The Slanted Screen (2006)

Director:

Jeff Adachi

Writer:

Jeff Adachi (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

From silent film star Sessue Hayakawa to Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle, the Slanted Screen examines...

Plot Keywords:

Asian

Cast

Frank Chin	...	Himself
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Narrator
Bobby Lee	...	Himself
Jason Scott Lee	...	Himself
Will Yun Lee	...	Himself
Mako	...	Himself
Tzi Ma	...	Himself
Dustin Nguyen	...	Himself
Phillip Rhee	...	Himself
James Shigeta	...	Himself
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Himself
Kelvin Han Yee	...	Paul Fang

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Asian American Media Mafia

Movie Connections:

Features Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)

In the entire history of Hollywood, how often have Asian Americans been portrayed as actual "human-beings?"

I just watched a documentary on Asian American actors called "The Slanted Screen" (2006) and it starts with Sessue Hayakawa's career in Hollywood silent films as the romantic lead from 1914 to his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Bridge on the River Kwai" in 1967. Hayakawa was definitely the first Asian American Hollywood superstar, and one of the rare few to make that claim along with Bruce Lee.

This documentary is well-worth a look, and features interviews with Mako, James Shigeta, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Phillip Rhee, Jason Scott Lee, and Dustin Nguyen, goes in depth into discussions of the "yellow peril" and "fu manchu" portrayals of Asian males by Caucasian actors, explores how Bruce Lee was both a hero to Asian American cinema yet also perpetuated the martial arts stereotype of Asian actors prevalent in Hollywood films, and what we can do to get more talented Asian American writers, directors, producers, executives, and actors involved in the Hollywood industry today and for future generations.

In the past couple of years, I have been very interested in Asian American history. Specifically, Korean American history. It's just that the Korean American community as a whole seems to be not as strong as we like it to be in this country. Sure, we come together during the 1988 Olympics and the 2002 World Cup, but when those brief moments of celebrating are over, it seems as though we go our own separate ways. What else. After I came back from South Korea, I was so used to seeing Asian faces in films, that I tried seeking out "non-martial arts" mainstream American films with either a.) an Asian American lead, b.) Asian American ensemble cast, or c.) American films that capture the "Asian American ethos." Obviously, I found very few:

The Joy Club (1993), Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Mulan (1997), Mulan II (2005), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Flower Drum Song (1958), The Cheat (1915)

But, that's just about it. The rest of the time Asian American actors are portrayed as either waiters or delivery boys with the faux-Asian accents. Foreign caricatures like Gedde Watanabe's Long Duk-Dong from "Sixteen Candles." I have been following Korean American actor Steve Park's career for awhile, and it's good that he scored "Do the Right Thing" with Spike Lee and "Fargo" with the Coen Brothers, but after that season of "In Living Color" (the same season that also introduced Jamie Foxx), all I saw him in was this past January in a razor commercial where he played a scientist in a white lab coat. I don't even think he had any dialogue. He just stared blankly at the camera holding up a razor for the athletic white man. Films/plays like "The World of Suzy Wong," Cameron Mackintosh's "Miss Saigon" etc. are fine, but they deal with people who grew up in the Far East, and do not capture that Asian American ethos. Same with "Memoirs of a Geisha," I loved reading the 448-page novel. I loathed the film-adaptation for portraying Asians as faux-Japanese accented, tea pouring, bowing caricatures. Of course, my white friends thought the film was "okay" and did not understand what my fuss was all about when I mentioned to them that it was "stereotypical" and portrayed Asians as "caricatures." They didn't get it. The film "Picture Bride" was good, but again Asians were portrayed as these "over-bowing" "hai...hai...hai..." caricatures. My film history teacher from a few years back didn't understand it either when I mentioned the "exaggerated bowing."

It's just that ever since Sessue Hayakawa started appearing in silent films from 1914-1922, there appear to be spurts where mainstream America is obsessed with "orientalia," and then they revert back to blaming "those Japs" for all their problems. It's weird seeing a 1941 "Our Gang" short called "Baby Blues" starring Robert Blake (He went by "Mickey Gubitosi" back then) about Mickey meeting a Chinese American family that speak perfect-English, eat steak and french fries, and they are regular All-American folks to seeing the "ching chong chong" version of Asian Americans in Hollywood films today. How long are we going to be perceived as foreigners? It's jarring to see a film like "Flower Drum Song" from 1958 where the assimilated Chinese American kids argue with their traditional parents, yet it is these same actors from this very same generation that portray "the foreign, accented, caricatured" Asian parents in a film made way later in 1993 - "The Joy Luck Club." I would not be surprised if in 30 years, we see Asian Americans who are born in America portray "foreign parents" to their "All-American" kids in these types of films.

I don't know. Those people in Hollywood care only about making money. I applaud Asian American actors who make acting their career, because they truly love their craft when they make no money from their profession. That's pretty much it. I wanted to get that off my chest, because quite frankly none of my Korean American friends are all that interested in Asian or Asian American history. They don't bother seeking it out. But this definitely is one of my interests. The whole Asian American history and the Asian American experience.