Posted by Ace.
Editor's Note: Sorry this is up so late. It was kind of a hectic weekend for me, and this is something that's close to my heart so I wanted it to be perfect. In any case... Hope you enjoy!
“Ey Chino, you know kung fu?” asked one of the rather large and imposing Latino kids who were surrounding me, as they readied themselves to pounce on me like a pack of hyenas on a wounded gazelle. He belted out a battle cry mockingly, “WAAAAAAAAH! Waaaaiieee!” He then pulled at the sides of his eyes and began imitating the Crane move from The Karate Kid, waving his hands in a flurry of judo-chops so fast that I didn’t know how to defend myself. At that exact moment, a harsh reality sunk in – I didn’t know Kung Fu. But somehow this kid did! I wished to God that I did know Kung Fu, Karate, or Ninjitsu at that moment, so I could open up the biggest can of whoop-ass the world had ever seen. After all, I was Asian… I was supposed to know how to fight. On some basic, instinctive level, we’re ALL supposed to know how to fight, right?
I guess those are the pitfalls of years of watching Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and the lesser known Sammo Hung (from TV’s Martial Law) for so many years. And during my impressionable years, those were the few iconic heroes that a young Asian-American boy could look up to. Badly dubbed over, high-flying, ass-kicking Kung Fu artists, not born in the U.S.
You can probably see where I’m going with this by now. And I’m not trying to make this about your Average Asian man’s complaint against Hollywood and how underrepresented we are. I just want to drop some knowledge. A lil’ something for all of you to chew on, to mull over… Food for thought, if you will. (Did y’all see what I did there??? Pretty smoooooth…)
So indulge me, open your mind, and remember… there is no spoon.
FRACTURED. If I could describe the Asian-American experience in one word, that’s what it would be.
Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on life by any means. In fact, in the 25 years that I’ve walked this earth, I can honestly say that there isn’t a single field that I can consider myself an expert in. But one thing that I’ve learned, mainly through Asian-American studies classes in college and general observations, is that we are a fractured people.
Before you get all your collective panties in a bunch and start huffin’ and puffin’ about how untrue that statement is, or wondering what the hell any of this has to do with movies, please let me explain. I understand that to most readers, you probably won’t understand or relate to this whatsoever, so I’ll do my best to relay unto you my humble observations about the Average Asian man’s experience , and I assure you, this will somehow relate back to cinema in some way.
If you look at the whole of the Asian-American demographic, you’ll notice that there is no uniformity in our socioeconomic status. It spans all across the board. We range from rich to poor; half of us are Republicans, the other half are Democrats; half of us are doctors, the other half are lawyers… just kidding… some of us are engineers too… just kidding again. My point is that there really isn’t a single solitary cause that unites us, nothing that can definitively bring us together as a race. We are a fractured race, EXCEPT when it comes to watching an Asian-American man or woman on the screen. Suddenly, there’s a sense of pride that swells in the community as we watch our unofficial representatives perform. And in turn, the responsibilities and pressures of representing the ENTIRE Asian-American community rests on his/her shoulders. And in the midst of it all, everyone is thinking the exact same thing—Please don’t suck!
But maybe I’m generalizing too much, so allow me to share some of my personal experiences and hopefully I can paint a better picture for you.
I remember when I was a kid there were very few Asian-American actors and actresses in film and television. In other words, there were very few Asian-American heroes or role models for a young tyke, such as myself, to look up to or aspire to be like. Through the mid-90s, my “heroes” consisted only of Mr. Miyagi, and the bad guy from Bloodsport.
But then, two stars emerged-- Ming Na (Joy Luck Club and Street Fighter: The Movie) and Russell Wong (TV’s Vanishing Son). Ming Na probably became the biggest star, and really the face of Asian-America for the longest time. I remember watching Joy Luck Club with my family and all of us feeling so proud that there was a movie with an all Asian cast, a film that we could finally call our own. Ming Na seemed to become a star overnight, because she was one of the FIRST Asian-American actresses to break into the mainstream. But consequently, she also became the default Asian actress for a lot of movies, mainly because there were so few back then, which led her to being cast as Chun-Li in the monstrosity of a film called Street Fighter: The Movie.
Russel Wong found stardom playing Jian-Wa Chang in a made for TV movie called Vanishing Son, which later became a weekly television show that followed Kevin Sorbo’s Hercules. For those of you who don’t remember, the basic synopsis goes a little something like this—The Chang bros. come to America from China. Wago, the younger, gets involved with gang life and ends up being killed, along with two federal agents during a fire fight. Jian-Wa is now on the hunt to find the leader of the gang and all the culprits responsible for his brother’s murder, all the while being chased by the feds who think he’s responsible for the deaths of the other federal agents (I know, sounds kind of like Kung Fu). In any case, I tuned in faithfully in support of my Asian brothers, again with that same sense of pride, feeling like – at last, we made it. There was finally a strong, Asian-American lead actor to look up, who didn’t speak English with a heavy accent, or didn’t have to be dubbed over. But I guess the rest of America didn’t feel the same way because after only two seasons, Vanishing Son became Xena: Warrior Princess.
