While there have been some (long overdue) apologies made for America’s former anti-Asian policies, the racist sentiments they reflected continue to be perpetuated in our movies, TV shows, and popular culture. It’s about time Hollywood took a walk of shame.
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I listened to a podcast with George Takei recently, and he pointed out how progressive Star Trek actually was and how much it meant for him to be not just a comedic role or a villain, but a recurring character who was also the best pilot on Earth and a Lieutenant, too.
ReplyYes we want less Mark Wahlberg
ReplySarah Silverman, Conan and Bill Maher think calling Asian “Chinks” is to raise awareness of discrimination. But they are still considered “woke”.
ReplyOk, I mostly agree, but jokes ABOUT Asian stereotypes are not actually Asian stereotypes. I know, I know, this is a common point raised whenever talking about comedy, but it never seems to sink in: if I make a joke about a chicken crossing a road, it doesn’t reflect my real beliefs about chickens. So Wahlberg (and Jeong and McFarlane) weren’t being racist in Ted; they were ridiculing racism, laughing at it. Whether you think that’s good or bad, it’s disingenuous to suggest they’re really racist (Wahlberg’s past actions as a teen being another subject entirely, of course).
Similarly, I never saw Full Metal Jacket, and I kmow that scene is used by racists, but was it racist originally? It is racist to have an Asian use an Asian accent? Yeun put on a strong one in Minari — was that racist? I think it’s kinda racist to think that there’s anything wrong with an Asian having an Asian accent — like, what’s wrong with having an accent? It’s a second language — of course there’ll be an accent. It’s impressive to speak two languages, accent or not.
That said, I’m happy that Asians have roles other than stereotypes; more than Minari, which I found kinda boring, I preferred something like Yeun’s Glenn im Walking Dead, who just happened to be Asian but was more importantly a human in an interesting story. Stories about other cultures can be interesting too and so it’s all good stuff, but I think Minari just wasn’t a strong example of it. But in any case there was huge racism in past portrayals, and representation is important in culture.
But don’t go finding racism where it isn’t there — that only hurts the cause.
ReplyThere’s should be many asians-americans in movies, more of them!
ReplyKeanu Reeves is part chinese
ReplySo true, but she might have mentioned Toshiro Mifune and his samurai movies. He was our first Super Hero.
ReplyNearly all movies use stereotypes, among all races, but it doesn’t mean the stereotypes are necessarily bad. A movie stereotype can also be historical or a reflection of actual life. The issue with stereotypes is when they are intentionally used to demean, misinform, suggest that only that stereotype exists, etc. Nearly every stereotype has a real-life counterpart (It’s why the stereotype exists in the first place.) There is a line that has to be crossed before using such stereotype was wrong.
Replyand of course, George Takei in his role on Star Trek. Not *the* lead character, but he was certainly one of the major players in it.
ReplyAnd here I was-thinking that Asian Americans were a perfectly integrated part of society, admired for their diligence and hard work and their success in among other things scientific areas, music, etc.. I cannot fathom that there is also anti Asian racism around but have now learned that it even occurs between other minorities and Asian Americans.
ReplyWhy people have to make life miserable for others instead of helping each other is beyond me.
H do it with every race
ReplyEmma Stone was only 1/4 Asian in Hawaii….and it’s debatable that it was even a movie…
ReplyAnime? Hong Kong action cinema? Oops, those are Asian stereotypes perpetuated by Asians.
Reply3 words: Flower Drum Song.
ReplyThree, two, three, four
Four, two, three, AND!
These men are pawns.
ReplyThen there are BTS, BLACKPINK, and other Kpop stars who are some of the biggest, popular, and yes, best-selling artists in the world.
ReplyRiz Ahmed has also been nominated and he is also Asian.
ReplyI always love a good reminder that Mark Wahlberg is trash.
ReplyI never saw that movie with John Wayne only saw a little Snippets. But it looked awful just awful.
ReplyLike every other minority, just not as bad.
ReplyThe weirdest part is that the reason Tilda Swinton played The Ancient One is because China said that they didn’t want Marvel to have the character portrayed as a Tibetan monk, so they changed it to a Celtic mystic.
ReplySam, we don’t want Polanski too.
ReplyOh Samantha Bee, are you the biggest hypocrite on TV these days, maybe yes…you continously try to make ratings on this white people bad, everyone else good nonsense and yet, if you really felt that way, wouldn’t you step down from your show and give the job to some minority??? You are all talk, no walk.
ReplyI love that people are FINALLY no longer afraid to bring up the fact that Mark Wahlberg is a violent racist who commits hate crimes.
