Top 10 Movie Characters That Wouldn't Work Today

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” was originally a popular animated television series in the 2000s before it was made into a 2010 movie with grand plans for a trilogy. We know today that the trilogy plans didn’t come to fruition. Part of the reason was that many of the film’s leads were played by Caucasian actors - despite the world of Avatar being populated by characters influenced by Inuit and East Asian people. Played by Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, Sokka and Katara triggered widespread negative fan reactions. Though General Iroh was portrayed by the Iranian-American actor Shaun Taub, it couldn’t be ignored that his role, like most of the speaking parts played by darker skinned people, was as a member of the Fire Nation - who served as the series’ antagonists. The movie’s casting mishaps even triggered a letter writing campaign and various protests.

Back in the ‘80s, the comic science fiction flick “Short Circuit” was generally well received by movie-goers. Centering around an experimental military robot, the movie even had a sequel two years later. Today, the East Indian character of Ben Jabituya, as played by white actor Fisher Stevens, would not fly. It’s bad enough to have a white actor play a non-white character with a stereotypical put-on accent and have both his hair and skin darkened. But “Short Circuit” also makes a joke about Jabituya’s background. When he’s asked where his family hails from, Jabituya replies that they are from the US. If he was born and raised in the US, why did he have an accent? Go figure.

Hollywood seems to be slowly moving in the right direction when it comes to casting these days, but it has some ways to go. It’s still baffling to realize that as recently as 2015, Emma Stone played Captain Allison Ng - who was supposed to be “one quarter Chinese and one quarter Hawaiian descent.” Stone has come out and expressed her regret for playing the character. However, it’s still cringy to watch her play someone written to be a proud Hawaiian, but looking nothing like one. Though her character was based on a real-life person who also didn’t resemble their Hawaiian heritage, the point being made here is that they still were of that background. One of the movie’s hardest scenes to watch was Allison correcting Bradley Cooper’s character, Brian Gilcrest, about how to pronounce her last name. Progress might still take some time.

Back in 1997, “Chasing Amy” was an indie darling, winning two Independent Spirit Awards - and was a big step in the career of comedian and filmmaker, Kevin Smith. Today, “Chasing Amy” is problematic in so many ways. One of them is its protagonist Holden McNeil, played by Ben Affleck. In the comedy-drama, McNeil knows his love interest Alyssa Jones, played by Joey Lauren Adams, is gay, but he still pursues her anyway. When he reveals his love for her and she rebukes him, he tells her she might need “a period of adjustment.” Jones naturally gets mad at McNeil - but a few beats later, runs into his arms… and they start making out in the rain (xref). How convenient for McNeil. And what happened to all of Jones’ objections?

In light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the character of John Milton, played by Lance Henriksen, certainly has creepy parallels with the real-life film producer. The Weinstein Company produced multiple movies in the “Scream” franchise, and in the third installment, transactional sex happens to be a key plot point. In arguably the most uncomfortable scene of “Scream 3”, studio president John Milton defends deplorable behavior by Hollywood power players. When he’s confronted with evidence that he was involved in an assault years before - just like Weinstein - Milton claimed that the woman involved was fully complicit when she attended one of his notorious parties. Wow! Just too creepily close to reality.

The Asian foreign exchange student, Long Duk Dong from “Sixteen Candles,” unfortunately became an Asian American cliche for that generation. Before Long Duk Dong, Asian characters in Hollywood movies more often than not portrayed as socially and/or sexually incompetent. Played by Gedde Watanabe, “The Donger” - as he is referred to - became a cultural boogeyman to many Asian Americans who grew up in the late ‘80s. His cringy introduction is met with the sound of a gong - an effect that follows him throughout the film - and he’s also continually depicted as ‘weird’ and weak, while ticking almost all stereotypical caricatures of Asians at the time.

Many teen sex comedies from the 20th century have not aged well. The same goes for their characters. Lewis & Gilbert from “Revenge Of The Nerds” were two nerds seeking revenge against jocks while also trying to have some good old college fun. That fun unfortunately involved the seduction of women through misogynistic behavior, sexist jokes, and the objectification of women. One particularly troubling scene was when Lewis - while pretending to be Stan - tricks the jock’s girlfriend, who also happens to be Lewis’ crush, into being physically intimate with him. Today we call that “sex by deception.” Let’s keep that kind behavior and those kinds of characters in the past, and out of comedies.

The ‘80s had “Revenge of The Nerds,” the ‘90s and 2000s had the American Pie franchise and the misogynistic character of Stifler. Or as he likes to call himself, “The Stifmeister.” Played by Seann William Scott, Stifler portrayed behavior that encapsulated toxic masculinity throughout the franchise. Where to begin? He convinces Jim to set up a camera to spy on a female foreign exchange student and he invades the privacy of two women whom he suspects are lesbians. And these are only some of his antics in the first two movies. The franchise took a somewhat positive turn in the later films though, and thankfully Stifler has become a dated misogynist relic from a different time.

Hattie McDaniel may have become the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for her role in “Gone with the Wind,” but today that win has proven to be “bittersweet.” The character of Mammy was a racial caricature of African American women in America and Hollywood at the time. She was portrayed as happy and content with her position as a slave. Unfortunately, McDaniel’s portrayal helped solidify and restrict Black actors at the time to playing servant roles. Fortunately, we are making strides in the struggle towards racial equality and can take solace in the fact that we have come a long way from characters like Mammy today.

Speaking of coming a long way: remember the time when Hollywood legend - and white actor - Mickey Rooney played an Asian character in the 1961 hit movie, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”? The crew applied makeup and gave the actor a prosthetic mouthpiece to wear for his caricature of a Japanese man. Over the years, critics have described Rooney's portrayal as an “uncomfortable stereotype,” “overtly racist,” and “misguided.” So much so that, in 1993’s “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” the rom-com is used as an illustration of Hollywood's racism towards Asian people when Bruce Lee and his future wife Linda are watching the film. Though “Breakfast at Tiffany's” is undeniably a classic, it isn’t perfect; and it’s hopefully one film that we have and will continue to learn from.