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CuttingRoom β€” The Karate Kid

Published: 2010-06-14 13:06:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 1478; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 42
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Description You want to take the challenge? Without googling it, see how many Asian-American actors you can name that aren't action stars. All I could come up with was Harold from Harold & Kumar, but that doesn't even count because I don't know his name. Our guest artist, Gwendolyn Vines, was able to come up with a few, but she's clearly exceptional. She's about to start her Ph.D. work at MIT where she’s studying to be a... wait for it... I kid you not... rocket scientist. Yet somehow she finds time to do guest art for us and keep her own webcomic going, November Shift--a character driven sci-fi story, which is as pretty as it is awesome. [link]

But let's talk about The Karate Kid, 'cause I got a bone to pick. I actually liked the movie. I was totally entertained by the thing, but I am kind of tired of the fish out of water story in which an American (usually--though not in this case--white), learns in a matter of a few musical montages what the locals learn over the course of a lifetime and then teaches them all the true meaning of something or another. I'm talking about Avatar, The Last Samurai, and that 1997 classic For Richer and For Poorer, in which Tim Allen and Kristie Alley teach the Amish to loosen up a little bit. It's a weird paradox indeed when these movies taut the values of a culture while sublimating them to our own modern egotism.

You hear me, right?
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Comments: 32

TheatreCat [2012-06-25 10:02:55 +0000 UTC]

Jackie Chan and Jet Li, Asian-American? I'm confused. In what way are they American?

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CuttingRoom In reply to TheatreCat [2012-06-25 11:57:56 +0000 UTC]

Good catch. They're not. They're simply Asians in American movies. I think the idea still holds though. As Americans, we expect all Asian characters to know some sort of martial art.

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TheatreCat In reply to CuttingRoom [2012-06-26 04:52:29 +0000 UTC]

You make an excellent point. I do wonder how much of that perception was started by Asian martial arts action movies, though. Of course, before martial arts became popular in America, the portrayal of Asian characters by Hollywood was even more stereotyped, and far, far worse.

Ironically, I remember reading somewhere that the United States has more martial arts practitioners per capita than any other country. I can't find a source for it now, though, so I don't know how reliable that is.

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IceFennek [2011-04-27 00:44:29 +0000 UTC]

Hmm... George Takei, John Cho, B.D. Wong, Archie Kao... yeah, that's the ones I can think of now.
I so totally agree with this, I've been really irritated at the serious lack of asian characters in movies/tv shows that aren't extremely stereotyped, used as the comic relief, the bad guy or the sidekick. It's sad how still in this so-called modern day there exists so much discrimination in media, when media is supposed to reach out and appeal to a huge diversity of people. Oh, well. What did we expect?

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CuttingRoom In reply to IceFennek [2011-04-27 01:00:34 +0000 UTC]

That's a pretty impressive list. I had to google the last two. You're absolutely right. I think it was John Cho who talked at length about the desexualization of Asian men, and how he wanted to combat that in Harold and Kumar.

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IceFennek In reply to CuttingRoom [2011-04-27 01:21:35 +0000 UTC]

Well, most of my favourite actors are asian american, so I should remember them
and I just remembered Tim Kang as well (bad me for forgetting him), but then my brain is empty for now xP
There really is a depressingly short list of asian american actors, and even fewer you actually remember.

And yes, I think I read about that. Good luck with that, John Cho!
Also, George Takei is battling against the fact that the new Akira movie is only considering white actors for the lead role, despite the movie originally being a japanese anime. Because obviously there can't be an asian lead character in an american movie unless it's one of the big legends, 'cause everybody wants a hunky white male lead, right? *Shakes head sadly*

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CuttingRoom In reply to IceFennek [2011-04-27 19:33:49 +0000 UTC]

I found this ridiculously NSFW video and thought of you: [link]

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IceFennek In reply to CuttingRoom [2011-05-04 16:09:43 +0000 UTC]

Hahahaha, awesome
And I'm very touched you thought of me

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princesscharming101 [2011-03-08 00:25:56 +0000 UTC]

Dude. Hiro the time-traveling hero from Heroes. Not even kidding. Except his real name is Masi Oka...

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CuttingRoom In reply to princesscharming101 [2011-03-09 02:46:42 +0000 UTC]

Does his future self wield a katana though?

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princesscharming101 In reply to CuttingRoom [2011-03-13 20:30:06 +0000 UTC]

This is true... but that's also just the character, not the actor... but he probably does have asian-sword-wielding skills though...

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CuttingRoom In reply to princesscharming101 [2011-03-13 23:38:59 +0000 UTC]

Right. Our point was just that Asian actors are always depicted as having martial arts skills.

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princesscharming101 In reply to CuttingRoom [2011-03-15 06:02:37 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I suppose you're right....

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CuttingRoom In reply to princesscharming101 [2011-03-15 07:33:37 +0000 UTC]

If I had a dime for every time somebody said that, I'd have a dime.

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princesscharming101 In reply to CuttingRoom [2011-03-16 16:08:27 +0000 UTC]

Happens that often huh?

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mjtfreeze [2011-01-22 19:52:38 +0000 UTC]

Stephen Chow IS AWESOME.

