Eurasian actors playing white characters

[kimpossible]

The first ones that come to mind have the Superman connection: Dean Caine and Kristin Kreuk. And I don't want to hear any shit that Dean Caine can't count.

Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.

[achtungbaby]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 4 2002, 06:42 PM
Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.
I think it's a very good thing that eurasian actors can get any roles at all; unfortunate if they don't acknowledge the Asian in them at all.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by achtungbaby@Sep 5 2002, 02:47 AM
Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 4 2002, 06:42 PM
Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.
I think it's a very good thing that eurasian actors can get any roles at all; unfortunate if they don't acknowledge the Asian in them at all.
what asian in them? most of them are just white people functioning only in white culture, except they happen to have an Asian parent at home.

[kasia]

Originally posted by achtungbaby@Sep 5 2002, 02:47 AM
Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 4 2002, 06:42 PM
Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.
I think it's a very good thing that eurasian actors can get any roles at all; unfortunate if they don't acknowledge the Asian in them at all.
except for suzie wong, aka nancy kwan. she actually got to be chinese. despite her unpopular role, i think she's very beautiful.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 5 2002, 02:42 AM
Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.
Who's to say that "normal" characters aren't mixed? I mean, a lot of times, the nationality of the main character isn't even discussed in the show. It's just not pertinent.

[kasia]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Sep 8 2002, 05:18 AM
Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 5 2002, 02:42 AM
Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.
Who's to say that "normal" characters aren't mixed? I mean, a lot of times, the nationality of the main character isn't even discussed in the show. It's just not pertinent.
i guess most of us just assume that they are taking on the role of a white person.

[Shuriken]

This is actually a pretty complex issue. There are those hapa actors who can "pass" as 100% white (Keanu, Dean Cain, Pheobe Cates, etc.) and those who look more Asian (Russell Wong being a prime example). I wish all actors well in whatever projects they do — within reason, of course — and if a hapa actor can/wants to play a "white" role, that's fine. After all, in my time, I've known a number of people who've claimed to be all-white but still had a sort of hapa look to them, the way that David Carradine does.

But I do disagree with assertions like the one that Angel makes: "Who's to say that 'normal' characters aren't mixed? I mean, a lot of times, the nationality of the main character isn't even discussed in the show. It's just not pertinent." I think it's important that a character who is part-Asian have that acknowledged in the work. If a character or actor is hapa but no one knows, what good is that? How does this help to increase understanding of the Asian community by the larger society?

I remember once when MANAA wrote a letter to Saturday Night Live criticizing a particular skit. In the letter, we also observed that the show had never had either an Asian host (this was before Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu) or an Asian cast member. SNL wrote back, saying that since Rob Schneider was half-Filippino, our criticism was misplaced. Well...how many people watching the show knew that Rob Schneider was hapa? Since the audience could accept him as 100% white, he never really constituted an Asian presence on the show. Now, perhaps there were some Asian Americans out there who knew that Schneider was hapa and took some pride in that. But if the overwhelming majority of viewers never knew that — and still don't know that about him — then it didn't broaden their perceptions or understanding of Asian people.

Yes, let's continue to support hapa actors. But I think that the most important activity right now is to push for more recognizably Asian faces in the media. White-passing hapa actors only allow the media to have it both ways: They can claim not to be prejudiced because they hired someone of minority background, but they can also play it safe by playing on the viewers' presumption that the actor/character is completely Caucasian.

[kimpossible]

Just to add a little bit

I don't know if you guys knows who Mark Dacascos is but in one of his interviews he says he has a problem getting roles based on his ethnicity in two ways:

1) He's too white for Asian parts
2) He's too Asian for white parts

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 8 2002, 11:21 PM
Just to add a little bit

I don't know if you guys knows who Mark Dacascos is but in one of his interviews he says he has a problem getting roles based on his ethnicity in two ways:

1) He's too white for Asian parts
2) He's too Asian for white parts
yeah i can see that. mark dacascos is one of those visibly ethnically ambiguous people. i mean more ambiguous than i've seen how alot of hapas are.

[Shuriken]

A sad but true tale: I once knew a hapa actor here in Los Angeles. Several years ago, he was the first actor to be cast in a Chinese American-themed ensemble film for PBS because the filmmakers were so taken by his talent (and he was a very good actor in the years that I knew him). However, everyone else cast in the film subsequent to my friend was full-blooded Asian. When the full cast was finally assembled, the filmmakers decided that my friend looked too out-of-place, so he was let go and ended up not being in the film. :(

Incidentally, this same hapa actor was also once cast as the romantic male lead in a low-budget, B-grade horror movie. This actor and the film's writer-director were childhood friends and always wanted to work together, so that's how my friend got the part. However, the film's producer ended up vetoing the casting because he didn't want an Asian man as the lead. My friend ended up playing a supporting role in the movie and stole every scene he was in. I thought of this story when the Miss Saigon casting controversy erupted, and Asian American actors were accused of "reverse discrimination" against the casting of a white British actor in the musical's Asian male lead.

Speaking of Miss Saigon, don't be fooled when lead Asian roles are labeled "Eurasian" or "Amerasian" just to accomodate the casting of a white actor.

