Racism in Hollywood

[dracoon]

I write this as an Asian. After reading an article about Bali being 'exoticised' in the movie <Eat, Pray, Love>, some of the author's words came to me.

 

My music teacher is a Chinese who migrated to America for a certain period of time. On the street she lived on, she was taunted by young white males that called her a 'chink' and a 'yellow freak'. The author himself also pointed out that beside Asians, other races such as Latin-Americans and Russians have always been steorotyped and portrayed as bumbling terrorists or evil villians. Sure, we Asians do have a good laugh about 'ang mohs' living among us but Hollywood itself is a global industry. Are they not sending out the wrong signal to the younger generation, telling them that 'hey, Asians are all stupid and steorotyped'?

[Kai]

Hikaru Sulu would like to stab you.

[dracoon]

You can react with anger with what I'm saying but this is the stark truth. You can always read up on a few movies. Even our own stars that hit hollywood are forced to speak English and are tagged with the word 'karate stars'. Nobody even notices what their acting.

 

Jet Li and Jackie Chan say hi.

Edited October 19, 2010 by dracoon

[Completely Different]

Yeah, there's definitely racism in the movies. Its really sad, but people (or casting directors, at least) really seem to think that a movie can't be popular with an ethnic minority protagonist(s).

 

Personally, I was a little frustrated that in the Last Airbender movie, based on a series of the same name, they changed the races so drastically. For those who don't know, the story is set in an Asian-like fantasy world with one culture being based on First Nations/Inuit- not that you would tell from the movie. Truthfully, I wouldn't have minded much as long as the acting was good, but it wasn't, which makes it seem as though the casting was done for something other than talent.

[War Pig Killer]

Hikaru Sulu would like to stab you.

This.

 

Stereotypes are dumb. No one should believe them. Anyone who believes everything Hollywood tells them is dumb too.

[dracoon]

My sister boycotted The Last Airbender as they had changed the lead, an Asian into a fair-skinned white American in the end.

 

@War: If you have been watching such steorotypes from young, it's ingrained into you. As much as you wanna leave it and try to accept them, it just doesn't happen. That's how unfair the world is.

 

[War Pig Killer]

My sister boycotted The Last Airbender as they had changed the lead, an Asian into a fair-skinned white American in the end.

 

@War: If you have been watching such steorotypes from young, it's ingrained into you. As much as you wanna leave it and try to accept them, it just doesn't happen. That's how unfair the world is.

I boycotted The Last Airbender for that reason among others.

 

You feel that way when you're young, but there comes a time when you have to grow up and reexamine everything you've thought to be true and come to your own conclusions. Everyone needs to go through that at one point or another, otherwise they're just mindless sheep.

[dracoon]

As much as your words made sense, it's just there. You can't stand a average singaporean day without anyone pointing to a white and saying 'ang moh' and then bursting into laughter. And keeping your guard up among foreign workers.

[Syaoransbear]

Asians stereotyped as stupid? Only stereotype I've ever seen about asians is that they are really smart and good at math. And it's mostly true if they were born and raised in their race's home country, since they have a better education system and learn things in grade three that we don't learn until grade eight. Maybe the 'stupid' stereotype and the 'smart' stereotype will nullify each other so there's no stereotype.

 

Hollywood stereotypes everything. If you put a southern character in a movie, they get portrayed as rednecks. If you put a college student character in a movie, they are crazy, sex-craving party animals with no inhibitions or responsibilities. It doesn't have to be race specific.

[dracoon]

I'm saying racism as a whole. Yes, we do get our list of stupid Asian terrorists. And no, I'm horrid at Maths so that is a goner.

 

True, they steorotype everything, yet they are still in the global industry.

[Syaoransbear]

I'm saying racism as a whole. Yes, we do get our list of stupid Asian terrorists. And no, I'm horrid at Maths so that is a goner.

 

True, they steorotype everything, yet they are still in the global industry. 

They kind of have to stereotype. A movie can contain a lot of characters, there's no time to get to know all of them in-depth. By using stereotypes, the audience gets to know the character faster and easier. It's not right, but they don't have the time. Not like when you read a book or something.

[War Pig Killer]

Asians stereotyped as stupid? Only stereotype I've ever seen about asians is that they are really smart and good at math. And it's mostly true if they were born and raised in their race's home country, since they have a better education system and learn things in grade three that we don't learn until grade eight. Maybe the 'stupid' stereotype and the 'smart' stereotype will nullify each other so there's no stereotype.

 

Hollywood stereotypes everything. If you put a southern character in a movie, they get portrayed as rednecks. If you put a college student character in a movie, they are crazy, sex-craving party animals with no inhibitions or responsibilities. It doesn't have to be race specific.

All Christians are good people, all Muslims are terrorists, and all Atheists are people that have had horrible things happen to them that turned them away from god, and only need a little push back in the right direction.

[dracoon]

I'm Buddhist and still very much alive. And no, I'm not going to launch into a religious debate on this one. Dante was a good writer and I don't want to contradict his poem here.

[Nine]

In the interest of making money, protagonists and antagonists are cast based on stereotypes that people can associate with. It's not racism so much as marketing. And, uh yeah, that's nothing new with media =P

 

Cliches can be fun to laugh at too. See how many horror movies you can count that have some of the following: the jock, the blonde prep, the nerd, the stoner, the token ethnic minority, and the average guy who gets the girl in the end.

Bonus points for all of the above!

