Latest Episode of Without a Trace

[Dialectic]

THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

Premise of the episode:

Korean chick goes missing. It looks like she may be into S&M. She's sexualized as fuck. It is STATED that she only hangs out with white people, and she loves meeting white men online.

The Korean store is an evil force in the lives of the children holding them back and torturing them. The parents are oppressive and controlling and do not allow their children enough freedom.

BUT GET THIS: IT TURNS OUT THAT NONE OF THE WHITE GUYS HURT HER? YOU KNOW WHO KILLED HER? HER ANGRY JEALOUS RAGING BROTHER!!! HE KILLED HER WITH A FUCKING BLOCK OF WOOD IN THE ALLEY BEHIND THEIR EVIL STORE.

FUCK THIS MOTHERFUCKING SHIT. FUCK THIS SHIT.

FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT WITHOUT A TRACE, AND LET'S LET THESE MOTHERFUCKERS KNOW THIS IS MOTHERFUCKING BULLSHIT.

(And start emailing Asian Media Watchdog, too.)

[Dialectic]

And get this: from what I could tell, the Korean names of the brother and sister were Jin and Sun. I guess Koreans on TV are only named Jin and Sun.

FUCK THESE LIBERAL WHITE/JEWISH HOLLYWOOD MOTHERFUCKERS.

AND FUCK JERRY BRUCKHEIMER TOO.

[aelward]

Yup, that pretty much sums up my feelings.

I don't usually watch Without a Trace, but watched it on Parry Shen's recommendation from his Blog (which I found out via Angry Asian Man).

The episode is SOOO fvcked up; basically showed the worst side of Asian stereotypes. And one that D does not mention: even the girl's Asian ex-fiance turns out to be gay. WTF???

[Dialectic]

Oh shit, I missed that, as I only watched the last 20 minutes. THEY'RE FUCKING US, THEY'RE FUCKING US LEFT RIGHT AND CENTER, AND THEY'RE USING PARRY SHEN TO DO IT!!!

I'm either gay or oppressive or a sister-killer?

FUCK THESE MOTHERFUCKING BITCH-ASS MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

[Dialectic]

This is the email I just sent the watchdogs. Slightly edited version of the above:

Hi guys,

This is Dialectic the Stealth M.C. of The Fighting 44s. You may have heard of us (we link to you on our Links page).

I just saw a disgusting episode of Without a Trace (date: Oct 27 2005, though I don't know if this is the original airdate). It has me fucking INCENSED, and normally, I don't let "standard" stereotypical portrayals bother me, but this shit was just sickening. This was completely unacceptable.

The premise of this episode:

Young Korean woman goes missing. It looks like she may be into S&M. She's portrayed in a very sexual light, and we are even presented with a provocative S&M photo of her which turns out to be fake. Her brother states flat out that most of her friends are white (in fact, the only Asian "friends" her family can think of are her cousins), and naturally, she loves meeting white men online.

The Korean store that the family owns is also an evil, stifling, strangling force in the lives of the children, holding them back from their dreams and torturing them. The parents are oppressive and controlling and do not allow their children enough freedom. The older brother and the parents can only talk about duty and shame.

Okay, so all pretty standard stuff so far, right?

BUT GET THIS: IT TURNS OUT THAT NONE OF MANY SCUMMY WHITE GUYS IN THE SHOW HURT HER! YOU KNOW WHO KILLED HER? HER ANGRY JEALOUS RAGING BROTHER!!! HE KILLED HER WITH A FUCKING BLOCK OF WOOD IN THE ALLEY BEHIND THEIR EVIL STORE.

I apologize for my language, but I use it for emphasis. This is garbage. I don't know what you guys can do, but whatever it is, we'll help in any way we can.

Thanks for your consideration. Y'all do great work, and I look forward to hearing from you!

D. Stealthy, F44s

Obviously I'll have to change the context/ language when we write the network/ producers/ whoever the fuck is responsible for this travesty, but all the salient points are there for whoever wants to take that and modify it.

Sheki was right. It's all gahbage.

[ellencho]

I didn't watch this, nor do I normally I watch it, but it's like they took every fucking stereotype about Koreans and then rolled it up into a convenient 44 minute storyline. It's CRAJJY I tell you, it looks like a lot of thought went into this episode. :roll:

They had a similar episode on Law and Order with a Pakistani family and the daughter dies at the hands of the son. Ew you guys, ethnic people are SUCH savages!

[Dialectic]

Fuck man, me and every single Asian guy I know would take torture and death before letting anything happen to his sister. Motherfuckers!

