Fight Hollywood's Bigots for the Left, contribute to
Media Action Network for Asian Americans (www.manaa.org) and 
the Center For Asian American Media (www.asianamericanmedia.org)

Wet dreams of Bigots for the Left: "The Social Network".  
The only Asian Americans at Harvard and Silicon Valley are bimbos.
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin
Executive producers: Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Spacey
Director: David Fincher
Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin
Casting: Laray Mayfield


1/13/12 CNN: "Is Hollywood 'whitewashing' Asian roles?"
By Stephanie Siek
    America’s embrace of Japanese pop culture, particularly manga and anime, hasn’t resulted in an 
embrace of Asian and Asian-American actors when those storylines go to Hollywood.
    Two upcoming feature films based on Japanese material are already stirring controversy after rumors 
that white American actors will be cast as characters originally written as Japanese.
http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/13/is-hollywood-whitewashing-asian-roles/

10/26/11 Wall Street Journal Blogs: "Do Chinese Pioneers Get Railroaded in AMC’s ‘Hell on Wheels’?"
    “It was the moon launch of its time,” says Chuck Vollan, assistant professor of history at South Dakota 
State University — an epic feat of engineering, human effort and national resolve. William G. Thomas, 
history professor at University of Nebraska and author of the new book “The Iron Way,” concurs, but 
adds that if anything, its impact was even more immediate and dramatic. “In a few short years, the 
railroad transformed society in ways that people of the time could never have imagined,” Thomas says. 
“It completely revolutionized communications and commerce. For people of that era, the railroad was the Internet.”
    That’s why the announcement by AMC — the cable channel responsible for “Mad Men” and the 
breakout zom-drom hit “The Walking Dead” — that its next big original series, titled “Hell on Wheels,” 
would be set against the backdrop of the railroad’s construction triggered a surge of interest and hope in 
the Asian-American community. AMC at first indicated that the stories of Chinese Americans would not 
be part of the series. But in a statement sent to Speakeasy, the creators of the series now say they may 
broaden the show in coming seasons.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/10/26/do-chinese-pioneers-get-railroaded-in-amcs-hell-on-wheels/tab/print/ 


4/19/11 The Examiner: "George Takei takes aim at Warner Bros over ‘Akira’ movie and Caucasian actors,"
By Jodi Jill 
    In what is becoming an Asian versus Caucasian casting showdown, the movie ‘Akira’ is getting some celebrity pressure before the final decision on who is playing the lead character. George Takei has taken to his fan base Tuesday to denounce the idea of making the actors who are being considered for the characters all Caucasian.
    Only hours ago, after signing a petition early Tuesday by the fans who find offense to the idea of the lead role being given to the wrong place, Takei again spoke about the issue with his fans. The actor took direct aim at Warner Bros again by posting his dismay of the current men being considered for the character rolls and how race might play into the decision movie over at Warner Bros.
    “WB thinks it needs white leads to sell Akira. That's insulting to white audiences and deprives Asian actors of rare opportunity."
    The original movie is a 1988 film with a strong cult following and the characters are Asian. This Japanese animated science fiction film was hoped to be turned into a live action film, but there were so many issues that only recently the idea has been fast tracked into a movie for the masses.
    While George Takei has been very vocal of the concerns, the studio has been exceptionally quiet about the issue and if there will be Asian-American in the lead character.
    More information can be found at the Don't Whitewash AKIRA! Facebook page.


“The Last Airbender”
Producers: Scott Aversano, Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer, M. Night Shyamalan
Executive producers: Michael Dante DiMartino, Kathleen Kennedy, Bryan Konietzko
Co-producer: Jose L. Rodriguez
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Casting: Douglas Aibel                 
Paramount Pictures
In his December 23, 2009 “Answer Man” update, film critic Roger Ebert publicly condemned the casting of The Last Airbender film.
    Arlene C. Harris Q: Regarding the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan vehicle The Last Airbender, what do you think about the whitewashing of the production...?
     A. Wrong. The original series Avatar: The Last Airbender was highly regarded and popular for three seasons on Nickelodeon. Its fans take it for granted that its heroes are Asian. Why would Paramount and Shyamalan go out of their way to offend these fans? There are many young Asian actors capable of playing the parts.


"The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard,"
    - Gary Sanchez Productions
    - Producers: Will Ferrell, Chris Henchy, Adam McKay, Kevin J. Messick,
    - Executive Producer: Louise Rosner
    - Director: Neal Brennan 
    - Screenplay: Andy Stock, Rick Stempson
8/18/09 AFP: “Japanese American group outraged by film,”
     Los Angeles — A Japanese-American group on Monday demanded an apology over a film starring Jeremy Piven due to a scene satirically depicting the mob beating of an Asian American man.
    "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard," which opened in sixth place in the North American box office last Friday, is a comedy about a down-and-out used-car salesman played by Piven who tries to make it big with a Fourth of July sale.
    On the trailer seen on the movie's official website, Piven's character is seen shouting at an Asian American employee at the dealership: "Don't get me started on Pearl Harbor . We are Americans and they are the enemy! Never again!"
    As the Asian American -- played by Korean American actor Ken Jeong -- sheepishly joins in chanting "Never again!," an older white man says, "Let's get him!" and the employees beat him up.
    The Japanese American Citizens League said Piven's character also used the racial slur "Jap" in the movie and, acknowledging it was a hate crime, asked employees to say the Asian American was attacking them with a samurai sword.
    Saying the film showed a "shocking lack of judgment," the group said the producers "need to apologize because they crossed a line in thinking they could use a racial slur simply for the sake of a laugh."
    "Japanese Americans are particularly offended because we painfully recall how slurs were used during the 1940s to vilify and demean our community, resulting in a forced eviction from our homes," it said.
    Authorities herded more than 100,000 Japanese Americans, most of them US citizens, into internment camps months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, dragging the United States into World War II.
    Paramount Pictures, owned by conglomerate Viacom, said the film -- distributed in the United States by its division Paramount Vantage -- "satirizes and exaggerates the extremes of the sales and celebrity culture."
    "We understand that when presented out of context, jokes and situations in the movie about a variety of topics might be offensive to some people," it said in a statement.
    "To be very clear, 'The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard' is in no way meant to be mean-spirited, disparaging or hurtful to any individuals and we regret any offense taken," it said.
    It is the first movie for Piven since he appeared in the hit HBO television series "Entourage."


