Living against the wind: some 2 am thoughts
I saw someone post the casting of the movie of their life on an LJ community earlier today. And I was thinking, hmm, this could be fun to do, especially picking out the actors for my family, friends and teachers, then envisioning some kind of storyline (hah! there’s probably a cute book nerd slash indie rocker in there somewhere as a love interest). I’ve thought about actresses who could portray me before–but I’ve recently come across several things about Asian immigrants and the first- and second-generation descendants while avoiding my thesis, such as:
- the YA novel Good Enough by Paula Yoo
- Racebending.com’s more recent updates about the casting of The Last Airbender
- “Nobody’s Asian in the Movies” from Commentary! The Musical
- asiansinthemedia.com
- Stuff White People Like
- and assorted others that I’m probably forgetting.
My point is, this has been mulling in my brain for a few weeks now, and I can’t help but have all of this in my head as I rethink the casting.
Linda Wasom-Ellam, a Canadian anthropologist, published an article about 10 years ago called Living Against the Wind: Pathways Chosen by Chinese Immigrants. What’s directly relevant to me are her musings on family literacy, which, from my personal experience, is absolutely true. Reading is a tool for education, education is a commodity.
Chinese parents see education as a valued avenue for economic advancement and social mobility. Both families in this study want their children “to get a good job.” In the former studies, the researchers found that Chinese parents contribute to their children’s academic achievement by monitoring school performance and activities that enhance or diminish performance.
Reasons are pretty straightforward. My parents, and most parents (Asian, immigrant or not!), want to give their kids a secure, comfortable life, better than the ones they have. I was badgered at to play piano, do SAT practice tests, finish extra math homework. My parents thought their work was done if I got accepted into an Ivy League university, that I would go on to medical or law school and make six figures and have a cushy life. It was already fire and brimstone when I transferred out of engineering into liberal arts, I can only imagine what would have happened if I told them I wanted to work in Hollywood.
Anyway, the point of this lengthy divergence is that I barely found any notable Asian-American actresses around my age to portray me in the non-existent movie of my life. None of them got a top billing. Some were of mixed descent and used as exotic eye candy, some play the quirky info-dumping best friend in ABC family or Disney franchise tv. I had never heard of most of them, let alone watched any of their work, so I couldn’t really accurately judge on their acting abilities. Or if I had, it was on one of those previously mentioned roles, which is not what I’m looking for. So if this movie about my life were to get made, I would have to resort to whitewashing or unknowns. Neither of these prospects are particularly pleasing to a producer, I mean, I want my film to get a wide release, for heaven’s sake–so why would I want to take a huge financial risk on unknowns?
I know there are tons of problems about representation in Hollywood, from what kind of movies become hits to who gets to become a star. A lot of much more eloquent people have discussed that. I’m thinking, no immigrant parent would ever want their kid to pursue a career in Hollywood, which is financially unstable and culturally foreign. So a young person who wants to work in Hollywood would have to ride double against the wind–against the current Hollywood practices and against their parents.
Three things could change this:
- the Internet becomes a driving force in tv and movies, with more web series like The Guild popping up, and levelling the playing field somewhat
- later generations of Asian Americans will have broken into Hollywood, without that cultural disconnect immigrant parents feel
- China and India will take over the world and Hollywood will no longer have the upper hand in the media industry (though admittedly those countries, China especially, have a lot to learn about communications infrastructure.)
In the meantime, however, the double wind persists, self-perpetuating and circular. “There aren’t any experienced Asian actors who could do this the role,” a casting director says, but they’re the ones responsible for any experience. “Or we could just get someone from Asia.” While aspiring Asian actors hear from their immigrant parents, “what do you want to be on TV for? You won’t make any money!” And then there’s the biggest complaint, too, the one that Racebending.com makes–Asian children don’t aspire to become actors anyway, because they don’t see their race get any sort of meaningful role.
