You know what still bothers me? Emma Stone playing a half-Asian woman in the movie, "Aloha." Granted, I didn't see the movie. I felt like it would make me so angry and I didn't feel like paying for a movie that would just fuel my anger.
The main reason why that makes me so mad is because Hollywood whitewashes everything. Their excuse would probably be that there aren't enough Asian actresses out there to play the role. So your second choice is a blonde, green-eyed, white girl? I'm sorry but have you heard of proper genetics? This has been happening for so long; Hollywood has constantly been misrepresenting Asians.
Such as Chris Rock's terrible Asian joke where he pulled three (adorable) Asian children on stage and blatantly made fun of them and then went on talking about how Hollywood is racist and unfair to African Americans. Aren't we supposed to be in this fight together? Just because one race picks on you does not give you the right to pick on another race. I heard some people say that Asians can fight their own fight and I agree but that doesn't mean he should've done that joke. Those kids looked hella confused. Using little kids as a punchline is terribly low. I don't care if they are Asian or any other race. You can't stand there and preach equality and then make fun of little kids based on their skin. That makes zero sense.
I mean look at them. This was a half-a**ed joke and a terrible one at that. You can preach all you want about race but when you do something like this, you are just as bad as those white people you keep yelling about. You played on not just one but two Asian stereotypes that are insulting and downright disrespectful. Honestly, I have been very immune to these jokes but child labor is a real problem and making fun of that isn't going to take that away. Constance Wu, my hero and the star of "Fresh Off the Boat" tweeted this and it's perfection.
This however brings to light how misrepresented Asians are in entertainment. I never really understood why normal roles have to be given to white people. Why is it that when Asians are in a movie, they play the stereotypical nerd or one that can't speak English properly? Why can't they just be normal people? Why do you have to constantly put us in these boxes that limit us?
"You weren't right for the part" means "Sorry, you're not white."
Why do black people have to cast as "ghetto" or "thug?" Why can't they just be in normal roles? Why are normal roles solely for white people?
I grew up having no one to relate to because the only representation I got in entertainment was Mulan and she's a cartoon. Most Asians in films and television shows I saw were nothing like me. I found myself thinking "I act a lot like those white kids on television but I'm not white. I'm so confused." I had a major identity crisis when I was younger. I was heartbroken when I found out that I couldn't be Lizzie McGuire.
I remember when I wanted to dress up for Halloween or something and I wanted to be Hermione but all my friends laughed at me and told that I couldn't be her and I had to be Cho Chang. I don't want to be Cho Chang. Cho Chang is one of the most boring characters in the entire series. Are you kidding me? But of course, I was put into that category because that was all I could be.
Because of this, I was ashamed of being Asian for a very long time. I became very self conscious and hid away my heritage. I hated being Asian. It took me a very long time but I've come to realize how important and beautiful my heritage is and how being Asian doesn't mean degenerate or unworthy. I learned to embrace my race and I love being Asian but there is a huge problem with the way we make Asians feel about themselves and we need to start a dialogue about it immediately.
We constantly talk about change and equality but we forget that there are more races than black and white.
There is an abundance of misrepresentation and mistreatment of all sorts of different races: Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Middle Eastern, etc.
But it's okay to be racist to these people, right?
No. The answer is no. Just in case you were wondering.
How Asians are represented in Hollywood is terrible. Asian take up a big chunk of this world's population but can't find one person to act in a role meant for Asians? We need to start talking about this. We need to stop white-washing everything and pretending like we don't see it. We can't constantly look over these blatant acts of racism within our own media. We need to take a stand and show that this isn't going to work anymore. We need to band together and realize that this isn't the 1800s and get rid of this racism that is plaguing our society. We need to stop this. We are in this together. This isn't a single fight. We are all in this together. Cue "High School Musical." I'm tired of being Cho Chang. I want to be Hermione.
