Ever since my grandmothers passed away, life in the Moy household just hasn’t seemed as Asian. My grandmothers were my family’s last connection to our roots. From their authentic Chinese cooking to their heavy Chinese accents, everything about them exuded what being Chinese was all about.
When they were still alive, there were Sunday night dinners practically every week and many more family gatherings at fancy Chinese restaurants where we would gorge ourselves on family-style dishes one after the other. But now that they’re gone, the family gatherings are far and few and the closest thing we have to authentic Chinese food is take out we order on Sundays when we go to church. But just because I’ve lost my link to my ancestry doesn’t mean I’ve lost who I am altogether.
In Amy Tan’s pivotal novel, The Joy Luck Club, one character states that when two Chinese people are in a room they automatically feel like family. Although I may be Americanized, I will always hold my Chinese ethnicity close to my heart because I wear it on my face everyday and flaunt it with pride even if I do tend to be more influenced by American ways these days. But when I do come across a fellow Chinese citizen I tend to gravitate toward them first because they automatically understand things that people of other races wouldn’t and this quote seems to describe it perfectly.
Even though I feel as if I automatically relate and fit in amongst other Chinese people no matter what the circumstances, it takes me a little longer to feel comfortable amidst a group of Caucasian people, especially when I am the only Asian among them.
But growing up in a predominantly white community, having white friends was bound to happen. Growing up, I was usually one of two, or the only, Asian girl in class so of course people would refer to me as “the Asian girl” or if there were two of us “those Asian girls,” because after all, we are automatically family. While being the only Asian in the bunch is weird at times, I am so Americanized that it doesn’t even matter most of the time.
Someone’s race is of no significance when they’re amongst friends. Now that I’m in college and I am the only Asian who hangs out with a group primarily comprising Caucasians it is still of no importance. Lucy Liu broke the mold by becoming an Angel. By marching fiercely by the side of such hot, A-list Caucasian actresses as Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu was capable of kicking butt with these two ladies without being referred to as “the Asian Angel” but rather just “an Angel.
Though interracial relationships still make ignorant people uneasy, having interracial friendships is so common these days that you’d be ridiculous not to expect them. Though Asian Americans have made progress in the film world with such star presence as Lucy Liu we still do have our stereotypes being flaunted out there. From the crazy lady plucking out the Spiderman theme song on her violin in the first Spiderman film to the “Chinaman” that gets run over by Ludacris in Crash, Asian Americans still have a long way to go in the film industry. Most filmmakers look to Asians as being a sort of comedy relief but heavy accents and broken English aren’t so funny when they remind you of your own family members who fought so hard to move to this country and fight for a better future for you.
Maybe it’s just that these filmmakers aren’t aware of the fact that there is so much more to being Asian than all those stereotypes that still present themselves in today’s society. While there is plenty of vacancies to fill on the “Hot Asian Babe” front in films, men, on the other hand, have it a tad more difficult when it comes to acquiring that don’t require a black belt. Lucy Liu was able to conquer any Asian stereotypes at hand by winning the role of the devilish Ling Woo on the hit TV series of the late 90’s, “Ally McBeal” which then led to prime roles in feature films. However, Jackie Chan has not been as successful, at least not in the same way that Ms. Liu has.
With consecutive roles that compare in more way than one, Jackie Chan is the essential “go-to man” for parts that require a comedic Asian action hero. From “Shanghai Noon” to “Rush Hour”, Jackie Chan has nailed the role of the easy target side kick for such co-stars as Owen Wilson and Chris Tucker to pick on and make for a nice, light hearted, action packed flick. While these two films were hits at the box office, Chan’s foray into work that didn’t necessitate for a “high yah!” didn’t quite fair as well at the box office, in fact it was actually a true slugger.
“Around the World in 80 Days”, released in 2004, turned out to be one of the biggest flops in Disney history. Budgeted for $110 million and accumulating a paltry rough estimate of $24 million in ticket sales at the box office, this film suffered a loss of almost $80 million. While this is quite a feat, it is not exactly the quite of feat that would advance the presence of Asian American faces in Hollywood.
Ironically, this film also happened to star another action hero just before being elected govenator. The very terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenager, turned up for a cameo appearance but the star power of two action heroes in a comedy without any action doesn’t necessarily equal a hit. Some more irony at hand is that while a male Asian American superstar can’t hack it in a different genre of film other than the one he is accustomed with, the females seem to make the transition quite smoothly.
We were first introduced to Zhang Ziyi (Ziyi Zhang in America) in the hit 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 atop a building fighting off thousands upon thousands of arrows being thrust in her direction with just some fancy footwork and flapping around her kimono to two rivals being suspended in mid-air for a prolonged amount of time, this movie, dripping with profuse amounts of martial arts, was any kung-fu lover’s dream. But even though Zhang Ziyi got her big break in such a film, she prevented herself from being type cast. She was not just some pretty face who could beat somebody up, she was a pretty face who could act.
Acting alongside Michelle Yeoh for the second time in “Memoirs of a Geisha”, Zhang Ziyi found herself with another Oscar-nominated hit on her hands, one containing not an ounce of martial arts. This time around, Chinese born Ziyi portrayed a high-class Japanese prostitute who needed more emotions than just anger or sadness to be portrayed. Pulling off both types of roles has led Zhang Ziyi to become a red carpet darling, getting all decked out in such designers as Armani and sometimes even lead her to be named “Best Dressed” in various magazine publications, which brings to mind another Asian starlet who constantly finds herself being praised for her attire.
Sandra Oh, of Grey’s Anatomy fame, has found stardom portraying the neurotic, uptight Dr. Yang, a part that, despite the name, doesn’t necessarily wreak overt signs of Asian-ness except for the fact that she is played by an Asian actress. Un-like the roles acquired by Zhang Ziyi, which are necessarily played by an Asian actress, this role does not involve any Asian stereo types and could, as I stated before, be portrayed by any actress because this character doesn’t need to prance around in a kimono and her ethnicity is hardly important and barely, if ever, brought up at all.
Instead, she is given the same generic, blue scrubs as the rest of the dominantly Caucasian cast and treated no differently than anybody else.This goes to show that maybe some Hollywood big shots actually do understand that Asian stereotypes don’t necessarily hold true for all those of Asian descent while some are still left in the dark.
