Study: Hollywood Casts More Light-Skinned Actors for Chinese Market

An academic study has found that since 2012, when the Chinese government began allowing more foreign films into the country, Hollywood movies have cast more light-skinned actors in starring roles.

{snip} The researchers concluded U.S. film studios were casting to fulfill the aesthetic preferences of Chinese movie-goers, in a culture that places a premium on light skin — a phenomenon known as colorism.

Why it matters: It’s not just Chinese government censors that are influencing Hollywood. Chinese cultural preferences are too.

{snip} The study, published in October 2017, examined more than 3,000 films from between 2009 and 2015 and found that films made after 2012 demonstrated an 8% increase in the number of “very light-skinned” {snip}

• The 8% shift meant that “for 1 of every 3 films in this category, the film went from having 2 out of 3 as very light-skinned actors, to having 3 out of 3 very light-skinned actors.”
• The study’s co-authors called this phenomenon a “light-skin shift.”

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While it’s tempting to place the light-skin shift within the context of racism in Hollywood, Hermosilla warned against that.

• “Colorism does not equate to racism,” he and his co-authors wrote. {snip}

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