(Also, I realize this is just a TV show, and let it be known that my anger is commensurate with the appropriate maximum anger level for dumbass TV shows. So don't y'all go thinkin' I believe this is more important than child trafficking or militarized prostitution or massive poverty or whatever.)

[cattygurl]

Sometimes, I'm glad I don't watch TV. Reading the news get my blood pressure to unhealthy levels as it is.

So, they're trying to tie in honor killings? That's not an asian thing- that a very limited Muslim thing, and I don't know of to many Korean muslims.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

[whosyourdaddy]

i summarized the episode in this thread:

http://www.thefighting44s.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=5153


Sorry, i didn't see your topic first.

It was a lot of bad, bad inaccuracies, including THE WORST ONES.

They couldn't tell the difference between the faces of the two Asian women!!!!

And they used any Asian they could find to represent Koreans!! i remember when Hollywood used a Phillipino to represent a Japanese!!!
Parry Shen ain't Korean, folks!!! Neither was the brother or mother!!!

I still remember several Law & Order episodes that try to depict immigrant situations and crimes. they've done episodes on the Falun Gong and traditionsl Hasidic Jews, too.

[Catatonic]

I came back from a workout and flipped on the telly, wanting to relax.

I put it on CBS - cause I knew it had something to do with an AF, since they had been promo-ing it during the week.

While I approached the episode with the sense of dread (how many bs stereotypes where they going to hit?), my jaw kept dropping as the hour went on - I couldn't believe that they hit EVERY SINGLE FRICKIN' Asian stereotype.

I'm going to write some more, but I'm gonna have to cool off a little bit more.

[Dialectic]

I now KNOW why Black people have high blood pressure.

Because they've been dealing with these ignorant white FUCKS for 400 fucking years!!!

Someone give me a fucking Nobel.

[ellencho]

I just read Parry Shen's blog and he said this about this particular episode:
The episode was well written and not your typical "Let's go to Chinatown/Koreatown/Little Tokyo and break up some gangs" episode. It was definitely one of the most "meaty" TV roles I've shot to date. You can see the episode on: Oct 27th, 10pm on CBS.
:(

[Dialectic]

That's true. It was more of a "let's go to the Korean corner store and bust up my sister episode."

The fucker. (But seriously, I'm not mad at Perry at all, 'cause he's in a hard game and he gotsta get paid. I just hope he knows he's spouting bullshit, but I have this feeling he may have deluded himself into believing what he's written.)

[blockthebox]

Yeah, I just watched this and spent the last hour and a half vomiting. It really WAS that bad. Now I have to smoke a cigarette and I just quit too.

Motherfuckers.

[blockthebox]

What the ...

"I now know why Black people have high blood pressure: because they've been dealing with ignorant privileged white fucks for 400 fucking years." -- me

What kind of egomaniacal monk uses his own quote as a sig? Actually, I'll admit it - I'm kinda jealous cuz that's, like, the best line I've read in awhile.

[toml]

ARGH!!! This stuff makes me so angry!!!

Does anyone have an address for the producers of the show? Or the advertisers?

Also, are the other AA groups reporting on this?

[Catatonic]

I took the liberty of (re)posting WYD's excellent summation from the other thread.

Without A Trace is a show much like Law and Order, CSI, etc, in other words, it starts with a murder and the whole episode involves finding out how it happened.

Well as it happens, tonite's episode was about a CCB. As it is American media, it involves dumb stereotypes, racism, innacurate depiction of Asians, and worst of all, using people of the wrong ethnicities to represent other ethnicities.

The story starts out with a young Asian girl who was recently murdered. Her name is Wendy Kim. She lives in New York City. She was engaged to Steve, a nice Korean-American guy. She decides to break off the engagement and go on a "wild spree" of Internet dating and sex. A number of interesting observations and inaccuracies result.

The story starts out by talking to her fiance, Parry Shen. Yes, it's a gross inaccuracy. Parry Shen isn't Korean. The investigators put on the wall, the internet dating profiles of all the guys she met. There are like 50 of them. "And not a single Korean", one detective notes. "Sometimes you want to get away from what you are familiar with", says a female Hispanic detective.

She dates all sorts of men. The investigator talks to het best friend, who is white and attends FIT. The men were mostly pretty dull, she comments. They help pinpoint the "creepy" one. The guy is a lawyer who works 80 hours a week.

The guy says that he rejected her. He says that she had a really desperate, needy type of manner. It turned him off he said. (He was lying) He later admits (after the police find out) to being angry (and probably rejected), and placing a fake ad, complete with fake photoshopped pic, on an S&M/ swingers site with a completely different face I might add (the pic in the ad looks nothing like the girl, but dumb media people can't tell the difference). The ad advertises for free easy sex, complete with "me-so-hawny" pose & text,--- just come in through the back window, "i'm hawwwny and waiiiting...." And gives wendy's address and apt #.
Police find out that the girl who brought the ad in was an asian girl in her 20's. Later they find out that it was the secretary of the white lawyer.

