You are currently browsing all entries tagged with 'Anna May Wong'

5 Asian Americans (Not Named Jeremy Lin) Who Came Out of Nowhere and Made an Impact

  • March 4, 2012 7:04 pm

Just a little over a month ago, if you said that an Asian American baller would emerge as the NBA’s newest sensation, no one would’ve believed you. Yet, that’s exactly what happened with Jeremy Lin. But he’s not the only Asian American who seemingly came out of nowhere to defy expectations and make an impact on society. They may not have triggered anything approaching the levels of LINsanity we’re experiencing now, but in their own ways, the following Asian Americans made unexpected contributions that were just as important.

1) DR. SAMMY LEE


If you think there are obstacles for Asian Americans in sports in 2012, imagine what it must have been like 64 years ago when Dr. Sammy Lee became the first Asian American to win a gold medal for the United States and the first man to win back-to-back gold in Olympic platform diving (in 1948 and 1952). Born in 1920 to Korean immigrant parents in Fresno, Lee learned to dive by jumping into a pit dug in his coach’s backyard because Asians were banned from using the local public pool (except on “international” Wednesdays). From these humble beginnings, Lee made Olympic history and went on to coach future Olympic divers like Greg Louganis. And having spent some time with Dr. Lee, I can personally attest that at 91 years of age, he still has the energy, drive, charisma and a way with the ladies that helped make him a star over six decades ago.  Read more...

Finding Anna May Wong

  • November 15, 2011 7:38 pm

YUNAH

Yunah Hong has made eight films. All of them focus, in one way or another, on Asian American women. Between the Lines: Asian American Women’s Poetry is a one-hour documentary that weaves together autobiographies and readings by 16 poets. Becoming an Actress in New York shows the efforts of three Korean American hopefuls. Yunah Hong has made several experimental films, including Memory/all echo, based on the work of multimedia artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Her new documentary Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words, had its world premiere at the 15th Busan International Film Festival and has been in four other festivals in the U.S. and Canada. The film is scheduled to air on national public TV and she is currently raising funds to secure the broadcast rights to archival footage through a kickstarter campaign. Yunah enjoys exploring NYC, cooking at home and watching figure skating on television with her family.

I spent eight years making the documentary Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words. I wasn’t all that interested in Anna May as a victim – condemned to play stereotyped Asian roles — lotus flower or dragon lady – and shouldered aside by white actors in yellowface. I was interested in Anna May Wong the person. I wanted to find out who she really was.

Not long after I moved to NYC from Seoul, Korea, I saw Anna May in Shanghai Express with Marlene Dietrich. She saves a group of hostages by seducing their captor, a Chinese warlord, and then killing him. She is tough, fearless, and funny. To me as an immigrant from Korea, she offered startling proof that Asian American woman aren’t necessarily quiet and submissive. They are independent and strong!  Read more...

The 25 Most Infamous Asian Villains in Hollywood Films (#20-16)

  • February 8, 2011 12:01 am

Very few things make a movie more memorable than a memorable villain. And Hollywood has a long history of featuring on-screen Asian baddies—both the memorable and forgettable, the stereotypical and the sublime, the “authentic” and the offensive. Every day this week (Monday-Friday), I’ll count down my choices for the 25 most “infamous” of Hollywood’s Asian villains—the good, the bad and the ugly.

Today #20-16…

20) MULAN (1998) 
Miguel Ferrer as Shan Yu

In their continuing efforts to diversify their line-up of animated characters, Disney had originally planned to produce an animated short about a miserable Chinese girl who is saved by a British prince, but fortunately, they wisely shelved that idea and turned instead to the famous Chinese legend of Fa Mulan—a brave girl who disguises herself as a man to take her father’s place in battle. Yes, this version of the story has been “Disney-fied” (I don’t remember a wise-cracking mini-dragon that sounded like Eddie Murphy in the original telling), but it was well received by the Asian American community and became a worldwide hit with its grrrrl power message (this was the first Disney cartoon where the girl didn’t need to be rescued by the guy). Ferrer provided the voice for the vicious Hun leader Shan Yu and he was an appropriately frightening and formidable adversary, especially in the epic battle scenes, which have all the grandeur of a David Lean production.

