The Walking Dead: A Hardcore Parody features a white actor wearing “yellow face” makeup…
There will soon be a Walking Dead porn film. Pornstar and director Joanna Angel and her Burning Angel studio is producing the parody for release later this year. Already, the movie is getting lots of attention. And while it’s easy to get excited about zombie porn, it’s mostly all negative press. When Joanna Angel released production pictures for the film, it was revealed that the role of Glenn – an Asian-American character in the Walking Dead comics and television show – would be played by a white guy. Who has his eyes taped back in a slant and wears yellow-ish makeup as part of his costume.
Yeah, about that.
Back in December, Joanna Angel posted some behind the scenes pictures that show off the cast of her upcoming The Walking Dead porn parody. Of the several images that were released as part of that blog post, the one that showed the transformation of pornstar Danny Wylde into the Asian character of Glenn is the one that set off all the controversy. Here’s the image that Joanna Angel put up, along with her explanation for the casting decision…
Alright, I know some of you lame asses were offended by me turning someone non-Asian into someone Asian, but Danny is an important member of the BurningAngel family and I really wanted him in this movie – and he actually has a lot of similar features as Glenn and made the most sense to play him. Around election time, I aged Danny about 60 years and turned him into Joe Biden. In Evil Head, we gave him an 80’s looking wig. I was not doing this to make fun of anyone of any race – I did this because it was a parody. So all you over-sensitive PC people: calm down.
So if Joanna Angel’s blog post was the dry tinder soaked in gasoline, just sitting around waiting to explode into a racially charged controversy, the website Jezebel provided the spark to set it off. Late last week, Jezebel’s Tracey Egan Morrissey posted an article that called out Joanna Angel for her use of “Yellowface“. That post, featured on a website that gets millions of views per month, put Joanna Angel and her Walking Dead porn parody in an extremely uncomfortable spotlight. To quote from the Jezebel piece…
Perhaps Angel couldn’t find an Asian person to play Glenn for a number of different reasons. (Maybe Keni Styles wasn’t in her budget?) Glenn is a pivotal character in The Walking Dead, so it’s understandable that she couldn’t cut him from the script. But if there’s a complete and utter lack of Asian porn performers (doubtful), then why not just abandon the attempt to stay “racially true” to the original? It’s not like the show uses Glenn’s ethnicity as a plot point; it doesn’t define him. You could cast anyone in the role.
“I did it because it was a parody,” isn’t exactly a defense; ironically it’s more of an explanation of why people found it offensive, as the whole meaning of “parody” is to imitate something for the purpose of ridicule.
Angel found a black actress to play the part of Katana-swinging Michonne. One has to wonder if she had been forced to cast a white actress, would she have put her in blackface? Or would that have been crossing the line?
What are your thoughts on Joanna Angel’s Walking Dead porn parody? Is this a case of blatant racism or is everything getting pulled out of proportion? Share your thoughts in the comments below.