“There are no Asian movie stars” – Aaron Sorkin
We absorb poisonous images from the fiction we consume.
Hollywood’s brand of fiction is especially toxic, and one of the most perennially problematic images in Hollywood is that of the Asian male. At a basic level, the problem is a simple lack of representation: there are very few roles for Asian American actors, and lead roles are almost nonexistent. When an Asian male actor is actually cast in a speaking role, his character is often either an emasculated, inarticulate, socially inept chump like Long Duck Dong (Gedde Watanabe) from John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles or else an asexual, stoic, martial arts warrior like Bruce Lee (in any Bruce Lee movie).
This issue is often dismissed as affecting only the small number of Asian American actors trying to make a living in Hollywood, for whom the highest levels of the profession may remain unattainable. However, a lack of diversity in fiction has been linked to children’s lowered self-esteem and increased racial biases. Our consumption of the characters and dramas of our own creation feeds the way in which we view ourselves. A lack of realistic portrayals of Asian American men onscreen can therefore affect the way young boys see themselves, and how we as a society see them.
The history of film is punctuated with exceptions to the rule about once every fifty years. American cinema began on a high note with the career of Sessue Hayakawa, described in a biography by Daisuke Miyao as the first male sex symbol of the industry, years ahead of Rudolph Valentino. Hayakawa’s most famous early work was Cecil DeMille’s 1915 silent film The Cheat, a disturbingly violent rape fantasy, in which Hayakawa portrays villain Haka Arakau, an ivory dealer with sinister designs towards white female acquaintance Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward), to whom he offers a loan of $10,000 with her sexuality as interest. During a violent confrontation, there is an implied onscreen (forced) kiss scene, during which the audience is privy only to the back of Arakau’s head, and Arakau physically brands Hardy as his property with a hot seal. Despite often being typecast in what today strikes us as obviously problematic roles, Hayakawa was nevertheless quite popular with female audiences of the time.
One of the first films to attempt a heroic portrayal of an Asian American male was Samuel Fuller’s The Crimson Kimono (1959), a B-movie starring the late great James Shigeta as Joe Kojaku, who like his Caucasian roommate and partner in the police force Charlie Bancroft (Glenn Corbett) is American-born and speaks with normal American speech patterns. The two detectives have the same career, similar interests, and love the same woman (Victoria Shaw), who is the key witness in the murder case they are investigating. Unlike the dark villain roles to which Hayakawa was mostly restricted, Kojaku’s story is that of an upstanding member of the Japanese American community who ends his story with a classic Hollywood kiss. The film remains problematic in its catharsis, which dismisses racism as a fantasy of a lovelorn mind. But the film still looks progressive compared to current representations of Asian American males.
Since 1959, Hollywood’s portrayal of Asian male sexuality has stagnated. Andrzej Bartkowiak’s Romeo Must Die (2000) infamously cut a kiss scene between Jet Li and Aaliyah’s characters when the scene didn’t test well with audiences. Even Disney’s groundbreaking animated film Mulan (1998) failed to put more then a dent in the cemented American concept of the asexual Asian male. Leaving aside Eddie Murphy (as travel-size dragon Mushu), the cast is comprised of prominent Asian American actors, including James Shigeta (as the General) and Ming-na Wen (as Mulan). Captain Li Shang (BD Wong), Mulan’s commanding officer and presumed love interest, is a developed, dynamic character. His sexuality is not ignored, but even gently highlighted in an endearing scene in which Shang disrobes and Mulan’s interest is clearly peaked. It is heartbreaking to find fault in a film that is appropriately cast, sensitively animated, and manages to highlight both Asian male and even female sexuality. But it is not difficult to identify that fault. The confident, masculine, and merciful Shang is suddenly inept and nearly mute when confronted with the sexuality of the woman he has in fact been in close contact with the entire film. He awaits the suggestion of his emperor to pursue her. The most suggestive line (“Would you like to stay forever?”) is given to Mulan’s grandmother (June Foray). Asian male sexuality is implied, never explicit. To this day, Mulan is the only Disney “princess movie” without a kiss.
