Best Picture: Crash - Asian American's POV....

Posted:
in AppleOutsider edited January 2014
Does anyone feel that the portrayal of Asian Americans in the movie Crash was sad if not poorly represented?

e.g.

1. the stereotypical "bad" asian woman driver

2. the "chinaman" with the thai slaves (WHO, by the way were saved, NOT by another Asian, but by Ludicris)



It just seemed like whenever it came to Asians, they were all grouped together like they're all the same. NO, distinction between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Filipino..etc...



slanty eyes, brown or yellow skin = Asian



Asian characters had no depth or personality like the Black, White and hispanic charcters did. Even the Middle-Eastern guy seemed kind of over the top a little...



Now people say, well Blacks and Hispanics still have a long wy to go to get equality in the movies to whites...So, does that mean Asians have to stay farther behind too??



Well, that's just my opinion on the topic...If anyone cares....please reply...



PEACE!!!!!
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    Out of curiosity...are you asian? If so...a lot of people are more sensative of their own race...





    Besides that...



    One of the big points of the movie was to express a lot of stereotype and look at how they are not necessarily true. Some people have the stereotype that all asians are the same. Personaly, I didn't see the stereotype that all asians were the same in the movie.



    As far as, "were saved, NOT by another Asian, but by Ludicris", the point of this was to dispel a stereotype that black people are inconsiderate, have no conscience, and will do anything for money.



    And now that we come to that...it wasn't just asians being stereotyped...



    Other stereotypes in the movie:



    -White people are rich pricks

    -White people are white trash

    -Black people steal things

    -Black people don't care about people

    -Black people can't be rich and successful

    -Asian people are bad drivers

    -Asian people are all the same

    -Asian people resort to selling slaves

    -Hispanics are in gangs and are drugies

    -If you have a tattoo your in a gang

    -All Middle Easterns are terrorists

    -All Middle Easterns are Muslim
  • Reply 2 of 31
    o-maco-mac Posts: 777member
    True on all counts...except....by the end of the movie every ethnic group was redeemed except for the asians...the asians came out looking like retards by taking the money and running away....at least Sandra Bullack's character felt sorry for being such a beotch...Ludicris character was a little redeemed by saving those thai slaves...Matt dillon's character was a little redeemed by saving thandi Newton...what famous asian actor played one of the asian characters?



    I was reading other message boards and yes, asians were sensitive about their own race, that's definately a fact...BUT, at the end of that movie could an asian say that they felt better about themselves afterwards? I didn't. At the end of that movie I was like, Cool, Ludicris did a good thing by letting those people go and Sandra bullack finally realized she was awful and man I sure felt bad for Matt dillon having to go through what he went through with trying to take care of his dad...BUT...those crazy asians? in the hospital? take the money and get out fast before you get caught??? that sucked!!!....



    put yourself in an Asian's shoes and ask yourself: Why are Asian American males nonexistent in leading roles in the movies AND on TV?? I watch ER and I see NO asian doctors in leading roles. I watch Grey's anatomy and see NO Asian males in a leading role...I watch i think EVERY cop drama and see NO Asian males in a leading role...Holy Smokes, Law & Order has been on since the beginning of time and they've NEVER had an Asian male in a leading or supporting role...and how many detectives and ADA's have they gone through????



    GOOD roles for Asian American males in Hollywood movies and TV are VERY few and FAR between....if existent at all...
  • Reply 3 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by icfireball

    Out of curiosity...are you asian? If so...a lot of people are more sensative of their own race...



    It was right in the title of the thread, "Asian American's POV". This brings "didn't read the article" to a new low...



    But I didn't see the movie, so no further comment. I agree that Asian males have limited roles in movies (outside of Kung Fu and Chineese historical movies).
  • Reply 4 of 31
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O-Mac

    Does anyone feel that the portrayal of Asian Americans in the movie Crash was sad if not poorly represented?

    e.g.

    1. the stereotypical "bad" asian woman driver

    2. the "chinaman" with the thai slaves (WHO, by the way were saved, NOT by another Asian, but by Ludicris)

    . . . .





    I don't know all that many "asians" very well, but all of the ones I do know well drive extremely poorly. Obviously this is not a good sample, but there's always some truth to stereotypes.



