Excited
Danny Cho is a comedian based in LA — you’ve seen him before on this blog, where he was Kim Jong Il in a parody video of eHarmony — and he’s pissed about the reception of Asian American actors, entertainers and comedians; not by mainstream media, but by other Asian Americans.
Agree or not about his different points about a lack of support from other Asian Americans or what offended him or didn’t; he also brings up outright hate from other Asian Americans, accusing him of not setting a good example. It’s something that I’ve received myself — hell, a commenter on another blog publicly called me a shame to Asians for not being completely militant. (I was also called “abjected,” never mind that the word is technically a verb and not an adjective. Whatever.)
I call it the Yul Kwon syndrome — that Asian Americans are so bitter about proper representation in the mainstream media that any type of role or image that doesn’t exemplify perfection gets torn apart by the Asian American community as being a bad example. But here’s the thing; we can’t all have chiseled jaws, six-pack abs, become a master strategist on Survivor and win a million dollars like Yul Kwon did. There’s an issue of not seeing any of us on television, and I don’t hate on him for being so involved with the Asian community post-Survivor win, but if all we saw was 10,000 versions of Yul Kwon, I would be starving myself the same way thirteen year old girls starve themselves looking at issues of Cosmopolitan. And that ain’t right, either. So what’s the fine line?
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I thought about this post more and formed a few points of personal opinion...
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one but I'm quite into foreign entertainment overseas from Asia. From music, movies, talk shows, etc. In a way, I've had a fair share of seeing Asian faces in just about every genre, character and story one can imagined and beyond. Even if it's not mainstream in North America, it is fairly recognizable and Non-Asians, growing in numbers too, are sort of into it. It's not just anime, martial arts or adult content but spread out to many other venues. In short, the arguement that people ought to support the entertainers for the sake of having an "Asian face" isn't really enough to move others.
My second point is how some of the material and reception towards ethnic entertainment is related to life experiences. Most people are aware of how diverse the Asian American Community is, but the amount of different life experiences is enormously vast. Between generations, education, occupations, locations, anything you can name. Some have actually experienced violence due to their heritage while others only faced verbal insults, and the attitudes towards both are going to be different. On a milder note; we can make jokes regarding how hard Asian parents push thier kids in school, piano or "nerdy" activities, however there really is a significant portion of Asian Americans who have never gone through that. Or some probably did, but the methods and reactions towards those experiences are probably different than the common perception.
With so many factors to include, it is going to be hard to create and maintain some type of collective form of ethnic genre for Asian Americans.
My last point is a bit more philosophical and relates to anyone, of any background and occupation. While the direction and work effort is in your control, at times, the results could be beyond your hands. For whatever reason; the fruits of your labor may not be so sweet according to the amount of work put in or vice versa could happen. Basically speaking, sometimes we can not ignore reality.
However, it's not the end of the world but anyways, this could get personal for people to think about and I think I could stop elaborating on my points of personal opinion now.
I thought about this post more and formed a few points of personal opinion...
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one but I'm quite into foreign entertainment overseas from Asia. From music, movies, talk shows, etc. In a way, I've had a fair share of seeing Asian faces in just about every genre, character and story one can imagined and beyond. Even if it's not mainstream in North America, it is fairly recognizable and Non-Asians, growing in numbers too, are sort of into it. It's not just anime, martial arts or adult content but spread out to many other venues. In short, the arguement that people ought to support the entertainers for the sake of having an "Asian face" isn't really enough to move others.
My second point is how some of the material and reception towards ethnic entertainment is related to life experiences. Most people are aware of how diverse the Asian American Community is, but the amount of different life experiences is enormously vast. Between generations, education, occupations, locations, anything you can name. Some have actually experienced violence due to their heritage while others only faced verbal insults, and the attitudes towards both are going to be different. On a milder note; we can make jokes regarding how hard Asian parents push thier kids in school, piano or "nerdy" activities, however there really is a significant portion of Asian Americans who have never gone through that. Or some probably did, but the methods and reactions towards those experiences are probably different than the common perception.
With so many factors to include, it is going to be hard to create and maintain some type of collective form of ethnic genre for Asian Americans.
My last point is a bit more philosophical and relates to anyone, of any background and occupation. While the direction and work effort is in your control, at times, the results could be beyond your hands. For whatever reason; the fruits of your labor may not be so sweet according to the amount of work put in or vice versa could happen. Basically speaking, sometimes we can not ignore reality.
