Is “Ninja Assassin” an Example of a Post-Ethnic Asian Film?

By Koji Steven | Tuesday, December 1, 2009 | View Comments

Over the weekend, I saw Ninja Assassin, the new movie starring the Korean pop star Rain. It was what you imagine it to be. Pretty cool action scenes surrounded by a bad story and horrendous acting. (Surprisingly, Rain’s acting wasn’t that bad. Maybe one of the better performances of the film.)

None of this is why I am writing about Ninja Assassin today. What interested me most is whether this is an example of a post-ethnic Asian film. Let me explain what I mean. The opening scene takes place in a Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) bar with Japanese writing all over the place. The head of the Yakuza is a Korean American actor, Sung Kang. Ninjas are Japanese. But the ninja training school is somewhere in the mountains of China. And of course, the star ninja (Rain) is Korean.

Some would argue that this is just another example of Hollywood confusing and combining all Asian groups together. Japanese. Chinese. Korean. There is no difference. They are all the same. And maybe that’s exactly what they did. But I’m hoping that this is a sign of things to come. A time when Asians (and Asian Americans) can stop defining themselves by their country of origin but by the bigger and broader term, Asian. I’m probably giving too much credit to the makers of Ninja Assassin. But I believe that only by coming together can Asian (and Asian Americans) truly be a cultural and intellectual force on the world stage.

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Guest

There is no such thing as a post-ethnic (or post-racial) society. Not to be a cynic, but come on - this is the same Hollywood that whitewashed 21, The Last Airbender, and has a history of excluding Asians in general. Do you REALLY think they were aiming for Asian ethnic solidarity? Or were they just casting who they thought were best for the roles - which since it was a martial arts movie, of course Asians were eligible.
ssj4152

Hollywood films usually don't have good storylines.
take a look at spiderman for example, it's high tech, cool film with horrible storyline.
hollywood has good reputation, and can afford big budget, but they can't come up with any good stories. the less famous industries are way better when it comes in the qualities of the movies.
of course, hollywood is good for something, that is to brainwash people into thinking less of the asians, it doesn't matter which asian country, it's just that hollywood people are so racist and had to be biased when it comes to treating minorities especially asians.
I don't think it's bad to use a korean actor to play japanese role, but I do think it's wrong to set a ninja training school somewhere in china, or a kung-fu school in japan or something. yes hollywood is nationality challenged, and some americans think that tokyo is the capital of china, all thanks to hollywood
JC

This is already happening in Asia - many big budget films like Red Cliff use actors from China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea regardless of the ethnicities of the role (Don't call them separate races please). I don't think think is this it case in Hollywood - they did it because they didn't really cares. I think for me the bigger issue is pan-Asian unity in Asia, and I can see this happening with the younger generations - most young people have favorite singer/actor from the other countries. This is going to happen as China becomes powerful and liberalized, and WWII becomes distant memory, I think a world dominate Pan East Asian union will soon be upon us. Yeah, maybe not for another 50 years, but it's definitely possible.
Sticky Rice!

This topic is 'racy'.

From what I feel, it looks like there some internal 'tension' between Asians... accepting, forgiving and 'whatever' of things in the past and present??? How much does it 'affect'? ... heh. My 'livelihood' depends on it!!! eh?

On the topic of entertainment. Entertainment is... hmmmmm.... ENTERTAINMENT!
People are 'drawn' to caricatures. Caricatures are drawn to 'standard' in which some 'people' can relate to and 'judge'. STEREOTYPES!... Ninja Assassin! uhmmm... Violent, silent, relentless... you like?...

All we need are more period films. They do well at the box office worldwide and really show how we look, behave, feel, live, work, and love :D!

Hehe! Sticky Rice.
edpenano

Really interesting twist on an old adage. If Asians/Asian Americans/Asian Canadians, etc... combine forces (to form Voltron), then WoW. We will be a force to be reckoned with indeed. At least on the Hollywood stage...
MaSir

Just to set the record straight in case my post was too long. I agree with you Koji.
nchen10

"...only by coming together can Asian (and Asian Americans) truly be a cultural and intellectual force on the world stage."

WTF?? What of WWII, the Korean War and the US's $1 trillion debt to China? Have China's mass production of consumer goods and Japan and Korea's innumerable engineering innovations meant nothing? Kyung-Wha Chung, Myung-Wha Chung, Dai Miyata, Akiko Suwanai, Jian Wang, Lang Lang, etc. etc. are all internationally respected musicians and Korean food is one of the hottest things on the American and French culinary scenes right now.

All without anyone having had to toss away their priceless cultural heritage...

