I think had read about the new TV series ‘Samurai Girl’ from that other Asian American blog you might read earlier this summer, but just came across this article in the Wall Street Journal: “Teen Drama, With a Twist - ‘Samurai Girl’ puts an action spin on a genre aimed at young women“:
“”Samurai Girl” begins on ABC Family with a two-hour premiere next Friday. The show follows a 19-year-old named Heaven who has been adopted by one of Japan’s most powerful families after mysteriously surviving a plane crash as a child. As she is set to be married against her will, ninjas invade and attack her and her family, sending her into a new quest to reclaim her identity and discover her calling.”
San Francisco native Jamie Chung will be starring as ‘Samurai Girl.’ Since the SF Bay Area is so small, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who reads this knows her? Apparently, Chung’s first television appearance was on MTV’s “Real World: San Diego (anybody catch her on the show?)
Personally, I don’t think we need another martial arts or “ancient” Japanese or Asian television series, but it’s cool that there is a TV series starring an Asian American, though not on network television.
Other posts you might be interested in:
Blog RSS Blog Comments RSS
Yes, John. People have seen Real World: San Diego. Jamie was known on the season as being “the good girl.” But only because only months before, she was arrested for a DUI. In fact, the Smoking Gun has a photo of her looking, uhm, a whole lot real here:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jamiechung1.html
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 2:38 pm | Permalink
Stan wrote:
Girl, That’s a harsh look in the mugshot!
What gets to me is that the Asian girl has to fall in love with the white man who seems to be more in touch with his asian side than the asian girl…
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 2:47 pm | Permalink
Juno wrote:
If you want to see a better looking shot of her, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4__WLcpatc
Pretty on the outside, but personality-wise, she seems kind of stuck-up. So that just makes her come up average in my book.
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 3:13 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
Ernie - OMG - that mug shot is pretty bad!
Stan - yeah, I wasn’t going to comment on the white guy…
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 4:51 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
Juno - she looks pretty hot in the video….
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 4:52 pm | Permalink
Samurai Boy wrote:
Since the show is titled “Samurai Girl” does that mean she is portraying a Japanese character or is she a Chinese girl adopted by a Japanese family?
Maybe I’m being too sensitive about this but why is it that Hollywood seems to think that Asian actors are interchangeable? Chinese actors played the lead roles in Memoirs of a Geisha, a Japanese actor played a Chinese role in Joy Luck Club. Maybe this is adding to the stereotype that all Asians look the same? Didn’t it seem odd that Irish actor Colin Farrel portrayed the Macedonian (Greek) warrior Alexander the Great? Wouldn’t it be funny to see Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise in a role as a Mafia godfather?
Perhaps I am overreacting to this since Hollywood has never been bound to historical, cultural, or ethnic accuracy. I applaud the fact that there is another Asian character on tv even though it is yet another stereotypical role.
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 6:02 pm | Permalink
Rob wrote:
Pass. The idea of supporting this piece of shit is a horrible idea.
Let me get this straight…
White family who adopts an Asian girl gets attacked by evil Asian people (men). The only good Asian guy is her brother who gets owned quickly. Then, she’s taught to learn about her own culture and the ways of the samurai by….a white guy…with who she has a relationship with.
Please tell me this is a joke and just reading the reactions about it from Asian Americans just makes me understand why Asian America hasn’t moved an inch when it comes to having positive portrayals in American media.
Oh, my friend said that she knew this Jamie because she went to the same college with her and she’s your typical whitewashed, only dates white guys, white wannabe, airhead.
Wait, the role fits her pretty well then.
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 6:54 pm | Permalink
anubee wrote:
OMG This show looks like a freakin’ comedy sketch from MADtv. lmfao It’s so stereotypical to the point that it feels like a complete joke.
I just love how she can handle a Samurai sword AND a laptop. lol Gooo “perfect” Japanese girl!
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 8:07 pm | Permalink
THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC wrote:
I agree with the comments said. The series just seems to perpetuate existing stereotypes.
What a piece of trash.
