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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Kristin Kreuk: Next Asian American Beauty?
t isn't a question of droolworthiness. Her looks are dazzling enough to have locked up a lead role in each of her first three auditions, including the title role in an upcoming TV movie. It's more a question of whether most of us would identify hazel-eyed Smallville heartthrob Lana Lang as a fellow Asian.
Kristin Laura Kreuk was born to a Chinese mother and a Dutch father on December 30, 1982. She grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Kreuk, 5-4, had decided to go to college to study forensic pathology until, in her senior year, her drama teacher suggested she go to an audition for a new Fox Family series called Edgement. She was promptly plucked out of the open audition to play a Chinese Canadian high scool student named Laurel Yeung. Even as she won fans in the role, she landed the Lana Lang role for WB's dramatization of Superboy's life as Clark Kent, then the role of Snow White in the ABC TV movie set for release in 2002. Kreuk's star-quality was obvious to all who tuned in for Smallville's premiere last October. Some even proclaimed her the show's main attraction.
But many Asian American viewers didn't even suspect Kreuk's Asian ancestry. Even those who learned of her mother's nationality questioned whether she can be claimed by Asian Americans. Without an Asian surname or obvious Asian facial features, they argue, Kreuk's success would do nothing for the image of Asians in the American media. Others might argue that most African American stars are, in fact, only fractionally of African descent.
Should we claim Kristin Kreuk and other hapas like her as Asian American celebrities? Or should that designation be reserved for those with a more obviously Asian identity?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:00:20 PM)
Hey, 1/2 is better than nothing, right? (I actually think 1/2 is better than full though.)
TSJ
Eric@KristinKreuk.net
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at 00:26:54 (PST)
Hey, anybody know if she's bilingual?
huu76
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 23:23:23 (PST)
In the above picture, she looks white. In other pictures, you can pick out her asian feaures.
I'd like to know the answers to these questoins though. 1. What does she consider herself? and 2. Did her parents raise her as one or the other, or both?
huu76
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 23:19:10 (PST)
To "not fooled":
You think it is "despicable" that actors like Keanu and Kristin are considered attractive because they have "white features." Well have you ever thought that maybe these two actors are really attractive because they are in fact a blend of several ethnicities? It's not because they have white features, it's because they happen to have the best of both worlds. Look at Tyson. He's black, with Chinese in his blood, not a bit of white, and he's one helluva hot model.
Whether Kristin LOOKS Asian or not is debatable. But anyone who thinks she is attractive would probably agree that it's hard to put your finger on it, but she has something very unique going on. And guess what that is? It's that touch of Asian ancestry. That's what gives her the winning looks. Not because she has American features (oh please...she'd just be another Jane Doe), it's because she has that unique blend.
It's simple. People of mixed ancestries are attractive because they have that one-of-a-kind look you can't achieve with one race alone. I don't find that all-American look beautiful. I don't generally find that all-(any ethinicity) look beautiful. It's all about the right combination. So get over the blame-everything-on-white-America attitude and grow up. Flick the chip off your shoulder, change your ways of thinking, and maybe you will earn yourself a higher self-esteem.
As for Lucy Liu, ha! I'll be damned if she doesn't get votes over Kristin for "sexy roles." Look back on the roles she has played on the big screen. I'm so sure she wasn't a sex symbol in those roles. What the hell are you doing comparing her with 19-year old Kristin in sexy roles anyway? Kristin plays high-school cheerleading characters on TV, Lucy's the one playing a dominatrix in not one, but two MOVIES. You get my drift?
And who the hell asked you to view anyone in Hollywood as "the great yellow hope"? It's entertainment for godsake. Sit back, relax, and quit your bitchin and whining.
I Hate DumbAsses
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 21:56:13 (PST)
T.H. Lien
--Agreed. However, many want to claim this little hottie as AA and somehow ignore the fact she definitely isn't one. However, if she shared the same cultural beliefs, standards, etc then we can more likely consider her AA. Unless you can show how she has indeed " held her ancestral culture", etc then my point stands. She is no more AA than Britney Spears.
Also if people are concerned about having AA role models that postively reflect Asians in America, you are going to need someone who at least looks Asian rather than yet another WASP that no one would even suspect she's a halfling. People are not going to look at a Caucasian-looking girl and walk away with positive impressions of Asians unless you think white and Asian are the same. It's question of effectiveness rather than high-minded PC notions and a girl that just looks white isn't going to work as a positive AA media figure.
However, expecting more positive images of minorities in a mainly white-dominated media industry is somewhat wishful thinking. Until more AA get into the business and are major players, it's unlikely to happen.
GDS KA
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 13:26:00 (PST)
hey, have u guys noticed? smallville is another stereotypical racist show!
they have pairings of Kristin Kreuk with a white boy (AF-WM) then they have a blonde girl with a black kid (WF-BM)
that's the interracial trend that the jewish-owned mass U.S. media has always been promoting in decades!
dan
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 13:09:18 (PST)
Like I said earlier, what if the roles were reverse? What if Kreuk had a Chinese FATHER and Dutch MOTHER??!! THERE WOULD BE NO DISPUTE TO WHAT HER RACE IS!!!!!! You all would idenify her as being ASIAN!!! Just because her dad is white,so does that automatically make her white and she should forget about her Asian mother??!!
Remember Brandon Lee?? He looked nothing like Asian. He looked like a pure white boy. Yet he was seen as an Asian just because his FATHER was a famous Asian actor. YOu people get so obsessed with "last names" too much.You people truly believe a surname is the key factor in indenifying a mixed Asian/white persons race. For example, just because Kreuk has a Dutch/Caucasian name and a white father , you think of her as a white person? But someone like Apolo Ohno, who has a Japanese name and a Japanese/Asian father, you consider him Asian?? What makes Ohno more Asian than Kreuk?? Their SURNAMES is what's confusing you idiots!!!!! And do you people need glasses??!! She obviously looks white and Asian. SHE'S MIXED!!!!duh!!!
what's wrong with u people??!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 11:16:12 (PST)
Come on people... Let's have our own Asian American stars. Real Asian American I mean, not mixed with this or that. Nothing against the mixed people. But this is the time we have to have our own most of us can identify with. Let's support the idea of ALL ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASIAN AMERICAN TELEVISION. I see this as the best way to put the future into our hand and to combat streotypes. If Hollywood can't create real Asian American stars, we will. When I have time, I will try to create a website to promote the idea of this Asian American TV.
Dumpling
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 10:16:17 (PST)
not fooled:
I could not agree more about letting others set your standards.
After all she's o.k. nothing to write home about in my book. I have walked down the streets of Vietnam and Thailand
and seen women far more beautiful even without the make up and stage lighting
that Kristin has available to her.
So there !!!!!!!!!!
non-asian
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at 07:07:38 (PST)
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