Twitter users across the globe have proven the power of the #hashtag is so much more influential than any other symbol on computers.
Nancy Wang Yuen, author of the book Reel Inequality, interviewed an unnamed casting director who was asked to give an explanation for the lack of Asian actors in the Hollywood scene.
Asians are a challenge because most directors feel as if they are not expressive, the director had responded, They are very shut-down in their emotion.
This interview recently came up in an online article from entertainment-based Paste Magazine this past week, causing many sarcastic reactions from the Twitter community.
All it took was a tweet from young adult author Maurene Goo (@mauxbot), quoting the tweet and saying Can we start #ExpressiveAsians? Twitter was exploding with Asians showing that they are, in fact, very capable of expressing their emotions.
As an Asian studying the music and entertainment industry here at Bradley, I find the lack of racial inclusion in the Hollywood scene to be quite alarming. There is a huge lack of Asian representation in the film industry – with nearly 77 percent of acting roles in Hollywood calling for a white actor or actress. This leaves very little room for minorities to even be given a chance for certain roles.
On top of this, the film industry is still casting white actors to play Asian characters rather than casting Asians themselves.
For example, Ghost in the Shell, a live-action remake of one of Japans most successful anime films, casted Scarlett Johansson to play the female lead of Motoko Kusanagi. The film flopped, but producers even admitted to testing visual effects to make the white actress appear to look more Asian for the movie.
Heres a wild idea: rather than focusing efforts on spending hours tweaking and testing visual effects to make an actress appear to be Asian, why not just cast an actual Asian in the first place?
Although you may pride yourself in your technological advancements, Hollywood, its time to begin working on cultural advancement as well.