ReplyWasn’t David Carradine brought in to play Caine on the series Kung Fu instead of Bruce Lee?
ReplyEven when the leading man was actually an East-Asian, he was a martial arts expert like Bruce Lee.
ReplyThe only people making the argument that representation doesn’t matter are the ones who have it, who get to see all of themselves represented all day every day every where! Of course it doesn’t matter to them.
ReplyUnfortunately, prostitution in Thailand, Philippines – thanks to former US bases, sexualized asian women
ReplyNo mention of a courageous actor, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita. I admire him.
ReplyAnd though it’s not as bad as it once was, let’s not forget movies and TV shows having Asians speaking in “Charlie Chan”-syntax, where they know the proper use of polysyllabic words like “exquisite” but don’t use articles or pronouns. I know I never met any Asian people who spoke like that.
ReplyLookin’ at you, Micky Rooney…
ReplyThat John Wayne clip is cringe
ReplyI needs me some more BEE!
ReplyGrowing up, Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle was the only positive Asian representation that I could relate to. That movie was ahead of its time.
Reply0:01 Samantha Bee forgot to look at her own callousness when she, on this show, mocked the idea of Andrew Yang running for President. That’s political showbiz.
ReplyThat Calgon ad could’ve easily said “family secret” and the joke would’ve landed as intended and not been racist.
ReplyHigh school plays like The King & I still whitewash the King by casting the popular white boy to play yellowface. I’m sure if the student body hadn’t mocked Asians, particularly Asian boys, they would have had more self-esteem or less embarrassment over auditioning for roles that were “meant” for popular white kids to play.
ReplyRe Scarlett Johannsen’s “whitewashing” of Major in Ghost int he Shell, I have to say in their defence, have you seen the original anime? Or any anime? Many of the characters are down to look more anglo than asian! Many asians see white skin as preferable for whatever reason, so they anglo-case the characters they draw, enlarging and rounding the eyes and lightening the skin tone.
ReplySticking Major’s brain in the body of a European-looking robot to me was just another way to show how she’d been violated and had her identity taken away from her without consent.
And I’m half Chinese so I absolutely get where the genuine disgust at asian portrayals is coming from, because I’ve had it my whole life too.
Sad about Crazy Rich Asians was that it focused completely on Han Chinese rather than native people. It would be like a movie on South Africa with only white people.
ReplyI think America may be the only country taking accountability for stereotyping other races. Here in India movies stereotype Americans, Chinese and Europeans like crazy!
ReplyAsian face john wayne is the stuff of nightmares
ReplyMyrna Loy ended up playing Asian roles too while Anna May Wong was around.
Replywho’s to be BLAMED? taiwan province of China SMALL brain pro-independence spreading Chinese ethnics HATRED, now their dumb actions backfired.
ReplyISO 3166-2 International Organization for Standardization ISO code. Retrieved 2020-08-26. Short name TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA. taiwan is included as a subdivision of China because of its political status within the United Nations, as, even though it is de facto under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China instead of the People’s Republic of China, the United Nations does not recognize the Republic of China and considers taiwan as part of China. In ISO 3166-1, taiwan is listed as “Taiwan, Province of China”
Sam you just ruined transformers for me with that Mark Wahlberg comment. Oh wait.
ReplyOups, I googled it…Sorry Mark.
ReplyThanks for mentioning Wahlbergs bigotry. Wahlberg has a repetitive racist history, maiming and hospitalizing people of color. Yet Hollywood continues to hire him. Even Kimmel had him on days ago.
ReplyTo end systemic racism, maybe stop celebrating racist actors.
‘Kim’s Convenience’…good or not so much? Come home, Sam, btw. <3
ReplyHollywood has always casts Asian females with white males as well. It seems like 95% of the Asian female roles are meant to be exotic wives/girlfriends. Very impressionable to young Asian viewers.
ReplyI’m so tired of tv shows that will only have Asian actors as lead roles if it involve martial arts. I promise you, we do not all know how to fight… If we all know martial arts, trust me, there wouldn’t be any uptake on anti-Asian crimes… There will just be a lot of racists ended up at hospitals.
ReplyLove Agents of Shield, they have 2 amazing Asian women playing lead roles
ReplyBrainwashing
ReplyNot only are the white actors offensive, we have big noses, couldn’t pull it off even with less racist accessories.
ReplyEveryone please remember the name Kim Wong Ark – the man who fought the anti-Asian immigration acts and won!
