Scarlett Johansson Knows She has Privilege and She Doesn’t Want You To Forget It

Ash Griffith
July 5, 2018

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Read More: Dante "Tex" Gill, Ghost In The Shell, LGBTQ representation, Rub And Tug, Scarlett Johansson

If I roll my eyes any harder they are going to fall so far in the back of my head that they will just drop into my stomach.

It wasn’t enough to take a potentially huge role away from an Asian actress in Ghost in the Shell, now Scarlett Johansson wants to take a role away from a trans actor. For those playing the home game, Johansson is very much a cis straight white actress, and she wants you to know that not only did she not care when she caught backlash with Ghost in the Shell, she (or rather her representative. Whatever, same thing) wants to remind you that she still doesn’t give a care about you or your feelings. Not one bit.

“Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment,” her representative told Bustle. Y’know, I really love it when someone responds to criticism with “Well, X, Y, and Z do it so I mean….” as if I either didn’t know that, or it will make me feel differently. Please, give me Jeffrey Tambor’s number and I’ll gladly sit him down for a chat. Not that other people haven’t already.

Also, we don’t have nearly enough time in the day for me to go into how deep I would love to drag Jared Leto for all of the vile garbage he does and says. It’s on my bucket list, trust me. Again, though, it’s been said.

And now, Scarlett, it needs to be said to you. Listen, from one cis white woman to another: cut the shit.

We are represented on the daily in everything, everywhere. So when you take roles away from actors and actresses in communities you don’t belong to, it is unbelievably disrespectful. There are actresses of color who are being denied roles you get thrown at you on the daily basis, and transgender roles are usually given to cisgender actors with a wig slapped on them or a John Waters mustache drawn on in eyeliner.

Scarlett Johansson plays Asian in Ghost In The Shell (Paramount Pictures)

We’ve gone entirely too long feeding actors of color and transgender actors the same rhetoric of “Oh we need to do better, we’ll do better.” We have to stop just saying these things, and actually do right by these people. When a role is clearly written for them, we need to take a step to the side and get out of their way. Believe it or not, not everything really is for us.

Scarlett, I know we have established that you don’t care or whatever, but do me a favor and pretend for a second. Buy some humanity and stay with me for a moment.

Let’s take a look at a better example of how to handle a similar situation. Last year, Ed Skrein, who is best known for playing Ajax (AKA FRANCIS) in the first Deadpool film accepted a role as Major Ben Daimio in the new Hellboy film. However after accusations of whitewashing (Daimio is a Japanese-American character), Skrein stepped to the side to allow the role to be filled by an Asian actor.

This is what you do. This is literally what you are supposed to do.

The new film, Rub and Tug (which is incidentally directed by the same man, Rupert Sanders, who cast Johansson as Asian in Ghost In The Shell), is going to follow the true story of Dante “Tex” Gill, who was huge in the massage parlor and prostitution business in Pittsburgh in the 1970s and 80s. Considering how little care was shown for the sex worker community in Johansson’s last starring role, Rough Night, this already sounds like a massive red flag glaring deep into the night.

Here’s the thing with this: The trans community has enough going on without Scarlett Johansson deciding that she wants to take away one of the few options that are already out there for trans actors. We all already know that visibility is one of the most vital things for acceptance of marginalized communities. To not only take away that chance from a trans actor, but to also take away the opportunity to tell their experience, what they go through on a daily basis, in a major motion picture? It’s not OK.

Dante “Tex” Gill

This could have been a moving story about a trans man — one who was referred to as a “woman dressed as a man” as recently as four years ago by writers claiming to tell his story — who had the strength to just exist in the world in the 1970s. This could have been a powerful moment for a trans actor who could not only tell this man’s story but add visibility to his community.

If Scarlett Johansson goes through with this, then let’s be real. It’s going to be presented as some half-assed Looney Tunes level drag. And once she’s done filming, she may very welll make dangerous claims that now she knows what this community goes through. Much like Jon Snow, she knows nothing. She should genuinely be ashamed of herself.

I want to hope for the best in people, so I want to hope that she will learn from the backlash she’s received over this casting choice. But I think we all know that’s garbage. To paraphrase Gretchen Weiners, “Scarlett can’t sit with us.” However, I do see karma in the back over there looking at her like a nice, juicy snack.

Top Photo: Tex Gill’s 1977 mug shot (Pittsburgh police); Scarlett Johansson in Ghost In The Shell (Paramount Pictures)

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