Unknown Soldier
Member
What the hell happened to Tetsuo?
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Is Hollywood 'whitewashing' Asian roles?
- Thread starter Dram
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What the hell happened to Tetsuo?
They have to start somewhere. Asian actors (of any sort of asian background) have a hard enough time looking for work as it is. Here was a chance for an Asian to play a lead role (that isn't a martial arts or comedy movie) and they blew it. Their excuse was that they didn't have any bankable Asians, but the white guy they got to play lead wasn't even a popular actor. lol.
Well, it's the handsome leads that attract audiences, particularly white males. As long as your white male lead is attractive and is a decent enough actor, you can get tons of people to see it. Take Chris Hemsworth for example. He did three movies with so-so roles before he was entrusted to play Thor and its because studios know (or rather, studios finally figured out): He's a handsome guy that will get women (the big spenders of tickets) in those theater seats. I think one issue Hollywood is having is also finding a handsome enough Asian-American actor.
Edit: I think that's what a lot of people are missing in this discussion. Hollywood focuses more on beauty-before-acting rather than acting-before-beauty. Handsome male faces sell. Denzel Washington, Smith, DiCaprio, Damon, Hemsworth, Chris Pine. They're able to get people in seats because they're attractive and charismatic. While I don't doubt the charisma of some Asian-American actors, I think there's been trouble finding actors who have the attractiveness to hold the attention of a test group.
In my opinion, it all falls back on the whole "it's a problem with society, not studios."
Audience throws money & studios pump out more, a vicious feedback cycle, yeah?
rollingstart
Banned
The actor was most likely cast because he had the potential to become popular, or something like that. I haven't actually seen 21 or know who the actor is; it's just that a lot of movies are meant to be vehicles for the actor. A recent example is something like The Karate Kid. It's all business.
I mean, I'm sure there's a better argument to be made for independent movies featuring fewer minorities. Justin Lin started out smaller movies featuring predominantly Asian-American casts. As he started working with bigger budgets for studios, the casts became more, um, "diverse." At least Han is still around in the Fast and Furious movies! But again, it's the business side dictating these things. When you break into Hollywood, you start working with other peoples' money and have more cooks in the kitchen to deal with or w/e expression you fancy.
At least there's Harold and Kumar
I'm looking at some Hong Kong movie posters on LoveHKFilm, and that just does not seem to be a problem. Hell, if you check out West Hollywood on the weekends, there seems to be more than enough. And at the end of the day, they can't find something they're not looking for.
Zoe
Member
The most attractive go straight to Asia. The rest are doctors, lawyers, or engineers.
So you saw pictures of handsome Asian males that appeal to their native audiences. Your point?
IAmtheFMan
Member
It's unfortunately a "chicken and egg" scenario, like the poster above mentioned. Also in terms of attractiveness, Daniel Dae Kim has been in those "sexiest men alive" lists or whatever, and has only been able to get at best "consistent" work being in the right place at the right time, first for Lost and then for H5-O. Otherwise I don't think Hollywood is exactly banging down his door with offers.
Even in a stoner-comedy like Harold and Kumar, both leads still deal with the stereotypical "Asian-pressure" problems, i.e. meek, strong work-ethic, finding a S.O that's a specific race, familial pressure to become a doctor, etc.
It's funny that you mention Justin Lin, because I feel like for "Better Luck Tomorrow," he was trying too hard to break this stereotype and portray Asians as "hey we're flawed, and can commit murder too!" to the point where it was distracting.
To be honest, I think you have to go to sci-fi to find Asians in non-necessarily "Asian" roles (Star Trek, Grace Park in Galactica, etc.) Unfortunately these roles don't exactly lend itself to a lot of mainstream credibility because it's... well, sci-fi.
I went to LoveHKFilm because many Asian Americans go there to get work. They should be working here to further our artistic community, but you're right. Those actors were chosen to appeal to the HK audiences.
A better example would be Ken Hirai posted by Shouta. He's very European looking, and could probably "blend into" any American project. ETA: Ah, Daniel Dae Kim is even better, IAmtheFMan.
Zoe said:
That's too true, and I hate that it has to be like that.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
As an Asian-American, I propose we stop using the term "AZN" or alt-cap spelling.
