It is no secret that for years Asian Americans had been sidelined in Hollywood, facing discrimination and disrespect. You might get a brief appearance of a short Asian nerd with the smell of “kimchi” in his lunchbox in school. And the typical Asian character in a Hollywood film was usually never played by an Asian actor, but by a white actor who played an Asian role. Famously, Mickey Rooney played an especially offensive Asian caricature in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” This is exactly what Hollywood used to do in the past: “yellow face”: non-Asian white actors using makeup to play Asian characters, because most of the production team was unwilling to cast Asian actors, so they directly cast white actors to play Asians. Yet, that film is widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s greatest. Asian American actresses are often portrayed as sex objects or spoils of war. The phrase “Me love you long time” in the film “Full Metal Jacket”, later became a pick up line used by men to tease Asian women.
Depictions of Asian characters in Hollywood show how the entertainment industry has been fraught with racist caricatures and stereotypes. Characters like Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu, Mr. Moto, who were all Asian characters created and played by white men – and were for a very long time the standard for the depiction of Asian characters in Hollywood films. Though characters like Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto, played by Warren Oland and Peter Lorre, respectively, were presented as kind, good-hearted citizens; it is impossible to look at them as anything but racist caricatures. A character like Fu Manchu, who is a direct product of the growing anti-Asian Yellow Peril sentiments of the 1930s and 1940s, presented to white Americans the embodiment of all their worst fears about the growing population of Asians in America. Despite the influence of these representations, Hollywood and independent filmmakers have been able to make films that present Asian characters that are fully-rounded human beings.
Let’s look through the recent history of TV shows, films, and some modern ones, I recommend.
“The Flower Drum Song”
“The Flower Drum Song,” released by Universal Pictures in 1961, was the first major Hollywood feature film to have a majority Asian-American cast. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the New York Times bestseller Chin Yang Lee, who immigrated to the United States from Hunan, China. Before being made into a movie, it was a sensational musical on Broadway. The movie won five awards, was nominated for an Academy Award, and received two Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
“Flower Drum Song” tells the story of a Chinese woman who comes to the United States for an arranged marriage, only to discover that her fiance is dating a showgirl in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The leading actors are Chinese American Nancy Kwan and Japanese American Jack Soo.
“The Joy Luck Club”
However, the success of “The Flower Drum Song” seemed to be short-lived, and there was no film in Hollywood with an all-Asian cast for about 32 years. It was not until 1993 that an American drama film blockbuster starring Asian actors, “The Joy Luck Club,” was released. This film was adapted from the 1989 best-selling book of the same name by Chinese-American writer Amy Tan and directed by Hong Kong American director Wayne Wang. The film shares the story of four Chinese women who immigrated to San Francisco in the 1950s and their difficulties and conflicts with their American-born daughters. They get to know each other through playing Mahjong, and “The Joy Luck Club” is the name of their social club.
With a budget of $10.5 million, the film was moderately successful at the box office, earning $32.9 million in the United States. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
“Crazy Rich Asians”
Asian American films went through a blank period in Hollywood for several decades. It was not easy for Asian actors to get any major roles. But you may have noticed a few familiar faces like Lucy Liu, Maggie Q, Sandra Oh, George Takei, James Hong or Justin Chon … in some popular movies or TV series, but there are no stories that truly represent Asian American in Hollywood.
After 25 years, in 2018, “Crazy Rich Asians,” produced by an all-Asian team, was finally released by Warner Bros. Pictures. An American romantic comedy film directed by Jon M. Chu, written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, and adapted from Kevin Kwan’s 2013 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Rachel, a Chinese-American professor, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick and is surprised to find that Nick’s family is one of the richest families in Singapore. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $238 million at the box office against a budget of $30 million, making it the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the 2010s. It was highly praised for its cast’s performances, script, and production design.
The film received nominations for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Comedy or Musical at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, Outstanding Motion Picture at the 50th NAACP Image Awards, four nominations at the 24th Critics’ Choice Awards, winning one for Best Comedy, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
“Crazy Rich Asians” brought many Asian actors such as Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh into Hollywood and the worldwide spotlight.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” swept the 2023 Oscars and won seven Academy Awards out of eleven nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress for Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, Best Supporting Actor for Vietnamese American actor Ke Huy Quan, Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Kwan and Scheinert, and Best Film Editing. The film, written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, incorporates elements from several genres and film media, including surreal comedy, science fiction, fantasy, martial arts films, immigrant narratives, and animation.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” achieved huge success, grossing $143.4 million worldwide and becoming A24’s highest-grossing film. It is now streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.
Audiences who love Hong Kong’s martial arts and action movies must be familiar with actress Michelle Yeoh. She made history by becoming the first Asian and the second person of color to win an Oscar. You can spot Michelle Yeoh in the 1997 James Bond movie “Tomorrow Never Dies”; “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” released in 2000; “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018; “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” made in 2021; and much more.
“Fresh Off the Boat”
Some comments say the TV series “Fresh Off the Boat” is reverse racism, but it is an Asian American work that can’t be overlooked, produced by 20th Century Fox Television for ABC with six seasons between 2015 and 2021. It became the first U.S. television sitcom starring an Asian American family to air on network primetime since Margaret Cho’s “All-American Girl,” which only had one season in 1994. It is also the first series featuring an all-Asian American main cast to broadcast over 100 episodes. “Fresh Off the Boat” is based on chef Eddie Huang’s best-selling memoir. He, along with his parents and two brothers, moves to suburban Orlando from the Chinatown section of Washington, D.C. The show takes a humorous look at the lives of immigrants in America. If you haven’t watched it, you can find it on Hulu.
“Beef”
Last year, a comedy-drama miniseries released by Netflix called “Beef” was worth watching. It was created by Korean-American director Lee Sung Jin and stars Korean-American actor Steven Yeun and Chinese American stand-up comedian and actress Ali Wong. The story is about two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud. They both have hilariously dark sides, even though they are so different. At the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, it received eight wins, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and acting wins for Yeun and Wong. It also won Best Limited Anthology Series and Television Film at the 81st Golden Globe Awards.
For Asian American artists, the success of movies and TV shows like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Beef” has been a long time coming after facing decades of racism and closed doors in Hollywood.
There are many remaining Asian American stories yet to be told, voices longing to be heard, and creators ready to lead. The recent shift in the mainstream seems to be taking Asian artists seriously, and we hope that we won’t have to wait decades for the next golden era embracing all races and cultures.
If you’re like me and obsessed with Asian American-led movies and TV shows, you might want to check out a recent highly-discussed fiction TV series “3 Body Problem,” which features a lead performance by the Chinese American actress Rosalind Chao, who also played one of the daughters in “The Joy Luck Club” and has appeared in other well-known movies like “Nanking,” “Mulan,” and more. There’s also a Chinese version, also based on Liu Cixin’s novel “The Three-Body Problem”, with longer episodes (30), named “Three-Body” and available on Amazon Prime. Taipei triad action comedy “The Brothers Sun” and the live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” are also good choices. For fans of teen drama, “Never Have I Ever,” follows the story of a first-generation Indian-American teenager, “XO Kitty,” which explores international student life, and a crime drama based on martial arts superstar Bruse Lee “ Warrior” are available on Netflix, and fantasy action “American Born Chinese ” on Disney+. Movies recommended include “Joy Ride,” “Quiz Lady,” “Past Lives” and “The Farewell”on Hulu, as well as “Always Be My Maybe”, “Shortcomings” and “Minari” on Netflix.
To be continued…
