whitewaching film adaptations of asian franchises
by katherine baiIs Hollywood starting a trend by casting Caucasian actors in Asian roles?
With all the excitement of the Academy Awards that has come and gone, I began thinking about just how much money I have spent on films in my 19 years alive. I’ve seen my fair share of the good, the bad, and the downright ridiculous. I usually don’t take these ridiculous movies that seriously, in fact, my reaction is quite simple: I laugh and forget. However, a couple of movies coming out soon have me particularly perplexed.
Remember that one popular show on Nickelodeon, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”? Well somehow the producers felt that casting Asian roles to Caucasian actors would go either unnoticed or unaddressed.
“The core ideas [of the show] are drawn from Hindu, Taoist and Buddhist philosophy; its character names - Aang, Katara, Toph Bei Fong - incorporate Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian phonemes; and its visual identity is modeled on traditional Asian iconography,” writes Jeff Yang of the San Francisco Chronicle.
So what gives? With such disregard for the show’s Asian roots, the director must surely be racist.
Oh hold on, the director is M. Night Shyamalan, the Indian-born American filmmaker. That doesn’t make sense how could a member of the Asian American community allow such an obviously regressive step in the portrayal of Asian Americans in Hollywood? The show has already won numerous awards and experienced both commercial and critical success, all while sticking to its quintessential Asian influences and anime-style cinematography. It seems only logical to continue this theme when investing in an actual feature film. Why mess with a good thing?
Derek Kim, an award-winning Korean-American comic book writer argues, "This could have broken down every barrier in the business, proving you can have an all-Asian cast and score three blockbuster successes. Instead, we just get three more chances to cringe."
Clearly, Hollywood doesn’t feel that the American public is ready to see Asian Americans cast in serious lead roles outside of the typical slapstick and stereotype-heavy, action films. One very important difference to note is that the television show features animated Asian characters, while the film would be the first live-action portrayal of the show. Basically the public can handle cartoon Asians, but not real ones?
The movie producers must realize that it is not considered progress to make a film adaptation of an Asian show if they are only going to recast all the characters as Caucasian. Someone must have had an ounce of common sense because after a few months, they recast Prince Zuko, who was supposed to be played by, get ready teen pop sensation Jesse McCartney. However, Dev Patel is now taking his place, which is still reminiscent of the “Memoirs of a Geisha” controversy, in which Zhang Ziyi, a popular Chinese actress, was cast as the Japanese lead. It is pretty obvious that Patel was cast to quell growing controversy, especially since starring in the critically acclaimed “Slumdog Millionaire.” Prince Zuko, however, is an East Asian character, not an Indian-Asian one. When will Hollywood understand that we are not so easily interchangeable?
Another film adaptation, this time of the Japanese video game “Street Fighter 2,” fails to recognize the importance of incorporating Asian actors into a successful Asian franchise. The film focuses on the character Chun-Li, a Chinese woman who seeks to avenge her father’s death. It seems like the perfect time for a Chinese actress to take the lead role, yet the producers still ended up choosing Kristin Kreuk. While Kreuk is half Chinese, her appearance only hints at her Chinese heritage. This casting decision implies that society is not ready for a full Asian actress to lead a film. On top of that, the entire film seems laughable while perpetuating typical Asian stereotypes. The trailer features a voiceover with an inaccurate Chinese accent and montages of cheesy martial arts sequences.
Avatar” and “Chun-Li” have such huge potential to promote positive Asian portrayals on the big screen because of the blockbuster popularity of the respective television show and video game franchises. So why are Hollywood producers still following this disrespectful casting trend?
It looks like Hollywood is only allowing Asians to continue portraying token secondary characters rather than giving them the chance to take lead roles in films that should be about them. The fact that an Asian American director can practice such discriminating casting procedures hints at the deep-rooted problems in the mainstream media’s views and expectations. Society has reached a point in which audiences will always expect Caucasian actors to dominate films, even if it means having Jesse McCartney donned in traditional Japanese robes. What a shame.