Zoe
Member
Honestly, I don't find Daniel Dae Kim to be all that attractive or at least anything special. Hirai Ken though? Yum.
there are 2 main reasons why. because asians are minority in america and younger generation of asians are raised here(thus, they don't care to support the movies that has asian leads in it.)
if you watch asian movies/show in asia, the non-asians people usually gets small or joke roles too.
if you watch asian movies/show in asia, the non-asians people usually gets small or joke roles too.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Daniel Henney makes better sense than Daniel Dae Kim. Although, I love DDK.
Last I saw it was when AZN Television bit the dust.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
People still use it unfortunately.
Neither is Superman, try casting an asian as Kal-El in the next movie and see the fallout.
Hollywood has a thing called global appeal, look it up.
Why is everyone suprised at what George Lucas said? He is married to a black woman.
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
That's what doesn't make sense though. I go to a movie if it looks interesting. I don't look at a movie and say, "Oh. Ninja Assassins has an Asian lead. Better avoid that one."
It's like the demented thinking of Japanese game designers that people can't identify with a character unless he's a teenager.
Jo In Sung or bust.
Dreams-Visions
Member
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!
but yes, almost all films with minorities in them are seasoned with enough "white" to make them palatable to the larger white audience. definitely all big-budget films.
Welcome to 'merica, Asian brothers and sisters.
milanbaros
Member?
Are you claiming you represent the whole audience of American cinema?
The Main Event
Member
As a (Canadian) asian actor, I believe that's the only way to break out of this mold known as the Hollywood system. Because, well, there is and should be filmmaking besides Hollywood. My experience with some casting directors have been downright embarrassing, the whole industry really is 50 years behind our time. So much that I'm not that interested in being part of this "industry" anymore, and I'm trying to concentrate in doing personal projects that (hopefully) will get noticed somewhere.
Our acting union (ACTRA) has been pushing the idea of diversity in the casting process, spreading short videos related to issues happening in the world of performing art. Problem is, Canada's movie business is laughable without Hollywood, so while the effort is appreciated, their impact is low to none. Maybe SAG should do something similar and address it if it hasn't been done already. I know there's a community that's been trying to push more Asians into the media (East West Players, in LA, where John Cho originated). But again they seem to have little impact.
So until a big Hollywood director like Spielberg or Scorsese back up the idea and decide to cast an Asian American in a non-conventional lead role to prove to the world that yes, a lead Asian actor can drive a movie just as well as Tom Hanks or DiCaprio, then I'm afraid we won't see any change in a long long time, if ever.
Edit: Just a note that female Asian actors seem to do better in Hollywood than males.
Phoenix
Member
I will agree that he makes shitty movies, but the 2 that I've seen are a bit far from reinforcing negative stereotypes. He will generally address negative stereotypes in his films and from time to time use them to make a point in an almost "South Park Kyle moment" sort of way.
This. Everyone's argument seems to be prominently coming from watching mainly american made movies. If you watch some asian movies, you'd notice that there's no white people. Unless it's a karate flick, and they need to fight a muscular crazy looking guy or an evil business man.
For example, in Tom-Yum-Goong, the entire movie takes place in Australia yet Tony Jaa fights Thai people almost exclusively until this guy.
The movie companies make what appeals to the largest demographic in their target audience. The only really bad example I've seen in this thread so far was in avatar and 21.
DiscoJer
Member
The same Scorcese that took one of the best movies from HK (Infernal Affairs) with some of its best actors and remade it as The Departed with the usual cast of Hollywood actors?
Please read the topic...
MilesWebber
Member
Do any movies made in Japan have predominantly white casts?
No? Oh. Okay then.
Edit: a quick google search shows American films that were remade in Japan (including "Ghost", "Sideways" and others) have all Asian casts.
Localization is a thing. And it's okay.
No? Oh. Okay then.
Edit: a quick google search shows American films that were remade in Japan (including "Ghost", "Sideways" and others) have all Asian casts.
Localization is a thing. And it's okay.
pieatorium
Member
I stopped the vid about a minute in when it did the side profile comparison and neither the asian or white face was an actual side profile and the asian one was practicaly squarely front on.