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The 25 Most Infamous Asian Villains in Hollywood Films (#25-21)

  • February 7, 2011 12:01 am

Very few things make a movie more memorable than a memorable villain. And Hollywood has a long history of featuring on-screen Asian baddies—both the memorable and forgettable, the stereotypical and the sublime, the “authentic” and offensively yellow face. Every day this week (Monday-Friday), I’ll count down my choices for the 25 most “infamous” of Hollywood’s Asian villains—the good, the bad and the ugly.

Today #25-21…

25) LITTLE TOKYO, U.S.A. (1942) 
Harold Huber as Takimura

I’ve already called this out as the most racist, anti-Asian film ever produced by Hollywood. The only reason it’s not higher on the list is because it’s been largely forgotten today. Though this is a fictional story, the movie was shot in a documentary style and marketed with a “ripped from the headlines/based in fact” campaign. Set on the eve of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, good guy Michael Steele (Preston Foster) uncovers a nefarious secret in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo—the Japanese American community’s top business and community leaders are all spies for the Imperial Japanese; led by the seemingly respectable, American-born Nisei businessman Takimura (the very white Huber in yellow face) who vows to bring America to its knees. Of course, there wasn’t a documented case of JA disloyalty in real life, but you wouldn’t know it by watching this xenophobic work that makes the argument that a “Jap,” even one born in the U.S., could never be a loyal American.

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Five Films Where the Asian Male Lead Gets the Girl

  • December 6, 2010 12:01 am

Korean star Jang Dong-Gun made his American film debut this past weekend in the martial arts Western The Warrior’s Way. A number of Asian Americans have pointed out that Jang gets to share an on-screen kiss with co-star Kate Bosworth—a rarity in Hollywood for an Asian male to be both a lead and a romantic lead (watch almost any American film starring Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan or Jet Li to see how chaste their relationships with their leading ladies are).

But as rare as this is, this isn’t a “first” as I’ve heard some folks proclaim. Hollywood has indeed produced other films where the Asian male lead does get the girl (sometimes even “defeating” his white rival in the process). Here are five of them in no particular order:

1) THE CRIMSON KIMONO (1959) 

No other non-Asian probably did more to advance three-dimensional portrayals of Asians and Asian Americans in Hollywood than director Samuel Fuller (see my previous post on this topic here) and nowhere else did he do it as well than in this gritty, crime noir set against the backdrop of L.A.’s Little Tokyo. James Shigeta and Glenn Corbett are best friends and LAPD detectives investigating the death of a stripper. Beautiful Victoria Shaw is the witness who steals the hearts of both men; creating a racially tinged tension in their friendship for the first time. Since this is a Hollywood movie where an Asian American man and a white man both vie for the same white woman, it’s obvious who’ll win in the end, right? Well, luckily, this is Fuller who never did the obvious. Shaw realizes she loves Shigeta and the two even share a passionate and controversial (at the time of its release) kiss in the middle of the Little Tokyo Nisei Week parade.  Read more...

Five Otherwise ‘Stereotypical’ Films Made Better By An Asian Performance

  • October 28, 2010 12:01 am

Last week I blogged about five otherwise decent films ruined by Asian stereotypes. Today, I look at five films (in no particular order) with problematic portrayals of Asians but that contain at least one performance by an Asian actor that make the movies “better.” So without further ado:

1. THE LAST SAMURAI (2003) 
Ken Watanabe as Katsumoto

On the face of it, the plot for this movie sounds pretty ridiculous: White soldier (Tom Cruise) travels to 19th century Japan and becomes the titular “last samurai” when all the other samurais are killed off, then proceeds to retire to a Japanese village to live out his life with his Japanese love. But what gives the film its weight and verisimilitude are the performances of the Japanese cast and, in particular, Ken Watanabe as the leader of the samurai rebels who takes Cruise under his wing and mentors him. Watanabe (who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work) grounds the film with a talent and charisma that appears so subtle and effortless that before you even realize it, you have witnessed the birth of a true American star.

Here’s the original preview trailer:

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The Heart and Soul of ‘The Karate Kid’

  • June 11, 2010 2:01 pm

ALY

Aly Morita is a writer, Asian American activist and daughter of the late Pat Morita. She is currently at work on her first novel at Sassafras Liberty, an artists collective in Tennessee.

