Showing posts with label asians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asians. Show all posts
2011-07-25
Media Monday: The Whale
Take a minute. Watch it. How does it make you feel?
For me I feel annoyed and insulted. I saw it last night while watching Criminal Minds on my Direct TV. After this commercial I seriously considered changing my satellite service provider.
Looking into it online I found out that the Actor in the commercial is Dat Phan the winner of the first season of Last Comic Standing. He mostly catapulted to fame by making fun of his Asian mom. And I get it. I frequent My mom is a fob I used to keep a list of all the amusing things my mom says to me.
But this just takes all the bad stereo types that their are of Asians/Chinese people specifically and shows them off in one setting. It is roles like this and people willing to play roles like this. People who find roles like these funny. This is the reason that there are almost no roles for Asian American actors in Hollywood. And certainly not leading roles.
No instead they are regulated to the Breakfast at Tiffany's Mr. Yunioshi (played by the yellowfaced Mickey Rooney) roles that that allow them to stay otherized and allowed to be the funny afterthought. They get to be the out-there side kick. The hot porcelain doll. The wicked evil dragon lady. When can I just watch a show where the Asian American actors get to play people?
One of my favorite and (in my opinion) most accurate representations of the Chinese-American experience is an indie movie called Shanghai Kiss that was made in 2007 starring Ken Leung, Hayden Panetteire and Kelly Hu. The plot is a bit long so I'll just leave you with the trailer
If that catches your interest you can watch the whole movie for free on Hulu.
Racism is still racism. Even if Dat Phan thought it was funny and wanted to play along. It doesn't excuse the fact that it is incredibly offensive. Just because people have been conditioned to ignore instances like this in favor of keeping the norm (I just KNOW there are people out there who will say something along the lines of "Well, I'm Asian and I didn't find it offensive") doesn't mean that it isn't. and it certainly doesn't mean that this sort of blatant racism is okay. I for one and not planning on signing on with direct TV again next year.
2011-06-27
Media Monday: Pair of What?
I am going to preface this with a disclosure. I like watching kids shows. I don't know why, but I do. I realize that I am too old to watch kids shows and too young (and kid-less) to have an excuse to be "forced" to watch them. I find them funny and amusing and a good time.
A few weeks ago a show called "Pair of Kings" showed up on Netflix and I decided to watch it. This is the main cast.
The premise of the show is that two teenage twins from Chicago are actually the Kings of a small Polynesian island. And when they turn 16 are brought to the island to become Kings where they previously did not know they were Kings. Hilarity insues. It's a kids show, stick with me. There should be an argument about nativism here. But I am not informed enough about the show or Polynesian cultures to make that argument. At times though this show does make me uncomfortable with their scary savages... I am saying I recognize it but I am here to make a different argument.
Now take a look at the Cast photo? Which two are the twins? They're played by Mitchel Musso and Doc Shaw.
There is a passing reference in the pilot episode of the series that basically goes, "You don't think we look like twins? No one else does either! Our dad was white our mom was Black. This is what happens!" And they make jokes about the fact that they look different, and frequently reference their parents.
I can't find a picture of their parents. But I will say that their dad Doesn't look very white to me. Or at least not as White as Mitchel Musso does. Furthermore, if there dad was the King of a Polynesian Island. Shouldn't he be I don't know, Polynesian? In the brief shots the show of him, he does look indeed Polynesian to me.
The other teenage boy in the main cast is Ryan Ochoa (he plays the cousin of the twins. According to IMDB, he is white. According to his little brother's IMDB page he is part Latino. They don't say what side of the family he is related to the Kings on, but since he is on the Island so we can assume the Fathers.
To recap we have a family two brothers and a cousin who are black, white and Latino.
The other two in the main Cast are Geno Segers, and Kelsey Chow. In the show they are father and daughter. Geno identifies as Black. Kelsey is Half Chinese. I think they do look Black and half Chinese. Or at least Black and half Asian. Kelsey's "mother" has yet to be shown.
I read a study once that said that Kids programming has the greatest diversity amongst TV shows. In the show there will be a wider variety of skin colors, body types, etc. Of all the different types of programming Childrens TV is the most inclusive. And with good reason, kids want to watch characters that they identify with, that look like them. But live wild lives. It is essentially the formula to make a kids show work (or at least Disney thinks it is).
There are two ways to look at this. One is sort of positive. One is very negative.
Either Disney is trying to be color-blind in it's casting. After all Doc Shaw and Mitchel Musso were already established Disney actors transplanted from other shows. And casting agents legally aren't allowed to ask about an actor's racial background. But the thing is. Color-Blind casting doesn't work. Instead of creating a complex identity they have essentially made one twin Black and one twin White.
