Cameron Crowe’s latest star-studded flick Aloha was met with heated controversy. Not only was the film which featured big names from Bill Murray to Bradley Cooper to Emma Stone and more, a huge flop, but it also brought along many allegations of white washing and cultural misappropriation. While the actors themselves have little to do with these issues, often being asked just to portray as a script tells them, Emma Stone wants to admit her disapproval in the part she played of this controversy, and claims that her eyes have now been opened.
The allegations were primarily in regards to the lack of diversity explored in the film. Aloha was set in Hawaii, a state where caucasians make up only 30 percent of the population, but you sure couldn’t tell in the film that featured little to no Asian-Pacific Islanders. But another specific element is that Stone was actually cast as an Asian-American woman, which she is not. This ignited quite the disapproval, as even the one few realistically represented in the film, wasn’t even cast in the appropriate diversity. Stone, a young, charismatic woman just trying to make her way up the ladder in Hollywood, admits that she now sees the blatant problem in the industry. She told an Australian news outlet:
I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important.
And as an up-and-coming, now Oscar-nominated actress, Emma Stone has a long ways to go. Every step she takes is a learning opportunity, and further experience for the actress. But along with the lack of diversity in Hollywood, the representation of women has been unrealistically altered as well. A problem Emma Stone has experienced first-hand, playing romantic interests to men many years older than her. She continued in the interview:
There’s a lot of conversation about how we want to see people represented on screen and what we need to change as a business to reflect culture in a clearer way and not in an idealized way. There are some flaws in the system. My eyes have been opened in many ways this year.
Maybe it is because Stone’s just so darn likable, it’s hard to stay mad at her, but these miscastings (that are far too regular in the business) are opportunities for her to work with critically-acclaimed directors that the young actress has probably only dreamed of. We’ll see what this eye-opening does for the starlet, but for now we look forward to seeing her grow, and hopefully land more fitting roles. Next you can see her alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Woody Allen’s Irrational Man hitting theaters on July 17.
