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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)
merrylin --I don't think many actresses have the option to choose better roles, and it is ALL based on what you look like more than anything else.
if you think otherwise, you are wrong.
--and she did get ripped off in the charlie's angels movie as far a pay goes, compared to the other 2 leads. But maybe this will change as time goes on.
I'm not exactly a big LL fan, but she grows on you. In fact, I used to think she was ugly, but she is pretty when she is wearing the hard makeup they like to use on her.
Probably her greatest strength is her ability to deal with the jerks in Hollywood!
chicky poo
Saturday, March 09, 2002 at 00:18:24 (PST)
She's cool. It just happens that there are more Caucasian actors out there.. so the possibility of her being with an Asian actor decreases. Wouldn't it be boring to see an Asian with an Asian ALL THE TIME? And white with whites? Hecka boring!!! You even see Jet Li with non-asian girls!
And being a sex-symbol is normal. Caucasian actresses/singers can do it and why shun Asian actresses from it?
Everyone just has to be more open-minded and not to create stereotypes easily.
Actresses have to have an image. Like Liu she has an image or a confident sex symbol, ZiYi has an image of a sly, butt-kicking & conservative girl... And so on...
What's wrong with being a sex symbol? Catherine Zeta-Jones, Britney Spears, Madonna, etc are sex-symbols that's why it made the rocket to the top of popularity in short time!!!
ChampagneX
Friday, March 08, 2002 at 19:27:12 (PST)
i think lucy liu is exactly the asian stigma that hollywood is misfortunate enough to have. she is by all standards not pretty by asian standards. she's dark, she's freckly, and shes cross-eyed. Kristin Keruk is not fully asian, but is one thousand times more beautifull than lucy. Lucy liu is just the typical chinese girl that americans think should look like, especially the small slanted eyes. I am full chinese, and do not have eyes like her. most of my frieds have beautifull eyes, small and big. and hers are just awfull. i do wish hollywood would look at true beauty, instead of just picking the first asian girl and calling her beautifull. California is full of gorgeous asian girls, 80% of which i think are so much more prettier than lucy. she even has an awfull body. that thick inturned lower bottem half is not normal. choose an asian girl who really is beautifull, and don't just try to justify that hollywood is so multicultural.
debbie hsu
superdavid779@hotmail.com
Friday, March 08, 2002 at 17:45:59 (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!"
Women are not property!
Asian American Male
Friday, March 08, 2002 at 16:30:27 (PST)
I agree w/most of the comments about LL, her sterotypical roles dont help the AA image. In her next movie role she is paired w/Antonio Banderas, possible love interest in film. I believe its an action film. I guess her career is an action star. Does anyone really see her as a romantic comedy star? Hollywood wont make her into a Meg Ryan.
lucyfan
Friday, March 08, 2002 at 09:14:06 (PST)
Give me a break people. Lucy Liu is an actress, not a Asian rights demonstrator. She got famous for playing a tigress sort of role, and she got stuck with that role. SO? Her job is to act, not to represent anyone. Just because she's Asian does not mean that she has to automatically carry this burden. And she's obviously proud of her Asian heritage by what the article says, so get off her ass.
I think Lucy Liu is beautiful. For those of you who claims she's ugly, keep the nasty comments to yourself. That's obviously not the issue here. You're in the vast minority anyway, considering her popularity here and the fact that she had made The 50 Most Beautiful People issue.
Give me a friggin break
Wednesday, March 06, 2002 at 20:03:27 (PST)
Liu is not an icon. I heard on Charlie's Angels, she got $800,000 while
Cameron Diaz got something like 3 million. My numbers are probably wrong, but the discrepancy was that bad.
I'd like to hear from any Asian that thinks she's doing good for Asians (guy or gal). I know AF dig white dudes, but do they really want to be the slut Mr. White wants them to be?
Anyway, she's just out to make $$$ at the Asian cultures expense.
huu76
Tuesday, March 05, 2002 at 23:48:02 (PST)
She perpetuates the Asian American Woman image of all being sexually driven. In all her roles she plays the stereotypical role of the Dragon Lady or kung fu master. Give me a break! Lucy Liu pick better roles that you can be proud of, not roles that are determinate of your ethnicity or your looks!!
merrylin
Monday, March 04, 2002 at 12:29:38 (PST)
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