Comments on: 21: Based On Real Life (without all those Asian kids)

By: kev/null - Kamekame-huh?

kev/null - Kamekame-huh? — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:13:59 +0000

[...] I vented about that so much that my friend Ernie wrote about it on his group blog, 8 Asians. [...]

By: Farhad

Farhad — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:22:10 +0000

When it comes to making fun of asians it is somehow very easy for hollywood to find asians actors.

When it is to find for a positive roles it is somehow hard for them to find asian actors.

If their casting depends on viewers then it means the people are racist. People love to watch asians getting their asses kicked and mocked. People hate watching movies where asian guy kicks ass and kisses a white woman. They love watching white man being the leader in all scenes.

By: Raj

Raj — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:57:11 +0000

Pollsters tell Hollywood execs that racist white Americans wont like too many non-white faces in a movie. The same pollsters tell me that Barrack Obama has a good chance of becoming President of a majority racist white America. Something is wrong with this picture. If A is preferred to B and B to C, A would be preferred to C. Either the white American public is racist which means they wont want to watch an all Asian cast which means Obama has no chance of winning..or the public is not racist. Which one is it? I am pretty confused.

By: 8Asians.com » The [MIT] Tech: Movie ‘21′ Discriminatory Casting Unjustified: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:23:37 +0000

[...] 8Asians has written about ‘21,” the movie adaptation of the book, “Bringing Down the House,” which chronicles the real life story of the primarily Asian-American male MIT Blackjack Team, and the controversy. Well, in Tuesday’s MIT student newspaper, The Tech, Alvin Lin (MIT 2004) had his editorial opinion piece published “‘21′ Discriminatory Casting Unjustified:” “… according to the non-fiction book, the team’s Asian ethnicities were central to the plot and their ability to gamble huge amounts of money without notice. Here is an excerpt from the book: “The MIT team thrived by choosing [Big Players] who fit the casino mold of the young, foolish, and wealthy. Primarily nonwhite, either Asian or Middle Eastern, these were the kids the casinos were accustomed to seeing bet a thousand bucks a hand… For those who have seen the film, the end result was a production that whitewashed most of the real life characters, with Aaron Yoo playing a kleptomaniac as a token Asian secondary character. Think of other examples of films inspired from true stories. Would you feel okay about ‘Coach Carter’ or ‘Pursuit of Happiness’, starring Al Pacino? How about ‘Passion of the Christ’ starring an East Asian, or a blond, blue-eyed actor? I think when entertainment is supposed to be based on real life, that there is an obligation to stay true to the situation’s demographics and the real life protagonists. For example, a movie about the NBA with no Black actors, or a hospital show with no Asian American male doctors in it, would seem unrealistic. There is also precedent to this argument. For example, decades ago Broadway initially used White actresses to play the Asian female protagonist in ‘Miss Saigon,’ until they were eventually forced by the Actor’s Equity Union to use Asian actresses.” [...]

By: Krantzstone

Krantzstone — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:21:43 +0000

It would be nice to see more actors of Asian descent to star in movies, TV shows, etc. coming out of Hollywood.

I remember growing up experiencing a mass media world largely devoid of actors of Asian descent. I think it’s important for people of all ethnicities to be able to grow up seeing themselves (or people who look like them) reflected in the media, not just as stereotypes but as real people.

This news is very disappointing, if for no other reason that it goes contrary to the facts as they actually occurred, but also because I’d like to see some portrayals of Asians in media apart from nerds or martial artists. Although I guess if you go to MIT you’re technically a nerd.

By: Sophia

Sophia — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:18:14 +0000

here’s the MIT story on it
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N21/blackjack.html

Jefferey K. Ma ’94, one of the actual members of the famous MIT Blackjack Team and the protagonist model in Mezrich’s book, visited the set both in Boston and Las Vegas. In fact, the crew decided to have him star as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas in the film. “It is pretty ironic that he is playing this extra role,” according to Cid Swank, the spokesperson for the movie. “People who recognize him will notice this when they see him in the movie.”

By: Sophia

Sophia — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:58:38 +0000

and it would have been a chance to give a bunch of Asian-ams a chance at the screen!

By: Sophia

Sophia — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:54:09 +0000

As an Asian-am that graduated from MIT, I can say there are lots of hot asian-ams that could’ve been cast for this…

Kevin Spacey, why didn’t you do it right?
white male casting dude, why didn’t you do it right?
we should protest or slightly protest…

Sophia

By: Akira + Leonardo DiCaprio = ? « CHOPSTIX

Akira + Leonardo DiCaprio = ? « CHOPSTIX — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:36:26 +0000

[...] new movie about the MIT students playing blackjack in Las Vegas. Yeah, that team in real life? Mostly Asian Americans. The movie? A bunch of white people, with maybe one token Asian nerd. Good going, folks. Give all [...]

By: chenb•log » The Data Has Spoken

chenb•log » The Data Has Spoken — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:58:20 +0000

[...] any other race. So to summarize, Asian men <3 white women, while white women respect their math skillz, from a [...]