I would further guess that Lin's concern with the images of Asian men in American movies led him as an artist more than his concern for Asian-American teens in the world. Asian male characters have been sages (detectives, such as Mr. Moto and Charlie Chan, and kung fu masters, such as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (1984) in the positive mode; and mysterious, sly, manipulators, such as Dr. Fu Manchu and the Chinese brainwasher in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in the negative); stuttering comic relief (Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Gedde Watanabe in Sixteen Candles (1984)); peasants; house servants; and, of course, during World War II, sneaky, cruel "yellow monkeys."
All these types are outside the range of most lead roles played by dramatic movie stars. Generally speaking, the harder a minority's struggle for equality in our society, the more restricted the types of characters they've played in our movies. Thus, Irish- and Italian-American characters could regularly display the full moral spectrum of passion and self-assertion long before Jewish, black, and Asian-American characters could. (Though you have to recall that the moviemaking industry, the average star who wants above all to be liked, and the audience for pop entertainment have all played a part in keeping all forms of complexity out of our movies.)
At the same time, the image of Asian men wasn't as desexualized as that of Jews and blacks. However, with the same kind of prurient-racist projection that you saw in the treatment of the black rapist in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915), the most sexual Asian-American male type was the predator, such as Sessue Hayakawa's blackmailer in Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat (1915), or, more often, a warlord threatening a white woman, such as Warner Oland in Josef von Sternberg's Shanghai Express (1932), Nils Asther in Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), and Mike Mazurki in John Ford's Seven Women (1966). Some of these movies are terrific entertainments, but just the fact that the majority of the characters have been played by non-Asians indicates they haven't been any bonanza for the race.
(While we recognize the perversity of Hollywood in the legendary miscasting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956), we also have to recognize the perversity of fate in distributing talent and acknowledge that John Sturges's Bad Day at Black Rock (1955; showing this Saturday on Turner Classic Movies at 6 pm), a melodrama about the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, without a single major Asian character, is a better movie than Alan Parker's Come See the Paradise (1990), an epic treatment of the same splotch on American history, with a large Asian cast.)
![Bad Day at Black Rock [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5159TXTQMZL._SL120_.jpg)
![Bitter Tea of General Yen [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JP1EZWK2L._SL120_.jpg)
![Shanghai Express [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZFNJ7T4JL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - don
Justin Lin fails to say in all his PR work for the film that he stole the idea from a newspaer clipping in the Orange county Regsiter nearly a decade ago. The death scene of steve is an mirrow image of what happened to a Sunnyvale highschool student (Tay). Orginal? no...Mr. Lin , confess you have no talent and that you used that artical is am exact blueprint for your film. At least cut the dead kinds family a royality check
2 - don
Justin Lin fails to say in all his PR work for the film that he stole the idea from a newspaer clipping in the Orange county Regsiter nearly a decade ago. The death scene of steve is an mirrow image of what happened to a Sunnyvale highschool student (Tay). Orginal? no...Mr. Lin , confess you have no talent and that you used that artical is am exact blueprint for your film. At least cut the dead kids family a royality check
3 - Mac Diva
Actually, the notion Asian-Americans are never involved in crime is misleading. Often the crime is off the beaten track, focusing on robbing, prostituting or selling drugs to people in the same ethnic group. Police departments have trouble penetrating such crime rings. We tend to hear about them when something goes wrong, such as robberies when multiple victims are killed.
4 - Eric Olsen
There are Asian gangs pretty much everywhere there is a high concentration of Asians. I knew a an L.A. cop whose partner was killed by a Vietnamese gang member.
5 - Alan Dale
Thanks, all, for writing.
Originality just isn't that important aesthetically, especially when it comes to story elements, and has very little connection with "talent." Shakespeare isn't "original" in that sense.
What's interesting to me about the movie is that the boys who become criminals aren't from the social stratum of Asian-American society that populates the gangs. They're middle-class guys who could easily get in to Ivy League schools. Through these characters Justin Lin is fantasizing about being a gangsta. That's what gives the movie its pull.