They supposedly grew up with their Black aunt in a big city. It is an interesting idea that he is "white" he looks white for sure, but probably grew up in a community that was black. This is never mentioned. I know as a child of an immigrant I question my self identity daily I still don't know how to answer that question. And try to balance my internal culture clash.
There is also the fact that I believe the Twins would be judged differently in the real world. And not in inclusive-Disney-topia. Color-Blind casting in theory is a great idea. But people already see races. It is too late to live in a color-blind world. There is too much race history now the best we can do is utilize it as a tool. And maybe that is what they're trying to do.
The other argument of what Disney is trying to do. Is that they are taking just a bunch of people that look vaguely "ethnic". They picked two actors they liked and have worked with before, and then created a story and built a cast around them. And since it is an island they wanted them to look "exotic" But not too exotic now. We still want kids to watch our show.
I'm giving the show a pass (except on the natavism stuff) and going to say that it is an interesting experiment in color-blind casting. Probably one of the only instances of it I can think of that this has occured on a TV show. The only thing this experiment has proved to me though, is that color-blind casting doesn't work. And furthermore, really makes me cock my head and go "WHAT?"
My big question now is, if it is a Polynesian Island... Where are the Asian actors? Couldn't find any? Like V magazine couldn't find any Asian models for the cover of their "Asian Issue"?
Sorry if this is rambles, I haven't fully formed my thoughts. I don't just knit all the time you know XD
A few weeks ago a show called "Pair of Kings" showed up on Netflix and I decided to watch it. This is the main cast.
The premise of the show is that two teenage twins from Chicago are actually the Kings of a small Polynesian island. And when they turn 16 are brought to the island to become Kings where they previously did not know they were Kings. Hilarity insues. It's a kids show, stick with me. There should be an argument about nativism here. But I am not informed enough about the show or Polynesian cultures to make that argument. At times though this show does make me uncomfortable with their scary savages... I am saying I recognize it but I am here to make a different argument.
Now take a look at the Cast photo? Which two are the twins? They're played by Mitchel Musso and Doc Shaw.
There is a passing reference in the pilot episode of the series that basically goes, "You don't think we look like twins? No one else does either! Our dad was white our mom was Black. This is what happens!" And they make jokes about the fact that they look different, and frequently reference their parents.
I can't find a picture of their parents. But I will say that their dad Doesn't look very white to me. Or at least not as White as Mitchel Musso does. Furthermore, if there dad was the King of a Polynesian Island. Shouldn't he be I don't know, Polynesian? In the brief shots the show of him, he does look indeed Polynesian to me.
The other teenage boy in the main cast is Ryan Ochoa (he plays the cousin of the twins. According to IMDB, he is white. According to his little brother's IMDB page he is part Latino. They don't say what side of the family he is related to the Kings on, but since he is on the Island so we can assume the Fathers.
To recap we have a family two brothers and a cousin who are black, white and Latino.
The other two in the main Cast are Geno Segers, and Kelsey Chow. In the show they are father and daughter. Geno identifies as Black. Kelsey is Half Chinese. I think they do look Black and half Chinese. Or at least Black and half Asian. Kelsey's "mother" has yet to be shown.
I read a study once that said that Kids programming has the greatest diversity amongst TV shows. In the show there will be a wider variety of skin colors, body types, etc. Of all the different types of programming Childrens TV is the most inclusive. And with good reason, kids want to watch characters that they identify with, that look like them. But live wild lives. It is essentially the formula to make a kids show work (or at least Disney thinks it is).
There are two ways to look at this. One is sort of positive. One is very negative.
Either Disney is trying to be color-blind in it's casting. After all Doc Shaw and Mitchel Musso were already established Disney actors transplanted from other shows. And casting agents legally aren't allowed to ask about an actor's racial background. But the thing is. Color-Blind casting doesn't work. Instead of creating a complex identity they have essentially made one twin Black and one twin White.
They supposedly grew up with their Black aunt in a big city. It is an interesting idea that he is "white" he looks white for sure, but probably grew up in a community that was black. This is never mentioned. I know as a child of an immigrant I question my self identity daily I still don't know how to answer that question. And try to balance my internal culture clash.
There is also the fact that I believe the Twins would be judged differently in the real world. And not in inclusive-Disney-topia. Color-Blind casting in theory is a great idea. But people already see races. It is too late to live in a color-blind world. There is too much race history now the best we can do is utilize it as a tool. And maybe that is what they're trying to do.
The other argument of what Disney is trying to do. Is that they are taking just a bunch of people that look vaguely "ethnic". They picked two actors they liked and have worked with before, and then created a story and built a cast around them. And since it is an island they wanted them to look "exotic" But not too exotic now. We still want kids to watch our show.
