Dear Hollywood Executives,
When I was 8, I saw Mulan for the first time. And I have to say it was a totally new experience; the early 2010s didn’t have much room for Asian-Americans, except for the occasional nerd, ninja, or nemesis. But Mulan was something different, it was a movie that dealt with the pressure of assimilation, fear of parental disappointment, and ultimately forging one’s identity through struggle and strife. While presented as an “Asian” movie, Mulan was a testament to the Asian-American experience—my experience.
So, you can imagine how distraught I was when I saw the trailer for the new Mulan. Everything that spoke to Asian-Americans like me was taken away. The songs, the characters, even the story, were all changed. The director said it was all to create a new kind of “tough” Mulan, but deep down, I knew. Disney depended on the Chinese Box Office profits. For them, it was choosing between profit and the people, Asian-Americans. You can guess which one they chose. It was painful, and here’s why.
For Asian-Americans, our representation in media is sparse. Despite being roughly 6% of the US population, we made up 1% of lead roles in Hollywood. And so we fought. We fought for our representation. We struggled to have our stories made and heard.
At first, you didn’t listen. You whitewashed at every turn to the point of painful cringe. Scarlett Johansen playing a Japanese protagonist in Ghost in the Shell. Emma Stone being cast as a quarter Chinese and quarter Hawaiian woman in Aloha. You thought that we wouldn’t say anything. But we did. We cried out and we demanded representation—proper representation.
So then, you got smart. You started creating Chinese and Hong Kong films and started casting Chinese and Hong Kong stars. You substituted us for them. Usually, we notice whitewashing and call it out. We can handle the outrageous kinds of racism. But what do we do when we see ourselves on the screen? They look like us, but their experiences don’t speak out to us…? Where does that leave us?
It leaves us in between the cracks. We’re too American for Asia, and we’re too Asian for America. And as we’re shunned from both, we’re stuck in-between. And when you finally did give us an “Asian-American” story, it was still Chinese-American or East-Asian centric.
And as a Chinese-American, I am grateful that you chose to tell these stories. But I also understand that we can’t and should never substitute these stories for one another. The Asian-American experience is so vast and diverse. And as such, we need to give each experience the respect and attention it deserves. The kind that you never bothered to give.
Asian-American stories are painfully rare. And as we’ve seen, we’ve still got a long way to go. Despite all of its cultural appropriation and mild whitewashing, Mulan was a taste of something yet to come. Asian-Americans have been neglected for too long. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we’ve still got a hell of a long way to go. And so, we’ll keep fighting for these unique stories— stories of something in-between and beautiful.
So what should you do? I know you’ll say there aren’t a lot of good Asian-American actors out there, or that it’s too expensive, but stories like Mulan are lacking in Hollywood. We deserve to be represented properly. There are many of us out there who want to make this right, so let us do the job you could never do. Please… because ultimately, these stories are stories worth fighting for.
Best Wishes,
Isaac Lee
Written by Isaac L. from Irvine, California
Comments