Red Haired Motoko?
There’s been a rather large flap over the casting of Scarlett Johansen as the Motoko character in the live action Ghost In The Shell. This may be misplaced. Now I’m not certain that Spielberg and DreamWorks are going for the look of “Ghost In The Shell 2 man-machine interface” or not, but if that’s the case, red hair and Anglo is exactly the right casting.
http://www.goodmanga.net/ghost_in_the_shell_2_manmachine_interface/chapter/3/32
Which means that Scarlett Johansen fits the suit very well.
The other casting choices seem to fit as well.
http://nerdist.com/takeshi-kitano-joins-ghost-in-the-shell-as-section-9-chief/
The thing is that by the point of Ghost In The Shell Man-machine Interface, Motoko has blended with a powerful AI and has the ability to change prosthetic bodies, or for that matter almost any body, at will. She’s also trying to more or less hide herself from her old companions at Section 9 to a greater or lesser degree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell_(manga)
So rather than complaining that DreamWorks is not being true to the source material you should read the source material and look at what Dreamworks is actually doing. Doing Man-machine Interface is going to be a challenge. There is stuff going on all over the place and the story sometimes has several things multitasking at the same time. The reader has to read through several times to make sure that they catch the whole puzzle. At least I did.
All of those ladies would make fine Motoko Kusanagis, if that’s the movie DreamWorks is making. On the other hand, Ghost In The Shell 1 and it’s characters have had an animated movie, three TV series, A follow up movie and a possible Japanese Live action coming. On the other hand, Manamachine Interface is not as well known and is essentially a new story with new intrigues and new characters as well.
From the beginning I’ve suspected that Spielberg has been thinking about Man-machine Interface and NOT the Ghost In the shell that most people are familiar with.
http://io9.gizmodo.com/379789/will-steven-spielberg-eviscerate-ghost-in-the-shell
I think that that’s the comic he most likely saw in the airport and as the first one he looked at, that’s what’s been where he’s been thinking. Now has Shirow been in any way involved? I would be surprised if he wasn’t and if that’s the case, then there’s no room for complaint. In any case Shirow has never been so racially biased that he’s avoided not using Japanese characters. In fact if you read Appleseed, the main character is blond and from Europe. If Shirow doesn’t care about race very much why should anybody else?
People should actually read the source material and see what Masume Shirow has come up with. Even if the movie isn’t released, people should read the manga and everything else that Shirow has done. The man is a great artist and comes up with the most mind blowing stuff. All of his stuff is highly recommended
The Arts Mechanical 