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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
LISA LING & RICK YUNE
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:06:45 PM)
he's the most watched Asian woman on American TV. He's the year's hottest Asian American movie hunk. She's 26. He's 29. She's 5-5. He's 6-1. She's Chinese. He's Corean. Both are unquestionably American. She's daringly bubbly. He's recklessly intense. What makes them special to many AA minds is that they defied the odds and the unwritten laws of the American media to become the lone bona fide Asian American star couple.
Rick Yune was barely one when his family left his native Seoul, Corea for Silver Springs, Maryland. His education has been enviably ivy-covered -- private schools topped off by a Wharton MBA. Then came a stint as a Wall Street stock trader and modeling for Versace and Polo. He made a memorable film debut in December 1999 as a young Japanese American husband accused of murder in Snow Falling on Cedars. Yune's character walks and gets the girl. A breathless Newsweek profile didn't hurt his career. His intense and classic Asian features add sizzle to The Fast and the Furious (2001) and will undoubtedly do the same for The Fence (2001).
Lisa Ling is a Sacramento native who got her start in TV at the age of 15 as a reporter for a syndicated teen magazine show called Scratch. Just as she was about to leave for Boston University, Channel One asked her to become one of its peripatetic on-air reporters. She attended USC while working full-time at Channel One's Hollywood studio. All her dates at USC were white, it's rumored. Soon after graduating she joined the panel of The View, ABC's popular daytime talkshow and began spending time with a Disney exec named Morgan Wandell. The fact that Disney is ABC's parent company led to resentment and innuendo. What really raised AA eyebrows was an Old Navy commercial showing Ling cavorting with a group of men and uttering the line "I like my men strong and good-looking". The beef? None of the five men are Asian.
Little wonder that many were skeptical of rumors that surfaced in early 2000 that Ling and Yune had become a couple. Some speculate that it's a sign that Asian men are ascendant. Others suspect it's just Ling's effort at rehabilitating her image with her Asian American viewership. Still others are just glad to see an Asian-Asian star couple at long last.
What do you think?
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WHAT YOU SAY
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I saw a candid shot of Lisa Ling and Rick Yune together at a celebration of Asian American films. They looked so cute together. He had his arms around her shoulder and they looked so much in love and so comfortable with one another. Three claps for Lisa and Rick!
aww
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 23:55:32 (PDT)
Alright, I guess we're never gonna come to an agreement. You are only trying to see the one side of the whole issue. It's basically semantic. I assume that you're either a teenager or in early 20s. In time, you'll learn that it's perfectly OKAY to be American yet at the same time to be proud of your ethnic heritage. BTW, If you think of yourself as being an American and nothing else, you wouldn't have come over to this site in the first place. Would you?
Why are you here???
If you truly think of yourself as so-called an American, then why don't you just go join some white-only internet chat/message board sites somewhere else? Because that's what America is supposed to be. All lily-white and nothing else.
But, even the white people identify themselves as European Americans to differentiate from other racial groups. Why???
There's a reason why we call ourselves Asian Americans. Same goes for African Americans/Hispanic Americans...
Anyway, why don't we just call Rick Yune a Korean American and make a peace, huh? Yep, a KA. Finally a truce.
IMO, another 50-100 years will have to pass for us Asian Americans to be fully viewed as/accepted into an indispensible/integral part of mainstream America. Whether you refuse to admit it or not, for most part, we Asian Americans are getting marginalized in this country. And, yes, that's one important drive/motivation as to why some short-sighted AAs blindly try to outwhite their fellows while totally ignoring/denying their heritage. Be comfortable with who you are, don't be a sellout!! Haha...
BTW, I don't know who Rick Yune is. I've never heard of him before I came to this board. I don't even know who Lisa Ling is. But, I wish them the very best...
One last thing; there are a great number of hardworking, productive and loyal people in this country who were not born here, but became citizens by naturalization later on. Are they technically not Americans then? Believe me, many of them are more American than your average Joe next door. They are fully/completely AMERICAN in their convictions/life style/value system/life goals/etc. Yes, I'm one of them and damn proud of it...
One Korean Man
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 23:01:29 (PDT)
One Korean Man:
Lisa Ling, I think, is "trying," despite the pressures. I hope she sees the bigger picture and fights it all the way--she is so cute.
Rick Yune will also be part of Asian American History, as a Corean descent.
I have heard several comments from first generation Asian Americans that they think the Asian group is the newest group of immigrants coming into the U.S. This is simply not true. I am disheartened to hear this time and time again. Please take your rightful place in the U.S. We have earned it. Asians have been emigrating to the U.S. since the 17th Century--that's our track record--it's as early as they come. It's just that Asian Americans have inter-mixed with Whites (European Americans) over the years dating back to the 17th Century and are continuing to disappear while more Asians are coming into the U.S. along with more Whites, and etc.
Immigrants who look White receive immediate status, since they can claim (psychologically, without saying a word) that they were part of the first group to emigrate into the U.S. and are responsible for establishing the U.S., racially speaking, of course. I am sure you know what I mean. I don't know how many there are who can claim that they are descendents of pilgrims. My point, if you can see, is: don't fall for the degrading or psuedo-putdown-like statements that may lead you to believe that you, an Asian American, is part of the newest group to emigrate to the U.S., or think that you are less worthy and have something to prove, because you are part of one of the oldest groups of immigrants who emigrated to the U.S. that made tremendous amounts contributions, if that makes sense to you. You are, and will be part of Asian American History, which is 350 years long. Always remember that.
Asian American History Educated
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 20:15:23 (PDT)
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