ReplyAsian American doesn’t just equal East Asian. I think it’s great to call out Anti-Asian racism in Hollywood but South Asians, Middle Easterners, Southeast Asians, etc are Asian too. Riz Ahmed was another actor of Asian descent nominated for lead actor this year, yet you ignored his accomplishment. He’s not less Asian just because he’s brown.
ReplyWhat about the noxious Grammarly ads that show an Asian woman?
ReplyRace baiting dingbat. You are as about as funny as a load of piles!
ReplySamantha Bee is a racist privileged white woman giving lectures on Hollywood’s walk of shame, all the while cashing in on anti-Asian policies!
ReplyThank you for this
ReplyTo All The Boys!
ReplyProgressiveness means remembering the past, and not moving forward. It also means being offended by everything.
Replythe last air bender, dragonball evolution, the last samurai, and the great wall are some dishonorable mentions.
ReplyAlso recommended: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, featuring a diverse cast including a Filipino guy as the main love interest.
ReplyNow Asians are getting the same treatment as blk ppl as they should because this is how Asians treat blk ppl and they feel they are above blk pp
ReplyI love Sam B, and I get the intent BUT “Asian” constitutes numerous ethnic groups who all have a different history and experience in the US. Lumping them all together is not helping.
ReplyForgot Michael Caine as main character on Kung Fu preferred to Bruce Lee?
Replyblm is a terrorist organization you help spread there lies and rhetoric
Replyshe forgot to mention how Bruce Lee was hosed for the role of Caine in Kung Fu…
ReplyThis is one of the worst shows in history, and I’ve seen golden girls
ReplyYou only talk east asia
Reply“I have never uttered those words, mostly because they are racist”—STOP—Do you want to delete episode of Full Frontal with Sam Bee and all upcoming episodes?—YES
Reply4:14. Thirteen minutes!? Braggart.
ReplyPolitically correct…
ReplyLets be real, even the zombies love Stephen Yeung
ReplyDelighted to see Tilda Swinton at least portrayed for her Whitewashed role.
ReplyUnfortunately Sam didn’t mention how Swinton claimed her Whitewashed role was a “Triumph of Diversity”!
{They have to stop kissing white people’s butts. See what they get?
ReplyI’m surprised you didn’t mention 1982’s The Year of Living Dangerously, for which Linda Hunt, a white woman, won an Oscar for playing an Asian *man*.
ReplySam, you are Canadian, and didn’t mention Kim’s Convenience COME ON
ReplySamantha Bee: talks about Asian representation
Also Samantha Bee: only talks about East Asian representation
*C R I N G E*
ReplyAll that you say is true and correct but then comes the problem of overcorrecting, when all Asians have to be shown as sexy, genius, compassionate, benevolent, world-saving, goodness oozing …… and that’s when the fun of watching anything disappears.
ReplyThank you for showing a lil glimpse to what sooo many don’t even know.
ReplyWell I had one issue with this entire video, using the ghost in the shell LA movie with Scarlett, while YES Major Kusangi is a Japanese character it is very well documented among Japanese citizens that they actually AGREED with her casting as Major Kusanagi, why do you ask? The same answer, she looked like the character, OUTSIDE OF THAT Major Kusanagi the character is her mind inside a cybernetic body called a Shell, hence “Ghost in the shell” the shell is NEVER actually depicted as Japanese in the point of what it looks like. So you can’t really call white washing on something you included and didn’t know anything about, with something as recognizable as GITH at least do the research. Otherwise you’re absolutely correct about everything else.
ReplyI finally understand the ancient Chinese secret joke from Arrested Development.
ReplyAs long as anime continues to whitewash and westernize their characters, it’s really difficult to complain when actors are cast who meet that aesthetic. Not sure why that example was included when all of the other points were so solid and well-thought out.
ReplyRoman Polanski had to flee Europe for Hollywood. No one here wants that creep back.
ReplyIf I was from Western Asia, this entire clip would be disappointing. Also, Tilda Swinton, a white actor playing an Asian, was a role that China forced Marvel Studios to make because it was originally created as a Tibetan Buddhist. China would not have allowed the movie to be shown and it is a bigger movie market than America. Marvel got back at China by making the white person a woman.
ReplyIndian people are Asian too apparently. Not just Chinese people.
ReplyMe love you long time, simply means you won’t get charged extra after 15 or 30 minutes. This is called a short time and has become a stereotype of Asian women when it’s actually universal. Just trust me on this one.
ReplyCan someone please kick the people who disliked this video off the Internet?!!
