OldBoy

i know it's been an ongoing thing since way back with it all and the exclusion of women and men of a color other than white. maybe it'll never change, maybe it has (of course it has somewhat). but, how in this decade, in this push of equality for all, can Hollywood be so daft and still so racist? not to mention sexist, ageist, any any other ist you want to use.

this occurred to be when watching The Protégé last night and seeing Maggie Q kick ass, doing such great stuff, i didn't even think what ethnicity she was or didn't care. she was a human female doing great things on the medium most of the world sees like any human can. am i'm wondering why the hell does she not have a John Wick franchise or hell, even in more films? i know she's in stuff, has a show now, has had Nikita show where she was heralded, but a movie like this, M:I 3. but, she is awesome and in this day of age Asian, Asian Americans should have way more than now in this day in age.

of course there was Shang-Chi and Crazy Rich Asians, Minari, to name a few that have broken through. but, why not just a normal occurrence? so few and far between and it's 2022! same with any person, male or female of color. why not just seamless branching in society? is it s systemic problem, sure. but why does Hollywood or do you think they don't still discriminate?

RichC2

Hollywood is risk averse, they put their money behind big stars and try to appeal to the broadest demographics. It even took Fast and Furious a few movies to get to where it is now.

Maggie Q is not Keanu Reeves and doesn't have his name recognition or pull in the US. It takes years to cultivate any kind of star power and then you still ultimately luck into the right projects in terms of action flicks. But also The Protégé was released at a poor time and bombed accordingly sending Q to a Fox broadcast TV show playing a burnout.

MLBFan24

Yes, I see it a lot in commercials though. The Asian representation has some issues, in my opinion. I’m Asian, so I notice.

Do I want to expand on that and start an internet argument? Nope haha

And I don’t care enough to get woke about it. Just something I notice.

rocket1312

I'm not sure Maggie Q is the best example of what you're talking about. She's been a lead on network tv across multiple series for the last decade. And I'm sure if The Protege had made $100 million, it would get a sequel like John Wick.

I won't address the issue of seamless branching in society, because frankly I have no idea what you're talking about.

Count Dooku

Because the society it exists in is racist and sexist, so no matter how much awareness of "isms" is raised, discriminatory attitudes will be Normal Operating Procedure.

Giantrobo

Hmm...when i have had this discussion about Asian Representation in films with Asian friends they are generally like "whatever" or "it would be nice but its no big deal". Mind you, when films like Shang-Chi and Crazy Rich Asians come out they go nuts because they see how cool seeing yourself in lead roles in big Hollywood films can be. I remember when Black Panther came out a Chinese American woman i know said," when will we get our Black Panther film?".

The great thing Asians and South Asians as well have is their own Robust Longstanding Film Industries that don't depend on the White Men in Hollywood to finance/make. So it kinda makes sense that they are kinda "whatever".

B5Erik

I don't think Hollywood is racist, per se - but society is.

Hollywood markets to society. They can't force people to go to movies, so when most movies with minority casts fail to become big hits that is reflected in future movies being greenlit or not. It's all based on money and box office numbers.

If Hollywood can make money on Asian or Black or Hispanic led movies, then they'll greenlight them. If they don't believe they can make big profits on them, they won't.

Show me the money! That's the belief system that Hollywood execs follow.

OldBoy

aren’t the people in Hollywood people in society? They aren’t in a bubble which is why I don’t understand the prejudice on such an impressionable medium.

Count Dooku

Dude, you answered your own question.

OldBoy

I didn’t mean to call out Asians, I was merely using Q as an example bc I just watched the movie. I’m talking why all races, creeds, breeds, sex, etc isn’t representative seamlessly and when 1 or 2 come around that break that so constricted barrier, it’s like so rare and we handle with care. I’m sure that didn’t make sense.

LorenzoL

Maybe OldBoy should have asked this question after watching one of his favourite films, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, in which we see a white man with a yellow face playing a Korean with “Asian” accent. That was 1985 and that was awful.

I don’t get why he’s using The Protege, to highlight how “racist” Hollywood still is. I watched that movie and didn’t struck me as racist.

Why So Blu?

Per IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089901...ef_=tt_trv_trv





I haven't seen RW since I was a kid but you could have fooled me that it was yellow face.

LorenzoL

Yellow face, brown face or black face is still the same concept that Hollywood has used for white people to play other ethnicities. Whether, he actually looked like a Korean guy or not, is still the same.

Why So Blu?

I understand, but surface level, one would not be able to tell outright. I had to IMDB and Google that shit.

GoldenJCJ

Exactly. Just because it was really good yellow face doesn’t make it any better.

My dad watched Remo Williams a lot when a was a kid so I saw it a lot as well. I never would have realized Grey wasn’t actually Asian. When I was older and learned that it was actually Joel Grey, I was shocked.

kd5

I'll never understand why the person who is most qualified, regardless of race, creed, sex, or color, doesn't get the job. Why do we have to give the job to someone who is not qualified just because of that same criteria?

LorenzoL

I hope you are joking for this thread. If you are not, I don’t know what to tell you…

RichC2

I disagree with this slightly. Shitty yellow/black face is immediately offensive and tends to purely mock a race.

The full make up chair stuff requires actual thought to derive offense depending on the material given, for me at least.

Paff

Just keep in mind that originally, the studio wanted a white male lead for Crazy Rich Asians, and that's all you need to know.

GoldenJCJ

I will admit that, even though it’s been 30 years since I’ve seen Remo Williams, I never got the sense that Grey was portraying the character as a stereotype or caricature. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s ok but it’s definitely more respectful than, say, Mickey Rooney’s Asian portrayal.

GoldenJCJ

So, in the case of Remo Williams you feel an American of Jewish descent was more qualified to play an Asian character than an actual Asian actor?

LorenzoL

Some of the lines are cringe worthy…

Remo Williams: Do you always talk like a Chinese fortune cookie?
[Outraged, Chiun strikes Remo in his solar plexus. Remo stumbles to the window, partially paralyzed, and in pain]
Chiun: Chinese! *Korean* is the most perfect creature ever to sanctify the earth with the imprint of its foot.

devilshalo

They got it half right.

William Fuld

What are you talking about?

L Everett Scott

You beat me to the punch. Henry Golding (British/Malaysian), Maggie Q (Polish/Vietnamese), Kristin Kreuk (Dutch/Chinese), and Lewis Tan (British/Chinese) have all had starring roles in Hollywood films while it's less common for folks like Simu Liu to be the lead in a mainstream studio movie. At least Liu grew up in Canada and sounds like a Canuck; people of Asian descent who speak with a distinct accent have even less of a chance at starring roles in major Hollywood projects.

But being half-European definitely seems to earn points among the industry decision makers. Just taking a guess here, but maybe the executives/filmmakers are able to relate more easily to actors of partial European descent or they feel that the audience will think way.