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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
IS LUCY LIU A HEROINE OR A CURSE?
he isn't exactly playing Suzie Wong, but actress Lucy Liu has chagrined Asian Americans nevertheless. As Ling Woo of Fox's Ally McBeal, she spouts lines like, "A woman hasn't got true control of a man until her hand is on the dumb stick," and, "There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing a happy couple and coming between them." The character is a self-described "tramp" who is simultaneously addicted to casual sex and uses sex to have her way with men. Being a creature of American TV, Ling's sexual encounters are never with Asian men, only adding fuel to the fire.
But some think Liu deserves credit for having built near-icon status for a strong Asian female character out of the scraps she was initially thrown in her first Ally McBeal appearance in September 1998. Ling Woo was evidently to have been scenery for the Nelle Porter character but stole the spotlight and, thanks to a killer kiss, quickly became a regular.
Liu's latter-day dragon lady has been deemed so compelling by American TV audiences that she often shares top billing with Calista Flockhart. Her overnight notoriety won her a lead in the Charlie's Angels movie in which she kicked ass, literally and figuratively, on par with the far better-paid Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore. Liu also landed the female lead in Jackie Chan's comic western Shanghai Noon and the role of a mafia dominatrix in the Mel Gibson flick Payback.
Her sexual roles opposite mostly non-Asians have led many Asian Americans to call Liu a sellout. The facts suggest otherwise. Her family immigrated from China and settled in Queens where Lucy was born December 2, 1968. The area began its transformation from an Italian neighborhood to an Asian one as she entered grade school and Liu went through an identity crisis in the normal quest to fit in with peers. Upon graduating from Stuyvesant High, she spent an unhappy year at NYU, then transferred to Michigan at Ann Arbor where she managed to fit acting, dancing and singing into a degree program in Asian languages. She also studied an Indonesian martial art called Kali-Escrima-Silat. She speaks fluent Mandarin.
None of that matters much, of course, to the countless Asian American women who suffer unwanted attention based on Liu's portrayal of the sexual predator Ling Woo. But some AA women are grateful that she has at least helped them shed the image of passive, submissive wallflowers. Many AA, of course, resent Liu for playing roles that reinforce the old stereotype of Asian women as being available to non-Asian men even as they applaud her for showing Asians to be English-speaking members of American society.
All of which begs the question, is Lucy Liu a heroine or a curse for Asian American women?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 04:38:55 AM)
hey!!! i like lucy liu, and i don't see her like a bitch-ass whore!!!!!!!
i think it's her directors both tv and movies that tell lucy liu to act that character!!!!!!!!!!
p.s. if anyone says rush hour ii rules, tell them 'f*** you'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
chineselova
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 13:52:43 (PST)
I think she is great! She is the most high profile aa actress out there & we have to put her down. Give me a break. Besides as an aa actor she knows her career will be a short one considering she is a female in a male dominated industry. I may not like her some of her career choices but how many other aa(female)actors can you count on your hand. Not many
ilovelucy
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 13:06:56 (PST)
Amen angry asian male.......even thought been a teen the issue of dating & realtionships has popped up alot in my life mainly due to i grew up hanging out with older kids......but as I matured I slowly found out how seterotypical this country is. Girls see us as inferior and a taboo but guys fight for the chance to screw an asian chick and most of them surf asian porn sites. The chicks in my neighboorhood the 10 or so of them are split 70/30. One part left her azn upbringing and dates white guys cuz theyve been brainwashed by the media to think that non asian guys are cooler and risk taker the others date azn guys cuz they truly believe that were a minority and stick to her azn upbringing. But as a AM I am left with nothing the few asian girls there are who dont date white guys who date until their in college the non asian girls wont date any asian guys. This attributes to the stereotype that were nerdish losers............
Azn MoFo
Pilotshinjiikaru@aol.com
Sunday, February 17, 2002 at 00:55:00 (PST)
She perpetuates the stereotype of Asian women being sexually available. Congratulations to her for making a buck but her behaviour is degrading to Asians, men or women; simple as that.
Chyna Doll
Friday, February 01, 2002 at 20:21:12 (PST)
Lucy Liu is what I expected in Asian Americans, although she is as white as a tanned chinese from china person.
Why is it that, if you are Asian 2nd or longer generation, you become what caucasians view us, ya know short, darker skinned?When I go to beijing and tianjin , the chinese there are skyscraper tall and most of them have white skin, and not the dark yellowish colour.Lucy Liu stands at 5'1 and that's too short !Plus her features are disgusting if you ask the china-chinese, maybe that's why she's not popular in china or hongkong?
Baoop
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 at 03:32:14 (PST)
Not only is Lucy Liu unatractive but she plays a whore on TV. Why is it okay on television for a male of every race to screw asian women but you never see asian men with women of different races?
Hmmm?
Friday, November 16, 2001 at 00:26:30 (PST)
Hey chowyunpat-
I accept your challenge. Now go rent a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical titles "Flower Drum Girl," a nonmartial arts flick, which stars Nancy Kwan and the late Jack Soo. Unforunately, the movie debuted in 1961 - the year West Side Story was released. However, It may have won several Academy awards, besting WWS.
The movie's theme still hold up strongly today, although, by today's standard, it's a bit chauvinistic. But hey, it was made in 1961!
BTW, a co-star, James Shigeta, played a lead role opposite Carroll Baker some years later.
General Kalmykov, Hetman of the Buzava tribe
Friday, November 02, 2001 at 10:49:44 (PST)
Last I checked, Lucy Liu's character was the role of the "me-so horny, Geisha" to the BLACK man played by Taye Diggs. That kind of a role is just as offensive to us Asians--especially Asian males. So quit trying to fetish on our women!
Angry Asian Male
Monday, October 29, 2001 at 05:37:42 (PST)
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