"Kung Fu"
Conceived by Bruce Lee, but they cast a Caucasian
in the lead role.
Producers: Jerry Thorpe, Alex Beaton
Director: Jerry Thorpe
Casting: Lynn Stalmaster

"Romeo Must Die"
Based on Romeo and Juliet, but they changed the ending so that the Asian Romeo 
(Jet Li) does not kiss Juliet (Aaliyah Haughton)
Bigots for the Left:
Warner Brothers Pictures: 
    - Barry M. Meyer, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer,
    - Alan F. Horn, President & Chief Operating Officer
    - Ed Romano, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Silver Pictures: Joel Silver
    - Executive Producer: Dan Cracchiolo
    - Producer: Joel Silver
    - Producer: Jim Van Wyck
    - Co-producer: Warren Carr
    - Associate producer: Mitchell Kapner
    - Associate producer: Ilyse A. Reutlinger  


"21"
    Even though most of the actual blackjack team was composed of Asian American male MIT students, a studio executive involved in the casting process said that most of the film's actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female.  In real life, most of the blackjack team was Asian Americans.
    Bigots for the Left:
    - Executive producers: William S. Beasley, Ryan Kavanaugh, Brett Ratner
    - Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Kevin Spacey
    - Casting: Francine Maisler   
3/2508 www.angryasianman.com: racist casting and 21,
    There's been a lot of chatter and gripes lately about the movie 21, which opens in theaters nationwide this Friday. Longtime readers know  that this movie has been on our radar for several years, ever since it was announced that Sony had the film in development, with Kevin Spacey attached to the project. Based on the bestselling book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich, it tells the story of how a team of gifted blackjack players from MIT developed a highly successful card-counting system and took Las Vegas casinos for millions. Based on a true story, it's a great premise, and the perfect idea for a big budget Hollywood movie. Right? Not exactly.
    You see, in real life, the blackjack team was a group mostly made up of Asian American students. This was actually advantageous to their strategy, as it happens, because Asian dudes winning big money at the casinos apparently aren't quite as conspicuous as white dudes who win big at the casinos. That's just the way it is. Anyway. As we all know, Hollywood studios seem to have a great of resistance to creating interesting, fully-fleshed, three-dimensional roles for Asian American actors. They seem to think we can't carry a movie, and more often than not, will instead create roles and stories for pretty white people instead. I know this, you know this, we all know this. Hell, they know this.
    Case in point, 21. Except here, we actually have a true story that involved real living, breathing Asian Americans, who have been magically switched out on celluloid into-you guessed it-pretty white people. Namely, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess. This has pretty much been the plan since the beginning, and now, the movie finally hits movie screens this week. Business as usual.  That's racist!
    AICN has an  interview with Jeff Ma (www.aintitcool.com/node/36103) the guy who Sturgess' character is based on. He doesn't seem to mind that they've changed his character's ethnicity... I guess he's entitled to that.  It still doesn't change the fact that this movie was born out of the stereotypical Hollywood casting process. This is from an article on author Ben Mezrich and Bringin Down the House from 2005:http://www-tech.mit.edu/V125/N43/43vegas.html
    This view is brought about in part by Hollywood , with films like "Ocean's Eleven,"in which gambling is made to seem exotic and sexy. Incidentally, Mezrich's "Bringing Down the House" is now being turned into a feature film by Kevin Spacey, who will play the MIT professor who trained the blackjack team described in that book. During the talk, Mezrich mentioned the stereotypical Hollywood casting process--though most of the actual blackjack team was composed of Asian males, a studio executive involved in the casting process said that most of the film's actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female. Even as Asian actors are entering more mainstream films, such as "Better Luck Tomorrow" and the upcoming "Memoirs of a Geisha," these stereotypes still exist, Mezrich said.
    I must note that the movie's cast includes a couple of Asian American characters, played by Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.  They're part of the blackjack team, and do have a (less prominent) place on the movie poster. It counts for something. I really am glad that these two are in the movie, apparently added later to mitigate some of the initial controversy stirred up by this casting nonsense. Sure, it feels like the producers are throwing us a bone. They are. What they're crafting is pure Hollywood falsity. But I'm happy to see that these two rising stars will get due exposure in a high-profile movie a lot of people are going to see.  I'm okay with that. (I might have to take these statements back if/when I actually see them in the movie.)
    Now, there's a pretty vocal anti-21 movement that's been growing over the last few months. This movie has got a lot of people angry. There have even been calls for a an all-out boycott of 21. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24381965401
   I'm going to put it out there-I'm not necessarily in favor of a boycott, nor am I against one either. I'm not sure where I stand on that. But I'm certainly in favor of anything that draws attention and educates people on the issues at hand. This is a good one, because it brings scrutiny to the nature of Hollywood 's racist casting processes, with a very obvious, high-profile example. People are interested in this movie, without a lot of background knowledge, but this is an opportunity to create dialogue on a general practice that has systematically shut out Asians in Hollywood for years. I hope it prompts folks understand what's going on here, learn the details for themselves, talk about it, and perhaps approach 21 (and future Hollywood product) with a more discerning eye.




