Just when you thought the onslaught of unwanted white actors was over, “Ghost in the Shell,” “Iron Fist,” and Netflix’s “Death Note” comes in clutch. If you don’t see any problems whatsoever with any of these productions, congratulations! You’re probably white and will literally never have to worry about having zero representation in film or television.

If you do see their problems, congratulations! “Ghost in the Shell” flopped, “Iron Fist” sucked, and “Death Note” will probably also land lifelessly.

However, we can’t just sit here and rejoice over the failures of these three horrible, and soon to be horrible, productions. Not without explaining what was so wrong with each of them, for those who genuinely don’t understand the issue: white washing.

White washing is when someone leaves behind their culture in order to assimilate to white, Western culture. In film, it is the process of erasing the identities of non-white characters by means such as casting white actors to play these characters. “Death Note” literally takes place in Japan, but Netflix’s version is composed of a white cast and one black actor, Lakeith Stanfield, who plays a character that — spoiler alert — is going to die.

“Iron Fist” is about the wielder of a mystical force called The Iron Fist, which allows its user to focus their chi and use it to battle. The main character, Danny Rand, is of course white. But there are other users of the Iron Fist who are actually Asian, and that the Netflix show could have focused on. But they of course chose Rand, portrayed in this iteration by Finn Jones.

“Ghost in the Shell” is supposed to be about your sense of identity in a world where one’s biological bodies can be replaced, in the case of accident or by choice, by cybernetic ones, far more capable but far more mechanical. In the anime, the main character’s body is replaced, always reflecting her Japanese heritage; however, in the new “Ghost in the Shell,” she suddenly decided to throw that all away to have a white body. Specifically, Scarlett Johansson’s white self.

The real harm isn’t in these sub-par performances, it’s the fact that when people of color are portrayed by actual people of color, they’re only secondary characters, like the goofy sidekick trope. And when a person of color portrays a character that is traditionally white, everyone almost fills their pants.

Remember when John Boyega debuted in the first “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” trailer? Or when Michael B. Jordan was cast as The Human Torch in “Fantastic Four?” How about when Zendaya was cast as Mary Jane for “Spiderman Homecoming?”

The point is, the lack of positive representation for people of color is harmful. Many non-white children are forced to see characters who are the same race as them as only gang members, or the villains that the white hero, traditionally played by Tom Cruise lookalikes, defeats.

I grew up seeing the only Spanish speakers in film being voluptuous women with thick accents and cholos covered in tattoos. We need to have characters of color who are positive portrayals of people of color, and they cannot be played by white people. It defeats the purpose of having these characters, and white actors don’t have a monopoly or even majority on talent. Give the rest of the world a chance.