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.
November 23, 2012
Hey Phoenix,
I recently read this article about a local Hyundai commercial that 8asians.com deems racist. I’m really curious to see what you and your readers (besides me) think about this–some of the comments say that there is an “Asians are smart” undertone, while the person posting says the company thinks all Asians look alike and are “good with technology.” Other comments think the post is overblown, but I think that the writer may have a point. It would be really awesome to hear your take on it–I definitely agree that we are starting to see more and more Asian Americans in commercials.
Here is the post:
http://www.8asians.com/2012/03/19/asian-american-commercal-watch-is-hyundais-asian-family-racist-or-not/
Thanks,
Jimmy
August 16, 2011
Unleashed didn’t fail because he was a lone asian main. it failed because of bad marketing and the fact that that distributors were not large companies like Warner Bros, or Fox and that it was also a foreign production.
Upon its release barely anyone knew it existed. there were no tv spots for it and no theatres released its trailers. It was basically an indie movie.
August 16, 2011
Even indie movies get cult followings. I acknowledge that it’s a good movie, but almost forgot it existed. Jet Li fans will always love the HK movies he’d done the most. They’re actually written as heroes without the need to prove themselves in another culture.