2/3/11 Rafu Shimpo: Los Angeles Japanese Daily News: 
"APAs on Prime-Time TV: Progress Has Been Made, But More Needs to Be Done," 
by Karen K. Narasaki
http://rafu.com/news/2011/02/apas-prime-time-tv/
    The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition last week released its 2010 Report Card on Television Diversity. The following statement was issued in Los Angeles  by Karen Narasaki, chair of the coalition and president of the Asian American Justice Center.
    Ten years ago when we started grading the four major networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – on the inclusion of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) in front of and behind the camera, the picture was dismal.
    In 2001, only 17 Asian American actors were featured in the prime-time lineup and they were generally limited roles. The following year the number was even worse at 14. In 2010, the picture was much brighter with breakout shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Heroes” and “Glee” featuring APA actors in quality roles.  
    But to have prime-time television truly reflect the America we live in, the networks must do more to invest in shows that feature an APA as the central character. There has not been a primary cast of APA actors since Margaret Cho’s “All-American Girl” in 1994 — a span of more than 15 years. With the growing pool of proven Asian American talent in primary roles in large ensemble casts, the time is long overdue for an Asian American-led show.
    Over the last decade, reality shows emerged as a force during prime-time hours. The networks should be commended for the diversity of shows such as “Dancing With the Stars,” “American Idol,” “The Amazing Race,” “Survivor,” “The Biggest Loser” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which have featured APA talent including Carrie Ann Inaba, Cheryl Burke, Yul Kwon, Ada Wong and Kat Chang, who was part of the 
first all-female team to win “The Amazing Race.”
    We applaud ABC for featuring Rhex Arboleda, a native of the Philippines, and his family on an episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” during the 2010-11 season. However, not every reality show producer has been committed to assembling casts that are consistently diverse.
    Losing “Lost” and “Heroes” will have an impact on the number of APA actors on scripted prime-time shows in the 2010-11 season if efforts are not made to ensure diversity initiatives are implemented. But we do see promise in shows such as “Outsourced” and “Hawaii Five-0.”
    Overall, there were 37 APA actors cast in regular prime-time roles for the 2009-10 season, an increase of four from the previous season.  Although the quality of these roles has vastly improved — APAs are now cast in roles with real dimension, not just as sidekicks or in menial roles — APAs are still less likely than actors from other racial groups to appear in primary roles.
    Since the 2007-08 season, the number of APA writers and producers has continued to fall. Even though the decline is slight, this is of great concern to the coalition as the number should be increasing. We are also concerned about the decrease for Latino and African American writers as well.
    Time has shown that some showrunners are apparently uncomfortable writing for non-white lead characters and are not going to change. So it is necessary to create a new generation of writers and producers who can be successful in telling stories that will resonate with what America is today. We urge the networks to implement initiatives that will net gains in this area.
    We believe that increasing the number of APA and other minority writers and producers will help lead to fully developed characters and central roles for APA and other minority characters. After more than a decade of effort, each network should have a strong pipeline of minority talent ready to become the next Shonda Rhimes (creator, executive director and head writer of “Grey’s Anatomy”).
    Overall, opportunities for APA directors dipped slightly to 23 from 27. The coalition expects improvement at all of the networks but not enough APAs are being groomed for advancement or getting an opportunity to direct.
    With the exception of FOX, the other three networks continue to make progress in their efforts to contract with Asian American businesses. NBC and CBS top the four networks in Asian American business contracting, with FOX trailing in this category.
    This year, only NBC’s overall grade improved, up from a C+ to a B-. NBC’s grade rose because of its vast improvement in casting APAs on reality programs and in its holding deals with APAs. For non-scripted shows, NBC’s numbers increased from seven to 23. NBC also increased in the “development deals,” “procurement” and “APA executives” categories.
    We are sad that NBC chose to take “Heroes” and “Trauma” off the air but we applaud the network for “Outsourced,” a 2010-11 season sitcom set in India that features several Asian characters.
    ABC’s and CBS’s overall grades remained a B-; FOX maintained its C+ grade.
    You can find our full report at www.aajc.advancingjustice.org but I wanted to point out a few of each network’s highlights:
    ABC.  It has been five years since ABC’s breakout hit “Grey’s Anatomy” first aired, a show with a minority showrunner and quality roles for minority actors. Since then, ABC’s diversity efforts helped launchhomeruns such as “Lost” and “Ugly Betty” and now “Modern Family.” The coalition would like to see more from the network at the same level as these shows.
    Despite ABC’s effort with “FlashForward,” the 2009-10 season was a disappointment. The network’s APA number fell for a second year in a row in the writers, recurring actors and reality show cast members categories. And with the conclusion of “Lost,” the numbers will fall further without renewed attention in 
development and casting.  There were two lost opportunities in ABC’s new season, “Off the Map” and “Body of Proof,” which are produced by ABC Studios. These broadcasts are both medical shows; originally, at least one was written with an Asian character in mind, but a non-minority actress was cast instead.
    The most significant improvement for ABC came in the minority-contracting category.
    NBC.  Overall, NBC improved in on-air, prime-time, unscripted shows and program development.  And with “Outsourced” added to the lineup, we expect the numbers for next season to rise for scripted shows even with “Heroes” off the network.  NBC continues improving its diversity initiatives and has broadened its efforts beyond just television. It leads the way with its digital efforts, which hold much promise for ensuring and increasing diversity as media continues to evolve.
    NBC is also committed to diversifying its workforce in the front office. The coalition commends NBC for hiring Michael Chen from GE to serve as president of strategic initiatives.
    Another exciting opportunity for diversity inclusion at NBC was triggered by Comcast Corporation’s merger with NBC Universal (NBCU). AAJC, East West Players, Japanese American Citizens League, Organization of Chinese Americans and Media Action Network for Asian Americans executed a landmark agreement last month with Comcast and NBCU that spells out very substantial provisions to increase 
the inclusion of Asian Americans that will set a high standard for the media and the communications industry.
    FOX.  FOX has delivered a big hit with “Glee.” We appreciate the diversity of the cast but would like to see the APA actors have an opportunity to develop into more central characters. For example, Jenna Ushkowitz is one of the original characters but has yet to have her back story fully told. Also, Iqbal Theba 
plays a wonderful supporting character on the show but he deserves more screen time.
    FOX’s new season has been a disappointment with only two new Asian regulars — Indira Varma added to “Human Target” and Lisa Lapira appearing in the mid-season replacement “Mixed Signals.”  For the 2009-10 season, FOX is one of two networks that improved in the writers and producers category.
    FOX’s effort to focus more resources and attention on the development of minority-led projects continues to be promising. Its casting Internet site is a very innovative initiative.
    CBS.  CBS, under the committed leadership of Nina Tassler, has made great strides in its diversity initiatives since 2001. One example —CBS made concerted efforts to increase the number of APA actors in the daytime segment of the schedule and these efforts are beginning to pay off.
    CBS, like FOX, improved in the writers and producers category as well as the procurement and network executives areas. The 2009-10 lineup included a new show, “Three Rivers,” which cast Daniel Henney as a central character. Even though the series was canceled, w e applaud CBS for going out of its way to secure the actor as a regular and not just relying on agents to submit clients for the show.  In fact, the network also did this with Adhir Kalyan in “Rules of Engagement” and Archie Panjabi — who won the 
Emmy for best supporting actress in a drama series — in “The Good Wife.”  The current season is promising with “Hawaii Five-0,” which features Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park in primary roles.
    Conclusion
    The coalition is very pleased with the progress we have seen over the years in the minority-contracting category. We praise the networks for their commitment in this area and remain encouraged that improvements will continue.
    While progress has certainly been made through this decade of report cards, it is disappointing that the progress is not consistent. At this stage, one would expect each network to feature at least a dozen APA regulars. But only NBC meets that mark. And no network airs a show with an APA as the central character or that features an APA family.



