Everyone has a theory to explain why Lucas has excluded Asians from visible roles in any of the many episodes of the Star Wars saga. What's yours?

Who cares about Star Wars i think it's really boring and unrealistic, space junk. I watched the Phantom of Menace and didn't like it, not sure what the big fuss about it was. I'm more into realistic things.

QUOTE (Ed @ Jan 29 2003, 08:47 AM)

Everyone has a theory to explain why Lucas has excluded Asians from visible roles in any of the many episodes of the Star Wars saga. What's yours?

Not only Star Wars,its just about all the the movies and tv programs. Look how many hospital show there are on tv and I only know of one Asian American actress. If anyone in LA or NY walked into any hospitals in these cities its full of Asian American doctors and nurses.
Its like if you only watched American tv programs you are led to believe America is 99% white with no minorities. Whites are more and more in decline in numbers they make up 70% of the total population now. Hollywood is the racist institution.
AA community should put more pressure on big corporations especially Asian corporations like Honda. We also should support fellow Asians in the creative field.

It's not just "Star Wars", but all SciFi--perhaps even TV and movies in general. One rarely sees Asians as anything more than incidental or supporting cast. I've seen Tamlyn Tomita and Vivian Wu here and there. Of course, George Takei was highly visible for a while--and why his presence on the original "Star Trek" a few decades ago did not speed up changes is anyone's guess.

But certainly not enough Asian people are cast to reflect their numbers in the general U.S. population. Even the recently-cancelled TV show "Firefly" showed very few Asians, even though they had the characters sprinkling Cantonese phrases throughout their dialog (because, in their futuristic world of "Firefly", China was half of the world government).

Look for Russell Wong to be back on TV later this year (in March, perhaps?) in the WB. But it won't be SciFi, and his character will have an Anglo name. Oh well...at least B.D. Wong is now "officially" part of the L&O:SVU ensemble. Things are getting better, albeit ever-so-slowly.

This is something I've mused about for years, I do find it ironic considering the inspiration for the original Star Wars movie. I mean, I can understand no asians in the Lord of the Rings movie (hell, they dont' have any blacks either) trilogy, but come on, they cater to other races in Star Wars. But there were some asians in Star Wars I think. In the original movie one of the fighter pilots at the final Death Star battle was an asian character. Jango Fett in the latest movie was Pacific Islander.

But even more glaring than asians missing in Star Wars is asians missing in ANY television shows set in Los Angeles, like that cop show Shield. WTF, is this southern california or is it Wyoming? I swear, they could set a series in Chinatown (Los Angeles) and most of the people running the stores and restaurants would be Caucasian, LOL. You see Latinos and Blacks but most of the storylines and characters are all white in L.A.

Re "The Shield":
True, none of the main characters is Asian. But there were a couple of storylines ("Cherrypoppers", "Carnivores") that prominently featured Asian criminals: The one where the Korean-American kids murdered their grandparents for their money and the child sexual exploitation ring. And I seem to recall that Dutch erroneously assumed that a female Korean-American cop would be able to translate for him, and he took some flak for that.

If memory serves, the police station is smack in the middle of a Black neighborhood, and a disproportionate number of the Blacks and all of the other minorities are low-life "gangstas". None of the images portrayed of minorities is going to be winning any ethnic group's "Image Awards" anytime soon. But, of course, that's the point of this show: Its intention is to show the slimy underbelly of life. Even Vic is an antihero, reminiscent of the line from The Rolling Stones' song," Sympathy for the Devil": "..every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners, saints..."

I love that show; it's one of my all-time favorites. But you KNOW that if it featured Asians, they'd be portrayed negatively...because virtually EVERYONE on that show, if not an out-and-out criminal, has severe flaws. (I'm still waiting for Claudette to show some serious weakness; maybe she'll be the sole saint among the sinners?)

To sum up:
In "The Shield", the situation is typical of most shows: Asians as supporting cast, with few or none in the leads.

