Comments on: White Avatars and Asian Men in the American Media

By: René S. Garcia, Jr.

René S. Garcia, Jr. — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 05:58:00 +0000

@Nick T:

Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. I’m not sure how to approach your argument, because it’s obvious that there’s been a communication breakdown somewhere and I don’t want to come off condescending. First, when I write “yellow” I don’t literally mean the color yellow. I mean it more as a perception — as denoted by the “quotes”. Consider the thought process behind creating the TV show Kung Fu with David Carradine instead of Bruce Lee. That’s an example of “scrubbing out the yellow”. Bruce Lee isn’t yellow, but his Asian features embody something undesirable in the eyes of entertainment producers and that phenomenon is what my article is about.

As for your other points, I’m going to just let them alone, because I don’t think either of us is going to convince the other.

By: Nick T

Nick T — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 05:36:31 +0000

Although we share the same anger towards Holly Wood.You’re anger seems misguided, and you’re opinions on Asians are a bit offensive. I see you’re trying to defend minorities here and there in this article, but you talked about Avatar like the characters’ characteristics were completely limited to that of a Caucasian. Is it possible for an Eskimo to have blue eyes? Yes. Can an Asian man be as white as a Caucasian? A LOT more often than you think.I lived in Japan for some time and the color yellow has never crossed my mind. Why? Because their so pale! In fact, from a racist Asian’s stand point, they may see them selves as “white” and Caucasions….I dunno… “pink”. Not that it makes a difference, but most Asians are just pale with a slightly different shade(or as you would call it, “yellow”). More importantly, I think it’s totally possible to think that the Avatar characters were white. That’s because Asians can act exactly the same as white people. What annoys me is that when people like you see Asians acting normal you think “this guy is totally cool/funny/relatable/normal, so he must be Caucasian!”. So if M. Night Shyamalan doesn’t think that Asians are good enough for an Asian inspired movie, then there may not be much hope for Holly Wood… And for the record, although maybe there should have been more Asians in 21, if you’ve seen the movie you would know that Aaron Yoo (the Asian guy)totally stole the spot light and was the best part of the movie. Sure it was because he was funny, but can’t an Asian be funny with out making a fool of himself?

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:23:49 +0000

First of all, I AM “WHITE.” Good now that we got that out of the way. I completely agree that the entire Airbender and Dragonball cast should have been completely comprised of Asians. The movies would probably be alot more authentic. They would definetly be kickass to say the least. Now having said that, I do think alot of the other stuff is a little bit stupid. Just because Jet Li wasn’t some mindless neanderthal who fucks every chick just because he can is no reason to get upset. Superman can not be asian because superman couldn’t fight to save his life. Most asian heroes can fight a shit load better than superman. If superman were asian then lex luthor would probably be paralyzed from the ass kicking he recieved. Bruce Lee could have kicked superman’s ass on his worst day. You want to see a good movie with a good strong asian lead actor then go see NINJA ASSASSIN, but be warned that the ending sucks because the bad guys should have kicked the asses of every other person except for the main character.

P.S.-Sun Wukong is badass!!!!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:04:51 +0000

@sweatyscotty:

>>That isn’t *really* the same thing (going geek on you now)

because a) Goku is an alien, even if it was Japan he lived in whyw ould you exppect him to be asian

b) Dragon Ball isn’t actually set in Japan, it’s set in a fictional version of earth. And it doesn’t seem to favour eastern or western culture that much so you can’t really say that the casting of Goku as a white guy is innacurate because it was never said otherwise

I disagree with you.
First off, Goku is based off of Sun Wukong, the “monkey king” from “Journey to the West”, a Chinese work, as seen by his monkey tail, his nimbus cloud, and his extending staff.

And if you’re going to go with “he’s an alien so he can be any race” defense, then I demand that Hollywood makes an Asian Superman (after all, he’s an alien…and alien with black hair, no less)

By: JanJan08

JanJan08 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:07:05 +0000

My response to Kris with her “Jackson Rathbone is actually Asian, he’s from Singapore and lived in Indonesia for part of his life”, I’d have to say that many non-Asians may have been born in Singapore or have lived in Indonesia, but that doesn’t make them Asians. Rathbone, having flit from country to country should be better termed as a No-Man’s Land American, not an Asian!

By: JanJan08

JanJan08 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:50:23 +0000

It’s probably M. Night Shyamalan’s mind is still locked in the backward days when Christoper Lee thought Asians would swallow the belief that his disgustingly ugly Fu Manchu was Chinese! Besides, his Avatar film would only confirm that M. Night Shyamalan’s brain cells have continued to be blocked by his “I see dead people” mentality, thus imagining and seeing things others don’t.

By: Kris

Kris — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:59:42 +0000

Jackson Rathbone is actually Asian, he’s from Singapore and lived in Indonesia for part of his life.

By: Luke

Luke — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:06:45 +0000

sweatyscotty. u are as dumb as every other ignorant youtube commenter. Is SUPERMAN ASIAN?! If i said superman was anything but white, i would get screamed at but ever since that stupid dragonball movie came out, idiots like u have been using that excuse. stop looking at the gaps and realize that racism is there!

By: TrikYodz

TrikYodz — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:53:13 +0000

Wow. I totally agree with you! I wish I had the balls to preach it like ya, brutha!

Keep it real!

By: Christian Howell

Christian Howell — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:52:06 +0000

Wow, that’s bad, but at least you have funny stereotypes. I can’t keep a job and have more illegitimate children than grades finished.

The only thing you can do is show that isn’t the case. Those people are much better handled by just ignoring them and EXCELLING. They will come around they always do because it’s about money.

You are right to note that it isn’t racism, per se, but culturalism. WHites are the majority so the majority of entertainment fare will be produced for them. The key to getting these images is to do it yourself and show that there is money to be made.

I mean, if HWood is really throwing away the box office from the other races, maybe they should reevaluate whether this is really the land of the free. If the rednecks are that big of an influence, America is a lie.

I don’t want to believe that. We have a minority president now but plenty of people DIDN’T vote for him. I would guess these people need some type of outlet now that many of the stereotypes are DEAD so I would tell you to gird your loins. They’ll be coming for you.

Me they don’t have to come for me. I’m the predator, not the prey.