Mongol

[grimfan]

This is not so offensive as it ludicrously funny. Apparently, there's this new movie about Genghis Khan being made, called "Mongol". Anyway, we think we live in this world where Yellowface is long over, but we are quite mistaken. Not only is a painfully obvious Caucasian playing one of the most famous Asians in world history, he's also a former A&F model! I wonder if the casting directors knew this, and if so, what kind of hatred towards Asians must be within them.

The depiction of Asian men as violent warriors (i.e. samurai, kung-fu super-warriors, etc.) has never been much of a problem for Western audiences to accept, so the choice to cast a white A&F model as an Asian conqueror is very perplexing. But if a white guy can play Genghis Khan, then why shouldn't an Asian guy play Spider-man, or Alexander the Great? Oh no, that'd be heresy.

[lethal]

You realize that this is a Russian movie, right? Filmed in Russia using many languages, none of which are English.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/

I'm sure whatever standards and customs they have in the Russian movie industry, they don't care what we as Asian Americans in America say.

[DragonKnight]

Heh, I thought it was funny as hell seeing 'the Duke' casted as Genghis Khan.

[grimfan]

You realize that this is a Russian movie, right?

So? If Asians made a movie, about say, Peter the Great, I would seriously doubt that an Asian man would play Peter, while Russians would play everybody else. Basically, what you're saying is that Russians are hopeless racists, and idiots to boot since they think Genghis Khan was white-looking.

[rotrab]

There's no excuse for Russians casting a white man when they have more Mongolian-blooded people that whites. It is just pure racism. Hey, maybe Spielberg can direct it and cast Chinese actors.

[yoMAMA]

what's the story about this move?

i have a feeling this thread is a spinoff of another big thread?

:confused:

[kpih]

Uh, because Jesus is also white?

[rotrab]

And Buddha and Muhammad and Zoroaster and Mahavira and ...

[Grasshopper]

And Buddha and Muhammad and Zoroaster and Mahavira and ...

Well I think a Middle Eastern Caucasian could accurately play Muhammad and Zoroaster. Not Buddha, but who knows wasn't he from northern India? He wasn't the fat Chinese guy in the statues. :biggrin:

It is a joke to cast a tall handsome White model as Jingus Khan.

In reality he was probably a short, ugly distinctly Mongolian man probably with bad teeth who had a very worn appearence from his rough life.

He was also probably very brutal and sadistic.

Why do filmmakers like to make tyranical and imperial brutes heroes if you go back far enough in history yet most movie makers are probably "liberals" and leftists who side with the oppressed people against the powerfull elites of today's world. :eek:

[grimfan]

If I see another white Jesus, I'm going to scream. Wouldn't the Palestinian Jews feel a little shocked if their god Yahweh sent them a savior who was a freaking whitey? Not even Latin, like Romans, but an Anglo, which I'm sure many of them never saw before.

BTW, isn't Russia a pretty racist place? I remember back in World Cup 2002 when Japan beat Russia, and Russian students started to beat up Asians and vandalize their property back home. I mean, you didn't see Koreans beating up every white guy after they saw after Germany knock out their country in the semis.

[Grasshopper]

delete

[Hiroshi2]

So? If Asians made a movie, about say, Peter the Great, I would seriously doubt that an Asian man would play Peter, while Russians would play everybody else. Basically, what you're saying is that Russians are hopeless racists, and idiots to boot since they think Genghis Khan was white-looking.





I think the point is that in Russia it's pretty much all white people living there.



I mean, it ain't like anybody's trying to move to Russia anyway, right? Even Russian people don't want to be there, that's why so many Russian women sell themselves just to come to America.

[asvenus]

And Buddha and Muhammad and Zoroaster and Mahavira and ...
dont leave out Ghandi now...and Cleopatra.. :rolleyes:
maybe they'll roll out the boot polish or maybe in this case they'll use some of that 'chinese yellow'..heh heh..i did not just make that up btw..from another thread!!

[Grasshopper]

dont leave out Ghandi now...and Cleopatra.. :rolleyes:


Ben Kingsley played Gandhi in the 1980s movie and he is of part Indian ancestry although he was a rather large man to play the diminutive Gandhi.