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 12:05 am | Permalink
nemogbr wrote:
I do find it incongrous when I see films set in countries and all speak with American accents.
Alexander = Colin Farrell had an Irish accent whilst one of his men spoke with a Scottish accent. I know the Greeks were not impressed.
Chocolat was set in France and all spoke American.
Then again, I’m still not used to Hugh Laurie (House) acting in an American role.
Captain Picard was just as bad. English Shakespearean actor as a French guy…sheesh
I wonder how the Japanese feel about James Kyson Lee portraying a Japanese person in Heroes?
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 5:18 am | Permalink
RayU wrote:
I’m not an expert at this, but, isn’t it wrong to have a white kimono for a wedding dress? White symbolizing death? (OK, it does have red trim, but still…)
Or have the traditions changed enough that it’s no longer a faux pas for people to blend the traditional white of Western weddings with the traditional Japanese (Asian) dress?
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 9:36 am | Permalink
Juno wrote:
Check out what I found out about “Samurai Girl” on jezebel.com—turns out that the book series was not even written by an Asian person, but by a team of people employed by the producers of Gossip Girl….” Carrie Asai, the “author” of the Samurai Girl series, is NOT a real person.
I cut and pasted what I found on Jezebel:
“The Wall Street Journal reports that Samurai Girl began as a series of books written by “Carrie Asai” — not a person but a group of writers employed by Alloy Entertainment, producers of Gossip Girl. The books sold less than 100,000 copies in the U.S. — Gossip Girl sold more than 5.5 million copies — but a three-part miniseries was pitched — and sold — to ABC Family anyway.”
Well, this explains how Westerners perceive us Asians- we’re either mafia guys, girls in kimonos, and only worthy of being shown on the screen if we can do tricks with swords. That’s insulting.
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 11:55 am | Permalink
Moye wrote:
God, this pilot was awful. I saw it a couple months ago; yes, Jamie is hot but she plays a Japanese girl and can’t act to save her life. Juno, thanks for that Jezebel info; I knew the special was based on a manga series but I couldn’t figure out how a supposedly Asian author could hate herself enough to write such a story. But now it all makes sense!
This show is definitely not cool to have on television. It basically employs every single broad exoticism/martial arts myth about Asian cultures–specifically Japan–and does little to actually empower our community. Why can’t we just have a regular show with regular Asian people who can’t do karate or don’t come from a samurai background? Are samurais really that cool? No.
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 3:03 pm | Permalink
nemogbr wrote:
I don’t know what people mean when they say “regular people”.
Well, here’s a stereotype, most people, in my network, who are descended from South East Asian countries do know martial arts. One went to China and studied Shaolin for five years.
Brazilians who are capoeristas or engage in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
I know several British born, of every colour, who are martial artists from Karate, Krav Maga or 13th Century Longsword. One Electrician, I know, studied under Morihei Ueishiba (Founder of Aikido).
To watch a “regular” show with “regular” stuff would hold no interest to me.
Perhaps, I am not a regular person, but in my experience, there is no such thing as “regular people”.
Posted on 03-Sep-08 at 12:34 am | Permalink
Moye wrote:
Okay, sure. Let’s all discuss what it means to be “regular.” What I’m talking about is diversifying the casts of dramas and comedies that follow a non-fantasy storyline. Why does a show with a female Asian-Am lead have to focus primarily on samurais and martial arts? Why does there have to be this nonsensical aspect to the show? The special opens with a dimly lit room where Jamie Chung wears a kimono and participates in a weird wedding ceremony. I swear I saw a gong in the background.
My point isn’t that I want to see Asians in boring stories; I’d rather see them in shows that focus on the comedy and drama of a storyline–shows that don’t market themselves on how far and exotic their storyline can get.
Posted on 03-Sep-08 at 10:29 am | Permalink
Jeff C. wrote:
Moye:
> Are samurais really that cool? No.
but ninjas are!
throw in Chuck Norris and some pirates and you got television gold!
Rob:
> my friend said that she knew this Jamie because she went to the same college with her and she’s your typical whitewashed, only dates white guys, white wannabe, airhead.