As years past, I noticed that more and more Asian-American actors and actresses began breaking out into the mainstream. But the roles that these actors were breaking into all started becoming the same. The women were cast as the object of affection, sex symbols for the average-looking white man, acting opposite them. The men, on the other hand, were cast as-- a) the villain, whose evil and mysterious wiles were used for world domination; or more recently what seems to be the trend is-- b) as the effeminized sidekick, who’s entirely incapable of getting the girl and being the hero. The men usually have the short end of that stick, as countless jokes are castoff about the size of certain areas of their anatomy, only to be perpetuated by continuous type-casting into roles that basically castrate the Asian actor.
At this point, maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “Maybe that was the case back in the days, when I was young, I’m not a kid anymore, but some days I sit and wish I was a kid again…” Sorry… I love that song. But as I was saying, maybe you’re thinking, “Maybe that was the case back during the days when they were still making The Mysterious Mr. Wong, and Charlie Chan movies.” (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, basically Mr. Wong and Charlie Chan were Hollywood’s version of Blackface for the Asian characters-- White actors playing the role of Asian characters, or rather caricatures, of the mystical, mysterious, and villainous Chinese man.) But if you look closely, have things really changed? Just off the top of my head, I can list off several movies with Asian-American actors cast in these stereotypes—the aforementioned Bloodsport, Mortal Kombat, and even modern films such as The Last Samurai, Crash, Pineapple Express, The Hangover, and G.I. JOE. Granted in Mortal Kombat, the villain was supposed to be an Asian guy, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa played a badass Shang Tsung, but what’s the excuse for the other movies?
Can someone explain to me how it made any sense for a White guy to be “The Last Samurai?"
In Crash, a movie centralized around the issue of race, every other race had one redeeming moment, one redeeming quality, EXCEPT the Asians.
In Pineapple Express, the evil masterminds behind all the mayhem of the movie was caused by, guess who? The Asians.
In G.I.JOE, good Caucasian ninja vs. evil Asian ninja. And... the white guy won!
And in The Hangover, the major antagonist in the movie was played by? An Asian. But not only was he the villain, he was an effeminate villain!
Which leads me to my next point – the wrongs of the Asian man's effeminate role in movies nowadays. I don’t understand why this trend emerged, or how it came to existence. But if I had to guess, I would assume that it derived from the stereotype of Asian waiters and dishwashers, or other positions of servitude. Somehow, those stereotypes evolved into the stereotype of the sexually inept Asian man, as if to say that positions of servitude are equated with emasculated roles. And if you look at the recent trend of the token Asian role that seems to fit the mold. Now, maybe you’re thinking I’m being too sensitive and over analyzing this whole thing. But think about it. When was the last time you saw an Asian man share a kiss with a gorgeous woman on-screen? (Yes, there was John Cho in Harold and Kumar, but he may be the one exception) Let’s look at some other examples, starting with some of the more recent ones that I’ve caught. In He’s Just Not That Into You, and in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Leonardo Nam and Aaron Yoo both played gay men, respectively. Before I go on, let me make this clear, there is nothing wrong with a heterosexual man playing a homosexual man on-screen – a lot of actors do it and do it well (and gay actors play straight men just as well, i.e. NPH in HIMYM). But what I have a problem with is the fact that it seems that if you’re an Asian-American actor, and you don’t know martial arts, you’re automatically cast into playing a role in which you have no shot in having any kind of romantic involvement with a woman.
But that may not even be entirely true. Here's a lesser known fact-- In Romeo Must Die, the original script had Aaliyah and Jet Li sharing a kiss at the end of the movie, but the producers changed it because they thought it would look too weird for an Asian man to kiss a woman on-screen, that it would be too unrealistic. So maybe having Kung Fu skills won't get you the girl either. I guess even Jet Li wasn’t “man” enough to get a kiss. Is there not something incredibly offensive about that? Would it really look too weird for an Asian man to get the girl at the end of the movie? Maybe.
Or maybe... Hollywood isn’t as progressive as it claims to be…
Anyway, I’ve harped on long enough about this, so I’ll end it with this-- there are so many of us now out there in the mainstream media, ranging from actors to comedians to news anchors to writers to athletes. Our list of B/C-list stars is short, but it’s growing. And I realize that we can’t really expect these actors to be our representatives and role models. That’s a lot of pressure. They have to put food on the table somehow, even if it requires them to play these stereotypes. The problem herein lies with the fan’s reactions. For us Asian-Americans, how are we supposed to feel about being typecast into these stereotypes?
Are we supposed to feel proud? Absolutely. At least we’re out there, getting media attention. (Plus, we make some badass villains.)
Are we supposed to feel offended? Absolutely. It’s an absolute outrage that Asian-American actors, or any race for that matter, are constantly being typecast, solely based on a racial stereotype.
But... I guess that’s just another thing to be fractured about…
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