These are, of course, all decades-old examples, and yet little enough has changed that Aaron Sorkin felt compelled, in an email leaked in the recent Sony hack, to point to a lack of Asian movie stars as a fatal weakness for a potential film adaptation of Michael Lewis’ Flash Boys. There are of course exceptions to Sorkin’s assertion, but most of these, such as Keanu Reeves and The Rock, are actors of safely ambiguous ethnicity. This is not to suggest that these men are any less Asian American actors, but if the goal is to end Hollywood’s tendency to fuel stereotypes attached to specific aesthetic (read: racial) qualities, then the unambiguous are those who matter. And there are very few – John Cho (J.J. Abram’s Star Trek, Danny Leiner’s Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle) is one of the few modern examples, occasionally supported by other actors like Sung Kang (Justin Lin’s Fast Five), and the unfortunately lesser-known Daniel Henney (Disney’s Big Hero 6). Modern Hollywood films featuring an Asian male, let alone an Asian male with an actual sexuality, are difficult to find and generally show up in the forgotten corners of Hollywood: in the low-brow, low-impact films like Fast Five and Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. Like The Crimson Kimono, these are the artistic B-movies of today.
Thus is born the movement to see more depictions of Asian men, including their sexuality, onscreen. As the white female half of an AMWF relationship and a fiction diversity advocate, I am an unapologetic member. However, there is currently a troubling emphasis on the need for the Asian male to simply “get the girl” onscreen.
This approach is visible in Hollywood even when a “progressive” role is actually attempted today. The best example is Justin Lin’s Fast Five, a film which succeeds in depicting an Asian male character kissing a woman on screen, but which fails to present the kiss as anything other than misogynistic sexual conquest. The film operates on a superficially-feminist level: these women can handle a gun and drive a racecar. They’re badass, ergo, the film is feminist, and men are thus free to objectify. But these characteristics simply add to the qualifications necessary for a woman to be considered desirable. Having demonstrated themselves appropriately collectible, all three women, in a series of flash-forwards, are shown at the end of the film as safely arrived under the protection of domestic patriarchy: one is literally pregnant and barefoot at home with her husband; a second is fetishized in a upwards tilt as she kisses a man while sitting on his lap as he speeds down the autobahn; and the third, who as a cop who has fought against the team of protagonist bandits the entire movie, also reappears on the arm of the bandits’ leader.
We have reduced the issue to that of the onscreen kiss, when in reality the problem is much greater than that. We do not need to see an Asian male character kiss a woman onscreen; we need to see an Asian male character as a genuine object of desire. I should note here that being the object of desire should not be confused with objectification. Objectification reduces a person to an object desired only for consideration, collection, and consumption. As the object of desire, however, the fullness of the humanity of the person need not be compromised, as others recognize the attractive qualities of the whole person and desire to be in relationship with him/her. A film like Fast Five in which an Asian male is sexually successful is not progressive unless the relationship itself can be portrayed believably.
The problem with the representation of the Asian male in Hollywood is not that he fails to “get the girl”, but rather that he fails as a viable object of desire by another believably whole character. This is what was so revolutionary about John Cho’s role in the recently cancelled ABC sitcom Selfie (as usual, television proceeds when Hollywood hesitates). Cho never kisses his partner onscreen. But he succeeds in presenting an attractive, funny, thoughtful, and appealing male persona, desirable not only to the primary female lead, but to all viewers of the show as well.
Without a holistic representation of the humanity of the Asian male onscreen, we make no progress even when an Asian lead character is romantically opposite another. At worse, we revert to the Hayakawa’s portrayal in The Cheat – the Asian male who is reduced to the most bestial form of his sexuality. At best, we see Asian male sexuality viewed through the usual dirty lens of Hollywood’s trite misogynism, as in Fast Five. Such a simplistic take on the issue degrades the humanity of both women and Asian men.