    I quoted "asians" because it's a stupid term, and is perhaps the reason why everyone from Malaysia to Mongolia gets lumped into the same ethnic boat. Why? Because they're all from [east] asia, that's why. Back when "oriental" refered to China, Korea, Japan, etc, it freed up "asian" or even "south east asian" to refer to people from that area. You have to realize that the non-mongoloid people of the world are involved in some conspiracy against you. By-and-large we're just whites, blacks, arabs, etc, and it's really tiresome when asians gripe about ethnic issues that they've brought upon themselves and of the sort that everyone else deals with.
  • Reply 5 of 31
    Winning the Academy Award for Best Picture officially made "Crash" a POS.



    Terrible acting across the board. Terrible Characters, Terrible Plot, Terrible Script, Terrible Cinematography, Terrible Directing... Just a Piece of Crap.



    Watching Crash Made me feel like I was watching the writers for the Chappelle Show or Mind of Mencia attempt to write a drama. The movie wasn't about Racism... It was about stupidity. Everyone in that movie is a f___in' moron. If that is an accurate representation of LA (which I am sure it's not), then I say Nuke it... and make the world better place.



    And the overall feel of the movie didn't feel like a Film. Felt like I was watching an hour and a half long Television show. This might have been a decent movie, but having "Academy Award Winner for Best Picture" is going to make people like it did me say; "WTF was the academy thinking???" The gay cowboy movie HAD to be better than Crash... but that's still not saying much.
  • Reply 6 of 31
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by e1618978

    It was right in the title of the thread, "Asian American's POV". This brings "didn't read the article" to a new low...



    But I didn't see the movie, so no further comment. I agree that Asian males have limited roles in movies (outside of Kung Fu and Chineese historical movies).




    Kung Fu Hustle was an almost flawless movie.
  • Reply 7 of 31
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    The film was crap. Its all over the place in a bad way.



    The only thing I was touched with was the story of the shop owner.
  • Reply 8 of 31
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    I was most touched by the Latino father. He was very good with his daughter and that's something you don't see portrayed.



    As for Asians in the media it's really quite simple.



    Asian women are in vogue and will see success in the US

    Asian men are not.



    Frankly i'm disgusted with the way Asian males are portrayed. Either they are a tech geek or some braniac but other than Russell Wong, Ken Watanable and a few others how many get to be leading men in Tinseltown? Not enough.



    Hollywood needs to stop treating Asian women like their concubines.



    Crash was a collection of scenes, some being powerful, but overall it wasn't that good of a movie.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    I'm going to echo david denby here in that Crash was easily *the* strongest American film since Mystic River.
  • Reply 10 of 31
    I'm going to sneak out of work early today and go see it.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    Great movie. A little contrived at times and maybe a little exaggerated, but one of the best I have seen.



    Were Orientals portrayed badly? I don't think that they were sterotyped more than anyone else. The difference is that none of the oriental characters developed enough to show more than the stereotypes. Whites, blacks, Persians and Hispanics were portrayed with more deapth. As far as the use of the terms 'Chink" and "Chinamen", these were used to portray the racism of others towards Orientals and not to stereotype Orientals.
  • Reply 12 of 31
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mac on a Mac

    Great movie. A little contrived at times and maybe a little exaggerated, but one of the best I have seen.



    Were Orientals portrayed badly? I don't think that they were sterotyped more than anyone else. The difference is that none of the oriental characters developed enough to show more than the stereotypes. Whites, blacks, Persians and Hispanics were portrayed with more death. As far as the use of the terms 'Chink" and "Chinamen", these were used to portray the racism of others towards Orientals and not to stereotype Orientals.




    Orientals???? Are we talking about a race of people or a type of food and art???? Calling Asians "oriental" is considered by some like calling blacks "negros".
  • Reply 13 of 31
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JohnnySmith

    Orientals???? Are we talking about a race of people or a type of food and art???? Calling Asians "oriental" is considered by some like calling blacks "negros".



    ha? I use oriental to distingish Chinese, etc from Indians etc. Those I know from these countries call themselves oriental. Perhaps they are not enlightned.
  • Reply 14 of 31
    o-maco-mac Posts: 777member
    don't get me wrong, Crash is a great movie. It roused up some serious emotions. and I thought it was better than Brokeback.



    as for the stereotypes, unfortunately it's true for every race or ethnic group.

    you know it. there are a few people who fit that stereotype and the after-effect is to assume "they all" are like that.



    so yeah i'm asian and when I see another asian acting like a stereotype I shake my head feel embarrased just like when a black person see another black person on tv getting arrested for something...



