Ever since my grandmother passed away, life in the Moy family has not only been seen as Asian. My grandparents were my family’s last connection to our roots. From the authentic Chinese cooking to the heavy Chinese accent, everything about them was highlighted that was all about the Chinese.
When they were still alive, there were Sunday night dinners almost every week and several family groups to fancy Chinese restaurants where we would gorge on one family style meal after another. But now that they are gone, the family gatherings are far away and the few and closest thing we order to the German Chinese superlatives is on Sundays when he goes to church. But just because I’ve lost touch with my ancestors doesn’t mean I’ve lost who I am at all.
In Amy Tan’s novel, Laetitia Fortuna Stipe, one character states that when two Chinese people are in a room it automatically feels like a family. Although I may be Americanized, I always hold my Chinese ethnicity close to my heart, it’s something I wear on my face every day and flaunt it proudly, even though I tend to move more in the American way these days. But when I meet a Chinese citizen, I tend first to gravitate, because spontaneously those things that people of other nations did not want to understand, and this word seems to describe it perfectly.
Although I feel as if I can naturally relate and fit in among other Chinese people in any situation, it takes me a little longer to feel comfortable among Caucasian people, especially since I am the only Asian among them.
But the predominantly white community was growing up, and having white friends was a must. Growing up, I used to be one of two, or the only, Asian girl in my class, so of course people would refer to me as “the Asian girl,” or if two of us were “those Asian girls,” because we’re automatically family after all. While being the only Asian in the bunch is weird sometimes, I’m so Americanized that it doesn’t even matter most of the time.
It doesn’t matter what someone’s gender is when they are among friends. Now that I’m in college and I’m the only Asian that includes them with a predominantly Caucasian group, it doesn’t matter. Lucy Liu broke the mold and became an angel. Walking fiercely alongside such hot, A-list Caucasian actresses as Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu was able to kick things off with these two ladies without being an “Asian Angel”, but rather just an “Angel”.
However, interracial relationships worry inexperienced people, interracial friendships are so common these days that it’s ridiculous that you wouldn’t expect them. Although Americans have progressed in the film world with such a star presence as Lucy Liu we still have our stereotypes. bring forth from these From the mad lady picking out her Spiderman theme song on a violin in the first Spiderman movie to the “Chinaman” that runs through Ludacris in Crash, Asian Americans still have a long way to go in the film industry. Most Asian cinematographers take it as a kind of comedy, but the heavy accent and broken English are not so funny when they remind you about your family members who fought for this country so that it moves and fights for a better future for you.
Maybe it’s just that these filmmakers don’t feel that this is so much more Asian than all those stereotypes that are still prevalent in today’s society. With plenty of vacancies on the “Hot Asian Babe” front to fill the movies, men, on the other hand, have a tad more difficulty when it comes to getting one that doesn’t require a black belt. Lucy Liu was able to overcome some Asian stereotypes by winning the role of the diabolical Ling Woo in the hit TV series of the late 90’s “Partners McBeal” which then led to her first feature film role. However, Jackie Chan has not been so successful, at least not in the same way that Ms. Liu has.
With more than one consecutive role, Jackie Chan is the essential “go-to-man” for roles that require a heroic action hero comedy. From “Shanghai Noon” to “Rush Hour”, Jackie Chan has nailed the role of an easy target for such co-stars as Owen Wilson and Chris Pick and choose Tucker for a fun, light-hearted, action-packed flick. While these two members of the film hit the box office, in the work of the dog attack that did not demand “high” Lord! ” It’s not pretty enough in the box office, it was actually a stunner.
“Around the World in 80 Days”, released in 2004, turned out to be one of the biggest flops in Disney history. With a budget of $110 million and accumulated a paltry estimate of $24 million in ticket sales at the box office, this film suffered a loss of nearly $80 million. While this event has taken place, there have not exactly been events that promote the presence of Asian American faces in Hollywood.
Ironically, this also happened so that the hero starred in another action film before the pilot was created. The Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenager, made a cameo appearance, but the star power of two action heroes in a comedy without any action necessarily equals the impact. There’s some irony in the fact that while a male Asian American superstar can’t cut it in a genre other than what he’s used to, women seem to make the transition pretty evenly.
We were first introduced to Zhang Ziyi (Ziyi Zhang in America) in the film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, Oscar nominated and critically acclaimed, this film contained many beautiful special effects to enhance its action sequences. From Michelle Yeoh standing on top of a building fighting thousands of arrows propelled in her direction with some fancy footwork and clapping around in her kimono to two rivals hanging in mid-air for a long time, this movie is soaking wet. many martial forces, it was any kung-fu lover’s dream. But even though Zhang Ziyi got her big break on such a screen, she prevented herself from being typecast. It was not a pretty face a face that could beat someone, it was a pretty face that could act.
Acting alongside Michelle Yeoh for the second time in “Memoirs of a Geisha”, Zhang Ziyi found himself with another Oscar nominee on his hands, who was not an inch materials. Around this time, the Chinese-born Ziyi became a high-class Japanese prostitute who needed more emotions than just anger or sadness to be portrayed. Both types of roles led Zhang Ziyi to become a friend of the red dress, all gilded in such designers as Armani and sometimes even lead her to be named “Best Dressed” in various magazine magazines, which brings to mind another Asian star. which finds herself constantly praised for her beauty.
Sandra Oh, of Grey’s Anatomy fame, the neurotic star, raised Dr. He found representing Yang, a part which, despite the name, does not necessarily lose its Asian-ness, except that it was played by an Asian. an actress Un-like the part Zhang Ziyi acquired, which is necessarily played by an Asian actress, this role does not involve any stereotypical Asian types and, as I said before, no actress could be portrayed, because this character does not need any help. He was brought up around in a kimono and his ethnicity was hardly important and hardly if ever.
But given the same race, blue scrubs like the rest of the dominant Caucasian caste and treated no differently than any other. This shows that perhaps some Hollywood big shots really understand that Asian stereotypes are not necessarily true for all Asians, while still remaining in the dark.
