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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, 06:00:06 PM)
to TH Lien:
Well i think we're quite familiar w/ each other by now if u remember. I think we're going by different definitions here again. I think you are talking about a definition that goes by culture (the language, etc.) and i am going by a more physical definition (ancestry). they are quite different, actually completely different. u can be one and not the other. SO really we're both correct in our separate ways. U cannot deny that her mother was ancestrally chinese. I cannot deny that she isn't very cultural. it just depends how u define chinese and what u mean by it. and remember, it isnt one drop in her case. her mom is chinese (ethnically not culturally).
Lilywater47
Thursday, July 11, 2002 at 23:35:54 (PDT)
Kristen is proud of BOTH her ethnic sides.. I think that whoever says that shes more white than chinese or more chinese than white is just being stupid.. and if you haven't noticed but umm america and canada are both consistant of immigrants.. a lot of which are chinese... so really now.. should it matter?
Jaz
Thursday, July 11, 2002 at 23:17:11 (PDT)
The question is not whether someone is capable of identifying her having any Asian heritage or not, but rather should she be labeled an "Asian beauty"? What does it say about "Asian beauty" if a significant amount of role models Asians hold up as "Asian beauties" are only partially Asian?
Deng Ai
deng_ai2000@yahoo.com
Thursday, July 11, 2002 at 14:13:28 (PDT)
Wow, it was amazing to read some of these comments on here. I can't believe some of you are critizing Kristin's Asianess. True, she may be mixed, but (as others have pointed out) she publicly announces that she is mixed w/ Chinese and Dutch. We should be proud that Asians (even half-Asians) are being given lead roles, because it shows that people are now more accepting to other races. You might think that the world is not racist, but sadly, it still is. Yet, it bewilders me to discover that people come on here and claim we are "narrow-minded" or "racist" for wanting Asians to represent us in the media, but when African Americans do it, they aren't being whiny, but is considered pride. Now, I don't want you people to view me as racist, because I am personally not. I have friends w/ all nationalities, and until a while ago, I unconsiously refused my Asian backgrund, since I was never exposed to other Asians, even though I'm from Canada. Since I was born and raised here, I didn't feel I had a need to communicate with the Chinese peopl who has immigrated here, thus I can relate to Kristin's comment of not being able to relate to her Asian side, simply because she was never exposed to that back (in terms of the culture and using the language). On the other hand, I praise her for proudly saying she is at least half Asian, and I feel she is going to help open doors for us, whether you would like to believe it or not.
I would also liek to point out..did any of you knew that Michelle Branch was half Asian? Yeah, I wasn't aware of it until today after thorough digging. See, even such a famous artist as she has never came out to said she's mixed w/ Asian. So, Kristin deserves some applause!
Eve from Canada
Thursday, July 11, 2002 at 12:39:37 (PDT)
to deng ai: i think she's a hapa beauty. prob because she's hapa. lol.
to rapty: yes im chinese/jewish and she's a role model for me as well. she's just so beautiful and talented. it's amazing how guys go crazy over her. some are really obsessed.
to mitra parineh:
yes ur quite right. Kristin is more of a mixed-heritage role model. she is very inspiring to me too. i live in a predominantly asian area near LA and we have a few hapa kids. it is beautiful that racial boundaries can be broken. the products of these marriages is a message. btw r u multiracial?
to ABC: i didnt know she was half chinese until i heard all the buzz but then i totally thought she looked at leats a little chinese. i'm half chinese too. teaching your kids about both their cultures is the best thing u can do for them. teach them 2 languages as well if u can. notice that all them men u mentioned are biracial. Keanu reeves n tiger woods basically ignore their asian sides. they don't really count because they arent seen in an "asian" light. the only viable asian male star is jackie chan, and he's sort of a clown (def not a sex symbol). we need progress in this facet.
lilywater47
Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at 22:01:45 (PDT)
ABC:
Community is only gonna embrace your kids if the kids don't act as though the standards of the community don't apply to them cuz they're "best of both worlds." Gotta speak the language, and function normally with culturally correct standards in social situations, etc.
Keanu Reeves? regardless of his ancestry, that guy is white. how could an Asian-American or Eurasian kids (except the ultra-whitewashed) look up to him specifically as an Asian-American role model, as opposed to just looking up to him as an actor, when the only things shared are some genes and some facial features?
lilywater47:
"does it matter if she looks more asian or white? she is still chinese no matter what."
how's that, exactly? new one-drop rule you're not telling us about? regardless of her appearance, calling her chinese would be rather less contentious if she were actually acculturated to that part of her ancestry.
T.H. Lien
Wednesday, July 10, 2002 at 16:54:30 (PDT)
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