Jan 6, 2014
Re: 47 Ronin - nah, whitewashing is when they turn a previously non-white character into a white character. So this was something else. Keanu's only half-white, though, as was his character. Kai initially had only a minor role in the movie until studio execs interfered and demanded reshoots with more scenes to focus on him, thinking that otherwise American audiences wouldn't be interested in the film.
Okay. But I still think altering the story to such extent was excessive. Sure, other history-based movies have inaccuracies, but those tend to be minor and don’t go as far as this movie did, in my opinion.
And while it isn’t whitewashing, they still had to replace one of the original Japanese ronins with Kai.