America in general has a geographical bias against Asia. You can see it in the news coverage. Since America is predominantly Christian (which is an Abrahamic religion) we spend a disproportionate amount of time covering regions of the world that have Abrahamic religions. The Islamic Middle East gets far, far more news coverage as compared to East Asia, Southeast Asia and India, even when the headlines coming out of those Asian countries warrants the most attention. For another example, in our Presidential debates a foreign policy discussion generally comes down to a discussion about Iran and Israel. Far East countries can barely get a mention.
Most Americans find East and Southeast Asian cultures way too dissimilar to ours, to the point of being unrelatable. On a spectrum showing the regions of the world and how similar to our culture they are, then most Asian cultures would indeed be on the 'most dissimilar' side of the spectrum. Europe is western and Christian, South America is predominantly Catholic, even the Middle East shares the same religious roots and holy lands, but show your average American an Asian culture which shares no root alphabet and cultural norms, and they immediately think of that culture as "other". This subconscious aversion has probably bled into Hollywood casting decisions too.
Most Americans find East and Southeast Asian cultures way too dissimilar to ours, to the point of being unrelatable. On a spectrum showing the regions of the world and how similar to our culture they are, then most Asian cultures would indeed be on the 'most dissimilar' side of the spectrum. Europe is western and Christian, South America is predominantly Catholic, even the Middle East shares the same religious roots and holy lands, but show your average American an Asian culture which shares no root alphabet and cultural norms, and they immediately think of that culture as "other". This subconscious aversion has probably bled into Hollywood casting decisions too.
AgentChris
Member
Is there any good young up and coming Asian American actors? Hollywood needs to find some; talent similar to Won Bin and Lee Byung-Hun. Those or my two favorite actors who happen to be asian.
shanshan310
Member
Japan has a population that is almost 100% Japanese. It's cinema industry caters only to them. Therefore Hollywood, which makes films in a much more multicultural country and distributes these films to cinemas all over the world should have only white actors? Okay.
Saying "but other places do it too/ have similar problems " doesn't make the problem disappear, or excuse that there is an issue of under representation of Asian actors in hollywood and over used Asian stereotypes.
Yes, movies made in Asia will feature almost exclusively an all-Asian cast... but then again, their countries' population are not like the USA's. White people make up the largest racial group in the States, but that doesn't mean there aren't a ton of non-white people here. Also it's not like they have to fill those roles with Asians only -- I don't see Hollywood doing so great with other minorities either.
shanshan310
Member
But, it's not really that different. I mean, Korea is predominantly Christian...
GoutPatrol
Forgotten in his cell
And the most populous country in SE Asia is a majority Muslim country.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Hawaii 5-0 is strangely, the most Asian-American show out there and probably casts more Asians in roles each year than every other American TV show combined.
I suppose even the producers realized that a totally white Hawaii would raise some eyebrows.
I suppose even the producers realized that a totally white Hawaii would raise some eyebrows.
Chill. My fictional hot Japanese gf had the same problem with the remake.
Yeah South Korea has always been kind of an anomaly in its synthesis with America, primarily the result of amazingly successful missionaries and the Korean War maybe. But they're pretty much the only odd one out.
Here in Atlanta the Korean population is huge. I'll never quite understand why so many South Koreans left an economically prosperous home country to be a minority in America and endure the hardships of language acquisition and achieving citizenship. Maybe they came before South Korea really hit the good times.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Isn't he Indian? They look nothing like Persian.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Look up Korea in the 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s and...you'll understand why. That and many people move over here because they don't want their kids joining the army. (Mandatory for males in S.Korea)
And yeah Duluth GA is Korea 2 as far as I'm concerned.
Dude that's pretty racist thing to say, not all Persians look the same you know.
Sye d'Burns
Member
What? That's like making Steel Magnolias without old white women. Preposterous. Who would even think of such a thing?
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Nope, not at all.
I got angry about the casting in this movie and people actually shouted at me.
I'm sure there's some joke about a bunch of white dudes shouting at a brown guy somewhere in there...
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
Why did you get angry about Persians being white?
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
If the characters were played by people with Persian features (outside of Ben Kingsley) then you'd have a point.
Who would ever believe Jake Gyllenhaal with his American accent is in any way persian?
False comparison. The domestic audience for Bollywood movies is Indian. Meanwhile, America is still a multicultural landscape able to sustain a movie with a lead that isn't a white male.
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