ReplyThank you Samantha bee for supporting the Asians everywhere
ReplyHollywood can’t be trusted to fix these issues so I am glad that at least the Koreans are strong in global media(movies, dramas, music..etc) and repping the Asians.
ReplyGhost in the Shell doesn’t count, to me.
ReplyI actually had a conversation about this that in modern times, Asian is the new black. Like in old horror movies, if you were black, you were not going to survive. Now it’s Asian’s. We actually time how long they live. The boys tv show was just over 1.5 minutes and even winter soldier and falcon was a few minutes. I hope this changes.
ReplyI think I’ve fallen in love with you…….. Where have you been all my life…. I mean really I’m not kidding…… Yes I’m kidding………. Nope not……..yea.. of course just kidding……. I could keep this going
Reply…..
I appreciate this report thoroughly. However, I’m not sure many people know what Asian really means. They forgot a whole bunch of other Asian stereotypes from a whole bunch of other countries.
ReplyBrian Dennehy as Kublai Khan made in 2007! I kid you not.
ReplyAs a half Asian / Half white man I have grown up in a country where I am not reflected in any media. I really hope for more diversity one day, including all the people of color, not just Black and White. This is my country. I don’t belong anywhere else and I would like for people be familiar with me too.
ReplyI get the representation thing, not from an ethnic but from a historical perspective – As a german I humbly want to add, that it’s not flattering at all to represented as the “at least we’re not as bad as the germans” trope, or just plain evil.
ReplyFull metal jacket is a master piece and that scene is a reflection of what Americans cultural and brutal war had on Vietnam. It wasn’t the movie that popularized the stereotype it was the song from 2 Live Crew.
ReplyIt’s important to distinguish between dramatic roles that makes us uncomfortable and racist stereotypes that entertain. I expect a little more subtlety from a fellow Canadian…….
I love that final jab at Mark Whalberg. If I never anything with him in it again it would be too soon.
ReplyWhatever you do, don’t look at Jello commercials from the 50’s. Or do, I won’t tell you how to live your life.
ReplyIt broke me when I found out that the indian dood from short circuit was a white guy in brown face. I loved that movie as a kid.
ReplyI refused to watch the ghost in the shell movie. Pissed me off that they casted scarlet as major. Such bullshit.
ReplyPuts a new spin on the adage that racism is learned. Of course, black Americans have been complaining about their media representations since the ’60s. Perhaps had anyone listened back then, we wouldn’t be here now. Imagine if all the white people in the media were portrayed as bigots. Like in Roots, which many white people claimed was reverse racist.
ReplyI have an Asian friend who made an interesting observation once. He asked “what was the last major Hollywood studio movie you saw with an Asian female character who was *not* a sex object?”
Replyhey non-asian fans of east asian music & tv, this is why we have been trying to get yall to stop those “cute” imitations of east asian accents for years, we get that u dont mean any harm, but mocking accents has been the #1 way hollywood used asian people as a joke for the last 100 years. please please please finally put that trend to rest. no more adding “eu” or “o” to the end of english words, no more spelling R words with Ls, no more using asian accents as a punchline. if u truly are a fan of asian media, than respect asian people.
ReplyIf I were an asian man, my drag name would be Anime Wong. As a white person, I am not allowed because it would be problematic and racist.
ReplyYea the portrayal of Asian women as see workers leads to aggressive white men praying on Asian women and yellow fever.
Replywhy didn’t she mention All-American Girl with Margaret Cho? i used to love that show
ReplyThe Karate Kid was very brave telling the story about how Mr Miyagi’s wife and baby died in a camp when the US imprisoned Asian Americans in the Second World War. It’s an exception though.
ReplyWell, technically you can get good Asian roles from films made in Asia, a Chinese drama won’t give you an accent
ReplyIt’s funny how when something is the new niche rich left elites jump all over it when they didn’t care a month ago. They don’t care either that left elite colleges in the US discriminant against Asians today. With their policy to limit the number of Asians accepted because basically they are too smart. That seems racist and hurts more Asians than this problem. Why don’t the left elites talk about that too?
ReplyI loved the 90’s Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella where the prince was Asian American, and he was shown as being handsome while being an Asian male.
ReplyAs a kid, I always wondered “Why do they call David Carradine names like ‘dirty Chinese’, in ‘Kung Fu’? That doesn’t make any sense…”
ReplyThanks, Sam. Good work to all involved!
ReplyIronic that asian women are shown as extremely submissive yet are highly intelligent academically at the same time (stereotype)
ReplyHowever, on another note, many asian countries have had more female heads of state than united states of America
As an Irish person it’s sad to see Hollywood still make irish stereotypes
Reply