Mutation turns Asian skin white

The skin disease that is turning faces pale in Hollywood

By Nury Vittachi

*

Beware! A grotesque mutation is affecting Asians moving to Hollywood. Black hair miraculously turns fair, dark eyes lighten and Asian skin turns pink.

           This horrendous disease was first noticed in 1956, when my father watched a movie called The Conqueror, about Mongol warlord Genghis Khan. It revealed that on his way to the screen Mr Khan acquired white skin and an American accent. “Yah didn't suckle me ta be slain by Tarters, mah muth-err,” Genghis (played by John Wayne) said to his parent.

This scary ailment struck again in 1961, when Mr Yunioshi, a Japanese character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, turned completely Caucasian on set. The props department had to disguise the actor (Mickey Rooney) with thick glasses and fake buck teeth to help him revert to the Asianness the character demanded.  

The most shocking case of trans-racial mutation occurred in The Mighty Gorga, a 1969 movie in which American explorers go to Africa where they discover a tribe of, er, Indians. (Apparently the producers of the film never realized that Indians live in India and Africans live in Africa.) But when the film was screened, every single one of the Indian/ Africans described in the trailer turned out to be Caucasians.

In the 1970s, I was interested to hear about the development of a TV series about a wandering Shaolin monk. But by the time Kung Fu screened, he had become Caucasian. The series was followed by Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, in which the monk (David Carradine) discovers he has a son, Peter. Peter (Chris Potter) is clearly Caucasian, so I supposed the mutation must be hereditary.

Further evidence for this comes from HBO’s Marco Polo movie featuring Kublai Khan. Like his grandfather Genghis Khan, young Kublai (Brian Dennehy) became completely white on his way to the screen.

On stage, I saw the Cameron Mackintosh production of Miss Saigon, in which the Eurasian character looked suspiciously like British actor Jonathan Pryce with tape over his eyelids.

               Looking ahead, this racial morphing is escalating nightmarishly.

                In the Hollywood pipeline for 2008 release is Dragonball Z. In the original story, the main character Goku has alien blood but in terms of looks, is unmistakably a Japanese anime boy. But sneak previews of the big screen version show Goku as a cute all-American mop-headed Caucasian (Justin Chatwin). In May this year, Hollywood launches Speed Racer, a movie adaption of the classic 1960s Japanese tale about boy driver Go Mifune. Lo and behold, fans will find that Go Mifune will be played by a pretty white boy (Emile Hirsch).

Opening on cinema screens worldwide over the next few weeks is 21, the true story of a group of Asian-Americans (some students and their teacher) who used their math-geek ability to legally win millions of US dollars at casinos. But when their story hits the screen, we find the main characters have mysteriously become white. Student leader Jeff Ma is played by Jim Sturgess and teacher John Chang by Kevin Spacey.

                This one dismayed me. After all, we Asians spent decades honing our reputations as bookish math geeks!

Now I’m not saying that all Asian characters become Caucasians when they reach the big screen. Consider the 1990s remake of The Jungle Book. It started Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli. Yes, finally, an actor of Chinese ethnicity gets a starring role—as Mowgli, an Indian.
            Go Figure.

Comments

[catterpillarboy]

Okay- this one might be slightly forgivable because it is another American minority portraying another American minority just like Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli: The superhuman with the Mongolian name who is supposed to be Sikh in Star Trek, Khan Noonien Singh, was played with unmistakably Latin flavour by Ricardo Montalban.

Thanks for the list by the way- For some reason I always forget about Kwai Chang Caine...

[Maddy20]

This is funny but also actually rather scary. especially the last example, 21, where a true story about Asian people becomes a story about white people...

[Mother_of_three]

I got the Ladybird book of The Jungle Book. In the movie (the Walt Disney one), Mowgli has brown skin and black hair and is clearly Indian.
In the book, he has pink skin and brown hair. What a disappointment. boo to Ladybird books.

[vinod]

nice to see people intelligently stirring up trouble like this! more power to you.

[Maddy20]

I don't see how you can justify changing someone's race for a movie that purports to be a true story.

[haro]

my 'favourite' genetic mutation of Asians is the 'Japanese Garden' in an episode of TV comedy Maxwell Smart...

[ideasman]

What would happen if you made a bio-pic of say the life of george washington and cast an asian in the lead role. I suspect people i the us would notice and complain.

