links for 2009-05-24
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"Nancy Kwan sips her coffee in a Los Angeles hotel lobby, still the lithe, delicate beauty who won fans around the world almost a half-century ago.
She reflects on the difficulties she faced as a Chinese actress in Hollywood, recounting a lunch in Hong Kong years ago with rising star Bruce Lee. She didn't want to squelch his dreams or ambitions, but she knew his hope of starring in the 1972 TV series "Kung Fu" was never going to happen.
"He said, 'No. No. I'm going to do this.' And I said, 'Bet,'" Kwan said of the role that went to Caucasian actor David Carradine. "I had to collect my 10 bucks.'' "
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Heavy Armor wrote:
This article is rather timely given the uproar about the casting for “The Last Airbender” (especially now that the first production publicity shots are being released for the film) and also provides a perspective that is in many ways similar to the one described in the Fade In magazine article.
Obviously, it is not just the Chinese who face this kind of sad treatment (we can certainly add Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian…the list goes on). Even sadder is when when you see these men and women who are extremely talented being reduced to portraying caricatures and badly stereotyped cardboard cutouts to satisfy the whims of a marketer/producer/writer who can’t tell the difference between a kimono from a hakama – and wouldn’t care if they could. Hollywood has had a long history of the “casting one Asian as another Asian” mold – look at Soon-Tek Oh’s career for example.
I do wonder how different “Kung Fu” would have been with Bruce as the title character (of his own show – imagine that), and what that would have done for the spin-off “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.” (Would they have casted his son in that role?) No offense to Mr. Carradine, but Mr. Lee works in a different time zone.
Posted 24 May 2009 at 4:47 pm ¶
Trey wrote:
Is Nancy Kwan the basis of the Kitty Alexander character in Zadie Smith’s The Autograph Man?
Posted 25 May 2009 at 11:11 am ¶
Pheagan wrote:
Heavy Armor–
Offense to Mr. Carradine! For real! He wore yellowface, basically. I mean, this guy stole Bruce Lee’s role with his white privilege. I’d like to ask him about this. I would really love to do a documentary of all the white people that have played Asian roles and have someone ask all the uncomfortable questions that no one seems to be asking them. As young as they are, I would like to go up to the white actors in Avatar and ask them how they can justify participating in one of the most racist casting moves of the decade. Like, is your little Hollywood dream carreer honestly more important to you than developing ethics or awareness? I dunno, maybe I’m being harsh, but that’s how I feel.
The original girl in the Flower Drum Song was supposed to be played by I think Frances Nguyen. Half French, half Vietnamese.
Posted 26 May 2009 at 3:06 am ¶