGo Tomago, compared to five in the original version. Even then, she is given little thought compared to the robot Baymax, which was “so special to the creators” that they did considerable research for it and promoted the movie heavily on its “cute factor.” Meanwhile, GoGo was given “paper-thin characterization” and a low-key personality that excused her from being written with a substantial speaking role.
I won’t, however, deny that GoGo, along with Hiro and Tadashi, is a testimony to the leadership and non-kung fu battle potential Asian characters possess, but are rarely permitted to exhibit on screen. Not only is her intelligence not grossly stereotyped and admired instead, she is described by her voice actress Jamie Chung as “the only one who really can hold her own and catch the villain off-guard [before the transformation],” and “the other characters [look] towards her for strength” versus being written with a weak resolve. This portrayal of an Asian woman does deserve recognition for transcending the dehumanized and sexualized cunning stock dragon lady and submissive China doll. But why doesn’t she have many lines?
From every official description of her, GoGo is described and depicted as “tough, athletic, and loyal to the bone, but not much of a conversationalist.” In fact, director and storywriter Don Hall wanted a “woman of few words for the group,” who just happened to be the only significant Asian woman on set. But of course, GoGo is not significant enough, as her dialogue is axed in order to give the two white supporting characters, who just happened to have more vibrant personalities more time to talk, as if white protagonists haven’t talked enough already.
The Dynamics of Negative Change in Whitewashing Minorities
In the comics, chatty, sunny Honey Lemon, or Aiko Miyazaki, has blonde hair, but it is repeatedly emphasized that she is Japanese. After all, like any group that can dye their hair, the Japanese don’t have to stick with black. Honey Lemon has been identified as Latina, but that is the result of a seemingly arbitrary decision to fill a diversity quota rather than a sincere and respectful one.
Interviews with the cast suggest that only after she was designed—with Disney’s same face syndrome that has been strongly associated with whiteness—did Big Hero 6 make her Latina after voice actress Genesis Rodriguez rehearsed scenes with and without an accent, where using the former apparently makes her Latina by default. Furthermore, the lack of thought put into her design and the movie’s diversity is reflected in a colorist choice to give her light skin and hair, running with a light-skinned Latina instead of a “morena,” and ultimately privileging whiteness over color, her heritage, and her original Japanese ancestry.
But the white character who was given the most lines out of the entire diverse supporting cast, is Fred, or “Fredzilla.” After four consecutive years of films featuring all-white casts after all-white casts, it is interesting to see that the movie Disney chose to “diversify” is Big Hero 6, which was adapted from an already diverse origin story. Paradoxically, the studio was so preoccupied with “diversifying” the already diverse Hiro to make him multiracial, yet ignored the possibility of a non-white multiracial Honey Lemon and Fredzilla. Still not a good route, given the original Fredzilla’s background, but better than what they chose to do.
In the comics, “Fred” is part of the Ainu, a Japanese minority that has been persecuted for hundreds of years and largely ignored by the world. This deliberate oversight in changing an indigenous character to an overly represented race is not “diversifying” the characters, but contributes to the erasure of the minimum representation they have in media, just to appeal to an American audience when they don’t need a white character to relate to. A friend put it another way—”We’ve already let the half-Japanese be in our movies. Don’t make us exercise our cultural open-mindedness and learn about another ethnic group we’d have to accommodate.”
Yet in these changes, Big Hero 6 somehow did not change what needed to be changed, such as Wasabi’s name. The comic was written in 1998, during a time of racial ignorance where food stereotypes that are problematic today were not back then. Despite multiple consultation, design, and editing sessions where racebending and exoticizing were approved in the spirit of “progressiveness,” Wasabi’s name was not listed as a problem when Fredzilla’s Ainu lineage apparently was. In the end, it is less about “violating and adhering to lore” but “providing more representation” that “evolv[es] stories and lore.” Changes from a twentieth to a twenty-first century story are to be expected, but make sure we keep representation that reflects the evolution of society in mind.
San Fransokyo is Not a Creative Justification, But Instead the Latest in Disney’s Uncreative Appropriation
But of course, perhaps Disney believed this whitewashing to be justified because it incorrectly viewed the exotification of the movie’s location—called “San Fransokyo”—as “cultural exchange.” Not only is the Americanized setting disrespectful to history, since the original story took place in Japan and featured a villain created from the souls of atomic bomb victims, but it exotifies a city that could have been totally Asian.
Rather than taking time to perform substantial research that would respectfully represent Asian culture and architecture, like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Disney decided to tokenize Japanese elements to proudly demonstrate—and market—how drastically “unique” Big Hero 6’s setting is compared to other movies. The streetcars have paper lanterns, the Golden Gate Bridge is “Asian-fied,” and the logo itself could liken itself to a Chinese take-out box. Cultural inspiration should be encouraged, but not outright stereotyping, fetishism, and appropriation.