The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) published a practical list of ways to confront the stereotypical portrayal of Asian Americans in media. These suggestions recognize that we need to reach a point when the Asian character can be comfortably and accurately represented in all forms of fiction – not just in the low-brow B-movie, but in the high-brow, the drama, the sitcom. Sorkin is right: there is an unfortunate dearth of Asian movie stars. But movie stars are made, not born, and it is within the fortunate purview of Sorkin, Lin, and their peers to create them.
___________
Em Liu is a fiction enthusiast particularly interested in depictions of women and minorities onscreen. She blogs over at FictionDiversity.com, and you can follow her on Twitter at @OLiu1230.
A very perceptive piece, which seems aware of some of its own potential stumbling blocks and proceeds cautiously (see all the “the point is not X…it is Y” moments).
One of those moments seems to come in the paragraph about the need for Asian-American stars to be unambiguously Asian — to in some sense perform their Asian-ness, not so much in their actions, but in their names and bodies. Or in other words, their unambiguous performance must somehow be a marker of a quasi-biological fact about the actor — a fact that their bodies are performing.
All told, then, it is not enough to simply “be” Asian (whatever that means); you must “act” Asian — be readable as Asian. And it is not enough to simply “act” or be readable as Asian; you also have to “really” be Asian, a fact which seems to precede your actions and appearance.
(I had a similar conversation with a colleague who talk about how Chloe Bennett’s character in “Agents of SHIELD” was a positive and important representation of Asian-Americans on TV. My initial response was, But how do we know that Bennett — or her character, Skye — are Asian? What is her Asian-ness representing, especially if her Asian-ness doesn’t seem to be anywhere represented?)
Any, it’s a tough path to walk, and this article walks many such paths skillfully.
I was surprised to see the argument that Bruce Lee is desexed, or not presented as sexual…maybe I don’t remember those movies well enough, but I thought his leading man role was fairly conventional? Certainly those films are not shy about showing his bare torso….
In general, it seems like this is a problem for Asian-American men in Hollywood productions specifically, right? Chinese or Japanese or Korean cinema or television doesn’t have these problems (or at least, my limited acquaintance with those things suggest that it doesn’t have these problems.)
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Good article!
Hayakawa was a sex symbol in early movies. But in the ’30s he faced increasing bigotry and emigrated to France; he of course made one of the greatest Hollywood comebacks of all time with The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Whatever happened to John Lone?
Peter: Thank you! I hadn’t exactly thought about it terms of “acting” Asian, but I suppose an emphasis on the unambiguous does essentially result in enacting an Asian role. That’s a great point.
Noah: Bruce Lee is generally considered THE exception to Hollywood’s refusal to cast a leading man. And while he was in the lead role in many films, he was generally portrayed as an asexual warrior type. Jeff Adachi’s documentary “The Slanted Screen” talks a lot about the Bruce Lee effect. There’s also a good summary here: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=771790&page=1&singlePage=true
Alex: Thanks – I’m not familiar with John Lone! Can you recommend a film?
I sometimes wonder whether too much is asked of the film industry. Primarily it is an economic adventure and what sells to the demos determines to some extent what gets made. Different audiences have different interests. I am not sure the American or US audience is so interested in accurate Asian portrayal – they just want to be entertained. Perhaps more consideration can be given to issues of accurate portrayal within the education system and within the news reportage.
Personally I prefer to watch Asian films (subtitled) to get a sense of the Asian perspective etc – but they are generally unpopular art house films in western cinemas or in the exotic section of the local DVD store.
I liked Selfie. I know you didn’t criticize it, but I wanted to add for the benefit of other readers that John Cho’s non-kissing of Karen Gillan was just the ordinary sitcom will-they-or-won’t-they dance. The show was canceled so now, alas, they always won’t.
