Taylor Swift has been criticised for her latest music video, with fans accusing the American singer of cultural appropriation and whitewashing.

While the initial preview for Swift’s Ready For It video attracted attention for her nearly-nude appearance, it’s the clip’s similarities to controversial 2017 film Ghost in the Shell that really got viewers’ blood boiling.

Ghost in the Shell, based on a popular Japanese anime comic, was accused of whitewashing Asian culture when it cast white American actress Scarlett Johansson as its Japanese protagonist.

“Taylor Swift saw the new Ghost in the Shell and thought ‘hmmmm… not white enough’,” one Twitter user joked.

“The last thing we need right now is one of the world’s biggest pop stars putting out a video that continues to peddle a fetishist and backwards view of Asia; one that lumps its myriad of cultures into one easily digestible, Westernized trope,” Teen Vogue‘s Sandra Song wrote of the clip.

https://twitter.com/TaylourGrier/status/922939825119928320

Ghost in the Shell  flopped at the box office after its critics demanded a boycott and is regularly used as an example of Hollywood’s long-running habit of borrowing from and adapting other cultures with little acknowledgement of the source material.

Social media users were quick to draw comparisons between the controversial film and Swift’s video, which arrived online on Friday (AEDT).

While the video’s director, Joseph Kahn, insisted it was “an homage to sci-fi and anime”, Twitter users highlighted the use of Chinese characters and anime imagery by a non-Asian as problematic.

“Taylor Swift, so how does white washing a white washed movie work? Is it like a double negative or still just racist?” one Twitter user asked.

Above: Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Below: Taylor Swift, 'Ready for It?' pic.twitter.com/AK5kowyfZt

— Ghost in the Shell fans (@gitsost) October 23, 2017

Not everyone was angry about the music video’s portrayal of Asian culture however, with some lauding it for its lack of a male protagonist – an unusual choice for the typically romance-obsessed Swift.

Others were focussed on Swift’s more grown-up look– she appears in several scenes wearing only a nude bodysuit, a major departure from her wholesome country music image.

“It truly warms my heart that people had so much to say about this bodysuit,” the 27-year-old joked in an Instagram post alongside photos of the revealing outfit.

Taylor Swift wasn’t bothered by the scrutiny surrounding her revealing outfit. Photo: Instagram

It’s not the first time the music star has landed herself in hot water for her music videos.

Her clip for 2015’s Wildest Dreams, filmed in Africa, was accused of perpetuating an ‘African colonial fantasy’ due to its lack of people of colour.

Kahn, who also directed that clip, was forced to defend it in an interview with NPR.

“This is not a video about colonialism, but a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa, 1950,” he explained.

“The video is based on classic Hollywood romances like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as well as classic movies like The African Queen, Out of Africa and The English Patient, to name a few.”

Swift’s clip for her hit Shake it Off was also criticised for perpetuating black stereotypes with its images of Swift twerking and wearing hip-hop clothing.