She went to UC Riverside, and yes, she is very white-washed… but then again, you have to be if you’re pursuing a career in Hollywood as an Asian-American… that is, unless you’re good at martial arts
Samurai Boy:
> Maybe I’m being too sensitive about this but why is it that Hollywood seems to think that Asian actors are interchangeable?
Asian movies do it too. Some examples off the top of my head are Zhang Zi-yi playing a Japanese in Princess Racoon and playing a Korean in Musa; and Dong-Kun Jang playing a Chinese in The Promise
… not to mention that Hong Kong movies use Mainland and Taiwanese actors all the time and vice-versa
Posted on 03-Sep-08 at 10:42 am | Permalink
Samurai Boy wrote:
I wasn’t aware that Asian film companies are just as guilty in perpetuating the interchangeable Asian stereotype. Why is that? I’m sure it has something to do with the actor’s marketability and audience.
Although I’m glad there are more Asians in American mainstream media, I agree its too bad they are usually stereotypical roles or storylines such as this one. I do recall that Ross’ girlfriend on Friends was Chinese and the writers didn’t bring any stereotypes into the storyline, I’m sure there are other examples.
I’m looking forward to the first episode of Samurai Girl and reading people’s comments and reactions. This should be interesting.
Posted on 03-Sep-08 at 2:38 pm | Permalink
Rob wrote:
The white guy with the Asian girl is a stereotype by itself.
Posted on 03-Sep-08 at 6:39 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
Rob - I totally agree.
Posted on 03-Sep-08 at 9:36 pm | Permalink
Jason wrote:
Samurai Boy:
> Maybe I’m being too sensitive about this but why is it that Hollywood seems to think
> that Asian actors are interchangeable?
Another example is John Cho playing Sulu in the upcoming Star Trek movie. Cho was actually asked about playing a Japanese-American during an interview and gave an interesting, thoughtful response:
http://www.trekweb.com/articles/2008/03/23/John-Cho-Says-Sulu-is-Not-Just-a-Japanese-Character-But-a-a-PanAsian-Character.shtml
Posted on 04-Sep-08 at 7:33 am | Permalink
Jeff C. wrote:
From Jason’s link:
> John Cho: “I wouldn’t take a part that is Japanese from Japan”
oOo… is that a burn on James Kyson Lee from “Heroes”, a 1.5-
gen Korean-American playing a native Japanese person?
Ironically, George Takei (the original Sulu and also from “Heroes”) praised Lee’s performance, saying that he’s got a great ear for mimicking: http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Interviews-Features/Article/default.aspx?posting={0B10D3E0-C168-467C-90A9-F1DCD2CF97B2}
I’m not a native Japanese speaker, but from my (limited) fluency of the Japanese language, Lee does get most of the intonations correct… which is even more impressive because he’s acting at the same time!
If you want an example of BAD Japanese, listen to Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (and that’s in addition to bad ACTING too!)
Posted on 04-Sep-08 at 12:26 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
I saw “Pearl Harbor” with a Japanese friend of mine, and he said one of the Japanese generals in the movie spoke *horrible* Japanese…
Posted on 06-Sep-08 at 11:07 am | Permalink
Shay. wrote:
Hmm, I’ve read the books and when I watched the show,I was suprised to see they changed the leading male in the books(who was japanese) to a white man. His name was Hiro but now on the show its Jake? It doesn’t make sense for them to have changed the ethnicity of one of the leading characters. Further proof of the racism of hollywood
Posted on 06-Sep-08 at 7:48 pm | Permalink
Orange wrote:
I think I’ve seen this story before in an anime?
For a teenage girl martial art story, I like the concept of the Little Phoenix and the Reign of Fists by Mishann Lau much better. But of course, martial arts is a stereotypical Asian storyline …
Posted on 08-Sep-08 at 9:01 pm | Permalink
Cass wrote:
overall, i really like the show, but i just have a few problems with it…
Jamie Chung is Chinese, not Japanese, and you can tell just by looking at her, even if you didn’t know the last name (at least, everyone where I live can).