I guess I'm not sure I really understand your argument. If I do, then why stop at identifying as "Asian?" Why not all dress the same and listen to the same music as well?

Removing diversity is not the answer...

That being said, I think Ninja Assassin is just a continuation of Anna May Wong's tragic story. Rain and the rest of the cast were probably just looking to enhance their careers, even at the cost of blurring the lines of their identities. It is either have these un-PC movies, or risk the removal of any Asian presence on the big screen at all. Lucy Liu cannot just wait around for those rare parts written specifically for Chinese women; if she wants to work, she has to play characters like O-ren Ishii.
MaSir

This post is quite thought provoking because it touches on several key points I've been contemplating about as well. Without question, Hollywood is incorporating Asian themes into its movies. G.I. Joe is another example - Storm Shadow is Korean, his sensei looks Chinese and his training is in Japan!?! If the Asians aren't coming together as a whole, then Hollywood is doing it for us. They cannot deny one Asian ethnic group over another in this expanding global economy.

It may be difficult to acknowledge, but there has been a lack of solidarity within the Asian community. As white is to Europe, yellow (or brown in some instances, LOL) is to Asia. Both regions are fragmented with an overwhelming number of different ethnicities, all culturally unique in their own right. Yet somehow, these factors did not stifle the progress of the White Americans as it did for the Asian Americans for one simple reason. European-Americans sacrificed much of their heritage in order to invest in this notion of "whiteness" and by doing so, they became the ideal standard of American society. This galvanization of European-Americans allowed them to be the sole beneficiary of this investment and drove faster assimilation. Throughout the course of US history they have leveraged and benefited from this notion of whiteness politically, economically and socially. For instance,

-Running for congress or office
-Moving up the corporate ladder
-Qualifying for a sizable bank loan
-Obtaining lead roles in mainstream entertainment,
-Placing White-American Male as alpha others as beta i.e. The imbalance of White male/Asian female pairings.

Of course, it also helps when you're the ethnic majority, but nonetheless its systemic impact has proven its significance repeatedly. Even African Americans have more of a cohesive voice than Asian Americans do, and they too came from many different countries in Africa.

Make no mistake. I'm not advocating that we follow similar practices of giving preferential treatment to someone based on them being Asian alone. This makes us no better than any other racist we complain about. The point I'm trying to get across is that everyone in the Asian community should let go some of this attachment to their ethnic-specific identity for the sake of advancing the Asian community as a whole - power in numbers.

There are traces of this already. Collective efforts of talented artists and actors are coming to fruition giving rise to Asian popular culture. Rain, for instance, is the quintessential Asian superstar spearheading the way. He commented in an interview with CNN Talk Asia that it shouldn't be a unilateral exportation of one culture, rather a sharing of them which is what I believe is happening. This may also explain why he is rarely even in Korea anymore. In addition to his dedication and hard work, I believe the critical mass of fans and supporters of Rain see him as a leader who are all contributing to the progress of Asians in entertainment worldwide.

We may still be a silent and invisible minority in America, but Hollywood can no longer deny the Asian community as a whole, and neither should we.
ErnieAtLYD

This all reminds me of an old article I wrote in 2001 for IIStix, where Min Jung and I went to the APEX: Imagine conference:

http://www.iistix.com/index.php/articles/more/a...

Basically, there was an older Asian actress who performed on Broadway who believed the art of acting trumped whether they had to be Asian or not, because it was acting, and that's what actors do. The audience was pretty flabbergasted, for what its worth.
kojistevensakai

Thank you everyone for taking the time to write out your comments. I think everyone's thoughts are good and gives me a lot to think about. The issue of Hollywood is an interesting one and something that I as a writer/producer struggle with. Maybe it is something I will blog about in the future.
davidc75

koji sakai,

your thoughts about this being a post-ethnic asian american age is an optimistic one. this is certainly complicated. from the perspective of authenticity, it probably would be better to have ethnically "correct" actors in those roles. however, in the "ninja assassin" example, notions of authenticity become less important because it's an american perspective on japanese ninja culture, recycling a hodgepodge of asian tropes, anyway, so there is little authenticity to begin with.

from a creative point of view, it's in actors' best interests to be able to play an ethnic range or their parts will be limited because, let's face it, asian american actors are still primarily slotted in asian roles (with nice exceptions like the demitri noh character on "flash forward" played by john cho). in some ways, their success is important because it places asian american actors more prominently in the cultural field as they become "stars." this may be relevant to us as asian american audiences because it creates celebrity and perhaps more cultural validation in media through a major celebrity. that might make the average asian american dude seem more attractive or the asian american woman seem less exotic if asian american stars develop a cult of celebrity and idol worship with tweens reading all about their lives in "tiger beat" - is that still around? - these would be good developments, although it comes at the cost of racialization and lack of ethnic specificity.

