The Legend of Chun Li

[angry.bob]

Kristin Kreuk as Chun Li. I realize she is actual half Chinese, but for fuck sake, why not get someone who at least looks sort of Asian instead of possible belonging to any one of a dozen indeterminate, light brownish, non-asian mixes. She looks like some kind of Mexican or Italian more than she looks Chinese. I just don't see her convincingly doing any sort of fighting, let alone any of the really good Chun Li moves. And she better be wearing that fucking blue dress regardless of what she's doing. 

I guess it could be worse, they could have gotten Devon "I look like some sort of retarded Hawaiian albino" Aoki to do it. For years she's been the only person Hollywood's used to play asian chicks, except she doesn't have the advantage of not looking like a slack jawed crack whore with a bad dye job, and she also can't act.

Honest to fucking god, is it too much to ask for the movie industry to use Asian looking Asians to play Asians? And by that I mean Asians of the appropriate type. Pretty much each group has a distinct set of characteristics, and in general having someone from the Philippines or Korea playing a Japanese person is as bad as having a fucking Cuban do it.

[Xerapis]

I have to toally agree on the movie industry learning to cast Asians from the correct background. Key example that I hated personally: Linda Park playing Hoshi Sato on Enterprise. Why the fuck couldn't they have just made the comms officer Korean instead of Japanese? Is that so hard to do?

And yeh, Kristin Kreuk should NOT be playing Chun Li. She doesn't look Asian to me AT ALL. Indeterminate probably does express her look the best.

Oh, and let's start actually showing the country in question instead of random Asian-looking place. I'm looking at you, LOST.

[stray]

Hah, I don't whether to be offended or to praise you. I'm like them, a halfbreed. Sometimes some people don't seem to know what a full Asian looks like, and stereotype me as such just for the smallest Asian feature (which, apparently, is what Hollywood will do to you as well). And then some recognize the ambiguity and differences and respect that. I hate the first type of person, and appreciate the second. You seem to be doing the second -- but at the same time, seem to characterize that look as being freakish or something. Heh


No really though, you're right.. Half-Asians do get some Asian roles where a full Asian would be better. Keanu Reeves is going to be playing a Samurai in a new movie, for instance. Maggie Q is always getting the angry Asian bitch stereotype, ala Lucy Liu (Liu is full Asian, Maggie is not). The rate it's going, it's going to color the perceptions of even more people on what an Asian is and is not. Hell, even a lot of "Asian categorized pornstars" are just mixed.

[Trippy]

I have to toally agree on the movie industry learning to cast Asians from the correct background. Key example that I hated personally: Linda Park playing Hoshi Sato on Enterprise. Why the fuck couldn't they have just made the comms officer Korean instead of Japanese? Is that so hard to do?

It's only fair since Garrett Wang (Chinese) played a Korean (Harry Kim).

Now we just need a Japanese playing a Chinese on Start Trek and the circle will be complete!

[Xerapis]

Well, I think in most cases it doesn't really matter.

But if you're casting a character who is supposed to be from a specific background, just pick the right one.

I totally forgot about Harry Kim. Mostly because he was totally not attractive. And had all the acting skill of Al Gore.

I guess to supplement my point slightly. These days we sure do export a lot of our films. And the Asians in Asia CAN tell the difference between Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. I'm not quite to that point myself, I usually have to look more at the fashion style or hairstyle to help differentiate. But I actually used the Linda Park example with one of my students when discussing Asians in western films. I showed the picture, with the name Hoshi Sato, and my student said "But she's Korean". Student had no idea who Linda Park was.

Or you can just ignore everything I'm saying and listen to Margaret Cho rant about it. Don't remember which one of her videos it was, but she went off on the whole Asian portrayals in western media thing.

[FatuousTwat]

I'm like 1/10th Mongolian, should I be posting in this thread?

[stray]

Only if you have a blue arse.

[Velorath]

This movie never had a chance of being good, regardless of casting.

[Trippy]

Kristin Kreuk as Chun Li. I realize she is actual half Chinese, but for fuck sake, why not get someone who at least looks sort of Asian instead of possible belonging to any one of a dozen indeterminate, light brownish, non-asian mixes. She looks like some kind of Mexican or Italian more than she looks Chinese. I just don't see her convincingly doing any sort of fighting, let alone any of the really good Chun Li moves. And she better be wearing that fucking blue dress regardless of what she's doing. 

She is wearing the dress in the trailer (at least it kind of looks like the dress, hard to tell with the cutting).

If this was an American production the problem is is there's only a handful of English-speaking Chinese actresses working in Hollywood right now and two of the more prominent ones, Lucy Liu (who looks *too* Chinese) and Ming-Na Wen are too old for this sort of role now.

On the other hand this film is produced by an Indian company and seems to be targeted for the Asian market so I'm not sure why they didn't just cast a China/Hong Kong/Taiwan actress that has passable English.

[Hindenburg]

Just be glad they didn't use Maggie Q again. Fucksake, i've seen 11 year old boys with more curves.

[stray]

Ming-Na Wen are too old for this sort of role now.

She was pretty much perfect for the part. Same goes with the guy who played Zangief.

It's too funny though that the guy who played Ken is Milkweed from Blood In Blood Out. Or that they got a Cherokee to play a Thai Sagat.

On the other hand this film is produced by an Indian company and seems to be targeted for the Asian market so I'm not sure why they didn't just cast a China/Hong Kong/Taiwan actress that has passable English.

Actually, the halfbreed fetish is even bigger in Asia than it is in the West. Almost every actor on my mom's Thai soaps, for instance, is mixed. And they don't even care about the specific mix there. Maggie Q got her start in Hong Kong without knowing much Chinese - and she's half Vietnamese.

