Nowadays, there are frequently questions raised when an actor or actress is cast to play somebody of a different race. It’s referred to as ‘whitewashing’ and there are plenty of recent examples of controversies over casting decisions.

Scarlett Johansson got the lead role in the live-action “Ghost In The Shell” while many called for a Japanese actress to bag the role. Other modern films to cause a stir were “Exodus: Gods And Kings”, “Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time” and “Gods Of Egypt”. However, it’s nothing new to see Hollywood cast white people in non-white roles. Infamously, John Wayne was cast as Genghis Khan in “The Conqueror”.

However, some characters caused controversy not just because they were played by performers that did not match their race and ethnicity but because the characters themselves were seen as racist stereotypes. Characters such as Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto and Fu Manchu were popular in the film industry for many years before large sections of society began disapproving of them. Some feel these characters were demeaning to people from China and Japan as well as the wider region but others are happy to accept them as purely for entertainment purposes. It’s even true that Charlie Chan was popular in China back in the day with China even deciding to make some of its own Charlie Chan movies. Modern audiences across the world would likely feel more uncomfortable with these characters than they would have decades ago.

It’s interesting to evaluate this criticism because both Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto were certainly not negative stereotypes in the traditional sense. Both were talented heroes that always managed to outwit their foes. There doesn’t seem to be the same backlash about Austin Powers, who is routinely depicted as having bad teeth simply because he is British. Fu Manchu is obviously a villain but he’s portrayed as intelligent. Just think about Hans Gruber in “Die Hard”. Is Fu Manchu really any more offensive to Chinese audiences than Gruber is to German audiences?

Obviously, few people want entertainment that would seek to merely antagonise or demonise other groups of people based on their race or ethnicity but are we at risk of culling some of the most famous East Asian characters? Could there ever been another film to feature Charlie Chan or Fu Manchu without it being self-aware? Can society accept them as purely fictional characters?