5/2/10 Los Angeles Times: "On the set: Casting of ‘Last Airbender’ stirs controversy:
Although the source material is rooted in Far Eastern myth, M. Night Shyamalan’s film cross-casts non-Asians,"
by Sam Adams
    Philadelphia - M. Night Shyamalan is the producer of "The Last Airbender".  Shyamalan has been accused of whitewashed the story, which was influenced by Asian art and mythology, by casting Caucasian actors in many leading roles.
    Noah Ringer, a tween tae kwon do champion from Texas, was chosen for the role of Aang, a high-spirited boy who discovers that he is the last surviving member of the Air Nation; "Twlight's" Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz ("Deck the Halls") were cast as his best friends, Water Nation siblings Sokka and Katara.
    The source material for the Paramount Pictures film is " Avatar: The Last Airbender," an animated series that aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. 
    Although creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were heavily influenced by Asian martial arts lore and incorporated elements of Chinese and Tibetan cultures, the characters had no explicit race. But some Asian Americans saw the film's casting as the latest in a string of insults from an industry in which it was once common for white actors to squint their eyes and spout fortune-cookie wisdom while Asian actors were confined to playing opium-den extras.
    On the film's Philadelphia set last summer, Shyamalan took issue with the idea that "The Last Airbender" presents a lily-white version of the cartoon's universe. "Ultimately, this movie, and then the three movies, will be the most culturally diverse tentpole movies ever released, period," he said. "So if I'm failing the bar, I'm not sure whose bar is set higher than this movie." At the time when the criticisms first surfaced early last year, boy-band heartthrob Jesse McCartney was set to play the villainous Prince Zuko. But when he dropped out over conflicts with his touring schedule, the role was recast with " Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel and the Fire Nation took on a darker hue. Iranian-born Shaun Toub was cast as Patel's uncle and Maori actor Cliff Curtis as his father.
    Toub, whose lengthy resume includes " Iron Man" and " Crash," said that race-based casting would have come with its own problems. "If they would have put all Asians in a certain nation, I think then there would be people who come out and said, ‘Well, now you're stereotyping, saying that anything that has to do with martial arts has to do with Asians and chop suey and all that.' So it's nice to mix it up and just do the unexpected."


2/4/10 www.minnesota.publicradio.org: "A look at "Yellow Face" in American entertainment,"
by Marianne Combs
    Do you remember the show "Kung Fu" starring David Carradine? You know the one where he has to walk on rice paper and pass all sorts of tests to be a true shaolin monk? And then he goes on a quest in the West to find his half-brother? 
    Did you know Bruce Lee was passed over for the part? 
    I didn't. Of course it doesn't really surprise me. "Sign of the times... that was the early 70s... wouldn't happen today." Or at least, so I thought, until I read David Henry Hwang's play "Yellow Face." 
    The play, which opens this weekend at the Guthrie theater (in a production staged by Theater Mu) is based in part on true tales from Hwang's own career. And it reveals just how much race continues to play a very frustrating role in casting in American media... especially for Asian-Americans. 
    A quick survey of American media reveals the truth to this. Both Asian-American males and females tend to be relegated to the role of "side-kick." Typically they are cast as the computer expert, or the doctor. They are quiet, good-looking, and have excellent skills in the martial arts. 
    So what's wrong with that, you ask? Heck, I'd love to be good-looking, have a high paying job and a black belt to boot!
    The problem is that our portrayal of Asian-Americans is extremely narrow. There is no "average Asian-American family" on TV. What Bill Cosby did for African-Americans (which, regardless of what you think of the show, was to put their lives center stage) has yet to be accomplished for Asian-Americans. 
    Margaret Cho gave it a shot with her 1994 TV program "All American Girl." Complaints from network executives that her face was "too round" led her to practically starve herself in the weeks leading up to production (resulting in kidney failure), and at various stages she was told she was being either "too asian" or "not asian enough." The show lasted barely a year.
    Today we're faced with a new version of type-casting. Japanese-Americans and Korean-Americans are being roped in to play the roles of "exotic" Japanese or Korean characters, as network television attempts to appear more worldly. 
    Daniel Dae Kim was raised in both South Korea and Pennsylvania, and trained in acting at New York University, but his character on "Lost" spent most of the first two seasons speaking only Korean. 
    Actor Masi Oka has lived in Los Angeles since he was six, but you'll only hear him speaking Japanese or English with a strong Japanese accent on the show "Heroes"(except for a couple of rare exceptions involving "alternate realities").
    So while Warner Bros executives justified passing over Bruce Lee for the lead in "Kung Fu" because his accent was too thick, we now demand fluent english speakers to mix up their "L"s with their "R"s. What gives?
    This Saturday at 4pm, in conjunction with the opening of "Yellow Face," I'll be moderating a panel discussion on just this topic at the Guthrie Theater. On the panel will be playwright David Henry Hwang, actor Randy Reyes, journalist Tom Lee, Josephine Lee from the Asian American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, and Star Tribune theater critic Graydon Royce. 
    I'm sure it's going to be a fascinating conversation.