6 - jeff
he didn't make up the plot for the movie, that shit happend in orange county in like 1992 except the guy virgil was based on was mexican, the guys went to sunny hills high school, I knew the mom of the guy ben is based on, she was my dads friend.
7 - saska
four boys are bad becase they shoot pepole they hate me virgil is a clown his big ass cosin han he is a touge man and campus daric is so strong to shoot parry shen shawn he do the hunted swamp toar one frend of my is a good person he is nice to me the boys are mean to him and his girlfriend spefanie vander goch is cheerleader thats all you have to obout them shawn likes the preety cheerleader shawn he doesing like me or nothing and they come to daric house daric has a girlfriend is casie and virgil to and han shawn brian they beat up him he make fun of them they fight wth him
8 - saska
rebecca and sam holly juno beth sarah
9 - saska
virgil hu is a clown his cosin han they and steve daric shawn they come to daric house partie throwing stuff chucky and tiffany and wonda betty and rech sam they are my friends because the boys hate them brian is not the one who fell them they are so bad brian his friends are like me but shawn is my nobclahan daric shawn virgil
10 - saska
chucky tiffany wonda are my cosins and sam rech betty holloweentown greshin michael jackson steve daric virgil han shawn misty ms. jim permatteo and her hospan jenna ben marybeth shawn marcus shapiro juno rebecca casie sarah holly beth sam are dead
11 - saska
chucky tiffany brian shawn wonda sam rebecca sam holly juno sarah beth jenna marcus shapiro redman steve daric virgil han casie chris tina kenny sue billy alex clear george tod terry carter billy jennifer tilly wendy kevin jason ashley and ashlyn frankie lan erin lewis stan joan
12 - saska
virgil hu daric loo han lue shawn brian steve misty jenna marybeth ben marcus shapiro jennifer tilly redman stan britney spears chucky tiffany wonda joan sam rebecca sam sarah holly beth juno caie chris helen tina kenny tommy sue howard otis bessy abby pic pig
13 - saska
steve brian shawn daric han virgil casie better luck tomorrow flim
14 - saska
better luck tomorrow
15 - rebecca
better luck tomorrow sarah juno beth holly sam rebecca saska casie kevin wendy jason carrie lewis frankie ashley and ashlyn lan erin clear alex carter billy terry george tod ms. lewton shawn wonda daric virgil han chucky tiffany sam rech betty redman jennifer tilly stan joan chris tina kenny helen roy sue billy jack helga frabitzio tommy ryan rose ruth molly cal lovejoy andy kyle carrie white
16 - sam
rebecca juno holly beth sam sarah han wonda tiffany chucky virgil jack helga daric shawn steve brian wonda sam rech betty cal ruth lovejoy erin wendy kevin lan jason carrie ashley amnd ashlyn frankie jennifer tilly stan lewis steve brian betty rech jack tommy ross chris tina billy heather pina redman han virgil shawn daric britney spears britney spears britney spears britney spears chucky tiffany stan tiffany samantha shawn shawn shawn casie jennifer tilly britney spears britney spears daric han virgil shawn sean kolbey casie heather pina jack ross helga tommy ryan brian shawn misty jenna marybeth ben marcus shapiro britney spears britney spears britney spears britney spears britney spears britney spears britney spears steve brian
17 - britney spears
daric han shawn virgil they kill everybody and steve cho britney spears britney spears steve steve steve hold me tell me that you love me baby casie casie casie sarah beth rebecca sam juno holly britney spears chucky tiffany wonda sam juno sarah beth stan redman joan rebecca sam holly michael jackson michael myer halloweentown sean koibey casie daric virgil shawn han shawn shawn shawn shawn shawn shawn
18 - britney spears
kolbey tommy ryan chucky and tiffany wonda sam caie jennifer tilly stan redman joan and daric virgil steve han shawn casie kenny chris tina billy sue helen roy britney spears britney spears sam rebecca juno holly sarah beth michael jackson michael myer fuvia sam does know chucky chucky tiffany sarah shawn misty jenna marcus marybeth ben sam is mean to me shawn is mad at me