Yellow Face: Asian American actors deserve recognition
There has been much controversy in the American entertainment industry lately, after Scarlett Johansson was cast to play the role of Motoko Kusanagi a character from the Japanese anime Ghost in a Shell. The live remake of the anime, Ghost in the Shell. Johansson, a Caucasian actress, was cast to play the role of a Japanese character. The controversy occurred with the fact that there are many qualified Japanese actresses in Hollywood who are more suitable for the role. Johansson is not the only actress in Hollywood who has taken on the role of an Asian character. Actors such Emma Stone and Natalie Dormer both American actresses have acted in roles of that of an Asian character. Stone’s character was of Chinese and Hawaiian descent, whilst Dormer’s character travels to Japan in search of her missing twin sister who mysteriously disappeared into the “suicide forest” of Japan. A controversial topic in Japan, as it is not something the Japanese government want publicized, specifically in an inaccurate portal of a movie with a Caucasian actress. These unreliable portals of Asian cultures, in addition to being portrayed by American actors adds to the inaccurate representation of them in movies.
Continuing with the earlier statement of how Hollywood has not done a good job at branching out into the Asian American community to scout for actors for such roles as Ghost in a Shell, it brings forth a negative image geared toward Asian American actors with the stigma that “great” Asian American actors do not exist in Hollywood, and it is not possible to have good Asian American actors in Hollywood. Coming from an Asian perspective in that I am Asian American, I can say there are many amazing Asian and Asian American actors that do not receive the proper recognition they deserve. Actors such as Donnie Yen, synonymous with the title of “Ip Man” a franchise film series about a former martial artist, and is famous for being Bruce Lee’s martial artist master. Donnie Yen is a capable actor in that his role is that of a master of Wing Chun, a field of martial arts he has practiced. Additionally his ability to perform martial arts is as impeccable as his acting ability having won multiple awards. Maggie Q a Vietnamese American actress is gaining popularity in the film industry with such roles as Nikita a covert agent gone rogue. She is also a supporting actress in the Divergent series, gaining a lot of attention and recognition, especially that amongst teenagers. Furthermore Q has won awards for her exceptional roles she has portrayed. In addition to later being trained in martial arts, which would later lead to her action roles. Both actors are exceptional in their own way, but still seem to go unnoticed due to their background.
In short, there are a multitude of up and coming Asian American actors and actresses that have been around for some amount of time, such as Daniel Dae Kim who made his acting debut in Lost which made him a household name to later starring in Hawaii 5–0. Lucy Liu has also been around making a namesake for herself starring in the revamped movie Charlie’s Angels, and its sequel. Some Korean actors have starred in films on the American market, actors such as Lee Byung Hun, Rain, and Joon Park have made appearances in box office films. I will close with is this Gandhi once said “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Despite that many do not want to see change in the world, because people fear change. Assigning actors and actress the proper roles to play should not be “the change”, but should already be a given.