When I first watched Akira Kurosawa Seven Samurai I realised that the US version (the magnificent seven) was vacuous in comparison. Similarly I found the US version of Shall We Dance (2004) fairly vacuous in comparison with the Japanese original (1996).
Hi Joyce – I think this gets back to Noah’s point about how this problem doesn’t exist in Asian films. The issue I’m interested in addressing is the portrayal of Asian American men in Hollywood films.
I don’t know that Hollywood actually tries to sell to its consumer demographic – women are notoriously underrepresented in film, even though women make up half of consumers. In a related issue, only one film about Latinos opens this year, even though Latinos make up 32% of frequent movie goers.(http://flavorwire.com/497515/why-is-hollywood-only-making-one-film-about-latinos-in-2015)
So I think there’s some other dynamic at work here.
I suppose my response boils down to: if American audiences simply want to be entertained, why not cast an Asian American actor in a lead role?
John: Thanks – I completely agree.
Joyce: I actually haven’t seen the US version of either of those films. You’ve convinced me not to bother ;)
One can learn a lot about different cultures from their cinema. I seem to recall Cowboys and Indians was a popular genre at one time but they were later dropped to be replaced with films such as cowboys and aliens.
Yeah…I would say that Hollywood is interested in making money and in entertaining, but the question of how you make that money, and who gets entertained, and how, are thoroughly ideological. Like, is it a requirement of “entertainment” that there are hardly any women directors? Or is something else going on there?
There’s a substantial fandom of North American women who watch Korean and Japanese TV shows (via web services like Dramafever, Viki and Crunchyroll), and the most popular series are those aimed at women which feature attractive male leads (who are of course overwhelmingly played by Japanese and Korean actors). Hollywood seems to be desperate for ideas at the moment, so you would THINK they would notice this and stick some Asian eye candy into their products somewhere, but no, because they are dumb. Part of the problem is that the style of romantic-lead actor currently popular with Japanese and Korean women tends towards pretty, polished metrosexual types, which leads to the output of that entire creative industry being ignored because of course no real American woman could ever find a pretty, polished metrosexual guy attractive, ever. Absolutely zero American women would be interested in seeing Kim Jae-wook in his underwear. Obviously.
Yeah, I think it’s all about the target audience and profit.
To me, the description of Bruce Lee as “asexual” and is wrong on every level. I was there when he hit it big in the US, and I can say definitively that not only was he was most definitely “an object of desire” to many, he had a huge influence on almost every young American male, regardless of race. Lee’s films were almost single-handedly responsible for smashing the traditional Hollywood stereotype of Asians, along with the martial arts school boom in the US. And while he smashed one stereotype by creating an even bigger one, the fact is, he paved the way for big Asian stars like Jackie Chan, who for some curious reason you never mention.
As for the future, I think as more and more films these days are getting their profitability from overseas markets — especially in China — Hollywood films may embrace diversity to a greater degree. After all, it’s generally all about the money.
In the 1970s, there were two posters stereotypically on every teen male’s wall. The Farah Fawcett poster and the Bruce Lee poster–with Lee revealing even more of his glistening chest. I agree that Lee wasn’t given much heteronormative romance to play with in his films. But he was certainly a prominent object of desire. Let’s not forget the homoerotic aspect here.
That said, it’s telling that we have to go back to the 1970s to find an Asian-American movie star allowed to be sexy.
I do wonder how Chow Yun-Fat fits into this narrative.
@ R. Maheras and Rob Barrett (and also Noah):
Both of you point out that Bruce Lee was popular with men. Exactly. His character was designed as a male power fantasy. The fact that he’s shirtless has nothing to do with making him sexy to women, any more than Rambo’s shirtlessness was about making him sexy to women: his bared muscles are acting as proof of his strength and masculinity, not of his erotic desirability. This is the sticking point that comes up every time superhero costumes, for example, get discussed: presenting a man as muscular and powerful is not the same thing as presenting him as sexy. Men have a really tough time grasping this, because our culture presents “getting all the chicks” as the natural and automatic outcome of “being the strongest and most badass”; being deliberately sexy is the province of women and swishy gay men. Go look at how women depict sexy men; even if they’re buff and barechested they’re also posed and framed so as to make them sexy, not just tough.
