Wednesday night PBS had two programs on about being Chinese in Hollywood. The first covered all Chinese and Chinese-American actors. The second focused on Chinese men. I think every minority goes through similar experiences in Hollywood, but it's still interesting to hear the different perspectives.
One thing that definitely jumped out at me, was the story that was told about the screening of the original ending for Romeo Must Die. They tested this with an urban audience, and supposedly, the urban audience didn't like seeing Jet Li and Aaliyah kiss. When I heard this, I felt anger, disappointment, and frustration. To me, all that buildup without the kiss, just doesn't make sense. I felt cheated by the ending and now I know exactly why. I would like to think that if minority groups banded together over the things we all have in common, more opportunities would open up for all, and we'd be a step closer to color blind casting (Yeah, I'm still hanging on to the tattered shreds of my idealism. Don't you just love it? Color blind casting. For the most part, I love the idea of it. Particularly, examples of it like . But on the other hand, the idea of it seems odd to me, like the instance where someone decided to put on Huck Finn with a Black Huck and a White Jim.)
Something else has me wondering too...I love to watch J-horror films ( I know I've mentioned this before.). Usually they have an all Asian cast, whether they are shot in Japan or Thailand.
Why don't they think Asians would pay to see an All Asian cast? Or that no one else would want to see an All Asian cast? The American version of Shutter takes on a whole different meaning/tone with the lead male character played by a White actor. But then, maybe that helps make the story all the more disturbing.
I overheard an interesting conversation when I was at my job's Annual Cultural Fair for Asian Pacific American month. An Asian woman was asking an Asian man, who I'm assuming was Chinese, what Chinese attitudes are about someone being part Chinese. The man answered that they are seen as completely Chinese. Now, when you look at the man and woman having this conversation, they look unmistakably Asian. I found out something about my ancestry last year, that I would like to verify before I go out on a limb, but it got me to thinking anyway, because when you look at me, I just look African-American. I don't look like Kimora Lee either. I just look African-American. I wanted so badly to ask, and what about me? I wouldn't be surprised to hear him tell me "No, it doesn't include a situation like yours.". I've run into this type of attitude when I was trying to track down a Chickahominy relative (She'd have been my maternal great-grandmother.). Most of the Native American nations that I know about have largely oral traditions of record-keeping, so I think I was fighting a losing battle anyway. I also found out she would have been shunned/ostracized/disowned for marrying a Black man. So, as I said, I basically hit a wall.
As far as what was/is driving me to do all this research...It was a variety of things. Alex Haley's books Roots and Queen. And I guess when I was in my late teens and in early adulthood, I just became very wrapped up in searching for identity...finding and learning everything I could about all the people who made me me. I wanted to research it...document it. I felt like I'd be more confident, if I just knew who I was. Don't think I'm neglecting the African part of my African-American heritage either. I'm very interested in finding out from where in West Africa I came from, what language is spoken there, etc. . But that would take considerably more time and money than I have right now (I want to go to graduate school, and get my Masters degree in Library Science, or whatever the new jargon is for it now. I'm also very interested in becoming a museum technician. I'm very into history, pop culture, and I was an English major in college. It all just makes so much sense to me now. I wish I'd been this clear-headed when I graduated high school. Everything in its own time I guess...).
It will be interesting to see whether having Barack Obama in The White House will change how people of different races relate to one another (And no, this is not something that I expect to happen overnight.), and whether or not it will be a lasting change or a cosmetic change. Although I never expected to live to see a Black president, for the most part, I still think that race is that elephant in the room that no one is quite comfortable talking about.
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