April 6, 2006

• On The Verge

  
  

  This time of year is when my college speaking schedule gets pretty hectic.  Although Asian Pacific American Awareness Month is officially in May, most schools then are either in the middle of finals or not in session.  Hence the month before, April, becomes a very popular programming month among Asian campus organizations.

  
  

  This weekend I kick off my tour keynoting at UMASS on April 8th. 

  
  

  Then it’s off to the University of Pittsburgh on April 12. 

  
  

   Then the University of Missouri-Columbia on April 21. 

  
  

   Then the University of Minnesota on April 28th.

  
  

  And then Siena College on May 2.   

  
  

  While working on my speeches for the upcoming engagements, I was browsing on angryasianman.com and caught this interview of Bruce Lee filmed in 1971. 

  
  

  You’ve gotta check it out if you’ve never seen it because I guess I never realized just how hip, confident and cool Lee’s off camera persona was. 

  
  

  He very articulately touched upon wanting to do projects that showed American audiences how Asians truly were as people (though he understandably used the dated term, “Oriental”); and straying away from the “pig-tailed, bouncing around, chop-chop, slant eyed thing” usually portrayed onscreen.  

  
  

  He also delved into how he was often criticized by Asian audiences for being too Western/assimilated, while on the flip-side, American filmmakers always tried to make him more “exotic” because of his ethnicity.

  
  

  I almost did a double-take as I glanced down at my jotted speech notes about Asian Actors having to usually justify/qualify their existence onscreen for an “Asian” reason (The Fill Show Name Here ‘s Chinatown Episode, the translator to the lead character, etc).  And why being in “BLT” for the cast was so refreshing because we were finally able to play real, flawed, 3-dimensional characters for the first time in our careers – even though we were oftentimes bashed by the Asian Community for portraying Asians “negatively”. 

  
  

  Lee went on to say how he understood that the movie business was still a business and why American studios might be adverse towards casting a foreigner – but would use that information to his advantage.  I looked at my notes: “The movie business isn’t black, white, yellow or brown — it’s green.  And the more our community supports Asian-American films in the box office, we’ll get the chances Spike Lee got when he…” 

  
  

  I could go on and on with the parallels.   It opened my eyes to just how far ahead of his time Bruce Lee was.  And how this one man was paving the road with his foresight and incredibly focused energy.

  
  

  But I was also reminded of how little things have changed.  

  
  

  At the end of his interview, Lee talks about his potential new TV show, “Warriors” with Paramount.  And he says, “If I were born 40 years ago and thought about starring in a movie or TV series in America — that would probably be a vague dream… but now — maybe man.“  

  
  

  “Warriors” wound up becoming “Kung Fu“ starring David Carradine who replaced Lee.  And unfortunately almost 40 years after Lee spoke those words – the prospects haven’t looked all that great since then.

  
  

  I think the major difference in this day in age is that progress will only be made through a community as opposed to one man. 

  
  

  I mean, Bruce Lee almost did it single handedly.  Without a doubt, he would’ve broken a lot more barriers and opened a lot more minds had he lived longer.  With his charisma, talent and vision — he simply took the world by storm and was undeniable at the time.  I believe he could’ve even found the balance for martial arts to not become the poorly mimicked stereotype that it wound up becoming after his passing.  

  
  

  I don’t really see any one person being capable of doing that today.  

  
  

  However I think we are nearing an important crossroads.

  
  

  1) From what I’ve observed from this pilot season, the number of talented Asian-American actors are piling up.  And it’s just a matter of time when they start coming in from different projects.  The pool is still small in the grand scheme of things and I’ve met mostly everyone here and there – one at a time.  But seeing them all at once, I found myself at audition rooms this pilot season going, ”Oh yeah.  I forgot about him — I’d better bring my “A” game.  Oh yeah and him… and her.. and him too.  Geez, they’re coming out of the woodwork!”  

  
  

  2) That coupled with a generally more informed, aware and open-minded audience these days giving films like ”Saving Face“, “The Motel“, “The Grace Lee Project” and “Americanese” a shot.  

  
  

  3) The younger generation being exposed to Asian American Study classes and more available programming than ever: Eliot Chang, angryasianman.com, ECAASU, MAASU, ITASA (where Roger Fan’s speaking at tomorrow) 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, OPM, all the guys in The Kims of Comedy, etc. 

  
  

  4) And most importantly – a generation who grew up empowered with the term of being “Asian” and not “Oriental”, who are now in places of power in all industries and able to change things -- if they want to.  So I do believe we could be on the cusp of something pretty exciting. 

  
  

  Although certain elements are in place, in the end, it will ultimately depend on the follow through – fighting the ever-looming “Asian Apathy Curse” and/or what Eliot Chang aptly dubs, “Intra-racism”: Asians hating Asians.

  
  

  This is just a little bit of what I’ll be touching upon during this tour — I just hope these words will still ring true 40 years from now.  (I should’ve bought the initial $100 lifetime Premium Xanga subscription – now they no longer offer it and it’ll cost me $25/yr or $1000 total to look back here in 40 years!)    

  • 10:21 am
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