ANDERSON: Offender Sung recently blogged about the “Other” Han, in the show 2 BROKE GIRLS, and how this stereotypical caricature of a character is step back for Asian Americans in mainstream media. Many people have derided Matthew Moy, the actor who plays Han on the show, for his Oriental, foreigner accent, and have practically asked for his head on a stick. But after doing more research on the guy, I realized that I’ve seen him before in other shows, and you know what? He’s pretty damn funny! Check out his acting reel below:See, guys like Sung, and John Cho, Roger Fan, Daniel Dae Kim, Daniel Henney, etc, these are the leading man good looking types. Matthew Moy, on the hand, is a character actor.  Moy is pretty funny. And because of his stature, he plays a certain type of character. He kind of reminds me of Mickey Rooney, another small guy. From the comments section in Sung’s blog, as well as other reactions on the Internet, many people make fun of his size. He’s a tiny guy and perhaps it’s his stature alone that Asian American males, take offense with, more so than his foreign accent and the fact that his character of Han “wants to be so hip?” So can we give this guy a break or should we break out the pillory? Let’s see what the other Offenders have to say…

DHH: I’m leery of trashing actors, who, unless they’re bankable movie stars, have little to no power in production situations.  I haven’t seen 2 BROKE GIRLS, but, judging from the demo reel Anderson posted, Moy has done some good work on other shows with what he’s been given to play.  I think, on TV, it’s the writers and producers who should be held accountable.  They’re the ones who should hear from people who object to his character, because they can improve and potentially even reconceive it.

IRIS:  I agree with David above.  Don’t trash the actor.  It’s so hard to get a role/gig in general.  Unless you’re an A-lister, you don’t have the liberty to pick and choose what roles you’re playing.  To get a job, any job is great and being a regular on a series is phenomenal.  If anyone should be held accountable, it’s the writers/producers.  Personally, I just want to see more Asians getting jobs first and then once we’ve infiltrated, we can rule the world! (Insert maniacal laugh.)

JUSTIN: I’m all for empowerment and accountability.   At the end of the day Mathew Moy should do whatever he feels is best for him as an actor.  Nobody can define that except for him.  The decision to take or not take a role is and should be a personal one.  But once he accepts the role then it comes with everything that involves playing a character that is not well defined and basically a caricature.  These decisions are not only relegated to Asian Americans.  It is present for all actors.  For me it would’ve been cool if he took the role and just fucked with it.  Play the character with the backstory that he learned English from a German soldier and then went to jail for killing his roommate and became a born again or something.  I’d like to see that version.

JEROME: What the hell is a pillory? I am imagining the worst.

So THAT’s what a pillory is!

EMMIE:  In the 2BG clip, Moy isn’t chinkifying the lines (beyond having what I assume is a required accent).  He’s playing a guy who wants to be cool – seems universal.  I understand that his race makes this an issue, though.  I totally feel for my Asian brothers who’ve had to deal with horrible, shitty stereotypes their whole lives.  However, I don’t think Moy deserves any blame.  I’ve also always felt that Gedde Watanabe was unfairly criticized for Long Duk Dong (in the 80’s film SIXTEEN CANDLES . . . some clarification for you whippersnappers).  I thought he did a great job, and I appreciated his commitment to the character and his sense of fun while playing the role.  I know that some disagree, but really, I think the blame lies entirely in the writing (especially), the direction, and the current state of race relations and perceptions.

ALFREDO: We’re missing the elephant in the room, people, and that elephant is the preposterous notion that these two pretty girls in their mid-twenties are genuinely “broke.”  I’m sorry, but life gives passes to attractive people: jobs, sugar daddies, sugar mommies, torn up speeding tickets, you name it.  So maybe these two are spending a little too much of their discretionary income at makeup store MAC, but unless they’re living out of their car, showering at the Y, and stealing food from work, I’m just not buying it.  It’s almost as ridiculous as saying America Ferrara in UGLY BETTY is actually ugly.  Braces and glasses = ugly?

Has that old chestnut not been roasted to death?  And now two hottish girls who we are supposed to believe aren’t gonna get picked up by a nice doctor or lawyer at that diner?   Wait – is the show science fiction?  ‘cause in that case, never mind.

PHILIP: While I agree with the comments above that it’s mainly the writers, producers and other behind-the-scenes folks who are mostly to blame, I think the actor needs to take responsibility for every role he or she takes too. And by that I mean if you’re going to choose to take a “chinky” role, accept responsibility for that–don’t try to create some bullshit justification for why you took the role, don’t downplay its offensiveness, and understand what sort of larger ramification that has on the community. And more power to you if you can do that, but if folks are going to get angry and upset that goes with the territory so you have to accept that too.

