my friend from college wrote a screenplay. then she made it into a film. she and two friends submitted it to the tribeca film festival, who accepted it. and yesterday, they won an award at the festival. this is their blog.
read the comments. the majority of the responses are not congratulatory; they are hateful. there are a few angry asian men out there. i do sympathize with the underrepresentation of asian american leading men in television and film, but sending ugly and spiteful messages to filmmakers who had no intention whatsoever to perpetuate hollywood stereotypes is really unproductive. they've removed the comments, which was a good idea. once a "discussion" spirals out of control and the weblog administrator's voice is drowned out, it's time to quiet things down.
anyway, these angry asian men think that the asian women in the film are getting "cultural validation by running into the arms of white men." they compare the movie to the last samurai. they call the filmmakers "sell-outs" and other less flattering names.
never mind that "red doors" is roughly similar to "american beauty" (family dysfunction in suburbia with a tragic/comic angle), and "the last samurai" is about a bunch of people in japan fighting with swords. no, they can't get over the fact that there are white men in the mix. never mind that the eldest sister, an asian female, eventually finds both love interests unappealing, and she even gives back the wedding ring; she ends up being single by choice. never mind that the "white" woman that the middle sister becomes involved with is part chinese (are you people BLIND?!). race never even becomes an issue in this movie.
if i'm getting spillover trolls, i'd like to point them to the following set of circumstances that occurred during casting:
you know what really happened? she wrote two of the love interests as asian men to begin with... then, at the last moment, the two actors both dropped out due to personal issues / visa problems. then she held open auditions for anyone willing to play the part, and NO ASIAN MEN SHOWED UP AT THE AUDITIONS. none. zilch. nada. a few white guys showed up, so she said "okay, you white boys can play the part. why not?" when you're an independent filmmaker, you work with what you have.
working with a lawyer in the industry has shown me one thing: it's fuckin' hard. it's expensive. it's a high risk, low return industry. to get a film into a festival is already an accomplishment. (and to get a distributor... start praying. and to make a return? hope for the messiah.) this is why i intend to stay on the business side of things. :) so really, these women made it come together despite the odds, they kicked butt. it's too bad that some people can only see the film through the myopic lenses of their single-minded political agenda, filtering out all the important bits like, you know, the story and universal themes that everyone can relate to. but hey, what can ya do...
the filmmakers are mature women and don't wish to feed the trolls. i am the polar opposite of a mature woman. and i'm ornery. so flame i go!
anyway, you can't make everyone happy, so you might as well stay true to yourself and let the chips fall as they may.
19 comments:
i know, right? pfoho represent!
yes i remember the masters' open houses. great sangria. great cognac. :)
oh agreed!
*spits seltzer out of my nose*
this is more entertainment than i have had in... five minutes.
however, i'd say that "cat news #2" (see two posts above) is definitely more entertaining. not by much though.
yes. but calling the filmmakers "whores" and "sell-outs" is not the answer. i understand that this is an emotional issue, but in the case at hand, the mudslinging was especially misplaced. the casting emergency was a true story. the white guys were subs, not the original actors. it doesn't matter to me, but knowing this might ease the sting a little bit for others. however, i also feel that, even if the original actors had been able to complete the project, there would still be complaints like "well, why didn't he get the girl?" etc. some people will never be happy.
and i'm tired.
this discussion is getting tedious. for the last time, i'm not a director. i'm a third year law student.
i was an officer for a law school asian american association; i know the political mobilization tools, tactics, and philosophies. i don't need to hear them rehashed again. sometimes, you attack a real enemy in the media, like hot97 and the morning show, or even abercrombie... but this case is absolutely ridiculous.
how many times do i have to repeat that the casting was, in this case, accidental? you can believe whatever you want. i know it's human nature to be suspicious, and i can't control that. you already have your minds made up.
now, i suggest you get together with a bunch of friends and write your own story. write a less ridiculous "harold and kumar" or a film like "better luck tomorrow" that doesn't feature murderous teenagers. or whatever you damn well want. please... go! do it. stop complaining and do it already. you can't control what other people do, but if you want it to happen, it's time to get your butt off the seat and do it yourself.
i currently don't date anyone except my girlfriend. before her, i dated anyone who was attractive to me, regardless of race.
and why is this relevant, may i ask?
i think you've hit the nail on the head:
the quest for pussy causes people to do some very outrageous things.
ha ha ha ha!
i'd like to see anyone disagree with that one!
then make a film. tell your own story. jeez. why do i feel like i'm taking to a wall?
you think asian women are well represented?
umm... no.
this whole argument is ridiculous.
hell yeah, em0. this sounds like the flame wars on craigslist when the L word first premiered.