Cleopatra VII was of White Macedonian ancestry so she should be played by a "White" actress of some sort.

But of course in most of these cases the actors are speaking something other than the native language. Usually English which didn't even exist at the time these noted people lived.

But few people make a big deal about the language issue.

[yoMAMA]

If I see another white Jesus, I'm going to scream. Wouldn't the Palestinian Jews feel a little shocked if their god Yahweh sent them a savior who was a freaking whitey? Not even Latin, like Romans, but an Anglo, which I'm sure many of them never saw before.

BTW, isn't Russia a pretty racist place? I remember back in World Cup 2002 when Japan beat Russia, and Russian students started to beat up Asians and vandalize their property back home. I mean, you didn't see Koreans beating up every white guy after they saw after Germany knock out their country in the semis.

yep, I heard skinheads are rampant in Russia [probably has something to do with the economic depression after the fall of Soviet Union, it's safe to say it's a place I will avoid at all costs.

[returntosender]

There's a large group of Tibetans that are making a living in Russia. I wonder how they are handling the pressures. I caught whiff of that from my co-worker, an Indian, who said that they mostly do manual labor. Very hard workers.

Anyway, yeah, Russia isn't the best place for anyone other than whites.

[Grasshopper]

Anyway, yeah, Russia isn't the best place for anyone other than whites.

To be honest from what I've heard it aint that great a place for White folks either! :biggrin:

[lethal]

So? If Asians made a movie, about say, Peter the Great, I would seriously doubt that an Asian man would play Peter, while Russians would play everybody else. Basically, what you're saying is that Russians are hopeless racists, and idiots to boot since they think Genghis Khan was white-looking.

The point is "Learn to pick your fights."

Is there anything you or I or anyone here can do about this? No. If someone were making this movie in America or Canada, could we do anything? Quite possibly yes.

Why waste your anger on something that you can't control or even hope to change? Channel the energy into something useful...maybe a more positive and less stereotypical role for Daniel Dae Kim in "Lost." Or write to the producers to try to make sure he stays alive.

Some things we can change. Some are beyond our hope to do anything about.

[grimfan]

Yes you're right. Why should we care about some dumb movie made in Russia. But I was just absolutely flabbergasted at the idiocy of these people.

[mr. x]

yep, I heard skinheads are rampant in Russia [probably has something to do with the economic depression after the fall of Soviet Union, it's safe to say it's a place I will avoid at all costs.
yeah which is ironic considering Hitler basically shit on slavic people

[stupidredhead13]

Ok, i'm going to have to reply to some of the points that were made in this thread. Yes, it is true that racism is generally widespread in Russia, though I think it is mostly anti-Semitism.

As for the general population having more Mongol ancestors than Russian ones, I seiriously doubt that. Though I do find it strange that the person playing Genghis Khan is white, given the fact that much of the population Tatar, Chuvash, Inuit, (or even Korean and Chinese), people who could probably pull off playing Genghis Khan much better than a white guy would. What I find even more surprising is that the actor playing him appears to be an American.

and "Hitler basically shitting on Slavic people" ... >.> well, maybe in the beginning. Then, i believe the correct term would be "pwned"... as in Hitler was, not Slavic people.

[Fireblade]

Hollywood Reporter
Beta takes 'Khan' worldwide
May 13, 2005

German sales outfit Beta Cinema has acquired world distribution rights outside of German-speaking Europe and the former USSR territories for "Mongol -- The Early Years of Genghis Khan," the $10 million epic on the 13th century conqueror from producer Phillip Lee, veteran Russian producer Sergey Selyanov and Oscar-nominated Russian director Sergei Bodrov. "Mongol" traces the story of how Genghis Khan went from being a slave to uniting the Mongol tribes and going on to conquer half the world. Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano will play Khan, replacing U.S. actor Channing Tatum, who dropped out because of scheduling conflicts. (Scott Roxborough)

So yea, a japanese dood is playing Genghis Khan now. Everyone a bit more happier about this now?

[yoMAMA]

So yea, a japanese dood is playing Genghis Khan now. Everyone a bit more happier about this now?

his grandson khubai khan tried to conquer japan.

the rest, you know, is history.

[golden_buns]

So yea, a japanese dood is playing Genghis Khan now. Everyone a bit more happier about this now?

