COUNTERPUNCH
Waiting in vain for Asian American leads
by Robert M. Payne
Save for one point, Lorenza Munoz did a fine job of canvassing
critical views of "The Last Samurai" in her article headlined
"Cruise's 'Samurai': A Battle of Opinions" (Dec. 10).
Unfortunately, the story gave short shrift to the impact of
Hollywood's Eurocentrism upon Asian Americans.
Munoz followed activist Jennifer Kuo's criticism of the movie-it
being one more in a long line of Asian stories told through white
eyes- with a non sequitor: director Edward Zwick saying that the
Japanese have "no problem" with a Hollywood actor making a movie
about their culture.
Zwick's statement does not address the issue that Kuo raises:
"Hollywood's insistence that stories of non-Western cultures have
Western lead characters. I'm sure the Japanese don't mind this
because they have ready access to their own movies with Japanese
protagonists. The same does not hold true for Asian
Americans.
If you're Asian American, you have great difficulty finding lead
characters in your domestic entertainment industry who look like
you.
Hollywood's focus on capturing the majority white audience has
created media role models who are overwhelmingly non-Asian. Rarely
does an English-language Hollywood movie allow an Asian character
to rise above playing second fiddle to a white lead. And an Asian
character will usually be the villain, the sidekick, the buffoon or
the female love interest.
Hollywood has a long history of putting Caucasian protagonists at
the center of Asian and Asian American narratives: "Go for Broke!
(1951), "Hawaii" (1966), "Shogun" (1980), "Tai-Pan" (1986), "Come
See the Paradise" (1990), "Seven Years in Tibet" (1997). The list
goes on.
Especially infuriating are the great lengths to which the industry
will go to accomodate a white lead where an Asian protagonist would
be more logical. For instance, when playwright David Henry Hwang
("M. Butterfly") sold NBC on his idea to turn the centuries-old
Chinese novel "Journey to the West" into a miniseries, the network
would produce it only if the writer would interpolate a white male
lead and an Asian female love interest into the story. The result
was the disastrous "Lost Empire" (2001).
By contrast, top-billed Asian stars in English-language Hollywood
productions are as scarce as hen's teeth. And even commercially
successful works with Asian lead characters, such as "The Last
Emperor" (1987) and "The Joy Luck Club" (1993), have not led to
A-list Hollywood stardom for their actors.
The cumulative effect of this practice creates the impression among
American audiences that Asian people are not as important as
Westerners. If you want to be cool, if you want to be the hero, if
you want to get the girl-our popular culture seems to say-you can't
be Asian. And this message insults Asian American viewers.
Another effect is the constant relegation of Hollywood's Asian
actors beneath a racial glass ceiling.
Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat have all gained a foothold in
America, but their careers were nurtured not by Hollywood but by
Hong Kong. Lucy Liu has achieved a kind of stardom, but she has yet
to headline her own solo starring vehicle, and no other Asian
American actor comes close to her standing in the industry.
Money and markets may very well be Hollywood's innocent motive for
its insistence on white leads. But the undeniable effect-however
unwitting-is racial discrimination, in both the content of the
stories and the industry's hiring practices.
Hollywood can counter this by making more movies with Asians and
Asian Americans as lead characters, not just as supporting
characters. But the industry first needs to acknowledge that a
problem exists, rather than defensively justifying the status
quo.
In the meantime, compare the prestige surrounding "The Last
Samurai" to the impossibility of mounting a serious occidental
historical epic with an Asian main character. Just imagine trying
to sell an American studio executive on the idea of "The Last
Cowboy" starring Chow Yun-Fat.
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Robert M. Payne is a writer and screenplay analyst in Studio
City.
COUNTERPUNCH