    Asians, Orientals, whatever...people will use whatever term they've learned or feel comfortable with.



    and yeah, why shouldn't the Asian male complain about being underrepresented to the point of nonexistence in the movies and TV??? Everyone else complains about this or that and to say we shouldn't complain is a load of CRAP...so I guess I should be quiet and just find a way to relate to the Black man's burden or the Latino's 2nd class state or the White man's money troubles???
  • Reply 15 of 31
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O-Mac

    don't get me wrong, Crash is a great movie. It roused up some serious emotions. and I thought it was better than Brokeback.



    as for the stereotypes, unfortunately it's true for every race or ethnic group.

    you know it. there are a few people who fit that stereotype and the after-effect is to assume "they all" are like that.



    so yeah i'm asian and when I see another asian acting like a stereotype I shake my head feel embarrased just like when a black person see another black person on tv getting arrested for something...



    Asians, Orientals, whatever...people will use whatever term they've learned or feel comfortable with.



    and yeah, why shouldn't the Asian male complain about being underrepresented to the point of nonexistence in the movies and TV??? Everyone else complains about this or that and to say we shouldn't complain is a load of CRAP...so I guess I should be quiet and just find a way to relate to the Black man's burden or the Latino's 2nd class state or the White man's money troubles???




    relax dude, asians are well represented in all those hot 19 year old Asian girls in thongs in all the rap videos getting doused in cristal... or being a Vietnamese hooker saying "Me So Horny, Me Love You Long Time."



    And the male asian is accurately represented in all those asian characters that require them to lift their legs at > 45 degree angle at some point in the film for some kind of self defense.
  • Reply 16 of 31
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JohnnySmith

    Orientals???? Are we talking about a race of people or a type of food and art???? Calling Asians "oriental" is considered by some like calling blacks "negros".



    ....calling splinemodel....
  • Reply 17 of 31
    hardeeharharhardeeharhar Posts: 4,841member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O-Mac



    and yeah, why shouldn't the Asian male complain about being underrepresented to the point of nonexistence in the movies and TV??? Everyone else complains about this or that and to say we shouldn't complain is a load of CRAP...so I guess I should be quiet and just find a way to relate to the Black man's burden or the Latino's 2nd class state or the White man's money troubles???




    What are you talking about? I cannot name a single television show that I watch that doesn't have a prominent asian character, and while I don't specifically mean "mongoloid" characters (Indians are Asian as are Islanders), I think you would be hard pressed to point to a show that has a diverse cast that DOESN'T have a mongoloid character...
  • Reply 18 of 31
    o-maco-mac Posts: 777member
    Hahahaha go ahead...list them.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O-Mac

    Does anyone feel that the portrayal of Asian Americans in the movie Crash was sad if not poorly represented?

    e.g.

    1. the stereotypical "bad" asian woman driver

    2. the "chinaman" with the thai slaves (WHO, by the way were saved, NOT by another Asian, but by Ludicris)



    It just seemed like whenever it came to Asians, they were all grouped together like they're all the same. NO, distinction between Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Filipino..etc...



    slanty eyes, brown or yellow skin = Asian



    Asian characters had no depth or personality like the Black, White and hispanic charcters did. Even the Middle-Eastern guy seemed kind of over the top a little...



    Now people say, well Blacks and Hispanics still have a long wy to go to get equality in the movies to whites...So, does that mean Asians have to stay farther behind too??



    Well, that's just my opinion on the topic...If anyone cares....please reply...



    PEACE!!!!!




    I think you missed the point of the film. In one of my film classes we went virtually frame-by-frame through Crash, and there is a lot more hidden in the film than most people see. To say that the portrayal of Asian-americans in Crash was sad implies a terribly skewed interpretation of the themes in it.
  • Reply 20 of 31
    o-maco-mac Posts: 777member
    Please explain...I actually liked the film. if you read my previous reply. then I read a bunch of message boards that voiced those particular opinions and thought about it again and thought they made a good point too...



    and do we all get to watch a movie frame by frame? maybe i'd have a different opinion too if I could watch the movie frame by frame. But I didn't.



    So, convince a bunch of Asians that they weren't portrayed poorly in this movie...what were the themes?



    Release the knowledge dude!!!
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