Yeah cuz if that guy would have played Genghis then people like David Duke would go around claiming that Mongols were once a glorious caucasian tribe that came to decline because of mixing their blood with asians

[yoMAMA]

Yeah cuz if that guy would have played Genghis then people like David Duke would go around claiming that Mongols were once a glorious caucasian tribe that came to decline because of mixing their blood with asians

LOL.

[bluemonq]

run! it's the yellow tide! :rolleyes:

[grimfan]

So yea, a japanese dood is playing Genghis Khan now. Everyone a bit more happier about this now?

Yes, I'm much happier, except for the fact that the Tatum guy had to drop out of "scheduling conflicts". He should've been kicked out because, uh, he was obviously not Asian!

Some people are probably going to complain that a Japanese is playing a Mongol, and that they should get a real Mongol to play Genghis. I honestly don't give a damn if a Chinese plays a Vietnamese, or vice verse, etc. I don't think Mel Gibson's Scottish, but he played William Wallace.

[bluemonq]

perhaps i'm too optimistic, but is it possible that they finally saw the (casting) error of their ways, but they couldn't just say, oh, we don't want you 'cuz you're white. so they pile on an impossible schedule, which tatum couldn't fulfill, so it then gave the director a chance to dump him?

[CEBA]

I mean, it ain't like anybody's trying to move to Russia anyway, right?
Wrong! Millions of Chinese are trying to move to Russia.
http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/numbers/11/916.html
"In 1998-2001, a total of 35,900 Chinese opted to stay in Russia, while in 2002 alone this figure stood at 27,200, that is, 200 percent more than the average annual figure for the previous four years. In 2003, the situation did not change much: 23,300 Chinese migrants stayed in Russia. In all, 86,400 Chinese stayed in Russia over six years."

[shaodunan]

yep, I heard skinheads are rampant in Russia [probably has something to do with the economic depression after the fall of Soviet Union, it's safe to say it's a place I will avoid at all costs.
I spend about 3 weeks in moscow and while it was interesting at times,yes it can be a violently racist town.

[CEBA]

I spend about 3 weeks in moscow and while it was interesting at times,yes it can be a violently racist town.
True, it is violently racist city.
I have spent 20 years there and i can confirm that it is racist.
I'm sorry that it is the way it is.

[shaodunan]

when you said 20 years I was amazed you were still alive until I saw that you were white :biggrin:

[CEBA]

when you said 20 years I was amazed you were still alive until I saw that you were white :biggrin:
heh, you are trying to create VERY SCARY stereotype.
yes it is bad for minorities, but they still come and live there.
Even africans!
I'm embaressed that acts of racism happen there, but it is true.
Yet many non-russians succeed there.

[Yeahman]

In theaters June 1 (http://restrainedradical.blogspot.com/2008/03/mongol-in-theaters-june-1.html)
The trailer looks good.

[TB4000]

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808754771/video/7145344

Biopic about Mr. Genghis Khan himself. Should be released wide later this year.

http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/9939/Mongol_11.jpg

Merge this with the other thread, please.

[SunWuKong]

merged.

i am glad they eventually used an Asian actor to play Genghis Khan. it would have really looked silly with a white guy in the role. maybe in Russia, or 20 years ago in the US, it would have looked fine to the audience. but for a character as larger-than-life as Genghis Khan, and him being the lead in the movie? i tend to think the American audience in this day and age would immediately be dismissive of the movie if they see a white guy in the trailer playing Genghis Khan. but maybe i'm just being optimistic. and i certainly think Hollywood is not beyond casting a white guy to lead a movie as Genghis Khan.

[kimpossible]

Genghis is Japanese!

[Banana]

It depends.

If they want to show Genghis as a smart military commander, good looking, sexy, and smart, they'll cast him as a white guy. If they wanted to show him as a ugly belligerent violent simpleton who drools on himself, they'll get an Asian guy.

Roles are the complete inverse of each other.

[yoMAMA]

Genghis is Japanese!

no he's Korean :wink:

[tommyhtown]

no he's Korean :wink:

No, it's a BBQ place

[Sunflare]

Its also a name of a coal mine (http://www.lat-long.com/ShowDetail-14890-Colorado-Genghis_Khan_Mine.html) in the back woods of no name, Colorado. I know you guys could'nt give a flying fuck about this useless fact but I'll say it anyway because it's true.

