Asian cannon fodder in recent movies

[kitty]

I touched on this a little in another thread but do you think there's a recent increase in Asians being used as 'cannon fodder' in recent movies? I'm thinking like Kill Bill and Tomb Raider 2 -- do you think that this is a problem (or in my imagination) and why it may be happening?

[younggiftedandblack]

You metioned something like this in another thread a few months ago.

Martial Art movies feature dozens of asians getting the crap beat out of them, but I think you're talking about a group of asians getting beat up by whites in movies.

Yeah I think you're a little too sensitive about it, but to each his own.

[younggiftedandblack]

KB,

You can't even begin to compare a movie about the Klan protecting the virtue of YT women from the percieved evilness of black men, to a scorned woman seeking revenge.

We're talking 2 movies out of over a hundred put out this year. I could see her point more clearly if a larger number of flicks were put out where Asians were the bad guys getting their asses kicked by a super YT man.

This is along the lines of blacks who complianed about Black Hawk Down because all the bad guys were black (yes this did happen).

[kitty]

well... it's not really about the number of times Asians are shown as cannon fodder, but if you compare that to the number of times Asians are shown in numbers at *all* in Hollywood cinema.

[Blue dice]

well... it's not really about the number of times Asians are shown as cannon fodder, but if you compare that to the number of times Asians are shown in numbers at *all* in Hollywood cinema.
Aside from Kill Bill you do have a point there, hollywood does enjoy casting asians (specifically asian males) as villains. Die another Day is an example of this too. However, that's also counterbalanced by the fobby martial arts heros we have like Jackie chan, Jet Li, et al.

What's more troubling to me is the negative portrayals of asians in most war movies. Look at how asians are depicted in movies like Platoon, Full metal Jacket, or Apocalypse Now sometime. There were plenty of South Vietnamese that fought and died with American soldiers yet the Vietnamese are all demonized as "gook" fodder in those movies. Also, notice how asians on the American side were conspicuously absent in movies like Pearl Harbor even though there were some highly decorated asian veterans during WW2.

[kitty]

I was about to ask -- do you think the portrayal of "cannon fodder" Asians in a war movie like Pearl Harbour is more acceptable?

I actually thought it was interesting how they tried to humanize the Japanese generals -- it just ended up exoticizing them.

Blue dice -- are you referring to the lack of Asian American war heroes?