I'm giving the show a pass (except on the natavism stuff) and going to say that it is an interesting experiment in color-blind casting. Probably one of the only instances of it I can think of that this has occured on a TV show. The only thing this experiment has proved to me though, is that color-blind casting doesn't work. And furthermore, really makes me cock my head and go "WHAT?"
My big question now is, if it is a Polynesian Island... Where are the Asian actors? Couldn't find any? Like V magazine couldn't find any Asian models for the cover of their "Asian Issue"?
Sorry if this is rambles, I haven't fully formed my thoughts. I don't just knit all the time you know XD
2011-04-10
Media Monday: Sucker Punched
Going to add something new to my day of the week blog posts
WARNING THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS
Two weekends ago (sorry that I'm just getting to this now) my roommate and I went to see Sucker Punch in the theater. On opening day, in the early afternoon. The only other people in the theater with us were men, by themselves, all over the age of thirty-five or so. That should have been sign number one.
On paper Sucker Punch sounds great. There are a lot of things going for it.
1) It passes the Bechdel test (there is more than one woman, they talk to each other, not about men)
2) Two out of the main six cast are Asian Jamie Chung, Korean and Vanessa Hudgens (above) who is half Filipina
3)It's an action flick that features an all female ensemble. Girls kicking ass. That almost never happens the most recent one that comes to mind for me is Elektra in 2005 starring Jennifer Garner. That movie was terrible. Also i don't think I've seen an ensemble that was fully female before.
But Sucker Punch is god awful. It plays into the biggest fear that people have about female action flicks and made obvious by the audience that watched it with me. The females in their roles are not for empowering the women by kicking ass and taking names. They exist solely for the male gaze. For men to look upon them and be in awe at their femininity and their skimpy clothes while playing out some sort of dominatrix fantasy. Instead of being empowered they are fetishized.
When you look at the plot of the movie this becomes painfully obvious. For those of you who don't know that short plot is a girl gets committed to an insane asylum in the 60's by an evil stepfather and creates a fantasy world to get away from it.
By most trailers for this you'd think that her fantasy world is one where she is a badass and fights strange beings (steampunk nazi's, dragons, and robots). That is actually the fantasy within the fantasy. The fantasy that she escapes the insane asylum with is that SHE WORKS IN A WHORE HOUSE. It also might be a strip club I'm not really sure that is dancing and pimping. And then apparently that fantasy is so terrible that she has to fantasize from within that one that she has a sword and a gun and kicks butt? I really don't get it.
After the movie ended my roommate and I turned to each other and went "Ehhh...." and that still really sums up my thoughts for this movie.
WARNING THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS
Two weekends ago (sorry that I'm just getting to this now) my roommate and I went to see Sucker Punch in the theater. On opening day, in the early afternoon. The only other people in the theater with us were men, by themselves, all over the age of thirty-five or so. That should have been sign number one.
On paper Sucker Punch sounds great. There are a lot of things going for it.
1) It passes the Bechdel test (there is more than one woman, they talk to each other, not about men)
2) Two out of the main six cast are Asian Jamie Chung, Korean and Vanessa Hudgens (above) who is half Filipina
3)It's an action flick that features an all female ensemble. Girls kicking ass. That almost never happens the most recent one that comes to mind for me is Elektra in 2005 starring Jennifer Garner. That movie was terrible. Also i don't think I've seen an ensemble that was fully female before.
But Sucker Punch is god awful. It plays into the biggest fear that people have about female action flicks and made obvious by the audience that watched it with me. The females in their roles are not for empowering the women by kicking ass and taking names. They exist solely for the male gaze. For men to look upon them and be in awe at their femininity and their skimpy clothes while playing out some sort of dominatrix fantasy. Instead of being empowered they are fetishized.
When you look at the plot of the movie this becomes painfully obvious. For those of you who don't know that short plot is a girl gets committed to an insane asylum in the 60's by an evil stepfather and creates a fantasy world to get away from it.
By most trailers for this you'd think that her fantasy world is one where she is a badass and fights strange beings (steampunk nazi's, dragons, and robots). That is actually the fantasy within the fantasy. The fantasy that she escapes the insane asylum with is that SHE WORKS IN A WHORE HOUSE. It also might be a strip club I'm not really sure that is dancing and pimping. And then apparently that fantasy is so terrible that she has to fantasize from within that one that she has a sword and a gun and kicks butt? I really don't get it.
After the movie ended my roommate and I turned to each other and went "Ehhh...." and that still really sums up my thoughts for this movie.
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