With the rise of social justice these past couples of years, there has come quite a bit of elevated criticism over insensitive casting choices made in films.

In my most recent article, I spoke about how Hollywood loves to whitewash characters that were originally people of color as a way to keep the media dominated by white people. By publicly shaming films that, for example, cast a white person for a role that was meant for a person of color, the hope is that Hollywood will learn that this practice is unacceptable.

However, some actors do not handle the criticism well and instead dig their heels into the ground and defend their choices in roles.

Right now on the internet, the first actor that comes to mind when most people think of a white person playing the role of a person of color is Scarlett Johansson.

She has become so tied to this issue that there are many memes on Twitter about her taking every single new role that comes out for a person of color. I'm sure she has seen all of the jokes being made at her expense, which is probably why in a recent interview with the magazine As If, she firmly defended her poor choices in roles.

Before I delve deeper into the interview, I want to point out that Johansson is a repeat offender of taking roles away from marginalized people.

In 2017 she played a Japanese woman in "Ghost in the Shell" and in 2018 she accepted a role in "Rub & Tug" to play a transgender man, but then resigned from the role after the transgender community heavily criticized her for it.

One would think that Johansson would finally learn her lesson after being called out twice, but that's not the case.

In the interview, she claimed that

"As an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job."

As she continued, it became more clear that she has truly not taken the time to even consider how her actions are harmful.

"I feel like [political correctness is] a trend in my business and it needs to happen for various social reasons, yet there are times it does get uncomfortable when it affects the art because I feel art should be free of restrictions."

One thing that bothers me about her statements is that she was comparing playing non-white and transgender characters to playing an inanimate object like a tree. Clearly, humans have vastly different experiences compared to trees and animals. We all understand that, including Johansson.

Putting humans in the same category as them is just a sad attempt to diminish the seriousness of the issue.

She shouldn't just brush it off and say "Oh, I'm an actor. I HAVE to do it." No, you don't. You can choose what roles you take and by taking roles meant for people of color and transgender people, you are only oppressing them further.

Another issue I have with Johansson's interview is the fact that she thinks being politically correct is a trend and that it does not belong in art. She should be glad that the world is trying to become more politically correct because it means that we are finally starting to listen to one another and empathize with other people's problems.

Issues like racism and transphobia are deeply embedded into our society and the only way we can move forward is by listening to the people being affected and actively changing for the better.

Art can be used as both a means to share stories that denounce discriminatory beliefs or share stories that promote them.

Johansson is naive if she thinks that art should be apolitical because that's impossible. The art that we create is a reflection of us and our society, whether intentional or not, and our society is political.

In my opinion, the only reason that she feels uncomfortable by the "restrictions" being put on art is that she does not want to hold herself accountable for taking opportunities away from people of color and transgender people.

Johansson ended up issuing another statement to further explain herself after her As If interview was released because she claims that her words were taken out of context.

"I personally feel that, in an ideal world, any actor should be able to play anybody and Art, in all forms, should be immune to political correctness. That is the point I was making, albeit didn't come across that way. I recognize that in reality, there is a widespread discrepancy amongst my industry that favors Caucasian, cisgendered actors and that not every actor has been given the same opportunities that I have been privileged to. I continue to support, and always have, diversity in every industry and will continue to fight for projects where everyone is included."

I find this explanation to be extremely confusing because she goes from saying art should not be politically correct to recognizing her privilege and saying she will fight for diversity.

How can you fight for diversity in Hollywood when your actions are preventing that diversity?

Instead of playing the part of a Japanese woman, Johansson should have turned the role down and encouraged the director to cast an actual Japanese woman.

I hope that this can be a learning experience for Johansson and that she won't make the same decision a third time.