We've seen movies generate controversy before, but that was pretty damn quick. In seemingly no time at all Matt Damon's The Great Wall has drawn the scorn of the Internet. If you've seen the trailer, you may already know where this is going. Taiwanese-American actress Constance Wu recently took to Twitter in order to bash the film for its perpetuation of a common yet maligned Hollywood trope. Check out her response below to see for yourself.
Constance Wu took to Twitter to voice her immense dissatisfaction with The Great Wall, and she did not hold back. The tweet in question -- seen above -- skewers the notion that Hollywood can only seem to cast white men as heroes in big blockbuster action movies. It's an incredibly long-winded, and incredibly passionate post, but the basic point she continuously hammers home is the fact that money is no excuse for exclusion in the world of Hollywood, and that filmmakers and film studios need to be better in their efforts to create more inclusionary ensembles in films that could clearly suit them.
One of Constance Wu's primary points carries a great deal of weight. She lashes out at the "excuse" that movies featuring non-white leads have difficulty finding funding. Studies have seemingly proven that all forms of diversity actually improve a film's ability to generate box office success overseas, so it makes no sense for a studio to avoid the practice of diversification -- particularly when The Great Wall already represents the largest ever collaboration between Chinese and American filmmakers.
Of course, some degree of progress has been made in recent years. The Star Wars franchise in particular experienced a surge in popularity with the recent release of The Force Awakens -- a movie featuring a black male and white female protagonist. However, there's still a distinct lack of movies featuring Asian performers in leading roles. This recent controversy took the Internet by storm and even prompted the hilarious (yet still poignant) "Starring John Cho" movement, in which people used Photoshop to put Star Trek actor John Cho into the starring role of iconic blockbuster movies.
It's beginning to feel like this is an issue without a clear-cut answer. Check out the trailer for The Great Wall below to see what all the fuss is about:
What do you think of this issue? Does Constance Wu have a point, or was Matt Damon appropriately cast for this particular story? We will keep you posted on this matter as more information becomes available; The Great Wall will hit theaters on February 17, 2017.
