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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
IS HOLLYWOOD UNDERMINING CHOW YUN-FAT?
f it's a sin to make ambidexterous mayhem look stylish and virtuous, Chow Yun-Fat was once eternally damned. Blame it on the camera. Its slow-mo infatuation with his every grin and grimace in John Woo classics like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled had made him the world's most idolized action star long before his 1996 leap to Hollywood.
Chow's Hollywood projects have undermined rather than enhanced his godlike stature.
Take The Replacement Killers (1996). Its plot was contrived and sterile to a surreal degree. Add to that the look-but-don't-touch romance with leading lady Mira Sorvino and a box office flop was assured.
The Corruptor (1998) did even less for Chow. Not only was he cast as a cop who became corrupted for no good reason, but the action was set in the kind of squalid fleshpot one sees only in the poorest of third-world countries and the Chinatowns of schoolboy fantasies. The coup de grace were jokes casting aspersions on Asian male sexuality. Strike two!
Then came Anna and the King (1999) in which Chow donned embroidered silk buffoonery to play a backward monarch held in thrall by a western schoolteacher. The reworked plot wasn't as ludicrous as the original King and I, but the remake cut Asia's top male superstar to fit the old Hollywood cosmology in which Asians are a quaint race in need of western enlightenment. Strike three!
After that Chow might have been reduced to playing wizened oriental masters dropping metaphysical pearls on young white heroes in training had Taiwanese director Ang Lee not come along to cast him as a legendary swordsman in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Despite its modest production and promotion budgets, the movie slashed all expectations and fairly flew up to become the year's most profitable release.
No coincidence, some suspect, that the role that saved Chow's chestnuts was conceived and written by an Asian and filmed with an all-Asian cast in the world's most pro-Asian nation -- China.
It isn't so much that Hollywood consciously sets out to undermine Asia's top male superstar, argue some. It's just that its imagination has been stewed for so long in its own racist malarkey that it is incapable of letting an Asian leading man play a truly sexy and heroic role. Look how it turned Jackie Chan into a tool (fool?) of Asian-male-bashing comedy in Rush Hour 2. And Hollywood may yet get its apparent wish to deep-six Chow Yun-Fat. In early 2002 Chow starts shooting Bulletproof Monk, a cult comic adaptation, in which he plays an aging master passing on warrior wisdom to a young white hero.
Is Hollywood undermining Chow Yun-Fat's action-superstar stature?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:07:35 PM)
I don't believe it's a question of " Hollywood " ruining anyone .. Hollywood and Hong Kong are two different entitites when it comes to movie making and interpretations ..
Hollywood is very over rated ... but I do applaud Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan for " taking it on " so to speak and representing their talents so well.
I believe the work Chow Yun-Fat has done here has been of good quality, and I believe he has a future here, but I also sense jealousy on the part of some of his Hong Kong associates over his ability to come here and work successfully .
There are many very talented Hong Kong artists who might give Hollywood an opportunity, but won't, fearing failure.. it does not mean they are stuck here, doing grade B roles .. or portrayals that are negative to Asian culture.. which has been a big issue with many, citing " great cultural" differences so immense, as to " prevent " any interaction .. I think that's a " cop out" reason .
For example, Leslie Cheung was highly critical of Chow's success, citing his acting days were over, and that he has increased his body weight in the process .. making an almost insulting remark, and expressing his dislike of anything
" Hollywood " related, as the cultures could not merge correctly, and that individuals here were not in tune with Chinese culture enough to warrant his attention ... and that any roles would naturally have him portraying " Indo-Chinese" triad types ..
One commentary cited his remarks as " sour grapes " over Chow's success .. and I tend to think it had merit in this concept.
He has also stated he would rather be " a super Asian star " than tackle any other place than Hong Kong movies .. but he has done certain international properties.
Too bad, for I do believe Leslie Cheung has the ability to, as do several others to " take on Hollywood " and share their talents here.
ChinaRain
JadePhoenix55@msn.com
Thursday, February 21, 2002 at 18:23:46 (PST)
I think that it is too bad that there really isn't a lot of Asian actors in the Hollywood film business. Another thing is that I do like watching Chow Yun Fat acting, but the thing about it is, is that he is beginning to play really demented roles. In the movies such as Anna and the King, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he looks like a madman. He should really stick to roles where people can get a decent image of Asians. In his movies where he as no hair he looks like an old madman, which results in him and Asians recieving no respect. Oh yeah, and another thing is that when Jackie Chan was in the film Rush Hour 2, with that African-American, I forget his name, but I didn't like all of the Asian-bashing that was going on. Things like that really make me sick, because it just shows that it is okay to bash Asians!
Cali
Saturday, February 16, 2002 at 14:10:08 (PST)
Chow Yun Fat is just straight up a star. Plain and simple. As for his being pigeon-holed by American movies, hey he's not American yknow. You can't really expect him to totally understand or choose roles that fall in line with Asian American politics (though that would be nice). He's an actor, not a social activist. You wanna tear down tired old racial prejudices in American media? That war's only gonna be fought and won by the people that it matters most to - Americans, and that battle ain't for the weak or faint-hearted.
Yo, you Asian American actors out there! Quit being these sell-out gook whores (you know who they are), and start representing!
Abrasive Aspirations
sixstringsamurai@trust-me.com
Tuesday, February 12, 2002 at 03:46:18 (PST)
Chow Yun Fat is quite a good looking man. Although his Hollywood roles are rather mediocre, he is really famous here in the US, and probably the rest of the world too. I like watching him on screen.
admiring Chow
Monday, January 28, 2002 at 23:36:13 (PST)
Patrick aka chowyunpat,
You've made your point very well. I need to see some of those movies you listed before i pass any more judgement on Chow Yun Fat. I've actually seen one or two of Chow's so-called comedies but i didn't think they were funny at all. His strength i believe is clearly in roles teamed up with John Woo. "A Better Tomorrow," "The Killer," "Hard Boiled" -- those are his finest works.
I think perhaps you have a point that i've overlooked, that Chow has been in some serious films. It's just that his legendary status has been cemented forever with those three films mentionned above that it's hard to associate him with anything else.
Valley Chinese Dude
Thursday, January 17, 2002 at 21:06:02 (PST)
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