7/29/09 Los Angeles Examiner.com: "Does Hollywood 'white-wash' the casting of Asian characters in movies?"
by Ed Moy
    In my last column, I asked readers "Should Asian actors have been cast as the leads in 'The Last Airbender'?
    The responses overwhelmingly pointed toward a "Yes" answer from most of the comments that I read. 
    Also, the topic of Hollywood "white-washing" ethnic characters in movies came up, especially animated Asian characters.
    After doing some online research, I discovered that "The Last Airbender" wasn't the only recent movie that cast white actors in roles that were originally created as Asian characters.
    For example, the character of Kyo Kusanagi will be played by Sean Farris in an upcoming live-action feature based on the video game "King of Fighters".
    There's also the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" along with a British actress Gemma Arterton playing his love-interest Tamina.  The movie was also based on a popular video game.
    And then there's the recent announcement that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are starring in a live-action version of the Japanese anime "Akira."
    And finally, there's the casting of Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel in the live-action adaptation of "Cowboy Bebop."  (Although, I do admit that I think Keanu Reeves looks similar to the character.)
    This all of course pales in comparison to the fact that last year, the producers of the movie "21" took poetic license in rewriting actual Asian American card playing MIT students as white characters. 
    The movie "21" was based on the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House", about a real-life team of mostly Asian American students led by an Asian American professor John Chang and his teaching cohorts. 
    The two main characters in the book, named "Kevin Lewis" and "Steve Fisher", were based on Jeff Ma and Mike Aponte, two Asian American males.
    But somehow in the movie, Jeff Ma morphs into Jim Sturgess and John Chang turns into Kevin Spacey.
    Not only that but the only Asian American characters in the movie are merely supporting roles played by Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.
    Several organizations such as Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) protested the movie and "Boycott 21" and other anti-"21" websites sprang up on the Internet.
    According to MANAA, after the “white-washing” issue was raised on Entertainment Weekly's website, movie producer Dana Brunetti wrote: “Believe me, I would have loved to cast Asians in the lead roles, but the truth is, we didn't have access to any bankable Asian American actors that we wanted… If I had known how upset the Asian American community would be about this, I would have picked a different story to film.”
    What?  No bankable Asian American actors?  Who was Brunetti kidding?
    What about John Cho from the "American Pie" and "Harold and Kumar" movies? 
    Or Leonardo Nam from "The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants" movies?  
    Heck, they already had Aaron Yoo, who appeared in movies like "Disturbia" and "The Wackness" before signing on for the "21" debacle?
    There were also a number of other recognizable Asian American actors such as Roger Fan, Sung Kang, Ken Leung, Justin Chon, and the Yune brothers, Rick and Karl available.  
    All of these aforementioned Asian American actors were no less recognizable or bankable than Jim Sturgess, who was relatively unknown to most American moviegoers before "21" came out.
    It seems to me the studio and producers were looking to find a new "hot" actor to sell with the movie release -- and Jim Sturgess was their guy.
    Ironically, Jeff Ma, who is Chinese American reportedly riled up a lot of Asian Americans when he told USA Today, “I would have been a lot more insulted if they had chosen someone who was Japanese or Korean, just to have an Asian playing me.”
    Really Jeff, you think that Jim Sturgess comes across way more "cool" on screen playing you than John Cho could've done?  (Personally, if I was you, Jeff, I think I would've rather had the ubiquitous Keanu Reeves play me.  I think most of Keanu's movies made more money than "21" didn't they?  Well, you're the MIT grad Jeff, I'll let you do the math on that one!)
    But all kidding aside, "21" was just one example from last year.  I'm sure there were other movies where this type of casting controversy has happened in the past that I didn't even have time to look up yet.
    In addition to the controversy surrounding "The Last Airbender," this year, there was also an Asian American outcry over casting for the recent live-action movie "Dragonball Evolution" based on the Japanese anime and manga.
    In the movie, Goku, the main character is played by a white actor which caused some debate over why a Japanese anime character looks so Westernized in the movie.
    Also, not surprisingly, Goku was the lead male character and the role went to a young Canadian actor rather than an Asian / Asian American actor or even the forever ethnically-ambiguous Keanu Reeves, who usually ends up with these kinds of roles. (By the way, if you're reading this Keanu, I love your movies!  I don't know why critics are so harsh when it comes to your acting skills!  Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic here.  You can play me in any movie, bro!  Of course, Hollywood would have to wake up and decide to make an actual Asian American movie where the lead roles aren't animated characters.  And yes, folks, I'm referring to the animated movie "Up" from Disney Pixar, which features an Asian American wilderness scout named Russell, who was based on the Korean American animator Peter Sohen.  Well, at least there's one Asian American leading male actor co-starring in a major summer blockbuster movie this year, even if he is only an animated little  boy voiced by an Asian American child actor.)
    So with that all said folks, does Hollywood "white-wash" the casting of Asian characters in movies?
    I'll let you all decide that one.
    FYI:  There is an Asian actor starring in a major Hollywood movie coming out this year.  The Korean pop star Rain will star in "Ninja Assassin" from Warner Bros.  Of course, moviegoers may also recall that Rain also appeared in "Speed Racer," which was another Japanese animated series that had its main characters suddenly turn white during the casting for the live-action movie version.
    Interestingly enough, a large percentage of major Hollywood studios like Sony are owned by Asian corporations.  (Hmmm... it makes one wonder if all of this could be some kind of "strategic decision to appeal to western audiences" handed down from some anonymous board of directors sitting in a high-rise office building somewhere?  And when you take into consideration the "branding" of movie franchises and crossover marketing of movie tie-in products to consumers, which results in hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, one could logically assume a trickle down effect is happening with the way movies are being cast in order to maximize revenues from their "product.")
    Ed Moy is an award-winning Asian American writer, actor, producer. He has written for Asian Week News, Asiance Magazine and 13 Minutes Magazine. He's a member of the Coalition for Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.

