Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who is best known as the evil baddie of Mortal Kombat doesn't mind playing stereotypical roles as he feels it's moving a step forward in the right direction toward diversity in Hollywood for Asian males. I don't completely agree with that and take Mako's side about getting beyond such roles to achieving more meat to the bone in one's performances. Unfortunately Tagawa's attitude is not only possibly the attitude among a lot of young Asian actors, but that of black actors as well. After all, you either pay the rent, or go home. And a lot of folks want it too bad to do the latter.
The Slanted Screen would have benefited from including the point of view of Asian-American women, who probably feel just as stereotyped as the men in the media. But perhaps, like black women in my culture, they aren't left out of so much in Hollywood because of a certain exotic appeal. Still it would have been worth covering in this documentary just to show it's not only just the men who are suffering.
I would have also liked to have seen an interview with the late Pat Morita, who took a lot of flack for playing a martial arts teacher in the popular Karate Kid franchise. He especially is interesting as he had a stand-up career as well as a television and film career. It would have been interesting to hear from Russell Wong, who starred in the TV movie series and subsequent short-lived action drama Vanishing Son. It would have been even more insightful to hear his thoughts about the Charlie Chan movie remake, which was shut down due to the stereotyped history of the character.
The Slanted Screen is a good point of reference to start from when researching the racism against Asian-Americans in Hollywood.
Article comments
1 - Ian Woolstencroft
Nice review, sounds like an interesting documentary.
I find your opening comment about Will Ferrell a little bizarre though. It's not like there aren't any black actors who make big money in Hollywood, what about Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock and particularly Chris Tucker ($25n for Rush Hour 3, a lot more than Jackie Chan's getting). And that's just the comedy actors.
I've always thought that the romance in Romeo Must Die didn't work due to age rather that race, Li was 37 and Aaliyah only 20. The fact that the film was crap didn't help either.
2 - Matthew Milam
But just as with black men, only a few Asians have ever risen to stardom. The point I'm making is that Hollywood will give a chance to a white man over a black man because they are much more sellable, not to mention the stereotyped ideas they have of us. Asian males do seem to have it worse because they are always seen as great intellecutals, but not great lovers or dramatic people.
I do agree with some of the interviewers that it's gonna take a combination of quality scripts from their culture, as well as Asian men in power in hollywood to make the right choices.
3 - Ian Woolstencroft
But surely it's a question of proportion? Over 80% of the US population is White, only about 13% Black and less than 5% Asian. If you look at the current top ten films at the US box office 2 star Black actors (assuming you count Halle Berry as Black)and 1 features an Asian actor in a leading role. That sounds about right to me.
4 - Matthew Milam
But you notice it's always the same people? That's because there's very few of them that manage to break the barrier. The percentile stuff doesn't matter much to me because that still doesn't explain the lack of Asian and Black film roles.
5 - Ray Ellis
I guess my question is, why would you, in your right mind, want a Black version of Will Farrell in the first place?
6 - Ian Woolstencroft
But surely there should only be an equal number of Asian and Black film roles as there is percentage of the population?
Picking a week at random (2nd February) shows a higher percentage of Black leading roles than than there are Black people in the US in the top ten films.
Epic Movie - Asian actor and Black actress in leading roles
Night at the Museum - Black actor in a supporting role
Smokin' Aces - 2 Black actresses in starring roles and 2 Black actors in prominent supporting roles
Stomp the Yard - A Black actor or actress in every major role
Dreamgirls - As above
The Pursuit of Happyness - Black actors in the 3 leading roles.
Now that may have been an unusual week but my point is, I really don't think there is a problem with roles for Black actors in cinema anymore (although there certainly used to be). Asian actors however do have some ground to make up.
The other question is - what's the breakdown by race of people in the acting profession? Asian's may account for a little over 4% of the total US population but how high a percentage of actors are Asian? My guess would be much lower than 4% and if the actors aren't there you can't expect them to get the parts.
7 - Phillip Winn
I'm sure a long list of failed actors would tell you that there are only a few -- relatively speaking -- white lead actors, too. I haven't done the math, so I don't know if the proportions truly hold out over the long term, but generally I would expect to see mostly white actors, then black actors, then latino actors, then asian actors, and so on, if the roles are expected to match the racial makeup of the U.S.
Of course, a strict adherence to quotas is silly, too, but I think it's funny to hear people complaining about the lack of asian representation in films, given the recent spate of martial-arts films; more, I think, than the box-office earnings would suggest.
8 - TV and Film Guy
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9 - Wang
Phillip Winn I think you're a funny guy, of course being white with white priviledge I'm sure you are going to tell me that there are no such thing as white priviledge and that everyone in America is treated fairly and equally too right? Let me ask you something, how often in hollywood have u seen white men taking on roles that belonged to other race of men? I'll give you a few examples of how hollywood glorifies the white man, last samurai, the mexican, shanghai noon are just the few movies where white men are in main roles and ALWAYS end up with the girl. Of course i understand that in a country being ran by whites, I'm sure it's understandable, but this movie does bring up many good points of where asian roles are so limited, it's time to step up and let them know that we(asians) are more than just martial artists, we can play any roles any of your top actors can play , maybe even better...
10 - Ymmltyk
The whole argument that asian-american males don't get roles in the movies because they don't make up a large percentage of the population anyway is nonsense. If asian males aren't allowed roles in movies due to them making up less than 5% of the population, how is it that they're so conveniently selected when the role calls for an evil character? In Rush Hour, the majority of bad guys were asians. In Rush Hour 2, the majority of bad guys were asians. In Rush Hour 3 which was set in France, the majority of bad guys were asian. In Shanghai Knights, the majority of bad guys were asian despite it being the 1800s in England. In the Corruptor, the majority of bad guys were asian. In fact, in just about the majority of movies that has an asian male, the asian male is usually the bad guy, idiot, the gay guy, or some evil foreigner. According to Hollywood movies, it seems like asian males make up 60% of the population.
11 - When Asian Guy Gets The Girl
That's the reason I don't watch Hollywood movies anymore.
12 - Victor
I have seen a Hollywood movie in 7 years. I just find it ironic that I was watching a bunch of white people on TV, but in real life, I have very close white friends, some even were racist to me.
13 - Danny Hill
Thanks for a unique perspective. There're no shortage of great and charismatic Asian male actors, be it the silent era or the talking times, just exposure or lack-of. Your example of Enter the Dragon is an Asian made movie with a Asian male lead and that movie made its way thru the Asian diaspora to western theaters. Otherwise, Bruce Lee will still have remained Kato in western memories and not Bruce Lee the fantastic martial artist. Btw, Bruce is very much like your "silent" actors as he doesn't really talk that much in all his movies. He's an action man.