Growing up, I was always a huge fan of anything Disney. I played with the dolls, I had a small moment when I wanted to become a princess, but that was me being five. There was one princess who stuck out to me out of all the others: Fa Mulan. She was the biggest inspiration for me and, because of that, I looked up to her as a role model. Yes, she was an animation, but the way that Disney made her look was so strong, independent and she could do it while looking beautiful. I mean heck, where can I learn those characteristics?
And to this day, I still love her and think of her as an inspiration. She wasn’t a princess, but she did learn how to fight for herself and save a damn country. But Mulan was an Asian animation. In reality, there are rarely any Asians who portray the same characteristics as they had in Mulan. But Hollywood, where’s the Asian American representation?
When you watch a film, the men are usually shown as strong and sexy, the A star for sports. The girls are portrayed as sexy, beautiful, smart; the damsel in distress. But have you seen an Asian play these characteristics in a Hollywood production? Never. Asian guys are usually played as the stereotypical smart, good at math, geek who can never get the girl. And as for the girls, they’re played as exotic characters -- in other words, they’re only used for sex.
And when I see someone who is Asian in a movie who is playing against the stereotype, my excitement goes way up and then I end up being a weirdo who ends up doing some research on this person. Just five percent of film actors are Asian. Five!
Hollywood has been whitewashing the Asian culture. Recently, there has been a controversy about the movie “Ghost in the Shell," a Japanese animation released in 1995, in which the actors who are going to be playing the main characters are both white. The movie is about a cyborg policewoman, Mokoto Kusunagi, and her sidekick, Kuze, hunting down a powerful and mysterious man named the Puppet Master. The actors who play these characters are Scarlett Johansson and Michael Pitt; two non-Asian actors.
So, how will they be portraying them to “look Asian?" According to sources, producers will be using CGI to make Johansson and Pitt “look more Asian." But it’s not like this hasn't happened before; many times Hollywood has used non-Asians to portray an Asian character. For example, in the movie "Aloha," featuring Emma Stone, her character is named Allison Ng. She portrays a woman who lives in Hawaii and is of Chinese and Hawaiian descent. In the soon-to-be-released film, "Dr. Strange," a character named Yao will be played by Tilda Swinton.
And don’t get me started on "Avatar: The Last Airbender." My whole entire childhood, animated TV show, my favorite childhood animation, the reason why I continued with "The Legend of Korra," was ruined by non-Asian actors playing my favorite characters. I can’t even continue with this list because it just goes on and on and on and on.
The list of the deprivation of representing Asians in Hollywood is just wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I really do love Scarlett Johansson and especially Emma Stone, and I mean she loves K-Pop. I can befriend her and have her be my K-Pop buddy, but why would there be a need to use non-Asians to play an Asian character?
Hollywood films have not been making satisfactory decisions lately, but in TV shows, there's been a huge increase in Asian American actors. Let's see, Harry Shum Jr. originally from "Glee," now playing a main character in "Shadowhunters." Ken Jeong, producing, directing, and starring in his own show, "Dr. Ken;" the whole entire cast of "Fresh Off the Boat," Ki Hong Lee featured in "The Maze Runner," and many more actors.
It's a whole increase of seeing more actors and actresses who are Asian American to be shown without needing any accent and still kicking butt at it. So, thank you; thank you to those amazing actors and actresses who struggled with trying to break the stereotype for others who dream of becoming big, and for showing that you don't need an accent or a stereotypical identity to prove that you too act.
