--- title: Fans Use Ghost in the Shell Memes to Mock Whitewashing description: Fans are using a meme generator from the movie 'The Ghost in the Shell' to call out the film's whitewashing of characters. canonical: https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-14T19:04:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:51.241Z og:title: Fans Are Using 'Ghost in the Shell' Memes to Call Out Whitewashing og:description: "I am the woman that should've been cast." og:url: https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf95e0e3210076084/6988be50656a3fe2febcf23b/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 89th Annual Academy Awards - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fans Are Using 'Ghost in the Shell' Memes to Call Out Whitewashing twitter:description: "I am the woman that should've been cast." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf95e0e3210076084/6988be50656a3fe2febcf23b/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Use _Ghost in the Shell_ Meme Generator to Mock Whitewashing > Sponsored content. 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Fans are using a meme generator from the movie 'The Ghost in the Shell' to call out the film's whitewashing of characters._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 14, 2017 7:04 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 14, 2017 7:04 PM UTC The controversial decision [to cast Scarlett Johansson in the lead role for _Ghost in the Shell_ ](http://time.com/3654108/scarlett-johansson-ghost-in-the-shell-anime-manga/)raised questions last year about why filmmakers chose to use a white American actor as opposed to an Asian one [for the film remake of a Japanese manga narrative](http://motto.time.com/4662477/scarlett-johansson-talks-ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing/). [Some fans,](http://time.com/4297950/scarlett-johansson-ghost-shell-whitewashing/) as well as Asian and Asian American actors pointed to the casting choice of Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi (known as “the Major”) as yet another example of “whitewashing” Asian characters with white actors, [pointing to recent examples](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/08/what-is-matt-damon-doing-on-top-of-the-great-wall/494090/) including Matt Damon’s turn in _The Great Wall_ and Emma Stone’s role in _Aloha_. Now, however, fans are showing how they feel about the casting using the film’s own promotional materials. As part of the movie’s marketing campaign, a _Ghost in the Shell_ meme generator was created where fans can input text and photos to create their own custom image and caption. As might be expected, the Internet used this opportunity to take mock the movie’s whitewashing after one fan saw the chance and ran with it. > [](https://twitter.com/ValerieComplex/status/840627652859961347) Another pointed to the long history of whitewashing in Hollywood. > [](https://twitter.com/riajuunibyou/status/841481733203673088) And others pointed to recent whitewashing episodes in the entertainment industry. > [](https://twitter.com/ValerieComplex/status/840717428338364416) > [](https://twitter.com/IWriteAllDay%5F/status/840933767346823169) A fan provided context for the original Major with their meme. > [](https://twitter.com/riotgrrlriot/status/841264600565788672) Others still pointed to white privilege. > [](https://twitter.com/kshen/status/841577475079581696) > [](https://twitter.com/4iizumi/status/841532549193224192) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/"},"headline":"People Use Ghost in the Shell Meme Generator to Mock Whitewashing","datePublished":"2017-03-14T19:04:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:51.241Z","description":"Fans are using a meme generator from the movie 'The Ghost in the Shell' to call out the film's whitewashing of characters.","url":"https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","viral","Culture","memes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf95e0e3210076084/6988be50656a3fe2febcf23b/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf95e0e3210076084/6988be50656a3fe2febcf23b/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Arrivals","caption":"89th Annual Academy Awards - Arrivals","creditText":"Dan MacMedan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/","name":"People Use Ghost in the Shell Meme Generator to Mock Whitewashing"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Fans are using a meme generator from the movie 'The Ghost in the Shell' to call out the film's whitewashing of characters.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4701118/ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-memes/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```