[TB4000]

It depends.

If they want to show Genghis as a smart military commander, good looking, sexy, and smart, they'll cast him as a white guy. If they wanted to show him as a ugly belligerent violent simpleton who drools on himself, they'll get an Asian guy.

Roles are the complete inverse of each other.

Then it would have starred Colin "git off yer ass and gimme a pint ya nancy" Farrell.

[yoMAMA]

there's also an infamous motorcycle gang named, "the mongols".

[USCTrojanzNo1]

I'm really looking forward to this film.

It sure as hell beats the crap-ass American version starring some white guy from Alabama playing Genghis Khan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXfKe5N_Oi8
**WARNING! HIGHLY OFFENSIVE MATERIAL!**

[j&j2]

Don't forget, in a recent cable TV film about Marco Polo - the producers cast Brian Dennehy to play Kublai.

And oh, BD Wong played Marco Polo's hapless manservant.

[yoMAMA]

http://img.ctb.ru/films/film00025/0_mongol_tiz8_b.jpg

Russian director, Japanese actor playing Genghis Khan, it's the first of a trilogy about Genghis Khan.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-mongol13-2008jun13,0,6092732.story

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article4072043.ece

[USCTrojanzNo1]

http://img.ctb.ru/films/film00025/0_mongol_tiz8_b.jpg

Russian director, Japanese actor playing Genghis Khan, it's the first of a trilogy about Genghis Khan.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-mongol13-2008jun13,0,6092732.story

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article4072043.ece

This film looks pretty cool. Of course, it looks a lot better than that "other" Genghis Khan movie starring Charlton Heston and some white guy from Alabama playing Genghis.

Yes, the actor who played the main bad guy in Kindergarten Cop and a detective in There's Something About Mary is playing Genghis Khan.

Here's the trailer to that Genghis Khan movie I've been hyping. :biggrin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXfKe5N_Oi8

[BillBlythe]

you guys like genghis khan or do you identify with him as an asian? i hear asian guys exalting his conquests and stuff but i don't identify with him as an asian one bit.

[USCTrojanzNo1]

you guys like genghis khan or do you identify with him as an asian? i hear asian guys exalting his conquests and stuff but i don't identify with him as an asian one bit.

He's obviously Mongolian, so he's Asian.

[yoMAMA]

you guys like genghis khan or do you identify with him as an asian? i hear asian guys exalting his conquests and stuff but i don't identify with him as an asian one bit.

I'm Chinese, and in the Yuan dynasty, they ranked people according to ethnicity and occupations in 8 levels.

Mongols were on top, of course, and Han Chinese on the bottom level, the 8th, below even prostitutes, the 7th.

This film looks pretty cool. Of course, it looks a lot better than that "other" Genghis Khan movie starring Charlton Heston and some white guy from Alabama playing Genghis.

Yes, the actor who played the main bad guy in Kindergarten Cop and a detective in There's Something About Mary is playing Genghis Khan.

Here's the trailer to that Genghis Khan movie I've been hyping. :biggrin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXfKe5N_Oi8

LOL...

yellow faced John Wayne also played the Khan...

[Banana]

Least he died from cancer because the set took place on a nuclear bomb site.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

One Mongolian blogger who doesn't think much of the movie:
http://asiangypsy.blogspot.com/2008/06/tengriism-or-new-mongolian-god.html

He's pissed that damn chinks and japs are playing Mongolians and would rather have Mel Gibson doing it ...
Same with the Mongolian spoken in "The Mongol". I mean, Mongolians are not extinct yet, and we still speak Mongolian. We have actors. Instead, we have a Japanese actor praying to a wolven God of Thunder in broken Mongolian, while Chinggis' best friend Jamukha, portrayed by a Chinese actor (the irony, I wonder if they will get another Chinese actor to play Chinggis' general in a movie depicting Mongols' conquest of China) swaggers and spits out incomprehensible Mongolian. Hey, whatever sells, I guess.

To be honest, if I were a director about to make an epic movie about Chinggis Khaan, I'd probably get someone famous too. Perhaps Mel Gibson as Chinggis Khaan.

