As a moviegoer, I'm eagerly anticipating the forthcoming live-action version of "Akira," a Japanese manga that was made into a groundbreaking animated feature film in 1988. However, as an Asian-American hearing that all but one of the actors rumored to be in consideration for the film are white Americans, I can't help but feel some concern for both the intellectual and artistic purity of the film.
Despite the inroads that Asian culture has made into the popular consciousness, the popularity of these products has not translated into a parallel rise in acceptance of Asian-American public figures. When Asian-American characters were first introduced in Hollywood, they were played by white actors portraying stereotypical Asian characters. Mickey Rooney's portrayal of I.Y. Yunioshi in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961) and Yul Brynner as King Mongkut in "The King and I" (1956) are prime examples.
In recent years, Asian characters in American adaptations of films have been replaced by white American versions played by Hollywood A-listers. This practice is referred to as "racebending," after the "bending" of Asian characters into white ones in M. Night Shyamalan's "Avatar: The Last Airbender," which faced intense scrutiny over this issue. Racebending happens even when the original storylines featured Asian characters, as was the case with Akira Kuosawa's "Seven Samurai" (1954), which was adapted into the western "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.
The few American television shows featuring Asian-American actors play upon popular stereotypes in lieu of developing nuanced personalities outside the confines of cultural norms. On "House, M.D.," the glasses-wearing Dr. Chi Park conforms to too many stereotypes to count: actress Charlyne Yi is painfully short, her character graduated in the top 2 percent of her class in medical school and appears to have extremely controlling parents. Even the supposedly inclusive "Glee" crams Tina Cohen-Chang and Mike Chang into painful stereotypes. Tina wants to go on a date and eat a salad without chicken feet, and Mike's dad wants him to go to "doctor school or something." They don't just exchange kisses they exchange "Asian kisses."
Not even animated films have been spared the whitewashing that studios seem to believe is necessary for commercial success. Those who grew up in the 1990s might recall the popularity of animes such as "Sailor Moon," Pokemon" and "Dragonball Z." However, due to extensive editing and script revisions in the dubbing process, they will not recall seeing many references to Asian culture and society, despite the fact that both "Sailor Moon" and "Pokemon" heavily featured Japanese culture in their original versions. A case in point from the Pokemon series is the squinty-eyed protagonist Brock's fondness for making triangular-shaped black and white donuts for the gang to eat. These "donuts" were in fact onigiri, a Japanese food made of sticky rice and dried seaweed. In the interest of making "Pokemon" more culturally intelligible to American children, these foods were referred to as donuts.
The impact of Asians' virtual invisibility on the silver screen is reflected in the enormous popularity of cosmetic measures to help Asians look more Western. South Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the world, with double eyelid surgeries and nose jobs for both men and women being among the most common procedures. Wearing circle lenses special contacts to make one's eyes appear larger is an increasingly common practice, despite the documented risk these lenses pose to one's vision. And one cannot walk down a city street in East Asia without seeing bleached and artificially lightened hair.
Unfortunately, Asian-Americans' marginalization in public dialogue is not limited to the realm of popular culture. Despite the fact that the 2010 Census counted 17.6 million Asians or Asian-Americans living in the United States, comprising 5.6 percent of the population, only 10 voting members of the 112th Congress identify as Asians and Pacific Islanders. (Eni Faleomaveaga, a Democrat from American Samoa, is a non-voting member.) Thus, the Asian-American population and its interests are only represented by 1.8 percent of Congress' vote-holding body.
I will probably still see "Akira," though with a nagging sense of unsettlement if it does end up with a nearly all-white cast, as it reminds me that the struggle for Asian-Americans' full participation in public discourse is still ongoing.