"there aren't any butch afro-cuban diesel dykes on the show who have PhDs! white hollywood sucks!"
"where are all the bois at?"
etc.
the creator the the L word based her characters loosely on people she knew in real life. is she to blame for that? the stories becomes more believable that way.
to any storyteller: write what you know. don't "sell out" to anyone else's political agenda, because the results can backfire. if you find yourself being underrepresented in the media, write your own stories and throw your hat into the fray.
now quit bitching already.
yalldonefuckedupnow said, "oh wait, instead of being docile suzie wong's your writing about asian women being dragon ladies, wow, what progress. you seriously hate asian men. just call it like it is, you don't give a fuck about your so called "brothers""
you fucking come in here on your high horse - and then call an asian "sister" suzie wong?
now that's some fucking hypocritical-ass shit, motherfucker.
come back here when you got your internal self-loathing straightened out kthnx.
"maybe you can't read, but the context i wrote it in was the way asian women are portrayed
"asian women portrayed in the media as suzie wongs? naww...no way
"read it again, dumbass"
no, no. you don't get away with coming here, talking about soon-yi and other asian media brides, and then insulting the hell out of emily2 with your statement and then weaseling out of it.
let's reread the sentence in question, then? shall we?
it ain't like your challenging what white men write about asian people. oh wait, instead of being docile suzie wong's your writing about asian women being dragon ladies,
whoops, guess you didn't call her one. you said asian women aren't suzie wongs anymore. now they're writing themselves, and they are taking the roles of dragon ladies. and they hate men.
oh, well, that makes SUUUCH a difference. you're not saying they're suzie wongs anymore. no, they've moved on to another stereotype.
big fucking difference.
oh, it's useless. a few insecure people, regardless of race, will always try to play the victim and blame others. the more you try to reason with them, the more they become entrenched into their narrow-minded beliefs, because they think they are being "attacked" rather than "being engaged as a party to a conversation." so they, sensitive blokes they are, find people like them for support, and they close themselves off into an insular community who wallow in bitterness and espouse hatred for anything that is different from them. [see "stormfront" and "five percenters"]
fortunately, most people aren't like that. most people aren't consumed by their own anger to the point of losing touch with reason. but when you do run across such a person, sometimes you just gotta say "fuck it!"
anyway, this problem exists in the queer community too. quite a few lesbians simply just cannot stand men. sure, you might not want to SLEEP with them, but to disparage an entire group of people for irrational reasons or fear of "the other" is just ridiculous. some of my favorite people are men. sure, meatheads exist, but for the most part, people - men and women - are reasonable.
i'm going to continue to be reasonable for a little bit more, but once i get fed up... I'M JUST GOING TO HAVE TO GET GHETTO. and believe me, it's not a pretty sight. consider this a warning. :)
any negative ad hominem attacks were intended for those flamers you mentioned, not you.
in response, i guess one of my points was that every Asian American has a different experience. i don't know what an Asian American in san francisco experiences, because i'm not from san francisco. i watch margaret cho and go... whoa... that's extreme! and i don't think margaret cho represents all asian americans from san francisco. in fact, i know quite a few AA's who find her act to be offensive.
to represent the "asian american community" is a difficult if not impossible task, because the "asian american community" is not a monolithic borg-like force that thinks alike, nor is it made up of only a few types of people. hence, some asian americans, when one attempts to portray "asian americans" on screen, might rub someone the wrong way.
i don't mean long duk dong - we all know that's offensive. but what i mean is ... take the film "better luck tomorrow" for example. there you have a mostly asian am cast. a lot of people loved that film, but i'd venture to say that those characters don't represent the "majority" of asian americans accurately - most aren't murderers. however, it was a film based loosely on a true story - a bunch of asian am honor kids in LA murdered someone. (look it up on goldsea.com) would you consider that film to be a "misrepresentation" of sorts? i'm sure you've seen it.
oh yes, yes it did.
1) the boys were straight A students, stuck only with asian people, and were on the academic decathlon team
oh, but there is a spin on this! what is it?
2) to counter the first stereotype, they bought into the "AzN thug/gangsta" culture - especially the character of virgil
from one stereotype to another...
*tut tut tut*
note to visitors:
any more personal attacks will result in the deletion of your comment. if you can't make a point without attacking someone personally, you don't have a point to make.
thanks.
Post a Comment