neither one alone would be completely satisfactory, but for now i side with having asian american actors getting as many roles as they can get. not because i think it represents an optimistic post-ethnic world but because i would take increased cultural space versus ethnic accuracy (for now, accuracy can be a later goal and may be a goal when, for example, folks like the aforementioned john cho plays the korean american lawyer guy in "west 32nd"). either way, our thoughts matter little because media oligopolies will work in their financial best interests.
quadshock

Well before I formed an opinion on the matter I looked at the issue in other ethnic groups. Am I really bothered that Ray Liotta has no Italian blood in him, yet played Henry Hill in Goodfellas? Not really... am I bothered that Russel Crowe was leading the Roman army even though he is from New Zealand? Honestly I do not care. Part of the job of actors is to become someone else entirely. I do not care so much who plays who as long as they are respectful of the cultures they are trying to portray, as much as they may fictionalize aspects of it.
facebook-13617324

Not that I'm not proud to be "Asian," but at the same time, I think the Asians-are-all-alike label can be a dangerously slippery slope.

Anyone remember WWII? This exact same label was used as justification to aggressively colonize Asian nations - so that all Asians could come together and "beat the West." Yet, even under this pan-Asian label, those who were not the colonizer were still kept a step away and told they were "almost, but not quite." In other words, even between "Asians," we are all still different. And as Philip and Moye have already said, it's horribly unfair to ask someone to lump their ethnic origin with other ones. It's like saying all white people or all black people or all First Nations people are the same.

Accepting labels creates a framework for all living beings to be placed in categories and hierarchies. Don't get me wrong, I am still proud to be Canadian, Asian, Chinese, human, etc., I just feel that we shouldn't be so quick to simplify.
moye

To be honest, I really hope you aren't supporting a new time when we're only defined by such a big and broad term like Asian. If anything, it's the non-Asian community that has given us that label (which I think we do proudly embrace) but hell if I ever stop defining myself as Japanese.

I agree that we as a racial community need to work on coming together, especially in a discriminating industry like Hollywood, but I have no idea how you expect an entire continent of vastly different cultures to unite as a single identity. Like Philip said, are you including South Asian countries in this? How would this benefit globally and politically? Isn't this how WWII started? Is this idea only for the sake of the entertainment industry so we can all be more comfortable to be cast in wider roles?
Simon

I disagree with the post. It's Hollywood assuming all Asians are the same and can be cast in the places of ethnic-specific characters. If it's a movie about Japanese culture, it sure as hell better star Japanese actors and actresses, not just some Hollywood actor who happens to be Asian.
stealthybull

I for one am proud of my Korean heritage and do not enjoy the prospect of being lumped as a single broad category as an "Asian." When explaining my heritage, I always prefer to say that I am an "Korean-American" over "Asian" or "Asian-American."

Don't get me wrong - I am proud to be Asian as well.
But why should I *stop* defining myself by my country of origin, and rather by a bigger and broader and more diluted term, Asian?

To make it easier for non-Asians (and some Asians) to comprehend who I am? where I'm from?
Should I give up speaking Korean and begin to speak "Asian" as well?

I for one, disagree with this post.
Philip

"A time when Asians (and Asian Americans) can stop defining themselves by their country of origin but by the bigger and broader term, Asian. "

As a Asian-American I can understand where you're coming from since we are minorities in the USA but...

I think that would be more understanding for Asian-Americans or people of Asian descent in countries that are not in Asia. However, I think it would be unfair to ask an Asian, or more specifically someone who has lived in countries like China or Korea, to expect them to not identify themselves by their country of origin or homeland. Just like nobody expects a person of Italian descent to only identify themselves as "European" or someone from Argentina to only consider themselves "Latino/Hispanic".

I wouldn't be surprised if some people started complaining that Japanese weren't casted for certain roles in this movie, like for Memoirs of a Geisha. Just like people complained that there were no Filipinos who appeared with Kaba Modern on America's Best Dance Crew, when originally there were going to be but they had to say in Irvine. Pride seems to be the source of it.

The whole Asians are the same might work with Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans but it gets more complicated if you include SE and South Asians as well. I also think the views in certain countries, cultural diversity, and differences would make it quite complicated for all Asians to band together under one single term, especially if whatever is being portrayed has a distinct national/ethnic heritage being mentioned.

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