P.S. This is Los Angeles that we're talking about. Where the heck are all of us Yids?! (L.A. is a major Jewish population center.) They could do a scandalous storyline about corrupt Lubavitchers. (Just kidding! I REALLY would rather NOT see Jews on "The Shield".)

Media racism aside, another reason why you don't have many Asians portraying well-represented Asian positions on TV (like doctors, etc) is b/c Asians are too busy actually BEING doctors in the REAL WORLD to PLAY-ACT them on TV. I see so many more black doctors on TV than Asians, yet in real life it's completely reversed. Unfortunately, however, the mainstream often gives more credence to TV than the real world...

Of course, that still doesn't explain the fact why the few Asian actors there are are still typically cast as evil ganglords or kung-fooeys than doctors, researchers or simply characters defined by their humanity, not their occupation.

Nonetheless, I guess it still wouldn't hurt Asian PR for more Asians to start going into acting then. Let's hear from some Asian actors in here...

The problem as I see it is that a lot of people are narrow minded in the industry. It seems like people in the industry are always looking for the latest and greatest talent from Asia overseas, while ignoring asian AMERICAN talent. The same thing happens in professional sports. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see the Ichiro's and Ming's of the pro sports world succeed, but while every recruiter is going to asia for the latest and greatest, how about looking in America? I mean, I've seen some
mean AA ballers who could bang with the best of them, but they'll never get anywhere because they're asian. Think about it, a six foot Black point guard with mad skills would be hotly recruited in college and could become a high NBA draft pick. But a 6'2" asian AMERICAN point guard with equally mad skills would NOT be recruited either in college or the pros, because he's too "short." WTF???

Getting back to the original point, the movie execs ignore homegrown talent, AA's who are struggling to make it in the industry, while recruiting the Jet Li's and Chow Yun's to make yet another martial arts themed movie (again, I love them both and nothing against them).

Hey Surviour Amazon got's a Asian American guy in it so does the tv show Who's hot.

The reason Asians are not represented in Hollywood is because all these studios want to do is make money. A film with many Asian actors will not do well in some all-white rural town. Luckily I have noticed that there are many Asian-American films being made (many of them are independent films or shown only locally which is why we miss out). So if you live in a big city like San Francsico, you will find Asian-American film.
But sadly Asians will not get represented in Hollywood anytime soon. Here is a quote I found from an Asian director, Gene Rhee:

"The thing is, I really want to shoot this film with an all-Asian cast, but most mainstream financiers say they'll only fund it if I make the main characters Caucasian. And that sorta defeats the purpose of what I'm trying to do. People who've read the script tell me it could be groundbreaking in many ways because we haven't seen Asian-Americans in a film like this, especially this genre...It's a bit frustrating but I certainly haven't given up."

I AGREE. THE HOLYWOOD IS NARROW-MINDED, AND MOST OF THE AMERICANS

Who cares about that pile of grotesque and burlesque non-sense...? the star wars movies are just as boring as any Bruckheimer popcorn vehicle!
Personally, the only way for more AA actors to get into the mainstream Hollywood machines comes through, in major parts, the accomplishments of those extraordinary athletes (Yao Ming, Ishiro, Chan Ho Park, Matsui, Timmy Chang, Dat Nguyen, etc) first; their success as mainstream sports people on national & international TVs will get the Caucasian audiences into accepting the fact that their respective populations do have Asian faces among them (and not always the Japanese tourists and their maps on the tube or metro) Think about it: African-American athletes made it big before any major Black actor in Hollywood (Joe Louis was the Heavyweight World Champion long before Sydney Poitier even got an appearance in a movie!)
This of course will remain very debatable to most of you so please let me know what you all think...

I used to go to movies alot. Now i may go two times a year. theres alot to see out there, but nothing which connects to me as a black man living in society. The only thing they can offer me is another ghetto comedy. i think hollywood is in a state of flux right now because even it doesn't know what it wants to do. So, i think its dabbling in many genres to see what american people will grab on to.