However, it's not the end of the world but anyways, this could get personal for people to think about and I think I could stop elaborating on my points of personal opinion now.
There's always going to be a spectrum of opinions about anything political, and I know from my own experience that there is simply no way to please everyone, especially Asian Americans starved for media portrayals of any kind. All you can do in response is to continue to point out that actors and performers have relatively little power and what everyone really wants, performers included, are fewer stereotypes and better roles. I used to criticize actors whom I felt "sold us out" by their portrayals, but I've met too many of those actors and liked too many of them personally to continue to blame them for their choices - not everyone agrees with where the line, if any, ought to be. Continue pushing for greater representation - we need our clowns, our nerds, our comic relief, but when that's all we've got, it makes us all feel like clowns. The real power belongs to the producers, the networks, the writers, directors, though they'll all point their fingers elsewhere as well. For those who get pissed off at what they think are offensive portrayals, I say make your complaints to the people who have the power to make a real difference. For the performers, just be aware of your own power to make a difference, even if that power is just the power to say no.
Danny Cho can be my representation of Asian-America.
In my bed.
Sorry to just focus on comedy, but I think there is a major lack of GOOD Asian American comedians. I'm generally fond of Margaret Cho, but I've never seen any other AA comedians I've liked -- I'm sorry, but I really don't like Danny Cho's brand of humor, Ken Jeong is making a name for himself as being the "token Asian stereotype" in movies nowadays, and Bobby Lee...I guess I don't really dislike him, but I don't find him uproariously funny, either. It's not because Asians are bad at standup or anything, but because there simply aren't enough Asian comedians out there.
And like tien, I'm definitely not going to support someone just because they're Asian. As with most things, I'm only going to support something I LIKE. I know I'm not a bad person for not supporting William Hung.
As much as I do like that there are more Asians in the media nowadays, a helluva lot of the roles they're placed in are so ridiculously stereotyped. I don't think it's wrong to call them out. I think the blame is being placed in the wrong place, honestly -- if the media made an active effort to accept more Asian-Americans into better roles, we wouldn't have anything (well, maybe just less) to complain about.
Thanks for the mention Ernie
I think this whole thing is pure bitterness talking. I'm never going to blindly support anything simply because they're Asian or be against it simply because it's anti-Asian.
While I like to see success amongst Asians, ultimately I'm going to support what I like in general. I like that Yao Ming is in the NBA but I'll support Dwight Howard over him just because I think he's a more exciting player to watch. I'll support and enjoy Ken Jeong on the movie screen but there's handfuls of other white/black/purple actors who I enjoy too.
If the ultimate goal of our society is to be color blind and not ask for detrimental treatment because of our race, then we should not be asked for preferential treatment because of race either. It can't go both ways, and if you want to achieve success, it shouldn't be because you're a good Asian comedian/actor/singer, it should because you're a good comedian/actor/singer period.
Don't ask me to like you more because you're Asian just as you're complaining that we're "hating" on you because you're Asian.
Do your best at what you're good at, and the people will follow.
Agreed with Dan--not a huge fan of Asian American comedians (esp. Margaret Cho). But I do support Asian Americans in all other areas--movies, TV, Broadway, etc. There aren't many of us out there, esp. in mainstream roles, so when I see one, I'm behind them 100%. Daniel Dae Kim on Lost, Daniel Henney on Three Rivers, John Cho in Star Trek. Love, love, love. I didn't realize that so many of us were so critical of our own--maybe I'm naive to get up and cheer every time I see one of us appear on TV.
I checked out the post on Danny Cho's blog. There are some pretty good comments there so I recommend people check it out.
I personally find the Asian American comedians (at least the ones I saw) to be just ok. Not a huge fan but I'm not totally against them. On the other hand, you can not blame some people for being critical against some of these performers (of any genre) who take on questionable roles and material. Sometimes, the target audience isn't the Asian American community so there's that to think about.
The only new thing I want to add and this is just a personal opinion, it's that the Asian American market for entertainment is relatively small and full of variety (diverse tastes) and opinions. Entertainment in general is subjective. Even if the AA performers can get cross the barriers and get past the haters out there, don't expect a lot from Asian Americans.
While having an Asian face out there in the entertainment industry (probably one the last frontiers for Asian Americans in terms of occupation) is cool and all, it won't mean a lot without the skills, connections and market all working together. Of course, no one wants to hear negative reactions towards their work but the feeling might be different if people got no reactions.
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