Comments on: Hollywood and Asians: Why Protests Alone Won’t Change Anything

By: Hyunjin

Hyunjin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:04:40 +0000

1)
Marketing (and there lack of) is a huge issue.

e.g.
BLT opened up wider in cities that didn’t even know the film was coming (such as Philadelphia: a HUGE audience of Main Line students under pressure to succeed and who are pretty much left to do whatever they want as long as their grades are good). Compared that to the marketing work that went into BFGWedding where they went mad to make sure people knew about the film BEFORE the film came into town and followed that up to make sure seats were filled. And FYI: I thought “White on Rice” was released last year.

2)
I never heard of any Irish-Americans protests over the casting made in “The Departed” nor a single protest of actor Cliff Curtis playing ethnicities other than his own.

However, there is indeed great umbrage in a great percentage (majority?) of the Asian-American community when Asian actors cross over into different Asian ethnicity roles.

On one occasion, I asked a bunch of Korean-American college students what they thought of a specific actress for a role and the first response was “(frowning) Isn’t she only half Korean? Yeah, I’ll rather having someone who is 100% Korean.”

By: ‘The Goods,’ ethnic media and putting your money down | Harry Mok

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:36:05 +0000

[...] really, says blogger Phillip at YouOffendMeYouOffendMyFamily. He writes that the protests over The Goods and other movies with offensive scenes won’t do [...]

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 18:36:53 +0000

It’s not only on film making that Hollywood is racist against Asians .Like the Academy Awards show, where they credited the original writer of the movie “The Departed” as a Japanese . The script was not written by a Japanese but a Hong Kong resident.And there is also a censure against broadcasting pictures of actors with their Asian spouse. Like the Ellen show, where Josh Holloway appeared as a guest .They would usually show pictures of celebrities’s on the back screen of the stage ,but when Josh Holloway came on to talk to Ellen , there was no mention or pictures showing that Josh Holloway’s wife is Asian .There are so many examples of Hollywood’s racist censure against Asians. Maybe we Asians have to be super rich to have a say at what work is credited to who or what is broadcasted live on television. That day will come , We Asian are rising up.Just you wait………

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:02:03 +0000

One time I asked this question. Why aren’t asians much in hollywood film. And you know what that someone told me? It was obvious to them that Asians were not “Americans” to them. They literally said, “you don’t see Caucasians in Chinese films.” –how would they know. But they were missing the point that Asians too were Americans. ASIAN Americans, duh. So hollywood can never accept Asians into this hollywood culture until the audience accepts them into their life.

By: Danny

Danny — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:21:27 +0000

You should have this mass messaged to every asian-american on Facebook.

By: Joe Yim

Joe Yim — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:51:56 +0000

As of one of the asian/americans who loves movies, I have to agree with Cee’s earlier comments. The main thing we as asian/americans should do first before anything else is,all the asian/americans,I mean chinese,japanese,korean,vietamese,and all the rest of asian/americans should all come together and united first,then we should battle the hollywood’s biased,and racist portrayel of asian/americans,after all hollywood have sinned against asians way far too long.

By: Apathy Killed the Asian American Star « Film Beats (from the East)

Apathy Killed the Asian American Star « Film Beats (from the East) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:06:44 +0000

[...] Hollywood and Asians: Why Protests Alone Won’t Change Anything Tagged with: Asian American [...]

By: If Asian women are considered so desirable why no Top Movie Stars? - Great Debates - Page 22 - City-Data Forum

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:15:39 +0000

[...] Originally Posted by Coolhand68 Woody Allen's films are aimed at a certain demographic, mostly intellectuals and pseudo-intellects and most of whom still associate him with the likes of Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow. Perhaps Soon Yi can't act worth a damn? Maybe she doesn't want to be the star in any of his films? I think the article was written by someone with too much time on her hands and an axe to grind. It comes down to simple demographics…do the math and follow the money. Perhaps the talented Asian actresses are too busy makikng films in Korea, China, Japan etc., where they make good movies and earn a very good living without all the politics and sleaziness of Hollywood. The article was not about Woody Allen putting Soon Yi in his films but it is about him not being insprired to use Asian actresses in his films. Asians in Hollywood are not happy about their current representation Asian Roles in the Media, Continued: Where’s the Love? | The International Examiner Paramount Pictures & Asian Americans: Tarnished Legacy :: The Last Airbender Movie Casting | Activism at Racebending.com Hollywood and Asians: Why Protests Alone Won’t Change Anything : You Offend Me You Offend My Famil… [...]

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:28:19 +0000

Last thing I would like to add is that, you mentioned there were activists in the past and how not much progress came about. You’re right that there hasn’t been a definite change in the Asian community compared to some of the other minority groups, but I feel times are changing. As technology improves, more people would have access to the internet. The more information that is shared, the better people will understand about Hollywood’s attitude’s towards people of color. I’m not saying the internet is a radical thing for change, but it does help.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:36:39 +0000

One thing I would like to add is that whenever there is something we (human beings) experience as being negative, it’s seems human nature that people tend to exploit it. There are people on the extremes and some feel it’s offensive, some feel it’s not, while others just don’t care and want to be entertained. There is misunderstanding with every race, gender, religion, culture, that theirs is better than others and I just feel the entertainment industries (not just the ones in the U.S.) could do more to address the issues people face everyday rather than singling out a certain group.