The thriller, I know what you did last summer genre is over, we are now in the music videoesque genre of movie making (because many of the new directors making movies are former music video directors). the kids are used to this tyle of film making and at least the casts are more diverse. i reference movies like FAst and the furious, Biker Boyz, 2 Fast 2 furious, Triple X and so on. Of couse these movies have nothing in them which confronts stereotypes or pushes american thinking beyond into a new area, but they at least offer diverse casts.

Hollywood is a coward because seldom, at the top pop level, will it jsut throw all the rules asside and make a film about an asian american who is living in 1869 supporting his or her family. How many movies have we seen about white people in the old west?
i'm tlaking about a movie with no kung fu, no swords, just a man and woman falling in love and staying in love in the old west. Now, thats an idea which goes beyond stereotype, and yet hollywood (or to be more accurate the old boys club which will put 215 million dollars into the next triple X movie starring ice cube) would never make that kind of film. or if it did, it would be strait to video. if it was extrodinary it would be givien a limited run. That makes me so angry.

Iv'e met many asian film directors through my work at an arts college and they reprot that they want to make movies which arent stereotypical but the powers that be wont give them the 200 million dollar budgets to go out and make the asian, " Cold Mountain."

on a good note, these directors are trying and are still in the game. They are mostly independent films, but at least they are trying.

These power brokers have sat in thier positions of power for generations. they have hypnotized american culture to believe everything they see on tv screens. in fact, Tv's have become living objects, like a brother or sister or babysitter, etc.

you know Jay, you always say everything right hee hee thumbs up to you! hmmm. as far as the topic goes. i was shocked that they even let Samuel Jackson be in one of the trilogies. usually in futuristic films there aren't that many minority people in it, making you think, we're all gonna be extinct in the future. now, i do agree George Lucas should have thrown an asian up in there, but that would of been to perfect, eh? i mean really, all films should portray every race in it. anyhow, to AA's on t.v.

i know some of ya'll in here remember that comedy, "American Girl", i may have the title off a bit, starring Margaret Cho. i liked it and thought that after that many more asian sitcoms would spin off. guess i was friggin' wrong. i was disappointed that it was taken off of AMERICAN t.v. i see asian sitcoms on the international channel that i watch and think that they are hilarious. they got me laughing as if i was watching 'King of Queens' or 'Bernie Mac'. that's they way it should be. recently the latinos landed a spot with that George Lopez show. so why not the asians?

they even cancelled Russell Wong's "Black Sash", in which i was very disappointed. he was like a mentor in that show for all children regardless of the background, which mirrors true with the asian community. i remember him in "Vanishing Son", i watched that show religiously. and was thrilled to see Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee, in the new Kung Fu series. that took forever, huh? let's not go into that story. hey, ya'll, does someone know the name of that asian actor that played opposite the latino girl in one show of "New York Undercover"? remember she was undercover and they sort of had a thing for each other. i like him too. i definitely like Dustin Nguyen too.

and it's true, whenever i've gone to the hospital you can't miss an asian nurse or doctor roaming around in their. both of my midwives were asian. even the guy who took my vital signs at the hospital. ya'll golden people are all over the place. yeah,. Jay, i'd like to see some movies with asian folk not "haaaaai yaaaaaing" all over the place. martial arts is a beautiful thing, but BS-wood wants to keep mostly to that. i don't even understand it. i see movies with actresses like Gong Li, that's my girl!, that are just unbelievably astounding. and she isn't flying off of wires and stuff. she does drama. why can't we see movies like that over here? i mean from the ground with asian-american actors in it? hmmm. i think "Snow Falling on Cedars" was like that, but do to some content in it, ya'll might have mixed feelings about that one. oh they did that "Hiroshima" one, i remember that one. oh ER had Ming-Na Wen on it as a doctor for a while. but regardless of all that it still seems, stuff isn't taking off the ground yet. where's the asian supermen? hee hee w/o "haaaai yaaaaaing" all over the place. guess it be like, "it's a bird, no! it's a plane, no! it's GOOOOOLDEEEEN MAN!!!!" rotflmao!!!!

siggggghhhhh. BS-wood is just messed up. oh, did "Better Luck Tormorrow" come on video yet? i wanna see that one. saw it listed on pay-per-view, but it's gone now. hmmm. maybe this is the century for golden folk to bust on out.