15% of U.S. physicians and surgeons are Asian American. 
http://www.ameredia.com/demographics/asian_facts.html

But according to Bigots for the Left, Asian American men do not exist.

Only one TV show in 50+ years has cast Asian American men as doctors: “House, M.D.”: Kai Penn as Dr. Lawrence Kutner; Kenneth Choi as obstetrician in first season, episode “Maternity”  which aired December 7, 2004.  

General Hospital  (ABC)  1963 - present

"E.R." (1994 - present) (info current as of Jan. 2006)
In Hollywood, blacks are doctors and Asian American men are nurses (character Yosh Takata played by Gedde Watanabe).   
Penny Adams, Neal Baer, Tommy Burns, Yahlin Chang, Christopher Chulack, Samantha Howard Corbin, Michael Crichton, Carol Flint, R. Scott Gemmill, Lance Gentile, Walon Green, Patrick Harbinson, Julie Hbert, Michael Hissrich, Dee Johnson, Jonathan Kaplan, Mimi Leder, Paul Manning, Bruce Miller, David Mills, Chris Misiano, Robert Nathan, Jack Orman, Tom Park, Joe Sachs, Mike Salamunovich, Teresa Salamunovich, Janine Sherman, Wendy Spence, Steven Spielberg, Meredith Stiehm, Richard Thorpe, Vicki Voltarel, John Wells, Virgil Williams, Lydia Woodward, David Zabel, Lisa Zwerling
Directors
39 episodes: Jonathan Kaplan
34 episodes: Christopher Chulack
25 episodes: Richard Thorpe
11 episodes: Felix Enriquez Alcala
10 episodes: Mimi Leder, Chris Misiano
9 episodes: Lesli Linka Glatter
8 episodes: Laura Innes
6 episodes: Charkes Haid, John Wells
5 episodes: Rod Holcomb, Paul McCrane, David Nutter
4 episodes: Anthony Edwards, Julie Hebert, Nelson McCormick
3 episodes: Paris Barclay, Alan J. Levi, Jack Orman, Thomas Schlamme, Babu Subramaniam
2 episodes: Arthur Albert, Stephen Cragg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Steve De Jarnatt, Donna Deitch, Ernest R. Dickerson, Lance Gentile, Fred Gerber, Marita Grabiak, James Hayman, Elodie Keene, Ken Kwapis, Darnell Martin, Tom Moore, Gloria Muzio, Peggy Rajski, Jacque E. Toberen
1 episode: Anita W. Addison, Sarah Pia Anderson, Guy Norman Bee, David Chameidies, Fred Einesman, Brett Fallis, Vern Gillum, Davis Guggenheim, Kevin Hooks, Michael Katleman, Barnet Kellman, Eric Laneuville, Perry Lang, Peter Markle, Tawnia McKiernan, Dean Parisot, Whitney Ransick, Daniel Sackheim, Quentin Tarantino, Mark Tinker, Jesus Trevino, Jessica Yu
Writers:
20+ episodes: John Wells, Jack Orman, Lydia Woodward, R. Scott Gemmill 
10+ episodes: David Zabel, Joe Sachs, Dee Johnson, Neal Baer, Carol Flint, Paul Manning
5+ episodes: Samantha Howard Corbin, Lisa Zwerling, Lance Gentile, Meredith Stiehm, Walon Green
1+ episodes: David Mills, Yahlin Chang, Julie Hbert, Bruce Miller, Robert Nathan, Linda Gase, Elizabeth Hunter, Jason Cahill, Patrick Harbinson, Tom Garrigus, Michael Crichton, Tracey Stern, Jacy Young
1 episode: Barbara Hall, Anne Kenney, Sandy Kroopf, Christopher Mack, Mark Morocco, Doug Palau, Janine Sherman, Virgil Williams
1 story: Belinda Casas-Wells, Moreen Littrell

Medical Center (CBS) 1969 -1976

Marcus Welby, M.D.  (ABC)  1969 - 1976

"Scrubs"  (NBC)   2001 - present

??  Had two episodes with Asian American men as physicians and one had a speaking part!  Did have an episode in which Asian American man was mean to his wife
"Grey's Anatomy" (set in Seattle) (ABC)  2005 - present
Creator, Executive Producer, writer: Shonda Rhimes
Executive producers: Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Peter Horton, Jim Parriott
Directors: Peter Horton, John David Coles, Adam Davidson, Mark Tinker, Wendy Stanzler
Writers: Zoanne Clack, M.D.,Ann Hamilton, Kip Koenig, Stacy McKee, James D. Parriott, Mimi Schmir, Gabrielle G. Stanton, Krista Vernoff, Harry Werksman,
Mark Wilding

