21 Revisited

Click here for an article on the “whiteout” that is 21.

21– A missed opportunity.

When I tell people that I was once in Miss Saigon, most of my Asian American friends cringe. Racist show, racist casting, they say. Producers say there aren’t enough talented Asian Americans in the business, etc. etc…”yeah, but that was the early 90s… we’ve come a long way since then.”

Enter “21,” the new movie starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Jim Sturgess. “Inspired by a true story,” the tagline says. 21 is based on a best selling book called “Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich. Sturgess, from Across the Universe, plays Ben Campbell, an MIT student who joins several other students who become experts at card counting and end up taking Vegas casinos for millions. “Inspired by a true story.”

The inspiration for 21 was the real “Ben Campbell,” who’s name is Jeff Ma, an Asian American guy. As it turns out, most of the real life card counters who inspired Mezrich’s book and subsequently the movie are Asian Americans.

Here’s an opportunity for Hollywood to develop a script which involves 3-dimensional Asian American characters that are a departure from Kung Fu/Action movies and what do they do? They cast white actors. Jeff Ma doesn’t seem to mind, and I respect that. But speaking as someone on the front lines of this kind of struggle, the reason that Ma doesn’t see the power that an Asian American face would have in this role is the same reason Jonathan Pryce got hired to play The Engineer in Broadway’s Miss Saigon: He would cast talent over race. And that’s the way it should be.

But why can’t you have the best of both worlds? A talented Asian American? They exist, right? Well judging by what the average person would see from Hollywood or the media, they don’t. When was the last time you saw an Asian American man in something other than an action flick? How about a movie where they didn’t have to speak with an accent? Other than Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, and Better Luck Tomorrow… (have you even seen either of those movies? I rest my case.)

For me the issue is visibility. If we have to be 10 times better than every other white actor just to be considered for a role, then that’s what we have to do. But that assumes we’re even gonna be given a chance to audition. Did they see any Asian American guys to play Ben Campbell? Or did they think it would just be easier to change their races, since the characters, at their essence, were American. Just like Jeff Ma, just like me.

PS: Jim Sturgess is British.

Here’s a little diddy from a 2005 article about Mezrich’s book:

This view is brought about in part by Hollywood, with films like “Ocean’s Eleven,” in which gambling is made to seem exotic and sexy. Incidentally, Mezrich’s “Bringing Down the House” is now being turned into a feature film by Kevin Spacey, who will play the MIT professor who trained the blackjack team described in that book. During the talk, Mezrich mentioned the stereotypical Hollywood casting process — though most of the actual blackjack team was composed of Asian males, a studio executive involved in the casting process said that most of the film’s actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female. Even as Asian actors are entering more mainstream films, such as “Better Luck Tomorrow” and the upcoming “Memoirs of a Geisha,” these stereotypes still exist, Mezrich said.

“Inspired by a true story.” Apparently, we’re good enough to inspire, just not good enough to be seen.

Thanks to Angry Asian Man and the Asian American Drama listserv for bringing this up.

What would happen if I bitch-slapped Yuen Woo Ping?

I just watched a trailer for a new Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie called The Forbidden Kingdom.  It’s a little weird to see a movie set in Ancient China where the characters are speaking english.  What, no subtitles?

What bothered me wasn’t the fact that this is an American Kung Fu movie, or that the characters weren’t speaking Chinese.  It didn’t even bother me that it looks as though the “hero” of the movie is a white guy (a la The Last Samurai).  What really chapped my hide was the credits that flashed across the screen at the end of the trailer.  Executive Producer, Woo-Ping Yuen.  Woo-Ping Yuen?  Who’s…. wait… Say it ain’t so!

For those of you who don’t know, Yuen Woo-Ping is one of the most prolific Martial Arts fight choreographers in the universe.  Anyone who can make Keanu Reeves look like he knows what he’s doing is worthy of praise and this man did it in not just one, not two, but a trilogy of movies.  He also worked with Tarantino on the Kill Bill movies, did Kung Fu Hustle, and Jet Li’s Fearless, and a bunch of other films that we’ve probably never heard of.

See how I said, “Yuen Woo Ping” in that last paragraph?  That’s old school.  That’s traditional Chinese style right there so pay attention.  Chinese names are inverted.  Your family name comes first, and your given name comes second.  If you look at the back of Yao Ming’s jersey it says Yao, because that’s his family’s name, his “last” name.  He’s Mr. Yao, not Mr. Ming.

China is one of the largest collectivist cultures in the world.  Collectivist meaning that the group is held above the individual.  Here in the states we are an individualist culture.  Can-do attitudes and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and such.  One of the ways this exemplifies itself is in our names.  The Chinese put their family name first, then their given name.  Americans and other westerners put their given names first, then their family names.  The collectivist/individualist thing is one of the major things that makes our cultures different from one another because the distinction guides almost everything else in our culture.

