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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Asian Men Deliberately Excluded from Star Wars?
ow that the fifth installment of the Star Wars saga has hit theatres, it's official: Asian men have no place in George Lucas's vision of the future. An Asian female Jedi was glimpsed in the most recent installment, but not one single Asian male has been spotted in any of the five movies.
The absence is all the more remarkable given that Star Wars borrows its themes and fight scenes so obviously from samurai and kung-fu flicks. On a purely demographic level, it's difficult to imagine a distant future in which Asians will not be the preponderance of humanity. Even on a mundane economic level, Asians account for at least a third of today's global box office and video revenues.
The utter absence of Asian men in the latest installment is even more glaring in light of the promises Lucas made in response to Asian protests over the omission of Asian actors coupled with suspicious attachment of Asian cultural traits to unsavory alien grotesqueries in The Phantom Menace. Lucas had even hinted that images of Bruce Lee would be used in the installment now known as The Clone Wars.
In The Phantom Menace Lucas used Asian martial artists both to choreograph and perform the kendo-inspired light-saber sequences. But as if wishing to take back the decision, in The Clone Wars Lucas's PR machine made a point of showing that the fight sequences were choreographed by a white man and performed by the actors themselves. That explains why they were so leaden and lackluster, but raises the question why?
Could it be that George Lucas wants to avoid calling attention to his large debt to Asian action films?
Is Lucas afraid that including an Asian man will invite critical focus on the new movie's sub-par swordfight sequences?
Is Lucus slyly inviting viewers to see wizened little Master Yoda as a winking representation of Asian men?
Despite his avowed interest in Chinese and Japanese martial arts, culture, literature and films, is Lucas a closet racist after all?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
huu 76,
you wrote
"I stand by my argument that Hollywood has diverted its negative efforts from one group to appease another. Star Wars is one example, Asians being portrayed negatively while blacks get elevated."
I partially agree with you. However I seriously doubt that george lucas excluded asians in order to give african americans a break. Maybe the guy is racist after all and has decided to make his point without expressing his true feelings. I honestly don't know.
you wrote "I provided examples "in reality" of how negative black actions have directly/indirectly resulted in a skewed portrayal of Asians (I gave 3 examples of movies). I also mentioned positive black images, but left it at that (I admit that)"
Again I partially agree with you. Sometimes movie makers want to use various ways to express their racism. Perhaps it's their way of saying they don't like you without expressing the words. It's definitely not black/white coordinated though. I can tell you that for a fact.
Yes there is racism out there. I can't say it's generally the case but it quite often could be the case if you notice a particular ethnicity is excluded from positive images.
Political Observer
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 07:49:06 (PDT)
huu76:
Whether George Lucas either deliberately or unitentionally excluded Asian Americans from his movies does not excuse his oversight. Asian Americans consistently contribute positive things to our country, therefore, it's only fair to recognize them fairly in our cinema.
"I stand by my argument that Hollywood has diverted its negative efforts from one group to appease another."
So, what's your recommendation to bring about more ethnic balance for Asian Americans in George Lucas' and other American directors and producers films?
Geoff DB
GeoffDB02@aol.com
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 at 21:46:21 (PDT)
Observer,
I stand by my argument that Hollywood has diverted its negative efforts from one group to appease another. Star Wars is one example, Asians being portrayed negatively while blacks get elevated.
I provided examples "in reality" of how negative black actions have directly/indirectly resulted in a skewed portrayal of Asians (I gave 3 examples of movies). I also mentioned positive black images, but left it at that (I admit that).
Other than call me racist, you have done little else to counter my arguments.
Geoff,
I apologize for generalizing too while expressing my views. I have met decent and outstanding African Americans, but from my experience, unfortunately, they appear to be too few and far in between.
huu76
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 at 04:46:06 (PDT)
huu 76,
you wrote "It's people like you who defend the useless that is making North America fall behind the Japanese"
What! Man oh man. Who has done or said anything here to defend useless people. Geoff went out of his way to explain to you how much he doesn't condone african american criminals or people who always makes excuses for not performing well. I think he was too nice to you. You took his kindness for weakness and assumed that he was incapable of arguing a point intellectually. You made the bad moves. You invited and escalated the racist tone in that discussion.
You really do need to seek professional psychological counseling.
Geof DB,
If it's any consolation to you I don't want anyone of any race to kiss my butt. I respect people and all I ask for in return is equal respect.
By the way things are getting better. Hey, 2004 isn't that far off. We'll be voting for a new president before you even know it :)
Take care dude.
Ray,
Thanks for getting us back on the issue at hand (exclusion of asian american men in star wars). That's certainly a relief at this point. huu 76 got us off track and began an anti-black lashing.
Political Observer
Monday, July 22, 2002 at 13:33:36 (PDT)
I just saw the Star Wars movie and it wasn't bad at all.
In terms of the lack of AM presence in the movie I think the closest would be Boba Fett and his father (forgot his name) in which they both look like either Hawaiian or Phillipino. Yoda would be a second because of his constant philosophical point of view and bad slurring english which most Americans equate with AMs.
Hopefully Lucas will at least have a Asian face (now it is either AM or AF for goodness sake) in his last series. It would be definately be racist of him to discount a quarter of the human race and say that is his reality when he wrote this screenplay.
Truth wins out
Monday, July 22, 2002 at 01:33:22 (PDT)
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