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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.]
I am an Asian American female lawyer and I struggle daily with the stereotype that I, and other Asian women, are too passive to be good attorneys. Though Lucy's roles in movies and TV have been largely the other extreme (dragon-lady), I believe that is better than the passive stereotype, especially for me as an Asian American woman trying to excel in my career. I don't perceive Lucy as a sell-out. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for her in her field. I even admire her in many ways for coming as far as she has in a business that places insurmountable obstacles on Asians.
A Lucy Liu Fan
Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 00:34:26 (PDT)
David E. Kelly is the creator, one of the producers and a staff writer of the show. He created the character Ling Woo and uses her to announce the controversial ideas that he himself believes but would rather have someone else say them instead. Mr. Kelly has written a whole host of anti-feminist rhetoric for scripts, ones that he makes "Ling Woo" say on different episodes -- including "objectifying women benefits women, not men." Liu had originally auditioned for the role of Nell but was rejected. Kelly wanted to humanize Nell's character in time and believed that it should be reserved for a white woman. But Liu appealed to Kelly so he decided to create a new character for her -- but that character ended up being a very stereotypical one. For Liu, it was either take this or remain unemployed. And Yes Kelly is Jewish.
the entertainment underworld.
Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 00:14:11 (PDT)
It is extremely difficult for Asian females like Lucy to excel in the Anglo and Jew controlled media. Her roles oppositing white men is not her fault. Those decisions are made by the Anglo and Jew producers & directors. If she complained, she'd be out of jobs. She's not a producer or director or even a writer. She's just an actress trying to work but is faced with very limited opportunities. I don't think attacking her is a constructive approach to resolving this.
empathy for Lucy Liu
Wednesday, April 24, 2002 at 15:29:20 (PDT)
Kelly Hu is a sell out just like Lucy Liu. Her new movie the scorpion king she is 1/2 naked, so much for quality roles for asian/hapa women. Sterotypes roles are all this chick & lucy liu are ever going to get.
kelly & lucy are sell outs!
Friday, April 19, 2002 at 14:06:51 (PDT)
Quick comment on Kelly Hu, since she's been brought up: There's a layout on her in the latest Maxim Magazine for those who want to check it out. She seems like a really cool person.
Ahankara
Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at 21:42:35 (PDT)
She's not my type, but still, she is an interesting person with a lot of varied interests, which is probably why she is always called 'the scholarly Lucy Liu' (even though I think that's giving her too much credit). It would be nice if she was alongside some Asian male lead maybe one tenth of the time, but there aren't any Asian male leads, anyway. Well, maybe she could use her Silat experience and go alongside Jacky Chan or Jet Li in some martial arts fest? I wonder how good she is at Silat, anyway.
Ed2
Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at 09:47:17 (PDT)
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