[Sarah L]

If it was Get Smart it was probably deliberately intended to be ridiculous, which is fine, but the examples above are just outrageous.

[the final word, yo...]

From http://www.baophi.com/

BAO PHI'S MOVIE IDEAS FOR RACIST HOLLYWOOD #1: KABA MODERN: THE MOVIE

THE PITCH: The Kaba Modern dance crew has such a long and storied tradition that they draw aspiring dancers from all over the country to UC Irvine. Although race is not an issue (just mad skillz), the kids are predominantly Asian and the group has its roots as an Asian American-based student club.

But all of that is turned upside down when Johnny Apple, a white Midwesterner who impersonated B2K videos growing up, auditions to be in the group. He kills the audition, getting skeptical Orientals to jump up in their Pumas (tm) and pump their fists, but Johnny almost blows it when he tells Chun Li, the attractive Korean choreographer of Kaba Modern, that she looks like Tila Tequila. Hi-jinks, drama, interracial romance, and explosive dance moves with a rain machine shot using gratuitous slow motion ensue, turning the Kaba dance world upside down as Johnny learns to jiggle his shoulders like an urban youth of color, go face-to-face with the villainous Archie 'Yakuza' Tanaka, and teach Chun Li's immigrant parents that THEY are the racist ones for not accepting the fact that he's dating their daughter.

With Mark Wahlberg as Johnny Apple and that one actress from Smallville as Chun Li.

*I will soon be holding auditions for my new dance group, Kaba Senior, or Kaba Archaic. Our catchphrase will be "OW! My back!"

[Alan]

The "Kwai Chang Caine" portrayed by David and Keith (in the flashbacks) Carradine was supposed to be half Caucasian, (thus the "Caine", his American father), so this is not quite as bad as John Wayne's Genghis. For a while though Bruce Lee was up for the role of Caine.

But it does go the other way too. On HK TV there are some outrageous portrayals of other nationalities, Indians for instance by Chinese in blackface and exaggerated accents.

And in Japanese anime, the Japanese kids mostly have round blue or green (or purple...) eyes, and usually weirdly coloured hair (though the latter is fairly true to life for urban teenagers).

[Dan Kubiske]

And just to take this discussion across the sea and south of Hollywood...

Why was Eli Wallach picked to play a Mexican bandit in The Magnificent Seven (itself a rip-off of The Seven Samuri)?

How did Jack Black end up playing Lucha Libre, the Mexican wrestler?

Does Hollywood think that movie goers just can't relate to the characters unless they use some one "safe" for the American public?

Oh, and let's not forget that Steven Speilberg's proposed treatment of the Harry Potter series would have transplanted everything to some private school in New England. (Fortunately he was rejected in a heart beat.)

[Defender]

To defend Hollywood for a moment here, I guess they are investing tens of millions of dollars and they have to make a profit or at least break even. If "21" was played by a group of Asian actors it would have been more accurate, but people would not have gone to see it, so everyone would have lost out.

[LizzieG]

I don't remember the nationality (or the name!) of the guy who wrote the novel 'I am Legend'. I do remember that he wrote his main character as a hefty white guy who isn't a scientist and doesn't sound as if he looks anything like Will Smith.

Not even the Caucasians are immune to racial mutation, it seems.

[Nury]

Interesting. Thanks Liz -- that's the only example i can think of which shows a white character turned non-white. Are there any others? Why was this done? Anyone got any inside info?

[Another Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.]

I am Legend was written by Richard Matheson (who also wrote some great stories from the original Star Trek).

I think Will Smith playing a fictional character who is supposed to be Caucasian is a wee bit beside the point as the character is fictional.

What get my bones up about 21 is that the characters are based on real folk of colour who were whitewashed because the money makers think that Asian Actors don't sell movies made in America (since you guys and gals live mostly in Asia- you get the good movies with people who resemble me; here in the states, there is a restaurant called Chink's Steaks that is refusing to change their name because they don't find it offensive).

I mean, what if the life story of Mr. Jam got made into a movie and Nury was portrayed by Jim Carrey or Mike Myers (although realistically they will probably get Hank Azaria to do it and find that Kal Penn is too busy to do it).

Anyway- as for other white fictional characters being portrayed by non-caucasians: in the upcoming Iron Man, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (who was previously portrayed on TV by German pop sensation Michael Knight) will be played by Samuel L. Jackson.