Weary of the whitewashing in Hollywood, blogger Michelle “Mimi” Villemaire attempts to put the red light on yellowface by transforming herself into a long list of Hollywood’s portrayals of Asian characters played by non-Asian actresses. And the result? “It felt sooooo good.” In Get the Picture: My Adventure in Correcting Yellowface, Villemaire not only pays attention to race but takes into consideration what the characters have gone through and what they would look like. When transforming into Olan, a character from The Good Earth who was controversially played by Luise Rainer, Mimi went makeup-less and writes “Olan was a Chinese farmer. She birthed her babies in the fields and got right back to plowing. I wanted my sun spots to show.”
So why did Villemaire decide to do this? Aside from the obvious need to bring attention to the situation, Villemaire writes “Growing up, I didn’t see many faces like mine on television and film. And because I wanted to be an actor it was really hard to believe that I could ever be one. Only women who had a certain skin color and eye shape were really allowed on screen, right? To this day white people are cast as Asians, deepening the message that Asians just aren’t wanted.”
The improved versions of the characters show just how much Hollywood execs are missing out by not hiring the appropriate race. Villemaire, we applaud you.
Mimi as Katharine Hepburn playing Jade Tan in Dragon Seed
Mimi as Myrna Loy playing Fah Lo See in The Mask of Fu Manchu
Mimi as Emma Stone as Ng in Aloha
Mimi as Myrna Loy in Fu Manchu
Mimi as Scarlet Johansson playing Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost
Mimi as Louise Rainer as Olan in The Good Earth
Mimi dressed as Rita Moreno as Tuptim in Anna and the King
More from BUST
5 Ways Oceanographer Sylvia Earle Has Made Waves
‘I Did It Because Women Have Always Ignored Me’: The Gangnam Murder And Misogyny In Korea