[Trippy]

Ming-Na Wen are too old for this sort of role now.

She was pretty much perfect for the part.

Yup, she was.

[Evildrider]

C'mon guys.. we all know it's a conspiracy to further build on the fact that most of the world can't tell all the different Asians apart. 

[stray]

Here are some of my own stereotypical rules of thumb to help then.

Japanese men will either tilt from either grizzled badasses to more feyish/faggy compared to other Asians. Either/or. Nothing in between.



No matter what, a Chinese man will be smiling. And if he isn't smiling, then he's about to kick your ass (they all know Kung-Fu.. they invented it and they all know it).



A Filipino will insist that he's Spanish. And probably act like a gangbanger.



Thai people have high cheekbones. Usually tatted up. And don't like children.

[Abagadro]

You people do realize you are bitching about a movie based upon Street Fighter right?

[Evildrider]

You people do realize you are bitching about a movie based upon Street Fighter right?

You do realize this is F13 right?   

[stray]

There are bigger issues at stake here!

[Yegolev]

This thread is going places.

[HaemishM]

Having seen the trailer... why the fuck are there guns in this? Why does this look like a shoot-em-up action movie? What happened to the street fighting tourney?

[Evildrider]

They are probably just focusing more on the character of Chun-Li and her being an Interpol Agent.

[Lakov_Sanite]

They are probably just focusing more on the character of Chun-Li and her being an Interpol Agent.

This is a tv movie, if it gets released in us theatres I'll be fucking astonished. So, by lowering my standards to expectations of sci fi channel quality, i'll probably enjoy it.

[UnSub]

Oh, and let's start actually showing the country in question instead of random Asian-looking place. I'm looking at you, LOST.

I got a good chuckle at LOST's representation of Australia too.

[Slyfeind]

Via the official movie blog, no video game costumes, gritty and realistic, blah blah heard it all before. She'll have the buns in the hair at some point, and Vega will have claws and creepy mask (you can see it in the trailer) but Chun Li looks like she's wearing black because omg black is serious.

Everybody always wants to go dark because OMG DARK THAT'S WHY. I want light colorful fun. It'll be interesting to see how Star Trek will do. Probably not so well, and the sequel will be GRITTY DARKDARK.

[FatuousTwat]

Well, it worked so well for Batman, it must work for ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE, right?

Be prepared for that p.o.v. for the next decade.

[Velorath]

They are probably just focusing more on the character of Chun-Li and her being an Interpol Agent.

This is a tv movie, if it gets released in us theatres I'll be fucking astonished. So, by lowering my standards to expectations of sci fi channel quality, i'll probably enjoy it.

It's getting a U.S. theatrical release.  I just got posters for it in at my theater.

[schild]

Bump. I saw this two nights ago.

I blacked out afterward and don't remember any of it. This is for the best, I promise.

Don't ask any questions.

[Samwise]

I saw this on a plane a couple of weeks ago.  I agree it's best forgotten.

[Triforcer]

Anyone who doesn't like Kristin Kreuk can shut their uncultured whore mouth. 

Also, anyone who claims there is actual physical differences between Japanese, (Han) Chinese and Koreans is full of shit.  Clothing, temprament, and hairstyle differences?  Sure, but nothing physical.  That's why I don't get the "OMG A CHINESE IS PLAYING A KOREAN" drama.  Do we fucking whine when someone descended from a Namibian tribe plays a Kenyan? 

[Rishathra]

Maybe it's because I grew up in a town with a large, mixed Asian population, but to me there are several, distinct physical differences between Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.

[WindupAtheist]

I'm just gonna quote myself from a few weeks ago.

God I hate when people say shit like this. It never comes up with any other race. Nobody gives a shit when a Frenchman plays an Italian or an Argentinian plays a Brazilian or what the fuck ever. Enough of this "Asians can only play their own specific nationality or it's The Man(tm) being ignorant!" crap. It's not the 19th century, people know that Korea and Japan are two different countries, they just don't give a shit because the two ethnicities look broadly similar and that's close enough for make-believe.

Beats typing it again by hand.

[Samwise]

Maybe it's because I grew up in a town with a large, mixed Asian population, but to me there are several, distinct physical differences between Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.

Yes.  Like WUA says, though, it's all make-believe, so I don't get too wound up about it.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I don't care if she looks chinese or not....


She doesn't look like Chun Li, at all.  Playing a different race is one thing, playing a specific character that you look nothing like?

ok ok, samuel jackson playing nick fury maybe but that's also the new black fury from the comics.  You know what's worse than this girl playing chun li? Getting a french guy to play american stereotype Guile.

[Merusk]

Actually he's Belgian, not French.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Horrible casting choice all the same. I know street fighter was low budget but they could have at least gotten dolph lundgren

[Triforcer]

I repeat: not true in the least.  Of course there are differences between Vietnamese and the three east Asian peoples, but not between the three east Asian peoples.  

Let me tell you a story about this.  I have friends who are Japanese, Chinese, and Korean-American.  Almost all of them, at one time or another, have said those three peoples are physically different.  You know the answer all of them gave to explain the difference?

"My race has slightly lighter skin and rounder eyes than those [other two races]."  Bingo!  Case closed.  

For anyone who still wants to argue this, go to www.alllooksame.com and come back with your 100% score.  Until then, admit you are really talking about fashion, hairstyle, cultural psychology, etc. (which of course are all different).

EDIT:  I am assuming here we are talking about Han Chinese and non-Ainu Japanese (the vast vast majority of both countries), as Uighurs, Ainus, etc. do have clear differences.