[Shuriken]

Here's another one. Once MANAA started airing our criticism of Mad TV's Ms. Swan, played by Alex Borstein, as a racist caricature, Borstein then claimed to have distant Mongolian ancestry. The implication was that since she was part-Asian, it made what she was doing okay. However, I wonder when was the last time that Borstein checked off "Asian/Pacific Islander" on a census form.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 9 2002, 12:56 PM
A sad but true tale: I once knew a hapa actor here in Los Angeles. Several years ago, he was the first actor to be cast in a Chinese American-themed ensemble film for PBS because the filmmakers were so taken by his talent (and he was a very good actor in the years that I knew him). However, everyone else cast in the film subsequent to my friend was full-blooded Asian. When the full cast was finally assembled, the filmmakers decided that my friend looked too out-of-place, so he was let go and ended up not being in the film. :(
and that's really interesting considering the fact that the whitest skinned black people can be considered black in the media's eyes.

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 9 2002, 08:32 PM
and that's really interesting considering the fact that the whitest skinned black people can be considered black in the media's eyes.
Well, the "black" identity in America has been historically determined. Back in the bad old days of slavery and segregation, the rule was that "one drop of Negro blood" made a person black. This "rule" was probably a byproduct of male slave-owners raping their female slaves and then selling their offspring as more slaves. As long as the son or daughter was seen as "black," it therefore dehumanized them in the eyes of white society and made their enslavement acceptable. Do the names Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings ring any bells? Hemings herself was the offspring of a female slave and Jefferson's slave-owning father-in-law. In other words, Sally Heming's was the half-sister of Jefferson's late wife.

Because of this tortuous history — "one drop" of black blood makes you "black" — most people who are only part-black still consider themselves black. For example, Halle Berry has a white mother but stll considers herself black.

By contrast, the mixing of Asian and Caucasian "blood" does not have as entrenched and institutionalized a history in the U.S. (even though it's probably been going on for just as long). So, whether a hapa person whats to consider him/herself Asian or Caucasian or both or something else is not as overdetermined historically.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 10 2002, 06:44 PM
Because of this tortuous history �E"one drop" of black blood makes you "black" �Emost people who are only part-black still consider themselves black. For example, Halle Berry has a white mother but stll considers herself black.

Well, sorta. Almost all self-identified blacks in this country are at LEAST 50% black. There are very few people at all who are less than 50% but more than 10% black (and many of the ones who are explicitly identify as mixed, not black or white), because over the generations, blacks who appeared more white (starting with the offspring of mulattoes and whites, who would thus be 3/4 white) intermarried with whites and produced kids who identified as white. Their kids then intermarried with whites, spreading the black proportion of genes even thinner. not exactly hypodescent. but a sizable proportion of the white population has a black great-grandparent or great-great grandparent.

[BeTheReds]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 9 2002, 04:14 AM

Now, perhaps there were some Asian Americans out there who knew that Schneider was hapa and took some pride in that. But if the overwhelming majority of viewers never knew that �Eand still don't know that about him �Ethen it didn't broaden their perceptions or understanding of Asian people.


I didn't know that until the mother's day show, when Schneider came with his mom and she said Hi, I'm Schneider's mom, and yes, he is half Filipino! And he looked all embarrased.

As for miss Swan, I didn't know that she was trying to mock asians until asians told me so. I think a lot of people couldnt figure out what she was doing. Her accent doesnt sound particularly asian to me, and she certainly didnt look very asian, I thought they were making fun of old people at first because she was squinting all the time...

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by Bethereds@Oct 25 2002, 07:37 AM
As for miss Swan, I didn't know that she was trying to mock asians until asians told me so. I think a lot of people couldnt figure out what she was doing. Her accent doesnt sound particularly asian to me, and she certainly didnt look very asian, I thought they were making fun of old people at first because she was squinting all the time...
That sounds pretty hard to believe. With her black rice-bowl haircut and occupation as a manicurist (a profession that is overwhelmingly Asian in my neck of the woods), Ms. Swan's "squinty" eyes and sing-song accent immediately came across to me as Asian. On top of this, the character was originally named "Ms. Kwan" before being changed to the more ethnically ambiguous "Swan." How anyone can say that the character doesn't look Asian is beyond me.

[himura-dono]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Oct 26 2002, 01:40 AM
Originally posted by Bethereds@Oct 25 2002, 07:37 AM
As for miss Swan, I didn't know that she was trying to mock asians until asians told me so.  I think a lot of people couldnt figure out what she was doing.  Her accent doesnt sound particularly asian to me, and she certainly didnt look very asian, I thought they were making fun of old people at first because she was squinting all the time...
That sounds pretty hard to believe. With her black rice-bowl haircut and occupation as a manicurist (a profession that is overwhelmingly Asian in my neck of the woods), Ms. Swan's "squinty" eyes and sing-song accent immediately came across to me as Asian. On top of this, the character was originally named "Ms. Kwan" before being changed to the more ethnically ambiguous "Swan." How anyone can say that the character doesn't look Asian is beyond me.
the miss swan skits were hella lame anyway. they made it sterotypical in attempt to make it funny, but not only were the jokes so overdone, it was fairly offensive to anyone, asian or not. i stopped watching at that point.