BTW, I don’t buy the reasoning of “I need to take the role ‘cause I need to make a living or practice my craft”–I think that’s part of the bullshit justification for making a choice one knows is problematic. Firstly, no one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to be an actor. If you need to make a living, there are plenty of other things you can do. Secondly, there are so many other ways you can pursue your craft without resorting to playing stereotypical roles–Asian Americans are producing their own plays, shooting their own movies, hell, we’re the largest presence on YouTube. The technology and tools to create our own work are readily available to anyone. We can stop talking about empowering ourselves and actually empower ourselves now. And finally, to those who say they need to take these type of roles to maintain a career–that’s more bullshit justification. I can think of a number of Asian American actors who didn’t have to go down that path and they’re doing OK for themselves (like John Cho).

With that said, I do recognize that this isn’t a black and white issue. Emmie brought up SIXTEEN CANDLES and Long Duk Dong–I remember that film came out when I was a kid and it made life very difficult for me as an Asian American kid growing up in the mostly white suburbs. I vowed that if I ever met the actor who played Long Duk Dong, I would kick his ass. Well, not only have I met Gedde, but I’ve worked with him and not only is he a talented actor but he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Suffice to say, no ass-kicking took place and I’m also able to look at the work he did in SIXTEEN CANDLES now and recognize his comedic brilliance in that–racial politics aside, he made an impression with a very difficult role. But the 12-year-old me would not have felt that way.

Interesting that none of our actors have piped in yet. Actors–your thoughts? Actually Sung’s already piped in on his Han vs. Han blog but still interested to hear more from that perspective.

ELAINE:  I have to agree with Phil in that I don’t buy the “I had to take that role” argument.  I think that’s disingenuous.  I’d have more respect for the actor who either genuinely doesn’t care and just wants to act regardless or at least can honestly acknowledge regret over how the performance turned out and any unintended negative impact it may have caused.  Overall I think we all have to own our decisions and call a spade, a spade.  On the other hand, I do think people tend to place too much emphasis on the limited power of day players and struggling actors on perpetuating negative stereotypes.  I find there is a lot of misplaced judgement and self righteous anger leveled at actors who are just trying to figure out how to do what they enjoy and make a living.  In my experience – it’s rather hypocritical as I’ve found that the greatest criticism often comes from individuals who have little understanding of the business and are often not protesting with their dollars as they continue to be active consumers of the kind of entertainment that generally has low and questionable representation of minorities.

ROGER:  I’m a total equal opportunity offender.  If a show uniformly offends all, than I’m cool with seeing a “chink” on screen (because he/she is accompanied and surrounded by the white, black, brown, red lame/retarded equivalents).  My challenge/problem is when everything within the narrative landscape is commonplace and then a chinky, vaudevillian, other-worldly character is introduced who does not compliment the reality of that narrative – like he/she is from another planet.  So instead of laughing with this character, his/her pure design is to be laughed at.  The “Han” character in 2BG is that.  Everything is normal in the diner when all of a sudden, Han is beamed in from another reality to do a song and monkey dance for cheap laughs and lowest common denominator humor.  Everyone else, though slackerish and screwed up in their own rights, are of a more human, soulful essence – something to connect to, empathize with, and adulate.I don’t think Matthew Moy should be blasted.  He did a good job with the role (though I thought the role itself, as written, was unnecessary and lame).  He showed solid comedic timing and exhibited a presence on screen.  I just wish there were enough different, diverse, and rich portrayals of Asian Americans (“good” and “bad”) in American cinema/tv so as to make a role like Matthew Moy’s Han just a small part of the vast media landscape.

Unfortunately there isn’t enough.  Not even close.  And with that, 2BG’s Han resurrects and continues to juice the sour rot of Long Duck Dong and grants kids across America the permission and weaponry to shit on the Asian American youth (and adults) that are so much more rich and interesting when compared to the one dimensions that we unfortunately have to endure on a regular basis on mainstream TV and film.  Fighting! : )

SUNG:  The ‘truth’ is the 2BG character-Han sucks, and we hate the way he makes us feel.  No judgement on Moy, he’s a grown man and accountable for his decisions.  I’m sure he understands this. Plus, everything in life is relative.  I’ve taken plenty of roles that are on the sell out suck list too.  But I’m the one that has to live with it.  I wish it were as easy as people think it is.  Simply, the answer is to change things by doing.  As Steve and his friends would say… The thing I love about blogging is the what comes out in the responses.  Some comments are pretty severe and petty, but at least it’s an insight to what’s really on the peoples minds.

PHILIP: As a writer, want to also add one final thing regarding seeing this from that perspective. One of the writers on 2BG is Asian American and I’m trying to put myself in his shoes–the issues are probably similar to that of being an actor in that position but I think as a writer you have a bit more responsibility for that character than the actor does. But having been in TV writers’ rooms before, man, I don’t know how I’d personally feel about being in that room and having to write for a character like that. That’d be tough. And FYI, on that note, my friend/previous Guest Offender Danny Chun (who writes for THE OFFICE and previously wrote for THE SIMPSONS) called 2BG out on the Han character and ignited a sort of min-twitter war with 2BG’s Asian writer: