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>I think the issue for some folks is one of representation
>ie why get someone to play that ethnicity when there are a ton
>of people from that ethnicity who are just as qualified to
>play that role
Let's make this simple:
NAME AN INTERNATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS STAR OF ANY RACE
BIGGER, MORE VISIBLE, MORE QUALIFIED THAN JACKIE
CHAN.
THE FUCKING MOVIE IS CALLED 'KARATE KID' and is a
RE-VAMP OF AN OLD MOVIE, FEATURING THE SON OF THE
BIGGEST MOVIE STAR IN THE WORLD. Its already loaded
with gimmicks(that I'm not mad at) to make it seem
updated, cool, and hip obviously so that it makes its
money. Casting Jackie Chan, given this reality, is not
only perfectly reasonable, its a *great* decision, and
those of us who aren't artsy fartsy dicks, and are fans
of the original smile at the casting.
>This is especially a sore point when people of colour are
>replaced by white folk, because of the historical denial of
>our representation in popular culture
That's a cute point, but it doesn't apply here. Its a Martial
Arts movie, and you guys are mad because the biggest martial
arts star in the world is playing a central figure.
I mean, you guys sound fucking stupid.
I remember this point came up when Don Cheadle
was cast for Hotel Rwanda. I remember some dumb
activist bitch talking about "they should have casted
a real Rwandan."
Uh. No.
If they cast a no-name Rwandan and not Don Cheadle, it makes
4 dollars at the box office, the issue doesn't get attention,
the execs don't get paid, CHeadle don't get a nomination,
and everyone loses. EVERYONE.
>So I guess one way to see the Karate Kid casting is that
>Daniel being black is progressive in this light, while there's
>no need to mess with Mr Miyagi's ethnicity
>(I personally don't think it's all that problematic since
>they're probably casting Jackie because he's a unique
>persona)
What's further interesting is that some people would
consider casting a Chinese man to play a Japanese man
to be progressive, given that the Japanese were the
historically repressive ones.
^See how I can turn your dumbass point on its head? I'm not
even arguing this shit, but if I wanted to, I could.
The bottom line is the point I made first, that you can't
make this point because its perfectly fucking logical for
Jackie Chan to be caste as a martial arts teacher in a new
age, updated martial arts movie.
>The other thing is that historically, Hollywood has treated us
>pretty generically
>ie all Asians look the same to their eyes, so it doesn't
>really matter what ethnicity an actor is, just as long as they
>can wear a coolie hat and speak in broken english
>So in this light, it's more than understandable that people
>are sensitive when Hollywood is like "oh it's ok, we'll just
>get a Chinese man to play a Japanese man" (not necessarily the
>case here), especially when you add in the factor that there
>have been inter-ethnic tensions between the two groups
>Memoirs Of A Geisha comes in because there was a huge hubbub
>over the casting in that film
>(http://en.wikipedia.org
Okay. None of this bullshit applies here, though.
If you can name a Japanese martial arts star 1/100000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000th
as popular and qualified to do martial arts as Jackie Chan,
than I'll shuttup. You can't, because such an individual does
not exist.
/wiki/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_(film)#Casting_controversy)
>dealing with some of these issues
>Given that, it's perfectly natural to draw parallels between
>that casting situation and the one we're currently discussing
No, I saw the movie, and the comparison is completely
invalid for the outlined reasons.
Nice try, though.
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