[BeTheReds]

Honestly, if they were intending to poke fun at asians then they really failed just like Sean Connery squinting his eyes for 1/2 a movie failed to make me believe he had plastic surgery to make him look Japanese. (You only live Twice).

In that movie I think it may have been a better option to just hire an asian actor to play bond after connery went thru the plastic surgery scene and just have connery do all the talking in a voiceover.. but that's a different subject.


I got mad at Mad TV before when someone said they were an expert in Korean folk music before a commercial break and proceded to mock korean folk dancers singing in what she thought sounded like korean but actually sounded nothing like it. "Hanya how how wa hai ya ha na ha wah wah ya haya" is what I remember.

[maldito]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 5 2002, 02:42 AM
The first ones that come to mind have the Superman connection: Dean Caine and Kristin Kreuk. And I don't want to hear any shit that Dean Caine can't count.

Is it a good thing that eurasian actors get 'normal' roles, or disappointing that they can't be 'normal' characters that are mixed.
Yeah, Nia Peeples, that girl on ANDROMEDA, I think she's only half Filipino too. Rob Schneider...can't think of anymore.

[Shuriken]

http://goldsea.com/Personalities/Price/lindsay1.jpg

LINDSAY PRICE (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0697010/)


On Thursday night's episode of the NBC sitcom Coupling, Lindsay Price's character attended the funeral of a relative. Although this didn't include any speaking roles, a noticeable number of the funeral attendees in the background (presumably the character's relatives) were Asian. While no great leap forward, this does seem to be the show's way of signaling that her character is hapa. Unfortunately, Coupling is not a particularly good show. Still, I suppose that even a little acknowledgement is better than none at all.

[nonamerasian]

As for miss Swan, I didn't know that she was trying to mock asians until asians told me so. I think a lot of people couldnt figure out what she was doing. Her accent doesnt sound particularly asian to me, and she certainly didnt look very asian, I thought they were making fun of old people at first because she was squinting all the time...

I'm glad I'm not the only person who didn't get it the first time.

The character reminded me so much of a couple of people I know that while I was cracking up, it didn't occur to me that it was mocking Asians specifically.

I was too busy picturing the people I know with the same mannerisms.

It wasn't until I saw Miss. Swan's job and the woman who plays her out of character that I realised, "A-huh."

[purezero]

http://goldsea.com/Personalities/Price/lindsay1.jpg

LINDSAY PRICE (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0697010/)
Wow. I remember her from the Toys R Us commercial.

[Tao]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who didn't get it the first time.

The character reminded me so much of a couple of people I know that while I was cracking up, it didn't occur to me that it was mocking Asians specifically.

I was too busy picturing the people I know with the same mannerisms.

It wasn't until I saw Miss. Swan's job and the woman who plays her out of character that I realised, "A-huh."
it's weird but i actually found ms swan to be hilarious.....am i a sell out now http://forums.yellowworld.org/images/smilies/confused.gif.

but seriously, i don't know exactly why, but i didn't find it insulting. seems odd i know, considering since I found the AF t-shirts offensive. I dunno, i must be whacky.

[Cipherous]

Just to add a little bit

I don't know if you guys knows who Mark Dacascos is but in one of his interviews he says he has a problem getting roles based on his ethnicity in two ways:

1) He's too white for Asian parts
2) He's too Asian for white parts

So I am guessing hes also too Asian or too White for Black parts as well.

[yoMAMA]

I consider the entire A-F brand to be offensive.....for making people look like fashionless idiots!

:D

[kimpossible]

So I am guessing hes also too Asian or too White for Black parts as well.

Actually, he's slotted to play Oprah in her autobiographical movie on Oxygen.

wtf?

[AliBabaIncorporated]

ahahahaha...aha.

love,
prof. frink

p.s. thankyou for saying that, i've been wanting to but couldn't articulate it in that fashion.
hey come on, you're supposed to be opposed to reactionaries like me. Insult my positions. Abuse me.

Please? Pretty please? :cry:

[kimpossible]

love is in the air

[coagulated fat]

dude, stop tearing up. hell, i can't help it you have some good/real things to say - though most of the time your opinions and thoughts and credibility is questionable and bullshitty. haha. hello hapa knows how i feel about hapas, and so when someone like alibaba speaks my thoughts, completely coincidental i might add, about how white most hapas actually are, i gotta concur.
I concur with your concurrence. I'm white.

[kasia]

The first ones that come to mind have the Superman connection: Dean Caine and Kristin Kreuk. And I don't want to hear any shit that Dean Caine can't count.

why would ppl say that dean caine doesn't count?

[YuheiCarreau]

why would ppl say that dean caine doesn't count?

Because he's only a quarter Japanese, not half. Also because his Japanese father ditched his mom before he was born, and he was raised by his White mother and stepfather.

[yoMAMA]

Yeah, but dean caine is now on TNT doing some weird stuff........i don't really call that acting :p