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woohooligan [2010-12-29 19:15:25 +0000 UTC]

George Takei, Pat Morita and Lucy Liu... hmmm... but generally speaking, yeah, not very many... the Asians with big names are action heroes. The ones that are good actors generally get supporting roles.

Oh and you forgot the Last Dragon. Definitely in that vein of feigning reverence for another culture while exploiting it for our own. [link]

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CuttingRoom In reply to woohooligan [2010-12-29 20:46:24 +0000 UTC]

Sho Nuff could kick Darth Vader's ass. I love that damn movie. Does that make me racist.

You've got me with George Takei, but Pat Morita's biggest role was as a Karate master, and--I think--Lucy Liu is best know for her action roles, isn't she?

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woohooligan In reply to CuttingRoom [2010-12-30 18:56:36 +0000 UTC]

I'm not sure about Liu - I remember reading that her break-out role was on Ally McBeal I thought... and I'm not convinced about Morita either... Yeah he's best known for some action movies, but not for an action character... kinda like calling Burgess Meredith an action star because he played the Penguin in the 1950's Batman series (hey, there was fighting in there) and Rocky Balboa's wacky manager.

I did once see a comedy with Pat Morita and Jay Lenno in which he played a Japanese cop and jumped through the windshield of a car to get the bad guy at the end of the film, but I'm pretty sure that was for comic effect... In the denouement scene he's in a cast from the waist down.

The Last Dragon is one of those rare B movies that's really bad in a really entertaining way... yeah, I love it too. Don't think it makes you racist, no. Or should I have skipped directly to an interrogative?

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CuttingRoom In reply to woohooligan [2010-12-30 19:17:51 +0000 UTC]

You just blew my mindhole. I never realized the Penguin and Mickey were the same actor.

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woohooligan In reply to CuttingRoom [2010-12-30 20:00:29 +0000 UTC]

Plus his name is so feminine sounding.

So does this mean I get to draw a Cutting Room strip now?

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CuttingRoom In reply to woohooligan [2010-12-30 22:00:05 +0000 UTC]

Are you kidding, we'd love to have you on board. I actually dropped you an email a few days ago to your hooligan@woohooligan.com address, and it was bounced back to me. How should I reach you outside of dA?

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woohooligan In reply to CuttingRoom [2010-12-30 22:07:59 +0000 UTC]

Yeah thanks for the heads up on the bounced email in the note you sent. I sent a (somewhat lengthy ) reply. I guess you hadn't gotten to your notes yet. I'm working on moving and fixing some domains, but it's slow with the holidays. You can reach me via email at info@turnkey.to -- I've had that address for many years, although I will say that lately I'm more diligent about answering DA messages and notes than my email. If you're okay with somewhat slower responses though, then I'm fine with email.

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CuttingRoom In reply to woohooligan [2010-12-30 23:35:33 +0000 UTC]

Hmm... I never got a note from you. You sure you sent it to me? Is it in your outbox?

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woohooligan In reply to CuttingRoom [2010-12-31 01:20:38 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, I just realized it got stuck in my drafts folder and sent it out a minute ago. D'oh! Sorry about that.

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Chotetsumaru [2010-07-08 01:26:32 +0000 UTC]

And as far as Harold, it's actually John Cho that portrays him (he was also a knockout in Nick and Norah / Abrams' Star Trek / American Pie / others!! )

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CuttingRoom In reply to Chotetsumaru [2010-07-08 02:42:30 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, he's very talented. I don't think he breaks the argument because he's not yet a household name. Also, how random was it that they give him a sword in Star Trek. "Oooh, you're Asian; you must know how to sword fight!"

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woohooligan In reply to CuttingRoom [2010-12-29 19:19:57 +0000 UTC]

Actually the sword in Star Trek was an interesting point, because that wasn't just a random "ooh you're asian" moment -- otherwise, they'd have given him an Asian blade. The character of Sulu was a fencing champion dating back to the original series -- but it was kinda gratuitous to use it in that particular scene. Anyway, I think it was more like "fan service".

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CuttingRoom In reply to woohooligan [2010-12-29 20:49:38 +0000 UTC]

Ahh... but then doesn't that play into the Asian = Action stereo type?

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woohooligan In reply to CuttingRoom [2010-12-30 02:34:47 +0000 UTC]

I suppose I could see it going either way... but given that they gave the (should be) ninja a pirate weapon instead of a ninja weapon, it still feels to me more like generic fan service. He wasn't exactly an "action hero" in the original episode where he'd gone crazy and he was running through the ship's hallway with his foil acting all "cap'n ahab". [link]

But then he would also have been the world's first openly gay action hero wouldn't he?

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DaveW2theoodward [2010-06-16 20:35:41 +0000 UTC]

Haha as if this comic isn't racist enough! When I think of asian actors Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee are the only ones I can think of right off the bat. Then there's that one evil guy from the Hangover

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Chotetsumaru In reply to DaveW2theoodward [2010-07-08 01:23:01 +0000 UTC]

You mean Ken Jeong? He was also in a few other comedies (Knocked Up / Step Brothers / Pineapple Express / Role Models)!

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