In 1984, I was in the throes of becoming a nightmare teenager, having discovered boys, Aqua Net for my spiked hair and the telephone. My younger sister was an awkward nine-year old, looking more like a boy than a girl with her short hair and cherubic face. My mother was in the midst of putting the finishing touches on the house she had rebuilt tooth and nail, the one we had just moved back into—the home destroyed by a mudslide four years prior. My father had only recently rejoined my family after spending a few years in Hawai’i, nursing the wounds he had suffered after the cancellation of his series, Mr. T & Tina, the first network sitcom starring an Asian American. The home we moved back into, my parents’ marriage and my family were barely intact, but the summer of 1984 seemed full of promise.

My father had spent the last year involved with this new movie, called The Karate Kid. He endured endless jokes from my sister and I—the title was so uncool. I was a little embarrassed, knowing my father was going to star in a film about karate—my unformed identity politics just cognizant enough to discern a problem, but our taunting was quieted by the tremendous amount of satisfaction and happiness my father experienced throughout the making of the movie. He was nothing, in his eyes, if he wasn’t working.

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Five Movies Asian Chicks Should Not Take White Guys To See

  • March 11, 2010 3:16 pm

I recently blogged about the films my Asian American brothas should never watch with a white woman they want to mack. Well, I’m all about the equal opportunity and I know there are some Asian American sistas reading this who also have a craving for the white meat. So if that’s you, here are five flicks you should never watch with your white dude if you want to keep him from bolting out your door.

RINGU (1998)

The one that started it all–this is the original Japanese horror film about a girl who seeks vengeance from beyond the grave via a cursed videotape. This is a chick who gets conked in the head and thrown down a deep well–after which the well is tightly sealed. Yet, she still manages to somehow climb out of your TV to fuck you up good. There are people who already think Asian chicks especially Koreans are crazy (not me of course), so do you really want your white man to worry that you’re going to track him down and fuck him up good if he does anything to slight or upset you? Do you want him to think this will happen to him (and yes, that is Hiroyuki Sanada from Lost):  Read more...

An Open Letter to Asian American Actors Regarding Movie ‘Stardom’ (Part I)

  • January 25, 2010 12:52 am

“What was once said of the British aristocracy–that they did nothing and did it very well–is a definition that can be applied to movie actors. For gifted movie actors affect us most, I believe, not by talking, fighting, fucking, killing, cursing, or cross-dressing. They do it by being photographed…Great movie actors have features that are ruthlessly efficient…The point is that a fine actor on screen conveys a staggering amount of information before he ever opens his mouth.”
–Robert Towne (screenwriter, Chinatown, Shampoo)

Dear Asian American actor:

There are a number of things I’d like to say so pardon me because I’m going to skip the pleasantries and get right to the point. Some of what you’re about to read might hurt, but there’s a very important reason why I’m telling you all this which I’ll get to in detail later in Part II. But know this: we are now at a critical junction in our growth as a community. We have a real opportunity to make the type of impact in Hollywood that the generations before us could only dream of. It’s time to step up to the plate and swing for the stands.

Now, “stardom” is a term that’s loaded with all sorts of implications. But here’s the stark reality—currently, there is no Asian American actor we can define as a true star. “What?!” I hear you asking. “But what about Lucy Liu or John Cho or others like them? Aren’t they movie stars?” Sorry to burst your bubble, but none of them are stars. See, there’s a difference between being a star and being famous or a celebrity. William Hung may be famous (possibly the most recognizable Asian American male in the U.S.), but he is not a star. In Hollywood, there’s only one definition of stardom that matters and it is this—can you get a project greenlit and open a film?  Read more...

Original Offenders: Katherine Sui Fun Cheung

  • September 21, 2009 6:07 pm

KatherineCheungWith the release next month of Mira Nair’s film Amelia which stars Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart, arguably the most famous female aviator in history, I felt it was a good time to write about another pioneering aviatrix. She was called the “Chinese American Amelia Earhart” and became the first Chinese American woman to become a licensed pilot. Her name was Katherine Sui Fun Cheung and she is the second individual I’d like to nominate as an Original Offender.  Read more...

Nine Movies Where Asians Die For The White Hero

  • September 16, 2009 1:18 pm

samuraiIt’s almost a rule of Hollywood movies that when you have a Caucasian lead paired with an Asian sidekick or love interest, the Asian character is going to sacrifice his or her life to save (or try to save) the white hero. In chronological order, here are nine major films worth checking out (I’ve tried to point out the good and the bad with each film) that fall into this category.

Broken Blossoms (1919)
Director: D.W. Griffith  Read more...