Continued from previous post
As it turns out, the films resonance with the present moment is something of a coincidence: Tran conceived the story a decade ago, drawing on his experiences growing up in a multicultural martial arts community in Seattle. He never imagined it would be released during a pandemic, much less at a time of surging racist violence.
Obviously, theres a different subtext now that kind of lingers in the air, he told me. Still, with its subtle allusions to race and cultural appropriation, the film hits upon facets of the Asian American experience that feel just as relevant now as they did several decades ago. Importantly, its also an Asian American film that exists on its own terms. Though it centers non-white experience, it doesnt announce itself as suchnot to the point of color-blindness, but in a way where cultural difference feels normal, and honored.
Its nice to see martial arts, and kung fu especially, treated with reverence and respect. Although kung fu and martial arts movies have been a part of Hollywoods diet since the 70s, the form has too often been relegated to an unintentional sub-genre of comedyone replete with its fair share of racist stereotypes. As the report notes, a large component of the anti-Asian racism perpetuated in pop culture is the representation of Asian men as weak and effeminate compared to their Western counterpartsan emasculation that continues to be expressed by Hollywood through the physical domination of Asian characters by predominantly white leading characters.
One of the most notorious examples is Quentin Tarantinos characterization of Lee, the most beloved and celebrated martial artist of all time. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the Lee charactercaricatured as a toxically masculine showboatchallenges Brad Pitts stuntman character Cliff Booth to a three-round fight. It technically results in a draw, but Lee walks away humiliated after Booth handily throws him into a car.
Yuen described the scene as exemplifying American pop cultures impulse to take a strong Asian man down a notch.
They get these really amazing Asian actors who are at the top of their martial arts game, and then they have the white lead beat them up in order to show his prowess and maintain a kind of racial hierarchy, she said.
Not surprisingly, over the past year, there have been disturbing reflections of that dynamic in real life. After a man of Chinese descent was assaulted in an unprovoked attack outside New York Citys Penn Station in March, his attacker reportedly assumed a mocking kung fu stance before fleeing the scene.
It makes them feel better about themselves to beat up an Asian whom they feel is the enemy, because Hollywood has historically represented Asians as enemies, said Yuen. Trumps kung flu rhetoric from last year, part of his campaign to scapegoat Asians as foreign vectors of disease, certainly hasnt helped.
Warrior, a Cinemax original series with an Asian-dominant cast that premiered in 2019, is yet another martial arts-related project that attempts to examine and subvert this sort of racist scapegoating. With a premise conceived by the late Bruce Lee himself, the show is set during the Tong Wars of San Francisco in the 1870sa period in American history that arguably gave birth to some of the most enduring and damaging Asian American stereotypes, from that of the disease-carrying foreigner to the Chinatown gangster and the brothel worker. The series follows Ah Sahm (played by Andrew Koji), a kung fu prodigy who becomes a hatchet man for a powerful tong, or criminal brotherhood, as it vies with rivals in Chinatown for control over resources. Notably, its set on the eve of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which effectively banned all immigration from China until 1943, in addition to prohibiting Chinese immigrants from becoming American citizens.
[In the show], we are dealing with the introduction of the Chinese mythology and propaganda machine, said Olivia Cheng, who plays Ah Toy, a fictionalized version of the eponymous Chinatown madame known as the first recorded Chinese prostitute in America. In an interview with VICE, Cheng said that she was challenged with not only honoring the real Ah Toys life but also playing against the traps of one of Hollywoods favorite and most harmful tropes about Asian women: the dragon lady, an Asian femme fatale who wields power through sex.
I began the show a month after the Atlanta shootings, shortly after it was announced that the series would be renewed for a third season, on HBO Max. Given the heartbreak and impotence I felt, I wasnt surprised to find myself drawn to Ah Toy, an Asian female character who seems fully possessed of her power as she navigates gender dynamics and a racist criminal justice systempower structures that are not only designed to oppress her but that render women like her entirely disposable. In the first season, when the police raid Ah Toys brothel as a means of signalling to its white citizens that its cracking down on Chinatown crime, she bribes the sergeant with a few calm words and a small red envelope. A gift for Chinese New Year, she says, meeting his gaze with an unflinching stare.
Cheng told me that other Asian women have expressed being triggered by her characters profession, which she understands. She said she had to overcome her own reticence about Ah Toy, but ultimately decided to lead with her characters humanity. I definitely feel a responsibility, she said. I think youd have to be incredibly vacuous to be in my position and not.
Every character in Warrior contends with different articulations of power, said Shannon Lee, executive producer of the show and Bruce Lees daughter. Were presenting power when it gets out of control and the people who have to participate in that culture, who are the victims of that culture but who dont think of themselves as victims, she said. They think of themselves as humans. They want what every human wants, and are fighting for it.
As violent as Warrior can be (and disquietingly close to our current reality), I have been enjoying getting to know these kaleidoscopic characterspeople who reveal new sides of themselves with every power play. Even as I tense at the scenes of racist confrontation (in the opening two minutes of the series, a white immigration officer singles out a man disembarking from the boat, calls him Ching Chong, and knocks him to the ground), I can take cover in characters with the agency to defend themselves. I can see them fight, and I can see them win.
Catharsis is something that people need right now, said Hoon Lee, who plays Wang Chao, a quick-witted black market arms dealer. In the context of a show, you can experienceand, hopefully, exorcisesome of that rage that you might not know what to do with otherwise. Thats a primary function of storytelling.
Martial arts might be a safe bet for a Hollywood looking for low-hanging fruit when it comes Asian representation, but in this new slate of film and television shows, its also the Trojan Horse: a vehicle for Asian characters whose identities are as layered and complex as people are in real life. And while, yes, these bodies encounter brutal violence, they survive to experience what lies beyond itjoy, grief, rage, and humor together. In devastating times like these, we need storytelling that shows us that access to the full spectrum of human experience is possiblenot just suffering.
threads
Stop-Asian-Hate
Warrior
Kung Fu
Once-Upon-a-Time-in-Hollywood
Mortal-Kombat-2021-reboot