Ugh. No one should waste their time with the American version of Shall We Dance. What was sweet and endearing in the Japanese version was awkward and lifeless here.
Like Rob and his question of Chow Yun-Fat, I was also curious as to how Ken Watanabe fits into your paradigm. Are they the exceptions that prove the rule?
JRB — actually, I thought of Bruce Lee as a sex symbol mostly because the person I know who is his biggest fan is a woman, who thought he was very sexy.
Presenting a man as muscular and powerful is in fact the same as presenting him as sexy, I think. The fact that for men power is supposed to be sexy is important; the way men and women are sexualized is different (and that difference is effectively sexist). And I think as you say the sexiness is often for men; that is, sexualized men are presented for men’s sexualized gaze. (Whether the men gazing are gay or not doesn’t really matter.)
But…women don’t present sexy men any one way, surely? Different folks like different things, I’d imagine. In Japan, I know, women who draw yaoi sometimes feel constrained by the tropes, and some move into doing gay manga because they want to draw men that way instead (that’s what it says in Massive, in any case.)
@ Noah:
“And I think as you say the sexiness is often for men”
This essay talks extensively about the failure of Hollywood to present Asian men as viable objects of desire, in a presumptively heterosexual context; that is, to present them as being attractive to women. Whether some Asian men have been presented as viable objects of power-fantasy identification is a different essay (although it would still be almost as bleak). My point is that what men consider to be a sexy self in the context of power fantasy isn’t actually dictated by female preferences and doesn’t automatically succeed in presenting that man as an object of desire to women. You’ve been around for plenty of “sexy superheroine” arguments, I don’t believe you haven’t encountered this point yet.
“women don’t present sexy men in any one way”
Yes, obviously. Different women have individual preferences, different cultures have different standards, different genres have different conventions, etc. But there are general trends in how men’s fantasies of “I’m sexy because I’m tough” differ from women’s fantasies of “he’s sexy and also tough”. If you took 100 women and had them direct a Bruce Lee movie with the express interest of making him sexy to other women, I doubt a single one would handle his character the way it is handled by his actual movies.
JRB — I agree with Noah. Lee had a huge female following.
And while the male-female interactions in Lee’s films were tame, I think that’s more due to the Asian influences that American influences. Lee was always depicted as the shy, quiet, honorable hero, and if there was a love interest for Lee, she was always a “good girl.” The pattern continued even with Lee’s Hollywood blockbuster, “Enter the Dragon,” over which he had a huge amount of clout.
Interesting debate.
While Bruce Lee is definitely up there on my personal All-Time Top Sexiest Men list, I don’t agree that my own fetishization of Lee is the same thing as Hollywood portraying his characters in a sexual light. And I do think that there is a difference between portraying a man as powerful (or even sexy) and actually portraying male sexuality onscreen.
But I think we can all agree that Bruce Lee was, for whatever reason, a brighter spot in the history of Hollywood. Again, I highly recommend the documentary “The Slanted Screen” as a great jumping off point to anyone interested in the Bruce Lee debate (it’s available for rent on Amazon).
Per the Chow Yun-Fat question… I like him as an actor, but I’m unaware (correct me if I’m wrong) of any Hollywood romantic role outside of “Anna and the King”, which is also a movie that avoids direct depictions of Asian male sexuality (at least on the part of the King). It also gets into some Othello-type material, which creeps me out (that’s just a personal preference, of course).
I love Ken Watanabe. He’s perhaps one of the greatest exceptions to the rule, albeit not Asian American (he’s a citizen of Japan). And even his lead roles are limited to movies like “Letters to Iwo Jima” and “Memoirs of a Geisha”. I would love to see more of him in Hollywood.
