Is it me or am I seeing more Asians being featured in commercials? I live in NYC, so this is based on what I see on TV and online commercials. This should be a great thing right? It’s like when they started showing more African Americans in family settings with beautiful houses in the suburbs. You know, when commercials started being less “White” and didn’t have just one awkward minority with their thumbs up in the middle of nowhere.
What are you talking about? They're not racist, see?
But according to Dave Chappelle, it’s not just the people who cast the roles, but nature of the people themselves. Stereotypes come from somewhere…
Okay, so if the African American community can have a commercial makeover from “Wazzuuuuuuup???” to Home Owner’s Insurance and the likes, this gives hope to Asians right? ….Right?
The answer is, only if you’re a WOMAN
See, the thing is, Asian women can be seen as sexy or cute… Asian men are… I.T. guys or the funny drunk friend you bring along to parties. Maybe he looks like Ken Jeong. (The Hangover Asian.) Because you only get hired if you look and act like Ken Jeong… Here’s Dat Phan. Why does he remind me of Ken Jeong?
Quick, make cute sexy, scared face and be pretty.
So what is it about Asian men that can’t make them be seen as sex symbols in America? Is it the height? The teenage boy body that stays even throughout their late twenties? Because we’ve all seen attractive Asian females. Sure, they’re exotic remember? They are petite, look vulnerable, not very bossy, quite submissive, look good in skimpy clothing…
Now men can’t look like that. If they’re in skimpy clothing, they need to have rippling muscles. Unless it’s a comedy. Ken Jeong’s case again. He went fully naked.
How did he go from doctor to the only Asian male Hollywood would hire again? Sure, being a movie star is more glamorous and he makes more money but… Somehow I imagine being a doctor was more respectable. Because what kind of Asian role model is he? Please explain why was he in the Transformers movie again?
Even the Asian guy in the Fast Five movie served no purpose – He was in charge of reconnaissance, but when his job came up, he failed – only to have the sexy female take over and have her ass rubbed. Moral of that story is Asian men suck at reconnaissance and women are only useful as eye-candy. I mean seriously, reconnaissance??? He was the ONLY ASIAN in that country. How fuckin’ invisible did he think he was? Perhaps there was another Asian in the film crew. He was in charge of the pulley system.
WTF are you doing with your hands in your pocket like you don't know why you're there, silly Asian man? You drive car now?
WTF is Jet Li's picture doing in the front? We watched that movie for Aaliyah! (R.I.P.)
Stop lying to yourself. You don’t find Jackie Chan or Jet Li sexy. Unless they’re fighting someone or saying something with their funny Asian accent, you don’t even want to see them on screen. Jackie Chan dramas? Jet Li tearing? We don’t understand the words that are coming out of their mouths! So unless an Asian can be sexy, they won’t sell movies. Since Asian men can’t be sexy, Asian men don’t sell movies. You KNOW it’s their Black counterparts that really sell the tickets…
Seriously, when’s the last time you saw an American production feature an Asian lead alone? Ninja Assassin, Rush Hour, any Jet Li movie… Oh wait there WAS The Forbidden Kingdom movie featuring only a skinny white kid, but that movie sucked so much, it only enforced why Asians need to be paired with Blacks to make a successful movie.
No one gives a crap about Jason Statham in “The One” with Jet Li. When Delroy Lindo’s character died (why do black men always have to die in these movies?), you felt something. Jason Statham isn’t funny at all. That movie was a comedy right? So many duplicates of one Asian man running around the universe… It MUST be a comedy. Oh look, Asian man tries to speaks English again!
Oh look, Asian tech guy. That’s original.
August 16, 2011
I said I agreed with you
I still think he look cooler in POTC
Forbidden Kingdom; there are better movies but the combination of modern reimaging, pretty girls, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and less-than-serious storyline make it a good movie.
Jet Li was the lone lead character in Unleash, probably his best movie.
August 16, 2011
Chow Yun Fat holding a gun and smoking FTW. 😛
The white kid in Forbidden Kingdom was so out of place. I don’t even know who he is or how he contributed to the movie. Jackie Chan and Jet Li’s names alone could have sold the same number of tickets. Why they felt a white kid would help the movie is beyond me. It’s the ancient story of a white man saving the day… Kinda like The Last Samurai. Or Avatar… If anything, the girls were cute and the reference to the Monkey King was a nice touch. Not enough Westerners cared though. Most Chinese people just facepalmed.
Unleashed WAS a decent movie… Too bad alone, Jet Li’s movies don’t sell. Check out its rating in Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1145385-unleashed/
August 17, 2011
Would you be happier if it was a black kid?
I’m sure that if Forbidden Kingdom was made in India the would have an indian kid running around with a bunch of asian people.
August 17, 2011
Actually I would have preferred there be no kid. It’s the first collaboration between two people we already know – why was there a kid added? The roles may not have been specifically written for the two to collab (or maybe it was, we’d have to do some reading) but I’d have preferred their first debut together be something epic like Infernal Affairs, aka The Departed. (Most people don’t even know that movie was based on a Hong Kong film.)
My whole rant about adding another racial minority was sarcasm btw. It was to highlight how Hollywood likes to introduce Asians. I understand adding another main character when the Asians’ accent is thick, but what about Asians Americans? The only movie I can think of that didn’t have a third wheel was Harold and Kumar… But that’s just… Stoners have no color LOL.
August 18, 2011
I try not to be too critical of movies as long as the dialouge is not stupid and the story is not retarded. The new Karate Kid movie should’ve been named Kung Fu Kid but I got over it in time to enjoy the movie.
In the end, we already spent two hours to watch the movie. We can be bitter about it or move on.
Or go blog about how we’ve become disillusioned with Asians in American films.
August 18, 2011
Damn these posts are getting skinny LOL. Good thing it doesn’t get skinnier. Longest convo here EVER 😛
I actually liked Karate kid, but I agree it should have been Kung Fu kid. But I guess less people would have gone to see that based on the title… Which is sad.
I write to entertain. Oddly people actually read it… 😛
August 16, 2011
Forbidden Kingdom was a great movie
Chow Yun-Fat played a decent role in Pirate of the Caribbean
I agree with you on everything else though
August 16, 2011
Forbidden Kingdom was a great movie??? *facepalm*
Have you seen Chow Yun-Fat in non American films? At one time, he was voted as one of the most coolest characters on screen in the world, before even hitting the American market. The Western movies he’s in nowadays don’t even come close…
http://myasiancinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/chow-yun-fat-04.gif
Click the image link above. When’s the last time you saw him look like THAT in an American film?