October 9, 2006
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THE SLANTED SCREEN
I was a part of an industry panel a few days ago after the screening of Jeff Adachi’s “The Slanted Screen” — which depicted an exhaustive history of the Asian Male onscreen. It’s pretty comprehensive and doesn’t claim to touch upon any new territory but it’s there to open more eyes to the situation. There are interviews from Asian Actors, Writers, Producers on their own theories and solutions about being emasculated, always playing the Villian, etc. The film will be playing one week in Los Angeles at the Laemmle’s Grande Fourplex Theatre, October 13-19.
And then the following is a question I recently received on my FAQQLY page – and since my answer ties into the heart/theme of the “The Slanted Screen“ I decided to post it here:
Q: … I have a question about asians in the media in general: Why do we not see more diversified roles for Asians in mainstream media (Asian lawyers, teachers, gangsters, etc.)? It seems to me, with the exception of supporting roles, Asians in mainstream movies tend to play the “bad-guy” role, martial artist, butt-end of a joke, etc. If not stereotyped in this way, Asians in films/TV shows are often depicted as overly Asian (in terms of dress, food, accent, activities). When and how will we see Asian Americans eating Cheerios for breakfast and macaroni-and-cheese for lunch? A: Sigh. Isn’t this just the age old question regarding any actors of color? And for Asians onscreen in particular, it’s usually being used for an Asian Function or perception (ie: ‘The Chinatown’ or ‘Triad’ episode of a show, a translator, martial artist, delivery guy, emasculated tech guy who’s awkward around women, etc.)
From my observations in the past 10 years working as an actor, I believe the tides will begin to shift when a combination of these things occur (not in any particular order):
- More Asian American writers and producers are involved in creating the projects.- Non-Asian writers and producers become more comfortable in their risk-assesment mode by seeing Asian characters pulled off well (like Sandra Oh’s character on “Grey’s”, Keiko Agena’s on “Gilmore Girls”, Ivan Shaw’s on “The Book of Daniel”, Lucy Liu’s in “Lucky Number Slevin”) and hence
resulting in them writing and suggesting open casting calls.- When the talent pool of talented Asian-American actors increases and starts working in projects of different types, thus increasing the Asian-American presence to the producers/mass public (I’ve noticed as an actor that this has begun to happen dramatically on this end).
- When the more experienced Asian American actors pick up the “junk” out there (the borderline roles) and use their own sensibilites in trying to change the roles existing within the system — because in the hands of a less empowered/less experienced actor, the stereotype would be worse (ex: Masi Oka’s doing a great job with his character on NBC’s “Heroes” - that character could’ve gone in a much worse direction in the hands of a lesser actor that didn’t breathe depth into the role and what was written on the page or a newbie that would just shut up on set).
- And finally… when the Asian-American community bands together to support projects (both vocally and monetarily) with Asian-American talent and realize the knee-jerk, micro-scrutini
zation and unrealistic expectations of any one project or actor being the one-stop cure all for the entire Asian-American race only succeeds in suppressing the very people they are trying to stand up for. With a combination of those things happening simultaneously
, I think the Asian-American will be realistically woven into the microcosm of the Hollywood System that much quicker.
Comments (9)
I KNEW you were perfect for the panel!
i think slowly we’re getting some characters that break the stereotypical asian-american image… an asian american pot head in “the perfect score”…even a lot of lucy liu’s roles (except the whole dragon lady thing on ally mcbeal lol). with people like margaret cho or russell peters, i don’t even think of them as asian-american/canadian comedians, but just comedians. and i think a lot of people see them in the same way. i think the line between asian and asian american is getting more distinct and people are realizing that many asian americans are just like any other american…
hey this is an off the wall question, but have you seen that Asian-American film called “Eve and the Fire Horse”.
i was wondering what is your opinion on that movie. i know that you probably are more in tuned with what is going on in the asian film community.
i was there
good seeing you.
except it was getting late so i didn’t really get to see you except from afar as you spoke on stage. lol
You stated the Asian community needs to ban togather. In reality, whether a person is Asian or not, the community needs to ban together. Everyone needs to show the industry that stereio types are not true. Not all Hispanics are uneducated, non-english speaking, immigrates. At the same token, not all Asians have accents, live at the library, and work on computers!
LAWl, comment above was preety racist, i like that. yes as asian, we must get out there more, nice xanga site.
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=38302
Proof that the important newspaper staff positions must be mostly non-Asian – no way it would have gotten pass the editor in chief if he/she was Asian – unless he/she is a moron or have a horrible sense of humor!
I went to UCLA too… what a shame.
interesting question and nice answer…i always felt that growing up here in the states, there definitely was a lack of asian-american role models in industries outside of the medical, scientific and business fields. asians definitely have to make their mark more in the communities!
i’m actually taking an asian american studies class at the u of i right now and we just talked about this topic. according to helen zia (who was involved in the vincent chin case), one of the reasons asians play the second-string roles, such as servants, geeks and sidekicks is because of the model minority myth. as servants, we would still retain our good minority status and also show our obedience. also, we were displayed as sexually unthreatening, unlike before when certain asians (such as the filipinos) were shown to be very sexually threatening toward their “white women.” as the nerds, the geeks, the awkward geniuses, we still show our obedience, our lack of problems with racism, and once again, the good minority status. as sidekicks, we settle for number two because we are considered minorities, which guarantees our lack of complaints and the good minority status reason. basically, they are using the status they granted us, as the “good” minority, to oppress us and our strive for equality. and i totally agree with you, it’ll get much better once we have asian screenwriters and producers to call the shots.