JRB, I think the way the argument about male sexualization in comics goes is generally not right. That is, men are in fact sexualized in supehero comics. The sexism comes not from sexualized or not-sexualized, but from the way that what’s considered sexy for men and women is different (men are sexy when they’re powerful; women when they’re vulnerable and available, basically.)
I wrote about this a couple of places; here and here, fwiw.
None of which undermines Em’s points in the article I don’t think, even if Bruce Lee seems like he might provisionally be a limited exception in some ways.
I guess I wonder…is the lack of romantic plots in Bruce Lee films just because they were generally thought to be aimed at men? JRB mentions Rambo, where I’d agree the eroticism is directed at a male audience primarily (same with superhero comics, I think.) That wouldnt’ necessarily contradict Em’s point — just sort of underline it perhaps in that it’s easier for Asian male stars to be action heroes than romantic leads, perhaps….
Oh no, it’s pretty clear that the phenomenon you’re discussing here had the result of completely botching Chow Yun-Fat’s introduction to Western consumers of Hollywood products. In fact, my overall sense is that the HK stars who got snatched up by Hollywood in the mid to late 1990s all eventually said “eff this for a game of soldiers” and went back home. Hollywood’s racism meant it could never figure out what to do with some of the sexiest stars on the planet.
@ Noah:
“men are in fact sexualized in superhero comics”
As far as that goes, yes, but the point is the one you make in your next comment: “the eroticism is directed at a male audience primarily”. The characters are intended to be the male readers’ fantasy selves, and that fantasy includes the fantasy of being desirable to women. The characters aren’t being designed with an eye to actually making them sexual objects for the female reader.
I’ve read your linked articles, and I think that both of them ignore the fact that in all cases the sexualization you are discussing revolves around what men want: what men think is sexy about women, what men think women should find sexy about men. I said this above but I guess I need to repeat it: women are expected to desire men for the traits that men desire in themselves, and men at large have a really hard time accepting that their fantasies about themselves don’t necessarily match up with our fantasies of them.
I spend lots of time on places on the web where women create and share images of men, and even if a particular woman likes distorted, hypermuscular steroid monsters a la Rob Leifield Hulk, she’s probably not going to give him those clenched fists and scowl; there’s likely to be a bit more posing and smoldering involved. And your average superhero fanboy would probably find her interpretation of the character to be ridiculous and gay, because posing and smoldering isn’t compatible with the male power fantasy that the character represents. That’s the difference between the Spider-Man cover and the Spider-Woman cover in your Splice Today article; Manara’s cover presents a character who is not only attractive but also deliberately sexually provocative. McFarlane’s cover doesn’t.
“To this day, Mulan is the only Disney “princess movie” without a kiss. ”
It’s funny that Mulan is classified as a “Princess Movie” by Disney since she isn’t a princess.
I don’t disagree with the point, though there may be cultural reasons Disney did not include a kiss. Reportedly they removed a father/daughter kiss scene for cultural reasons:
http://www.essaypride.com/essays.php?free_essay=5832333&title=Mulan
(I doubt Disney was particularly interested in cultural accuracy, but they must have at least been thinking about culture when making the film.)
Brave does not have a kiss, but is considered a “Pixar” film so not a “Disney Princess” movie, I guess… but actually according to Wikipedia “Merida was added to the Disney Princess line-up as the 11th Princess and the first Pixar character on May 11, 2013”
so arguably you are incorrect, if Mulan can be a “Disney princess” even though she isn’t a princess then I guess Brave can also be a “Disney Princess” film.
Pallas: I admire your research! However, if you note that the primary relationship in Brave is that of Merida and her mother, then alas, my point stands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTaYWYiZYc
;)
“what men think women should find sexy about men”
See, I don’t think that’s what’s going on. I think it’s what men find sexy about men. The images are definitely aimed at men, but I don’t think the eroticism is necessarily routed through women in that way. I don’t think desire and identity are clearly separated, in this case or in most others. That is, it’s not, “this is what we imagine women find attractive in men.” It’s “this is what we men find attractive in men.” Similarly, in fashion magazines, when women look at women, it’s not just about identity. It’s about desire.