Thicker than blood, i've been working on an asian male superhero character for year and a half. Drafting characters for film and books his hard enough, drafting a superhero is extremely difficult for me because i want a character who can stand right up next to other more established superheros and be recognized.

Thats when i came up with a good name. i call him "Victory". He's chinese and japanese decent. Without going to much into his origin, he is a hero who fights the forces of evil. Unlike superman, he will fight those forces of evil all the way up to the secret politicians who are actually financing the super villians. His only allegance is to the people.

A hero must have a villian right? His name is .......well.......maybe i ought to save a little bit for later. i copyrighted this idea.

i recieved an artist grant which will allow me to produce a Comic book and when everything is ready i'll give the first issue away and publicize it. The following issues will cost the standard cover price for a comic book. i made it clear to all contributors, this is not a kung fu comic, I am not reproducing kill bill, nor will this comic be full of stereotypes either. Victory , when in human form, deals with normal problems too.

Margaret Cho is a vanguard. She is the only person who directly took on hollywood and its racism. They (Hollywood) tried to turn her into a white girl and for awhile they succeeded, but after awhile she said, "no". I used to watch " American girl" and knew there was something special about it when i saw it because there was never an episode i didnt walk away thinking about things like self identity and acceptence.
And now MArgaret does a traveling comedy show which she uses to educate the audience in hollywood and Hollywood Racism.

Hollywood Racism is a creature so much more terrifying because it involves multibillionares deciding what people should think about themselves. We (American society) have bred a younger genration which believes everything on thier tv screen and movie screen and music and even thir text message.

I, at least had my mother who counteracted this kind of modern hypnosis, but for the younger generations we adults must all counteract the hypnosis. i was around 20 years old when I realized all the heros I rooted for were white. And, like most of you, i went in search for heroes who looked like me and found them in short supply.

How many times have we all seen a "lord of the rings" type movie and asked where are the golden people? where are the brothers and sisters? Hollywood would have us believe that non white people didnt exist in the past until the early 1900's when hollywood used its power to make the first stereotype movies.

All of you my friends are giving me more ideas for movies that need to be made. i discovered Sonny chiba and Bruce lee when i was a kid. Chicago tv was cool back in the late 70's because they would show tv shows from china and japan. Most of the shows were action shows like spectreman (my favorite). i fell in love with etsuko shiomi and i stil am in love with her. They also showed dramas from japan and a wide variety of shows. For a brief moment, my impressionable mind, saw something beyond the stereotype. this shows how impressionalbe kids minds are. it also shows why the government continually battles over control fo the media, because all it takes is an enlightended programme director to put postive images of asians and black people on the air.

Unfortunatley, the reagan era started and that brought abotu a kind of sweeping racism in movies and tv. All of the asian tv shows i used to watch were taken off the air and replaced with dance party shows like american band stand.

I then turned to video and started searching for asian movies. As a kid i bought the stereotypical stuff, but i also got non stereotypical things. There was this one video store (back iin the early 80's when american society wasn't dominated by corporate video stores like blockbuster and hollywood video). My mother and i would go to this video store and get the store owner to special order movies and tv shows from japan and hong kong. The store is still around today. if anyone wants to visit it when they come to chicago i'll be glad to give directions to it.

Black sash was a cool show. it was lauchned around the same time as bullet proof monk. Unfortunetly, but movies were eclipsed by the matrix movies. But Black Sash will be on video and dvd. I preserve asain and black centered tv shows so when this show becomes available I'll buy it.

Thicker, for any shows you want to find, go to imdb.com. That stands for the internet movie data base. Using that site you can find anything you want. just fill out the search field and click search. I've found so much asian cinema by using this site including the
most controversal movie in film history which was made in japan called "BATTLE ROYAL."