Strong Medicine (Lifetime TV)  2000 - present

Nip/Tuck  (F/X)  2003 - present

7/4/06 In These Times: Perpetuating the Yellow Peril,
by Lakshmi Chaudhry
    Mako, an actor who has appeared in over 90 feature films, talks about stereotypic portrayals he has had to struggle against.
    At first glance, Jeff Adachi's Slanted Screen is an earnest documentary that covers familiar ground. The shameful depiction of minoritiesin this case, Asian-American menin television and film is hardly news. What makes the movie special, however, is that it offers a rare view of Hollywood from the inside. Apart from the occasional talking head, the interviewees are actors, producers, directors and screenwriters.
    Part of the movie's interest lies in their horror stories, which are likely to make even the most jaded viewer cringe. Producer Terence Changwhose big-budget credits include Mission Impossible II, Face-Off and Broken Arrow describes being told to change the race of the white villain in the script for the Chow Yun Fat vehicle, The Replacement Killers , and make him a Chinese druglord instead. The logic: "If the hero is Asian then the bad guys have to be Asian as well." The racism is open and unapologetic.
    As gruesome as such anecdotes may be, Slanted Screen is most compelling when its subjects explore the conflict between who they are and what they do. It may be hard to watch a repulsive Long Duk Dong slobbering over the girl in Sixteen Candles, but it's harder still to be the guy who plays him: Gedde Watanabe, a Japanese- American actor born and raised in Utah, who put on a fake accent to utter immortal lines, such as "No more yankie my wankie. The Donger need food."
    In the seven-minute short film The Screen Testwhich was screened along with Slanted Screen in San Francisco actress Judy Lee sums up every Asian actor's moral dilemma: "Our paychecks come from stereotypes." When there are practically no roles for Asians, a script that calls for an "opium den mistress" is a cause for celebration.
    The art of survival lies in enduring what you must, and quietly changing what you can within Hollywood's stifling parameters. What may look like just another stereotype from the outside may in fact be a serious attempt to challenge industry norms. A good example is what has become Hollywood 's favorite Asian character: the martial arts warrior. Bruce Lee may seem to be just another uni-dimensional macho hero, but his rise marked an epochal shift for Asian Americans, both as actors and as men. After decades of being demonized as sly yet effeminate "yellow peril" in the post-World War II era, Lee represented a positive, vigorous version of masculinity. And it's this consolation that actors like Cary -Hiroyuki Tagawa cling to when they play similar roles in movies like Mortal Kombat, even when they're negative. "If the choice is between playing wimpy business men and the bad guy," Tagawa tells Adachi, "I'd rather play the bad guy. I want kids to know that Asian men have balls."
   When Hollywood allows Asian leading men to be macho, it rarely gives them the privilege of being "American." "Asian Americans tend to be looked at as perpetual aliens," says author and poet David Mura. "In other words, an Asian-American male can't be seen as representative of all Americans in the way Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or even Denzel Washington can."
   According to University of Delaware English professor Peter X. Feng, the benefit of safely foreign heroes such as Jet Li or Chow Yun Fat is that "they come to these shores to solve a problem and then they leave. So there is never any question of integrating them into the American body politic." In this sense, Mura argues, Asian- American men are worse off than women, who "are more easily assimilated by the white psyche in part because they are seen as sexually available to white men."  Hence Lucy Liu can be one of Charlie's Angels, but no one would cast, say, Jason Scott Lee in a remake of Starsky and Hutchthough Hollywood execs were only too happy to cast him as an Indian in The Jungle Book .    While there have been exceptions to this depressing norm - Dustin Nguyen as Officer Harry Ioki in "21 Jump Street" or more recently, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle - the predicament facing Asian male actors today is grim compared to Hollywood's silent era, when Sessue Hayakawa rivaled Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and John Barrymore in popularity as a leading man. But despite his Rudolf Valentino-esque persona, even Hayakawa almost never got the girl not unless she was played by his own Japanese wife, Aoki. His present-day counterparts are no better off. Chow Yun Fat never gets to kiss Mira Sorvino in Replacement Killers, while the creators of Romeo Must Die edited out the sole kiss between Aaliyah and Jet Li. "To say it doesn't affect us is bullshit," declares Tagawa, the anguish bubbling to the surface as he exclaims, "We're not eunuchs!"
    The stark contrast between the sexual images of Asian men and women on-screen follows the dictates of age-old colonialist logic, where the sexual
appropriation of women is accompanied by the emasculation of the men. That the documentary never includes a discussion of women, or their perspective, is a
glaring omission. The very action hero roles that seem to affirm Asian masculinity can be deeply problematic from a feminist perspective. Is a Schwarzenegger-like machismo really the kind of Asian male identity that we want to promote?
   The sexual politics are even more complicated. Take, for example, the comments of Gene Cajayon, who directed one of the first Filipino-American movies, The Debut (2000). Cajayon says it was important for him to make his lead character "someone who is attractive to white girls" so as to establish his credentials as a bona fide "cool kid." But how subversive is this character if his
masculinity requires a white seal of sexual approval and treats white women as mere markers of his prowess?
   A more compassionate interpretation of this desire is to see it instead as a hunger to be seen as sexual, period. That it entails white affirmation is merely a sad acknowledgement of the requirements of the broader culture we live in. "It seems to me unfair to question the desire of Asian-American men to feel sexually attractive," says Mura. "If an African-American man were to say, for
instance, that he wanted to be appreciated for his intelligence and not just stereotyped for sexual or athletic prowess, would we say he was succumbing to a trap which defined real male worth by intelligence?"
   Mura argues that Asian men "desire a complete picture of ourselves and to be valued as complete individuals. We desire respect in those areas where we feel we are disrespected. We don't get to pick and choose where those areas are." But we are more likely to see a more "complete" picture of Asian men if we portray them as they are rather than as ethnic versions of Hollywood
gender-laden fantasies of manhood that haven't served white men well. In fact, those kind of movies will be just as valuable for the rest of us, male or female, Asian or otherwise.
    Lakshmi Chaudhry has been a reporter and an editor for independent publications for more than six years, and is a senior editor at In These Times, where she covers the cross-section of culture and politics.