Those pieces are both pretty clear that it’s a male audience in question I think? Maybe I could have been clearer I guess….
This is very interesting. I knew Asian American actors had a tough time but I had never heard of this aspect before. Maybe I’m just not very perceptive but I don’t find this particular type of discrimination obvious. It seems incredibly strange that western audiences (just men?) should feel threatened by desirable east Asian men shown in well rounded roles but I’m often baffled and surprised by other sorts of discrimination so I’ll take your word for it.
It made me a little sad to see Tadanobu Asano (one of Japan’s biggest actors) get little parts in American films recently but he has a major part in the next Scorsese film (actually replacing Watanabe, who couldn’t fit the film into his schedule).
Re: the Hong Kong stars who started careers in America in the late 90s/early 00s.
Were there many women? Is Zhang Ziyi really a Hong Kong actress? Maggie Cheung did some French films. Michelle Yeoh did a James Bond film.
Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun Fat, Donnie Yen and directors like John Woo, Yuen Woo Ping and Tsui Hark are all the ones I can remember doing American stuff with different degrees of success. Ang Lee isn’t Hong Kong but he came along roughly the same time, but I wonder if this is just coincidence?
I’ve heard some actors just went to live in the west for fear of what Hong Kong might turn into but didn’t really start a western film career.
I’m surprised two actors from two very Hollywood shows were not mentioned.
Daniel Dae Kim in Lost. There was another Korean male love interest who was bald. I seen the show years ago but I remember there being love scenes. Perhaps there wasn’t much kissing though. I never watched the whole show.
But more importantly Steven Yeun from Walking Dead. Some complained he started off with the geek stereotype but that’s gradually shed away and he seems a lot more glamorous now. I’m sure he gets more romance, kissing and sex than any other male in the show.
I think he is considered sexy by a lot of the audience.
Takamasa Ishihara might be an interesting person to watch. He’s a big musician in Japan but I think American film Unbroken is his acting debut (I haven’t seen the film but it seems like a tricky role that he and Angelina Jolie were concerned about doing sensitively).
He’s very beautiful too.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls050975803?ref_=nm_rls_2
This list may be relevant.
Been looking around imdb a bit more and a few things caught my eye.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3153524/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_13
The film Awesome Asian Bad Guys. Watched a few videos on YouTube about it and it seems to be all about the casting of Asian actors. The directors made some videos about the types and their favourites.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3551096/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
Fresh Off The Boat. A comedy series starting this year.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1882948/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
Slanted (2010)
“A web series that takes a satirical look at what it’s like to be an Asian American female trying to break into acting. It revolves around the ever tenacious Andrea, an aspiring actress, who must navigate the culturally limited world of Ft. Lauderdale’s acting community in the hopes of catching her “big break”, so she can finally move to Hollywood and away from her meddling immigrant parents.”
Also remembered 47 Ronin has quite a lot of Japanese actors who have quite a few acting credits in America.
Sorry if this is unfocused and going off on too many tangents. When I start thinking about anything it turns into lists and scattered thoughts.
That’s alright! I love lists, and these are great.
I notice you’re mentioning a lot of television shows. While I focused on Hollywood films for this article, I did recently write about TV shows in another piece – you might be interested: http://fictiondiversity.com/2014/12/29/apologies-of-a-sitcom-fanatic/
http://www.vulture.com/2015/01/eddie-huang-fresh-off-the-boat-abc.html
This is a very interesting account of the compromises involved in this new sitcom.
http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/asian-tv-characters-hooking-up-list.html
This article makes a great point — Hollywood fails to portray Asian men as desirable romantic partners.
Part of the discussion so far seems to be highlighting sexualization, but the author’s point is more about seeing an Asian man as more, as a partner, friend, soul mate. A dream guy. The kind of guy you want to date / marry / spend your life with. (I’m doubtful Bruce Lee has that kind of following…?)