It’s just a little sad to me that Chinese people who immigrate to the states are letting go of this fundamental part of their culture of origin.  Yuen Woo Ping is famous.  Maybe one of the most famous people in the world.  And yet, he’s willing to change his name to Woo Ping Yuen to accommodate the American audience.  Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger… is another example.  She’s been credited as Ziyi Zhang lately.  Same goes for the director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower), who is credited in his western theatrical releases as Yimou Zhang.

I have a name that’s pretty hard for most non-Filipinos to pronounce.  Even though it’s pronounced exactly how it’s spelled.  My parents and my sister have all adopted an American pronunciation of our last name because it’s easier for Americans to pronounce it that way.  My dad even considered changing our name so that my sister and me wouldn’t get discriminated against when we were looking for jobs.  But it’s not my fault if you can’t pronounce my name.  You’re just gonna have to work a little harder.  Step a few inches out of your comfort zone, crazy Americans.

What’s so hard about Yuen Woo-Ping, Zhang Ziyi, Zhang Yimou or Yao Ming?  Just because the names are inverted doesn’t mean that we’re gonna be able to pronounce them better, it just gives us another excuse to fuck it up further.  Are we gonna start changing our textbooks to study ZeDong Mao?  Confucius would become Fu Zi Kong, which would really jack up the fortune cookie industry.  If for no other reason than that, do it for the fortune cookies.

So… Anybody wanna come with me to see The Forbidden Kingdom?  It opens on April 18th…

You’re a Brown Man, Charlie Good!

Meanwhile, back in snow-covered Minneapolis, our hero walks into a bowling alley. Taking for granted that the Mira Mesa Bowl in San Diego is right smack dab in the middle of the Filipino part of town, he begins to feel the all too familiar burn of all the eyeballs in the room fixing their gazes upon him. After all, this is Crystal, Minnesota, not Mira Mesa, California.

“I don’t think of you as a person of color.” Rings in his ears from a conversation that took place nearly a week ago.

“Maybe it’s the mohawk.” He thinks to himself.

If this were the old west, the saloon’s piano player would have stopped and turned by now. Soon, everybody will go back to throwing their dark marble-colored balls toward a huddle of white red-necked pins without so much as a thought toward it’s metaphorical significance. And they do.

But the feeling lingers. Our hero’s companions, 4 white people, stand unphazed undoubtedly mulling over shoe sizes and ball weight.

And that, dear friends, is privilege.

I’m so excited I just peed a little.

These days, you can’t watch a half hour of TV without seeing something about Black History Month.  It’s February in America.  And we can argue til the cows come home about why Black History Month is the shortest month of the year, and why it has to share the spotlight with Valentine’s Day, but let’s be pissed off some other time, shall we?

I just can’t wait until May, and not just because of my birthday on the 13th.  I’m excited to see all the programming, commercials, PSAs, and movie marathons celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.  I’m sure that as we speak, there are network execs sitting in boardrooms planning all the tie-ins that will make this May the best Asian Pacific American Heritage month ever.

How about a Happy Days or Mr. T & Tina marathon honoring Pat Morita as the first Asian American to have a lead role in a network sitcom?  Or a WWE special on The Rock.  Maybe AMC will be airing The Killing Fields back to back to show Haing Ngor’s Oscar-winning performance.

With this being an election year and all, we could take a look at Gov. Gary Locke of Washington, the first Asian American Governor in the lower 48 states.  And I’m sure the Discovery channel will take a moment to highlight Ellison Onizuka for being the first Asian American Astronaut in space, who died in the Challenger disaster a year later. 

ESPN’s career highlights of Tiger Woods is gonna be sweet.  Because we all know that it’s his Thai side that drives the ball so well.  And he gets to double dip… February and May just a few months apart. 

Maybe, in between performances on American Idol, Ryan Seacrest could do a history of Karaoke, which was actually invented in 1975 by a Filipino, Roberto del Rosario (it was originally called an SAS: Sing Along System), before the Japanese caught wind of it and made it a cultural icon, then made the rest of us regret that they did.

The History Channel and the Military Channel are undoubtedly in a gridlock over the rights to air a program honoring the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regiment for their sacrifice and contributions to their country during WW2, while many of their families sat in the Internment Camps.

I say let the Military Channel have it, so the History Channel can get started on all the contributions made by Asians and Pacific Islanders throughout history.  Like gunpowder and subsequently fireworks, which we Americans use to celebrate every Fourth of July, not to mention the fact that our 2nd Amendment encourages us to form a citizen militia and gives us the right to bear arms.  Or the fact that the rapidly devaluing American Dollar is printed on paper; and paper itself, for that matter.   Throw into the mix printed books, movable type, umbrellas, metal detectors, tattooing, kites, and yo-yos and we got a great month of TV, folks.

If May is gonna be anything like this February was, it’s gonna be 31 days of party.  We Asians and Pacific Islanders are gonna walk with their heads held high and those of you ”others” will wish you could join our club.  

And you only have 74 more days to get me a present.