Like the racially appropriative Halloween costumes that Americans wear, out of a mix of ignorance and apathy, Big Hero 6’s setting and the film overall are difficult to be labeled as cultural appreciation, or a “love letter to Japan,” as director Don Hall puts it.
Even if San Fransokyo was an ode to Tokyo and Japan, it would be problematic to know that the team dedicated more respect to an object location over the actual people with Asian backgrounds. When drawing from anime for inspiration, which should not be the sole descriptor of an entire culture in the first place, the movie took what it wanted to use and added an Americanized white influence to what it didn’t like. San Fransokyo is a far cry from cultural appreciation when Tokyo’s very own culture and people that serve as its core aren’t rightfully acknowledged. In fact, it wouldn’t be a reach to deduce that the hybrid city was created in the first place to excuse the changes in the original characters’ races.
Big Hero 6 Does Not Represent Us—Or the Media Potential of the 21st Century
As an Asian American, I can sadly say that Big Hero 6 is simply the latest Disney movie to indulge in homogeneity and cultural appropriation. Clearly, in spite of the glowing reviews, Disney is no more ready for Asia or Asian Americans than the rest of Hollywood. Big Hero 6 is better than the incredibly racebent casting for the live-action Ghost in the Shell and the one-dimensional misrepresentation of Asians in this summer’s Lucy. Big Hero 6 did develop an adequate number of Asian characters and matched them with diverse voice actors, and it did cast them as heroes in a quasi-Asian universe when the exact opposite is frequently employed. Big Hero 6 has some strengths. But they are strengths for audiences and critics with low standards.
To the entertainment industry and to the viewers, I implore you—why must we continue to support whitewashed films yet ignore their very real problems that dismiss the importance of world cultures and peoples to our international storytelling language? Why must we settle for “colorblind” casts that are still used to fulfill diversity quotas when diverse people and cultures of color reinvent and enrich our media?
It is unfortunate that though Big Hero 6 touches upon a lot of mature themes, its “wonderfully color-blind” characters and settings—which were truly color-blind because of the non-acknowledgments of their races—are the new immature ideal to strive for in the twenty-first century, when colorblindness has little merit in an increasingly globalized and diverse society. Colorblindness is not true diversity, and we should be demanding sincere, substantial diversity for our children, so we can teach the new generations that differences are natural and should be respected. After all, the majority of our U.S. audiences—which boast about its heterogeneity—are no longer white men, and are kids who deserve to be see people who look like them on screen. These beautiful children’s stories deserve to be reflected, and children should be confident when viewing the media and viewing themselves.
One of the biggest groups that still has to be prominently represented is Asian Americans, who only had five percent of speaking roles—major and minor—among the five hundred top-grossing U.S. films between 2007 and 2012. Big Hero 6 had a prime opportunity to transcend these boundaries, yet its marginalization, racebending, and homogenization to whiteness are less than progressive. It should have clearly and deliberately chosen to present Hiro and the other characters as Asian to contribute a richer, colorful story, and firmly establish that yellowface need not happen anymore because Asians can top the box office and they can deliver.
As Cate Blanchett noted in her 2014 Oscar acceptance speech, if Hollywood movies starring minorities like women can make money, then the next logical step would be to cast away the bamboo ceiling and actively support movies starring Asians.. After all, if Mulan, Hero, The Joy Luck Club, The Last Emperor, House of Daggers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and hundreds of anime could do well and become American cultural icons without a whitewashed Asian cast, then we should continue this progress in Disney.
This movie’s take on “progress” is not enough for our Asian and Asian American children, and we need to demand more. Disney is our kids’ first introduction to the media, and their characters help develop their first perceptions of themselves, and become their first heroes and culturalicons that stay with them through adulthood. Big Hero 6 and its characters and world will become one of them. This story of representation is likely not foreign to you, especially in a country created by immigrants, so let us not blindly praise what is not worth praising, but critique and recommend for the future. After all, like Disney, we should view ourselves as trailblazers in a world that is less than entertainment and more of a reflection of life itself. Disney, let us do better, and let us do right for Asia and Asian America. Let us do right so the first Pacific Islander feature, Moana, rings true.
I used to be excited for Big Hero 6.
But on No. 7, I will take my brother to see it. And I will note to him, and to you all, that this is only a small step. A future with better Disney Asian representation is coming, I will tell him. Because Disney wanted to help a lot of people.
Sunny Huang is an Asian American college student by day, and wannabe social scientist and activist 24/7. When she isn’t trying to find her path through the universe, she geeks out over intersectionality and sociology, and performs media analysis with a race and feminist lens on the fly, much to the consternation of her peers. More formally, she is a junior Eckardt Scholar at Lehigh University studying sociology with a focus on the intersections between media and its effects on children. Although she has experience in government, grassroots movements, and traditional modes of education, she believes that change can begin in how we develop our youth to view themselves, other peoples, and the world through reimaged media. You can follow her thoughts and meanderings through life on Tumblr.
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