[War Pig Killer]

I'm Buddhist and still very much alive. And no, I'm not going to launch into a religious debate on this one. Dante was a good writer and I don't want to contradict his poem here.

I'm not getting into a religious debate, I'm just giving some examples of stereotypes in Hollywood. It's not just Asians that get stereotyped.

[dracoon]

I also talked about Russians and Latin-Americans if you hadn't read my posts throughoutly.

[War Pig Killer]

I also talked about Russians and Latin-Americans if you hadn't read my posts throughoutly.

I had - what gave you the idea that I didn't? My point is that every quality can (and will) be discriminated against. If you don't want young people watching movies where people are stereotyped, then don't let your kids watch them. It's ultimately up to the parents to teach them what's right and what's wrong, as well as it being up to the kid when they reach that age that they have to decide for themselves.

[Crisis]

Its really sad, but people (or casting directors, at least) really seem to think that a movie can't be popular with an ethnic minority protagonist(s).

Not really ture. Ever seen Syriana, for example? Hell, in one of my favorite shows, NCIS, One of the team is from Isreal, and shes either my favorite or a close second. There are planty movies with different ethnicities in major roles, sometimes good, sometimes bad.

 

My sister boycotted The Last Airbender as they had changed the lead, an Asian into a fair-skinned white American in the end

If you did that just because of his race, that's kind of stupid, -. But I mean if the white guy was a better actor, he should get the role because he's better at it than the other guy who would have a leg up just because he's Asian. Now if the Asain actor was better than yes, he should get the role. --- Now I know it was set in an "Asia-similar" world, but they weren't in Asia, so I am more understanding of a white guy getting the role. However a movie set in the middle east, I woul expect middle-easterns to get role, Though there are always exceptions depending on the role.

 

All Christians are good people, all Muslims are terrorists, and all Atheists are people that have had horrible things happen to them that turned them away from god, and only need a little push back in the right direction

Not true, and I haven't seen this in a movie...

 

 

 

[dracoon]

Crisis, many movies portray the 'good Christian, bad Muslim' thing. Watch a few movies to get a feel.

 

I totally agree with you, War. Unfortunately, with raging hormones, some teens wouldn't really decide what's good for them.

[Crisis]

Crisis, many movies portray the 'good Christian, bad Muslim' thing. Watch a few movies to get a feel.

 

I totally agree with you, War. Unfortunately, with raging hormones, some teens wouldn't really decide what's good for them.

Such as? I've seen movies with the "good Muslim" feel. If you're refferring to any movie about the war in the middle -east, that's not a bad muslim, that's a bad terrorist theme.

[dracoon]

*smacks forehead* Unpolluted mind of the average teen.

 

 

[Crisis]

I've never even heard of that.

[WereJace]

Whether or not the stereotype is 'positive' or intentional, it is still racism. Specifically addressing The Last Airbender, the casting call itself was extremely suspicious and racist. It's quite likely that the girl who played Katara, for instance, got her role because her father made a significant financial contribution to the production. The callsheet for the leads specifically read "caucasian or any other ethnicity". The original cast was entirely caucasian, until the original actor playing Zuko (one of the primary antagonists) was replaced with Dev Patel-after that, all calls for Fire Nation (the antagonist nation) requested actors of "Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, Asian, Mediterranean, and Latino" backgrounds - non-whites with dark complexions.

 

Using stereotypes to short-form character development is not good writing. It's lazy and it's offensive, no matter who the character is. Well developed characters of color are slowly becoming more prevalent in our media, but plenty of writers still fall back on old prejudices. Character should come first, not cheap shots at the ethnicity of the actor.

[Kamak]

Whether or not the stereotype is 'positive' or intentional, it is still racism. Specifically addressing The Last Airbender, the casting call itself was extremely suspicious and racist. It's quite likely that the girl who played Katara, for instance, got her role because her father made a significant financial contribution to the production. The callsheet for the leads specifically read "caucasian or any other ethnicity". The original cast was entirely caucasian, until the original actor playing Zuko (one of the primary antagonists) was replaced with Dev Patel-after that, all calls for Fire Nation (the antagonist nation) requested actors of "Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, Asian, Mediterranean, and Latino" backgrounds - non-whites with dark complexions.

 

Using stereotypes to short-form character development is not good writing. It's lazy and it's offensive, no matter who the character is. Well developed characters of color are slowly becoming more prevalent in our media, but plenty of writers still fall back on old prejudices. Character should come first, not cheap shots at the ethnicity of the actor.

All the same, it'd be just as racist to me of they denied someone the role in favor of someone less qualified because they had the right complexion. Yes the series was written to use the races in a symbolic way, but to go out and specifically cast everyone according to the races of the show would be just as bad if not worse than casting a Caucasian in a role that originally in the show was played by an Asian...

 

However, all the same, sometimes race is needed. You certainly wouldn't cast an Asian to play the role of Harriet Tubman in a play, but that's more along the lines of historical accuracy and accuracy to the script. As far as I know, the characters of Avatar never bring up race in the show, and many (as I've been told, since I don't watch the series) are even able to hide among people of another race. Obviously the issue isn't important in their world, so why would it matter to be accurate in the movie?

 

-K-

[TikindiDragon]

They do the same thing with nationalities as well as races. There's precious few Hollywood movies where there's an English 'good guy' for example - and even the ones that are supposedly on the 'good' side tend to have slightly rough/evil personalities.