I share most of these points, not all of them, and probably not phrased very elegantly. It’s late. I just keep thinking, the website Asians in the Media concludes that “these problems will pervade into the future, unless the views of Asian Americans change through the proliferation of authentic Asian American stories by Asian American artists and storytellers on the national screen and stage.” In order for this to happen, the Asian American artists and storytellers either have to be really determined, or the Asian American community has to start encouraging such vocations as credible. I expect it to happen over time, in a generation or so from now, hopefully before the stories are lost.
For now, I doubly applaud the efforts to those who live against the wind.
Rachel says:
At risk of sounding like a creeper, lol… I’ve been seeing you post on LJ on Sherwood Smith’s stuff and followed your profile to this blog. As I’m also Asian-American, I’ve thought about a lot of the stuff you’ve mentioned as far as Asian representation in Hollywood. (Although, I’m an adopted Korean, not second-generation Chinese.)
What has frustrated me is if you look at what Southeast Asia considers a beautiful face and what America does, they’re exactly the same. It’s not like if I go over to S. Korea that I’ll be considered less foreign and therefore able to be in the film industry. In fact, from what I’ve observed, at least in Korea, it seems that looks play an even bigger role in the entertainment industry there.
I wish that there were more respected Asian actors. Like a Morgan Freeman to African Americans, y’know?
But, aside from movies, if you look at novels, the only stories that have Asian people as main characters are ethnic stories that are revolving around the fact that they ARE Asian. There’s no generic book with an Asian main character. In fact, that applies to all non-white protagonists– most likely you’re not going to find a book about an African American person where their race isn’t the main issue of the book. Probably because we live in a predominantly white country, but still.
Also, there’s the factor that America is basically THE world power, so being light-skinned is a status symbol, which could change– just as plumpness was desirable a few hundred years ago because only the rich could afford the be fat, now it’s a status symbol to be skinny because only the rich can afford trainers and diets with all that expensive organic food– but I really doubt that it will. The West has always been the center of power since East and West met– or at least it seems to me, from my limited knowledge.
It also doesn’t help that the American film industry is much bigger than other countries’– so it’s not as if we have an Asian Hollywood whose films are translated into English. Maybe if we did, there would be more acceptance of Asians in our movies.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Thanks for the interesting post.
:: at 12:42 am on January 15, 2010
Faye says:
Hi Rachel–you are not a creeper if you are afraid of sounding like one
Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
It’s really, really sad that there’re limited standards of beauty in the entertainment industry. There are slight differences (I think Asians prefer fair-skinned with large eyes as their most prized features, while Hollywood favours the blonde sunkissed look) but I know what you mean.
I totally agree that it’s Asian-Americans (emphasis on the Americans) that get shafted most in the Hollywood industry. Hollywood wants Asian actors, but they want them to be from Asia. There are also Hollywood remakes of Asian movies (like the Departed) or the rare import like Crouching Tiger. Hidden Dragon. The first- or second-generation aspiring actors get stuck in the middle–not foreign enough to be exotic or play “Asian” movies, not American enough for anything else.
The East vs. West question fascinates me, as an anthro student as well as an immigrant. I, for one, think western dominance is slowly subsiding, and internet will eventually pose a threat to the distribution of major studios (eventually. It’s still far off).
With books, it’s still bad, I don’t think it’s as bad. Partly because the character’s race is not as obvious in a book. It’s tons better in speculative fiction (fantasy or sci-fi especially) than it is in commercial, and lately there’s been a more conscious move to publish books by non-white authors writing non-white characters. Justine Larbalestier is doing a great job writing books featuring characters of colour, where it’s Not A Big Deal if you’re black, you’re just a character.
:: at 9:12 pm on January 15, 2010
Rachel says:
True– about books.
As for the East vs. West deal, it seems like there has been a shift of power– it’s slowly equalizing. Well at least as far as I can see. China, from what I’ve heard, is becoming more and more powerful, and I’ve been told that it might be the next big world power. Also, I’ve noticed a rising trend in corporate types and stuff learning Chinese since China’s getting to be a big player.
However, I’m pretty ignorant about this sort of stuff (and current events in general) that I wouldn’t be surprised if I was way off-base.
:: at 1:31 am on January 17, 2010