Posted by: Jon Haehnle on October 4, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Even though we only saw the briefest glimpse of John Cho and the lovely Gabriel Union in bed together in the first episode of ABC’s Flash Forward, it definitely got people’s attention. Ernie posted some great Angry Asian Man-style thoughts about John Cho and the long overdue “sexification of the asian male” which sparked some good commentary, and I thought I’d piggyback on that and hopefully keep that dialogue going with another post about an Asian guy with a black woman in a movie.
And when you see James Kyson Lee (Ando from Heroes) and Emayatzy Corinealdi together in this flick, best believe things get a lot steamier than little kiss Cho shared with Union.
Regular visitors of PCS have no doubt heard us talk about Akira’s Hip-Hop Shop — after all, it’s a student DGA award-winner and it was written and directed by PopCultureShock’s own Joe Doughrity.
But for those who are new around here — Akira’s Hip-Hop Shop is a romantic comedy/drama about a music-loving Japanese guy (JKL) who owns a record store in LA with his best friend Jeremy. One day Daphne, a young Black culinary student, walks into the shop — and let’s just say, everything changes for them. Sparks fly, but prejudice and politics may stop love from conquering all.
You can watch the official trailer in the player to your right — and even better, now you can watch Akira’s Hip-Hop Shop online FOR ONLY $1.99, in its entirety, on Amazon’s Video On Demand!
Kayode Kendall October 3rd, 2009
Stop stealin’ our fine Nubian princesses!!! LOL!
Sirui Huang October 5th, 2009
Hey, remember Romeo Must Die? Please tell me Asian Boy Sexuality has progressed since 2000.
Ernie Estrella October 5th, 2009
Sirui: Meh, Romeo Must Die was still a stereotypical role for Jet Li.
And no, I don’t think much progress has been made especially when I see a movie like 21 (2008), which is based on a story about an Asian-American, and most of the players are Asian but was played by a an unknown British actor who needed a dialect coach to be hired, when there were plenty of suitable Asian-American actors who could have played the part. The studio’s excuse was that they wanted the best actor for the job, and yet this was Jim Sturgess’ first feature role.
They completely white-washed that film and the book. Jeff Ma who the story is based on I’m sure took the first drop of cash in front of him on the book Bringing Down the House, because he was changed to Kevin Lewis who was then changed to Ben Campbell in the film.
Fact is, that no one in Hollywood thinks that an Asian male can sell tickets because for the most part, there hasn’t been any in an American film/show that has a proven track record and can act or who hasn’t done some type of kung fu or played the unsexy role. I don’t do kung fu, I’m sort of a nerd, but really just your every man. But it seems that the every man role is taken up by everyone BUT Asian males. That’s all I’m saying.
This episode of Akira’s Hip Hop Shop intrigues me though as fitting that idea I’m getting at.
Jon Haehnle October 5th, 2009
Kayode: Just think of it as payback, my brotha!
Ernie: Sirui wasn’t holding Romeo Must Die up as a good model, if anything the opposite. Did you watch AHHS? Only $1.99 on Amazon!
Kayode Kendall October 5th, 2009
Ernie: I guess you’ve got no love for Ninja Assassin? Am I wrong to really looking forward to that movie?
Sirui Huang October 7th, 2009
It’s hard to stress the sarcasm, but yes. Romeo Must Die– a terrible movie all around, and Jet Li. Kind of hard to make sexy. Given that, I don’t find it offensive for a martial arts actor (which Jet Li is) to be doing martial arts. He does martial arts in Chinese films too. I hope he never becomes a doctor, and if he does, I hope he does kung fu surgery.
My more generalized opinion is that stereotypes suck, but remain terribly amusing and sometimes quite relevant– let’s not cheat ourselves by being PC for the sake of being PC. Here’s to hoping that mass media progress enough so that both whitewashing (hey some Asians are whitewashed) and stereotypes (and some Asians are fobs) provide supplement to “authentic” Asian roles.
Also. I think chop suey kung fu movies are the cake. Asian actors, please feel free to continue your typecasted performances, because kung fu films are kind of terrible when there’s white people in them.