These people are supposed to be native to Japan, but most of them pronounce the japanese words incorrectly…
Can we have a TV show just once, where the main character is asian, but we don’t have any ‘ancient asian’ plot, and they don’t have an asian name? I’m half Okinawan (it’s a type of Japanese), and my first name is Irish, and my last name is Polish.
sorry for ranting a bit…
again, i think it’s a good show, and i would love to see it be made into a regular TV show, despite its… ‘issues.’
Posted on 08-Sep-08 at 9:45 pm | Permalink
Jeff C. wrote:
Uh… Cass:
Jamie Chung is Korean, not Chinese, and you can tell just by looking at her, even if you didn’t know the last name (at least, everyone where I live can).
Face it: this is Hollywood. Its primary targets are not Asian-Americans but little white tweens that get their mommy and daddy to buy everything for them. Until Asians prove that we’re a distinct and profitable market (most of us shop exactly like whites), then advertisers and producers won’t even bother listening to our wishes.
If you don’t like how Asian-Americans are being represented in the media, then feel free to finance your own movie/television show. Though to date, Justin Lin is the only Asian I can think of that succeeded (albeit with some initial help from M.C. Hammer…)
or just do what I do and watch Chinese/Korean/Japanese-produced stuff, which is leagues better anyway
Posted on 09-Sep-08 at 1:19 am | Permalink
Rob wrote:
Why should I make my own Asian/Asian American show or movie for? So Asians won’t support that either?
I need to make clear is not the fact that someone can’t or won’t open up an Asian American friendly studio, it’s the issue that Asian Americans won’t support it either. The problem is with the people, not the corporate situation.
Posted on 09-Sep-08 at 8:36 am | Permalink
Jason wrote:
I think one of the points of Cass’ post is that Jamie Chung does not look Japanese, which I agree with. It makes you wonder about the target audience for the show, since surely Japanese-American viewers would find the casting choice to be rather odd. I guess Japanese-Americans are a small minority even among Asian-Americans, so the studio heads don’t care about that demographic?
Also, Cass, Lucy Liu’s character on last season’s Cashmere Mafia was asian (obviously) but named Mia Mason. Kinda disconcerting…
Posted on 09-Sep-08 at 10:05 am | Permalink
Jeff C. wrote:
Jason:
But don’t you see the irony in Cass’ post? If we “all look same” to Cass - someone who’s half-Asian - then just imagine how difficult it is for people with no exposure to Asian culture.
In my opinion, I’m fine with the casting of Jamie Chung for the sole reason of marketing. Can you name another young Asian-American actress that has the looks and name-recognition? (say what you like about it, but a lot of people watch Real World) At least they didn’t change the lead character to a white girl, like they did with her main love interest…
With acting, it’s not about who you are inside but what you portray outside. I think James Kyson Lee does a damn fine job as Ando in “Heroes” even though he’s not a native Japanese person. Meanwhile, Daniel Dae Kim (who’s Korean, obviously… well maybe not to Cass) plays a horrible Korean… just ask anyone who’s fluent in the language (even though he was born in Korea, he was raised in PA and barely spoke the language).
And we could extend it beyond just race too. Should Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal been barred from “Brokeback Mountain” because they’re not gay? Should Gary Sinise not have been picked as Lt. Taylor in “Forrest Gump” because he’s neither a veteran nor a cripple? Or Tom Hanks because he’s not mentally ill? I think those movies and many others would’ve been vastly different had these limitations been set…
The job of actors and actresses is to extend our belief beyond the real world. They should be casted based on their performance, not their looks. Hell, look at the uproar that was raised when Robert Downey Jr. was casted a “black” actor in “Tropic Thunder”… those comments were squelched immediately as soon as people watched his performance.
Now if you want to critique Jamie for her bad acting, then by all means, go ahead… but at least she’s hot
Posted on 09-Sep-08 at 6:31 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
@Jeff C. - great points.
So did anyone actually watch the show?
Posted on 10-Sep-08 at 9:52 am | Permalink