Edward T.
Kouhai
- 13 Apr 2016
- 64
- 7
About three years ago, a movie called 47 Ronin was released and Keanu Reaves (Canadian native, part Chinese) played the lead Ronin. I was surprised by that casting of Reaves.
The Green Hornet was originally created as a radio series and comic book series. The character of Kato (as an Asian) existed for decades before the movie and everybody knew Kato was an Asian man. It would have been strange if they had not used an Asian actor to play the part. While it is very very very true that Hollywood has a long history of unfair treatment of every minority and that they even used white actors made up to resemble Asians rather than just hire Asian actors, in this one case (at least) of Bruce Lee playing Kato, they were not trying to hide the fact he was Asian.
Historically, both the Green Hornet and Kato wore masks while doing their crime fighting activities.
About three years ago, a movie called 47 Ronin was released and Keanu Reaves (Canadian native, part Chinese) played the lead Ronin. I was surprised by that casting of Reaves.
Hollywood showed what they would consider commendable restraint if they refrained from casting the other 46 the same way.
Another notable casting gaffe is in The Conqueror, with John Wayne starring as Genghis Khan.
The classic example has to be the string of white actors who portrayed Charlie Chan over the decades.
Charlie Chan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Well, to be fair, the Chinese and Japanese at least are in fact indistinguishable on ethnic lines. There was a study done, hmm... at least 5 years ago, maybe a few more.Sometimes these roles fit actors for their ability, sometimes just because the producers thought they all looked similarly enough that nobody would care.
I never knew Peter Ustinov portrayed Charlie Chan. I recall him playing the role of Nero in Quo Vadis, but casting Sir Peter as Charlie Chan is a bit of a reach.
Is there a group of people on earth who at one time or another haven't discriminated against people who look or think differently from them? How you can call this a uniquely western trait is beyond me. There were times in Japan's history when westerners were forbidden entry into Japan. There are muslim countries who reject apostates (with sometimes deadly determination). Sub-continental Indians rejected other Indians on the basis of caste. Rejecting the "other" is a very human trait, not only a western trait. Actually, we can say that westerners fantasized about some aspects of Japan and Japanese beauty, as seen in things like Puccini's Madame Butterfly.Historically yes, Westerners always portray nonwhites as ugly and white as fashion models.
This is a negative thread isn't it? but I can understand why these people exist. Until around 1990, I use to hear like these:
1. Japanese language sounds funny.
2. Japanese people are ugly because the eyes are slanted.
3. Japanese foods are weird because they eat raw fish.
Now those things are changing especially for Japanese food but please understand Japanese people still have inferior complex because of these.
Sorry, I was born in 1970. I'm not female. By the way, the images I attached were deleted weren't they? That's OK. I know that was a quite rare case but, Japanese people didn't think it was rare. Still Japanese feel inferior complex because of that.Weren't you about 9 or 10 years old in 1990?
Sorry, I was born in 1970. I'm not female. By the way, the images I attached were deleted weren't they? That's OK. I know that was a quite rare case but, Japanese people didn't think it was rare. Still Japanese feel inferior complex because of that.
It was my mistake. I'm sorry. Please forget about it.I don't know anything about your images being deleted.
I registered here with the facebook account which is not true profile. I made the account to be anonymous. I'm sorry about that. I leave here anyway. Good bye. Thanks a lot.If you are a 46 year old man then why did you lie on your profile and tell us you are a 36 year old woman?