From Chiseled Features to Two Broke Girls: Who is Responsible for APA Representation in Media?

By Guest Writer | Tuesday, May 17, 2011 | 7 Comments

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8a chiseled From Chiseled Features to Two Broke Girls: Who is Responsible for APA Representation in Media? By Ken

Esteemed reporter Ted Chen recently interviewed Ian Anthony Dale, the star of the NBC scripted series The Event, in a spotlighted conversation before an audience. Besides being remarkably charismatic and astonishingly handsome, the actor is keenly aware of the public image of himself and of others. Faced with some tough questions lobbed by the skilled journalist, Dale was adept and articulate with his answers such as those about choice of roles and representation of Asian Pacific Islanders in media.

Both grounded in perspective and cognizant about the disparity in diversity in opportunities and representation, Dale expressed being somewhat uncomfortable with some of his early role choices. He joked with self-deprecation about being given an award for one of the worst accents in film for his work in, I believe, Mr. 3000. But he relayed that each actor, faced with issues of survival and eating versus playing a demeaning or unflattering role, ultimately makes a decision for herself as to what to do. He commented about how he understands Spike Lee’s disparagement of Tyler Perry’s work and the negative criticism about some of Ken Jeong’s portrayals. He’s not blind to the fact that Hollywood would rather see APIs in the background or as buffoons or oddities. For himself, Dale seems intent on utilizing his fame, much deserved, in crafting an image that he feels both comfortable with and is positive.

Recently CBS announced that Two Broke Girls has been picked up for series. Earlier in the year, I sent AngryAsianMan and Racebending.com excerpts from the audition sides for the show. The show brandishes a horrible Korean immigrant character that speaks in broken English, wears his pants up to practically his pectorals, is uneducated about American holidays, and is called “Rice Lee” by the main character. Apparently the executives and affiliate stations who attend the fests in which pilots are shown and thrown on or off the new fall schedule didn’t seem to mind the portrayal. That would include Nina Tassler, President of CBS, who was awarded for her choices of diversity and inclusion in her programming by no less than the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.

While it would seem an odd choice for Tassler and for CAPE to honor a person capable of propagating a depiction such as the Rice Lee character, what about the actor himself? I’ve been told that Matthew Moy who was cast in the pilot is an extremely sweet person by those who know him personally. At what point, do the choices that one person or one organization make reflect on who or what they are?

Certainly one can learn from Ian Anthony Dale’s looking back on his choices. With his movie star good looks, he’s conscious that his ethnic looks are what most executives focus on. And he knows that with each role he and his fellow APIs play make a formidable impression on the public’s mind. There’s also the realization of the wider marketing mechanics involved with depictions such as Rice Lee.

On paper, it’s good business to not do anything divergent from something that makes a proportion of people laugh, watch, and pay money. If racism is profitable, no executive has to worry about choices, and for the majority, money will always outweigh social good. The green movement became feasible only when it became economically viable.

So, on whose shoulders does it fall on for the Rice Lee ilk: the actor, the executive, the writer and producer, the organization that condones, the activist that condemns silently, or the people who laugh and pay to see it, or those who see nothing wrong with it?

ABOUT KEN: Ken Choy is an actor, writer, community organizer, and producer of Breaking the Bow. He is gay, green, and gluten-free.

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TienVNguyen

“The show brandishes a horrible Korean immigrant character that speaks in broken English, wears his pants up to practically his pectorals, is uneducated about American holidays, and is called “Rice Lee” by the main character.”

Are there actual clips of this? Although I puked just reading the description, not sure how I’ll react to actual clips of the show.

From what it sounds it may actually be worse than this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlWafrrank4
moye

@TienVNguyen I don’t think there are clips yet but parts of the script have been posted online.
FeoChin

that kid IS adorable, though. i just wanna squeeze his cheeks!
GoGo

@TienVNguyen didn’t they rewrite this “rice lee” character to become less of a minstrel show? i thought i read something about that on angryasianman, although it could have been another caricature asian character on another tv show…
http://thylacine.livejournal.com/ ErikaHarada

@GoGo @TienVNguyen It’s pretty sad that they didn’t realize how horrible it was from the moment they wrote the script, if that is the case. Damn.
http://www.erniehsiung.com/ Ernie H.

@GoGo Looks like “Rice Lee” has been renamed to “Bryce Lee,” who has now been re-written as “Han Lee.”

Let’s see how funny the character is. If he gets some snarky dialogue while keeping the minstrel mentality to a low, I don’t get how thick his accent is; it’s the same reason why I like the Indian guy from Big Bang Theory, although you can argue that everyone on that show is easy to make fun of, but lovable. CBS does love its formulaic comedies so it could very well turn into something enjoyable but… we’ll see.
BreakingTheBow

@ErnieHsiung @GoGo The character was always named Han Lee. he changed his name to Bryce to be more American or more Texan State Rep Betty Brown friendly (my addition). But the lead character refuses to pronounce “B”s like Han is unable to pronounce “R”s so he’s now Rice Lee.

CBS has posted previews online–the Han Lee character is seen but not heard.

8 Asians