|
|
|
|
|
GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
WHAT HAPPENED TO JASON SCOTT LEE?
e's played an Inuit Eskimo (Map of the Human Heart), a Polynesian prince (Rapa Nui) and practically every Asiatic ethnicity in between, including the ultimate icon of his own (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story). Five have been bona fide romantic leads -- a major achievement for an Asian American actor. What has made Jason Scott Lee's roles so memorable for many is their animal physicality.
Sweat glistening over rippling muscles, Lee has battled, raged and made hot love -- not exactly the images Hollywood often links with Asian men. Like a true hero, he has saved studios big bucks in wardrobe costs and spared millions of females the rigors of imagining the physique attached to those smoldering eyes and full lips.
So what happened to him?
After Jungle Book (1994) and the cinematically beautiful, financially ugly Rapa Nui (1994), Lee sleepwalked through several forgettable movies. The last most of us saw him, he was Aladdin in the 1999 Hallmark miniseries Arabian Nights -- unless you were in London the following year and caught the stage production of The King and I.
Few Hollywood careers have risen to such a sustained crescendo, then faded so quickly.
Lee was born in Los Angeles on November 19, 1966 to a Chinese-Hawaiian father and a Chinese mother. He was two when his family moved to Hawaii. An undistinguished record at Pearl City High left him few options. A year after graduation Lee enrolled at Fullerton Community College. Before long he turned to acting and landed a bit part in Cheech Marin's Born in East LA. A credible portrayal of a tortured young Inuit led to an audition for The Last of the Mohicans. Too Asian to play an Indian, decided the director. So he suggested Lee for the lead in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993). The young actor's success in capturing the icon's moves and moods brought international celebrity, making him a latter-day reincarnation of Bruce Lee to the under-40 set.
It was a key that opened many doors, but they all seemed to lead to the great outdoors. Having been typecast as Primal Man, Lee couldn't seem to get near a role calling for street clothes. Meanwhile, he now spends a lot of time indulging his passion for growing tropical plants. He's even considering a career as an herbalist.
Hollywood careers built in loincloths having seen their heyday when Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan, could Lee's physical beauty and animal magnetism have sent him down a dead end? That's one theory. What's yours?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:00:51 PM)
I have been reading the comments of others on this site and I don't think it has anything to do with Hollywood not wanting to see any Asian Actors as sexually attractive, which is why we have not seen Jason of late. I am not saying that Hollywood doesn't have it's hang ups. But there are successful asian actors who are seen as sexually attractive, actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Lucy Liu, Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. There is even the internationally acclaimed director Ang Lee,even thought I don't find him attractive he is still very successful in his own right. I myself am not of Asian descent and the fact that I know who these people are shows how successful and well known they are. I know first hand that Jason could not handle life in the spot light and the fast pace of Hollywood. I know that when he decides that he can handle the Hollywood scene, he will be back, I can promise you that.
An Insider
Thursday, January 17, 2002 at 09:02:35 (PST)
Honestly, JSL is the sexiest man alive.
stonedoghk
stonedog35@hotmail.com
Thursday, January 17, 2002 at 03:42:01 (PST)
Could there be a more emphatic (or depressing)argument for Hollywood's resistance to sexually ambiguous leading men of Asian origin than Naki's verbally abusive reply to my original statement? It represents exactly the kind of intellectual dishonesty that leads to attitudes of homophobia, racial stereotyping, and coventional thinking that, sadly, prevails among studio executives.
In my statement I did not contend, as Naki implies, that all (or even many) Asian actors are "sexually ambiguous." I said that Jason Scott Lee was.
Nor did I equate sexual ambiguity with "femininty". That is Naki's characterization. Sexual ambiguity, as most intelligent readers understand, implies the ability to move freely BETWEEN masculine and feminine without necessarily belonging to either. This, as everyone knows, can be a wonderfully alluring and sexy quality. And it is certainly true of Jason Scott Lee.
Though Hollywood is willing to promote the careers of white film stars who possess this quality (think Leondardo DiCaprio, for example),it has been a long time in the coming. Is there even a single major Asian or African American film star, on the other hand, about whom we are encouraged (or even inclined) to wonder, "Is he gay or straight?" I think not, and I think the reason is that Hollywood reacts prejudically to the idea of a sexually ambiguous leading man of any ethnicity other than white.
And that is a great pity, since Jason Scott Lee is one of the most stunningly beautiful leading men whom Hollywood could employ.
The very fact that Naki leaps to the conclusion that, by saying so, I am suggesting that Asian leading men in general are "sexually ambiguous" -- that, to use Naki's distressingly racist terminology, "white poser(s)" automatically associate "femininty" with Asian males -- speaks to Naki's prejudices, not mine. It is sad, indeed, that "sexual ambiguity" in and of itself seems to have negative connotations for Naki, which may, in turn, explain exactly the sort of problem that Jason Scott Lee is encountering in Hollywood.
An Admirer of JSL
Sunday, January 13, 2002 at 23:23:51 (PST)
Jason Scott Lee was in another film in 1998, "Soldier" with Kurt Russell. It was definitely a tough guy role.
Arnold Schwarzenegger knew his limitations as an actor and only did films where he did little talking with that thick Austrian accent (Terminator, Conan). Only later when he was accepted, he had more mainstream roles.
Being an Asian male, 5'5", 176 lbs and a 32" waist size, I would like Jason to play more movies that would challenge the stereotype of the Asian male.
Andrew
Thursday, January 10, 2002 at 12:21:12 (PST)
To An Admirer of JSL:
"...he communicates a deep sense of longing that is often tinged mystery...This lends him an air of very alluring sexual ambiguity...Hollywood may be prepared for an Asian leading man, but not one who is sexually ambiguous. ...he is clearly attractive equally to both men and women."
Oh yeah, here we go with another white guy poser who has to imply that an AM actor is "sexually ambiguous". Just can't allow any AM to be seen as attractive in a masculine way. Just gots to imply a femininity, doncha? "An Admirer of JSL", my ass. F*** off, asswipe.
Naki
Thursday, January 10, 2002 at 12:17:34 (PST)
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|