For better or for worse, fictional stories in general are often where we question and develop our values, where we learn how we want to live. Given how dominant Hollywood is, it’s silly to think this type-casting doesn’t matter or doesn’t have an impact on culture.
The idea could be extended — how much diversity is there in Hollywood’s romantic interests? Diversity of body type, personality, and yes, race? Not enough in my opinion.
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Responding to Em Liu s piece on << Hollywood s (Real)Problem with the Asian Male ??<> Sepia CINDERELLA <BAND OF ANGELS next to another legend ,late CLARK GABLE 1957/. In The DEFIANT ONES next to another great Actor late TONY CURTIS 1958/. In The HEAT of the NIGHT, also TO SIR WITH LOVE 1967.. 5 times winner also over 10 times nominee for OSCAR award,let alone many other world AWARDS?? SO by 1950 s Hollywood left its doors AJAR for Big Black talents to sneak through it such as GREAT HARRY BELAFONTE/NAT king COLE/ SAMMY DAVIS Jr./ Followed by many other great ones such as DENZEL WASHINGTON /MORGAN FREEMAN/SAMUEL L.JACKSON/Late and greatly missed RICHARD PRIOR ,then WILL SMITH,just to mention FEW!! This brings me to say few words about the Asian Male on the screen? I remember the Guy who rioted against the American ambassador, played by Late MARLON BRANDO in The UGLY AMERICAN 1963 movie, i assume it was INDONESIA events then against the imperialism ?! also i think the rebel was a Hawaiian/ American!! Even though the heart throb giant Mr. OMAR SHARIF ,Egypt s GIFT TO Hollywood in early 1960 s ,as an Arab i infamous LAWRENCE OF ARABIA with PETER O TOOLE 1962. an Arab prince in ASHANTI 1979 then HAREM 1986 movies.then with JACK PALANCE as his AFGAN tribe leader in The HORSEMEN 1971… some other times Hollywood turned him into East European , a Serbian rebel in the Yellow Rolls Royce next to INGRID BERGMAN 1964..A Russian in The Tamarind Seed with Julie Andrews 1974.. also in Dr. ZHIVAGO 1965… Also an Armenian king in The Fall of the ROMAN Empire next to SOPHIA LOREN in 1964 as in MAYRIG or (Mother) in 1992 …and a South American rebel in CHE 1969// as before Lawrence of Arabia ,,Arabs were almost and usually portrayed as Nomads/Bedouins and Gypsies,due to lack of understanding The Arab Male & The Female , and as the campaign against President GAMAL or ( (Jamal) ABDEL NASSER of Egypt was at its CLIMAX ,AND THE NEGATIVE ANTI ARAB propaganda was..TOPS!! Maybe Young & Handsome Omar Sharif was the right man in the right place The HOLLYWOOD, But at a very Wrong time??. in those AMBIGUOUS days , And the West s wrong attitude towards the East ?? let alone the Eastern or in other words,, THE ASIAN MALE!!!. Best regards from London/G,Britain Is-Hak BARSOUMIAN
Responding to Em Liu s piece on << Hollywood s (Real)Problem with the Asian Male ??<<! Does that mean The KOREAN/CHINESE including Hong Kong before it Has re-joined China /JAPANESE & INDIAN ? or that includes TURKISH/PERSIAN/ARAB Males as well?? But if you allow me before discussing all that,lets not forget how long it took Hollywood to recognize or allow in Black Males to get the opportunities to appear on the Silver Screen..in my estimation that adds up to 80 years almost,even though in 1930/40 s mostly in black & white movies Black people usual
Black people usually were cotton pickers in the background or worst ,servants and slaves until 1947 when Great SYDNEY POITIER appeared as an Extra in
Here’s a great video about why it’s important for Asian Americans to become actors, writers, and producers. http://youtu.be/qOwBGPkY0ZU
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