I prefer asian cinema to hollywoods remakes of everything. and MTV dubbed "Volcano Highschool" over with snoop dog and other rap artist voices. they were trying to recreate the success of Woddy allens, " Whats up tiger lily" where Woody and his crew dubbed over a japanese spy movie called " KAGI NO KAGI".
But MTV's version got it all wrong. See Volcano High : the original cut instead of the one with rap artists.

And fight the good fight my golden brothers and sisters. RISE UP!

Jay, what's up with your pm?

thanks for that website, Jay. coooool! i was just being silly (but serious), and there you go, you're working on an asian superhero here in the states! yeah. i remember growing up on asian films too. my hubby owns the Sonny Chiba collection. oh, i was trying to pm you to call me 'Mai'. that's the short version of my whole name. hey, i like Donnie Yen's films too.

Star Wars can suck it. You star wars fans are freaks, seriously.

Asians in Star Wars? Why? Just because the entire premise of the movie draws on Asian philosophies (the Force = Chi), Asian martial arts, Asian themes of good and evil (the light and dark side = Yin-Yang)?

That's not a good enough reason. Just like the Matrix, which draws entirely on Japanese anime. Why should they put Asians in it? Asians will buy and watch that crap anyway, even if it's only whites. They have no reason to include us in any substantial way.

Get it?

As a person who grew up on classic Star Wars (as well as reading and gaming in the Expanded Universe), I beg to differ.
Remember, the original SW flicks came out in the '70s, where there weren't a lot of Asian Americans around. George Lucas is not a racist. In fact, he watches Kurosawa movies, which inspired him a lot. The person who designed the vehicles and towns for episodes I/II is an AA, Ted Chiang.
Think about it: The original flicks came out way back in the day. The new flicks are *prequels*, not sequels. Obviously, the galaxy could not have been more diverse in the past than in the future. So they had to keep the demographics about the same.
Star Wars is not entirely devoid of AA, of course. There was a Chinese-American spaceship pilot in Return of the Jedi, and a Desi/Indian Jedi Master in TPM. Be glad that there actually *are* AA in this flick.

Some valid points in here. I have to say I notice all these blatant asian omissions in many movies and tv shows...when asians are shown, it is mostly a horribly stereo-typed portrayal. Lately I've been seeing alot of MTV and VH-1 ads and commercials all showing asian women but where are the asian men??? of course the asian women are hugging or kissing white men. I have a great girlfriend now who is asian and we both do NOT like what we are seeing. It is amazing that they totally ignore the asian man. By all means, interracial relationships are normal and alright in my book but it is disturbing when they refuse to show ANY asian man...let alone with an asian woman or god forbid...with a white woman hugging or kissing him.

I hear people saying to speak up and get involved...put our economic clout behind us and tell the producers this is unacceptable. Question is...where to complain about this? www.asianmediawatchdog.com is great for getting involved with major stereo-type transgressions where one can email petitions and complaint letters easily along with contact people and information to complain even more. Action gets results! I wanna know if I'm missing other sites that deal with the subtle exclusions as pointed out above.

As someone pointed out...the following quote hits home. "Its just sad that an industry that is heavily influenced by a minority (jewish), that has a history of being persecuted, is dishing out so much racist garbage".

So...point me in the right direction....

sam33iso@yahoo.com

Yeah, there's Asians in the Star Wars (Expanded Universe) and in the original trilogy. OT: One of the guys who got vaped flying a sluggish Y-wing in RotJ was Asian...(of course, I don't know which friggin' planet he was supposed to be from, and there was a few Rebels. In the Expanded Universe, an Imperial Grand Admiral (Grant; his name was, I believe) was decidedly depicted as Asian in the drawing in Star Wars Insider), and in the Prequel Trilogy, one of the Republic Senators was supposed to be (Asian actress). I guess that planet where these so called Asian types come from is kinda stand-offish.