6/5/07 Miami Herald (Los Angeles Times Service): White male writers dominate Hollywood film, television jobs: The earnings gap between minorities and white males working in film and television has steadily widened, according to a Writers Guild study,
by Richard Verrier
    Hollywood -- Despite some advances by women and minority writers, white male scribes disproportionately dominate film and TV jobs in Hollywood, according to a study released by the Writers Guild of America, West.
    More than 30 percent of the U.S. population is nonwhite, the study noted, yet minority writers accounted for less than 10 percent of employed television writers between 1999 and 2005. In film, the share of minority writers remained at 6 percent, unchanged since 1999, according to the sixth in a series of reports by the guild examining employment and earnings of its members.
    ''Little progress has been made,'' said the report's author, University of California , Los Angeles sociology Professor Darnell Hunt.
    What's more, he said, next year's numbers will likely be worse due to the recent merger of the UPN and WB networks into the new CW, which resulted in the canceling of several minority-themed shows
    The earnings gap between minorities and white males working in film and television has steadily widened, with minority writers earning $83,334 in 2005, compared to $118,357 for white males.
    Women television writers, however, earned virtually the same as men in 2005, after an earnings gap of $10,000 in 2004. Nonetheless, the median income for female film writers was $40,000 less for males.
    While older writers earned the most, they are significantly underrepresented on show staffs, the report states.

6/1/07 Washington Post: "At Med Schools, a New Degree of Diversity: Classes Reflect A Foreign Flavor,"
by David Brown
    In the past 15 years, U.S. medicine has seen a huge influx of first- and second-generation immigrants. It follows and augments a different demographic trend that began 30 years ago with the acceptance of increasing numbers of women into medical schools. As a result of that earlier revolutionary change, half of new practitioners today are women.
    The Norman Rockwell-Marcus Welby image of the American doctor -- an avuncular white man, often in a bow tie -- is rapidly disappearing.
    From 1980 to 2004, the fraction of medical school graduates describing themselves as white fell from 85 percent to 64 percent. Over that same period, the percentage of Asians increased from 3 percent to 20 percent, with Indians and Chinese the two biggest ethnic groups.
    Counted in the "white" category, moreover, are a moderate number of ethnic Persians whose families fled the 1979 Iranian revolution, and a smaller number of more recent arrivals from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In the "black" category is an unknown number of graduates whose families recently arrived from Africa, predominantly Nigerians and Ghanaians.
    Many forces are sketching this changing portrait of the American medical student. They include a general increase in immigration, a large influx of foreigners trained in scientific and technical professions, and a culture of educational achievement in communities of newly arrived immigrants that prepares their children for the competition and rigors of medical school.
    How -- or whether -- this trend will change the practice of medicine in this country is uncertain.
    There is a small amount of evidence that a diverse student body may be more attuned to disparities in medical care than a homogeneous one. A study published in 2004 found that black, Hispanic and Asian medical students (in descending order) are more likely than white ones to think that U.S. medicine often "treats people unfairly" based on race, ethnicity, insurance status, income or ability to speak English.
    In general, though, few are eager to touch on the implications of the new ethnic mix in medical schools. Officials at institutions as different as the University of Vermont and Howard University declined multiple requests to discuss, even anecdotally, the evolution of their student makeup.
    Although the Association of American Medical Colleges asks all medical school applicants and matriculants to describe their race and ethnicity in general terms, there is little published information about national background and none about family history. Anecdotes, however, suggest that immigrants' children are more likely to attend schools on both coasts.
    S. Balasubramaniam, a surgeon at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles who emigrated from India in 1971, recently queried 50 medical schools and calculated that 12 percent of the class that entered in 2006 is of Indian heritage. The highest percentages are in California, Texas, New York, New Jersey and New England.
    Na Shen, 25, a second-year medical student at Maryland who was born in Shanghai, calculated that 12 percent of her school's students are from China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and 1 percent from Southeast Asia. When South Asians are included, the Asian portion of the school rises to 21 percent.
    In contrast, University of Kansas medical school students since 1996 have consistently run about 10 percent "either born overseas or of parents who were born overseas," said Glendon Cox, the vice dean.
    The most recent arrivals -- Africans -- are the hardest to quantify.
    Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta, has 12 students born in Africa out of about 210 in the M.D. program. Meharry Medical College, another historically black institution, in the past eight years has had an average of two foreigners per year in its incoming classes of about 60. It has no data, however, on students with recent ties to Africa who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Howard, the third historically black medical school, did not provide information when asked.
    A half-dozen people at the Student National Medical Association -- the main U.S. organization of black medical students -- did not respond to inquiries.
    Lauree Thomas, an African American physician who is associate dean for admissions at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, estimated that "20 to 30 percent of the black applicant pool" at her school is students who were born in Nigeria, or of Nigerian parents. Foxwell, the Maryland dean, estimates that close to half the black students there have recent ties to Africa.
    This is a touchy subject in the black medical community.
    Albert Morris Jr., a diagnostic radiologist in Memphis who is president of the predominantly black National Medical Association, said he recently talked to black students at Pennsylvania State University's medical school in Hershey. Afterward, several took him aside and quietly complained about the rising number of Africans.
    "It was a big topic -- that people were coming in and getting slots that they thought should be going to African Americans," he recalled.
    Blacks constitute about 13 percent of the U.S. population, but only 4 percent of U.S. doctors. There has been much effort in the last two decades to remedy this imbalance. Morris, a graduate of Howard, said he understands the students' sensitivities.
    "We are happy to see doctors who are ready to treat minority populations, no matter their nationality," said Morris, 56. "But we want to make sure that those of us who have helped open the doors [to medical school for blacks] get to share in the bounty."