[yoMAMA]

One Mongolian blogger who doesn't think much of the movie:
http://asiangypsy.blogspot.com/2008/06/tengriism-or-new-mongolian-god.html

He's pissed that damn chinks and japs are playing Mongolians and would rather have Mel Gibson doing it ...

LOL...what a narrow minded idiot.

Mel Gibson?

I bet he's gonna blame the downfall of the Mongol empire on Jews...:wink:

[Banana]

I never ceases to amaze me how retarded some Asians in Asia can actually be. There was some dumbass that suggested John Woo's Red Cliff should be celebrated by the whole world and thus, should have American actors like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise play Cao Cao and Zhao Yu.

I mean, how ignorant can some people be?

[Napoleon Chynamite]

I always thought it was funny how some Mongolian posters online like to emphasize their genetic separation between East Asians and talk about their stronger features or greater likeness to Caucasians or at least toward features more typical of Caucasians or Europeans. It's like, uh...have you guys looked at yourselves lately? There may definitely be more exceptions in the Mongolian gene pool but all in all (at least going by every single picture I've seen online of Mongolians and in real life) I'm sorry, to put it quite bluntly they pretty much look just like the chinks, japs, and gooks they so love to put down.

[mr. x]

I always thought it was funny how some Mongolian posters online like to emphasize their genetic separation between East Asians and talk about their stronger features or greater likeness to Caucasians or at least toward features more typical of Caucasians or Europeans. It's like, uh...have you guys looked at yourselves lately? There may definitely be more exceptions in the Mongolian gene pool but all in all (at least going by every single picture I've seen online of Mongolians and in real life) I'm sorry, to put it quite bluntly they pretty much look just like the chinks, japs, and gooks they so love to put down.

haha, I don't think they've heard the term Mongoloid before

the only reason white people would look like Mongols is if they are Slavs, Hungarians, or Polish who got Genghis blood from the whole "lamentations of their women" thing if you know what I mean.

[FatCatAttack]

Mongol should be better than Forbidden Whiteboy Kingdom at any rate. While in Asian they have their own Uncle Ruckus's running around it seems like they have the situation where the workers in cinema are more clued in to how Western/U.S. media treats Asians.

[SunWuKong]

watched this last night and did not like it. the movie was about 2 hours long, and about an hour and a half of that was Genghis Khan getting his ass kicked. there was not enough of Genghis Khan doing the ass kicking. plus, they tried to make a love story out of it. stupid.

oh well. at least they didn't go with the white actor to play Genghis Khan. it would have been hard to take the movie seriously if they did that. but i thought Sun Honglei, who played Genghis Khan's blood brother, totally upstaged Asano Tadanobu, who played Genghis Khan. Sun Honglei was also the villain in Seven Swords, by the way.

[yoMAMA]

there was not enough of Genghis Khan doing the ass kicking.


that will probably be reserved for episode 2 and 3.

[mr. x]

that will probably be reserved for episode 2 and 3.

which will be from the perspective of the helpless eastern europeans

[TB4000]

which will be from the perspective of the helpless eastern europeans

Something, something...dark side...something, something, complete.

[USCTrojanzNo1]

watched this last night and did not like it. the movie was about 2 hours long, and about an hour and a half of that was Genghis Khan getting his ass kicked. there was not enough of Genghis Khan doing the ass kicking. plus, they tried to make a love story out of it. stupid.

oh well. at least they didn't go with the white actor to play Genghis Khan. it would have been hard to take the movie seriously if they did that. but i thought Sun Honglei, who played Genghis Khan's blood brother, totally upstaged Asano Tadanobu, who played Genghis Khan. Sun Honglei was also the villain in Seven Swords, by the way.

Thanks for the review.

Most of the online reviews appear to be overwhelmingly negative. Kinda disappointed though -- because I was looking forward to seeing this film myself.

[mr. x]

eh, I guess it's hard to say where one stands on mongol hordes. I mean, it's undeniable and kind of admirable the accomplishment it was just in terms of scale and influence on history, which is often maligned by modern western thinking whether warranted or not. But truth is yeah, they slaughtered a fuckton of people.

It's a bit like being proud of your viking heritage