They later introduce her mother and brother. Both are obviously not Korean. They speak a few phrases in (extremely poor) Korean. Hilarious.
"She bring shame on our family!!!" Typical white media crap. Do you know anyone who meant her harm? No, they say. All her friends are white.

They show a scene where a weird white dude knocks on their apartment door. Her brother opens the door. The white guys say all sorts of pervy stuff. The brother gets angry and attacks him. The pervy dude shows him the "me-so hawny" ad. The brother gets extremely angry at his sister.

Finally, the police interview the brother. It turns out that he runs a deli for a living and is really traditional. The investigators find clues and evidence that he can't explain. He finally explains what happened.

He confronts his sister. He says, "You're dating strange men on the internet again, aren't you?' She says that she doesn't care and won't care if he tells their mother. He states "Your'e disgracing Steve's family by dating strange men just 2 months after breaking off the engagement!!"

She goes into a diatribe about how she doesn't care to work at the family deli, which he thinks that it is her obligation. He states "Do you hate us and our way of life so much that you have to go out and *uck strange (white) men?

She continues by making personal, social attacks on him, basically called him an antisocial dork/loser, etc. "You go ahead and sell lotto tickets and 40's for the rest of your life and rot here for the rest of your life." He counters by saying that the deli pays for her life, her college tuition, her clothes, etc.

She finally states that she's had it with her ignorant Korean family and will stop talking to them, etc. this is too much for him and he hits her with a 2 by 4. He starts crying (while telling the story to the police) and says that he never meant to hurt her.....

Here are the Asian stereotypes the writers/producers ran with:

1. Asians owning deli, etc. (yeah, I know that a lot of the delis in NYC are owned by Coreans) - but damn, there are plenty of lawyers, doctors, i-bankers, etc.

Why does every single story about AAs have to do with Asian restaurant/delivery boy, deli, nail salon, dry cleaner, etc.?

We don't have the HIGHEST education levels for nothing.

2. Asian girl repressed by her family/culture/men of her race.

Time after time, this is a major theme whenever there is an AF in a TV show or movie.

Quotes from the episode:

"She's reacting to a very repressed family and culture" - WM FBI agent

"Sometimes it's good to get away from what you know" - HF agent

(Is the hispanic female hinting at the "repression" in the hispanic community? I guess the only community where there is no repression of females is in the white community - yeah, right.)

3. Asian girl (as a result of such oppression) flees anything to do with her ethnicity and into the arms of the white male (in this case, many WMs).

Quotes:

When Sun's brother (or was it the "fiance"?) calls her by her Corean name - she insists "Call me Wendy."

"Most of Sun's friends are white" - brother being interviewed

"And not a single Korean" - WM agent looking through photos/profiles of internet "dates"

4. Gay AM. - (nuff said)

5. Asian parents speaking heavily accented English.

6. Stern/controlling Asian father and nagging Asian mother.

There was also the nagging Asian mother on "Grey's Anatomy" recently.

7. Asian parents more concerned with honor than safety of daughter.

Quotes:

"We gave her too much freedom" - mother

"...more blaming her than finding her" - FBI agent on Sun's brother/mother

...[they] believe it wouldn't have happend if she married a nice (boring) Corean boy." - FBI agent

8. [b]Uptight and somewhat dorky Asian males.

Could they have picked 2 more "average looking" AMs for the brother and "fiance"?

Genetics usually runs in the family - Why pick an attractive AF actress to play the sister and then use an AM actor that is decidedly less attractive?

Just like "Ping" - the short, scrawny Chinese delivery guy on "Seinfeld" with the tall, attractive AF attorney sister.

And what was up with Jin's buttoning his shirt to the top and his 50s style part and comb over?


9. Asian female shown in various stages of undress, kinky sex and the Asiaphile WMs who lust after them.

[Catatonic]

Btw - there was an episode of "Without a Trace" last season where a young, immigrant AF works as a nanny for a wealthy white couple.

It turns out that she was having sex with the WM gardener and the show also hinted at her having an affair with the married father (though it turned out to be a false lead).

Other "crime" shows from "CSI" to "NYPD Blue" to "Cold Case" (not to mention "ER", "Grey's Anatomy", "Gilmore Girls") have all played on the same themes whenever they had a "case" involving Asians.

[ric]

See the links below:


www.asianmediawatchdog.com
www.asianmediawatch.net
http://www.naatanet.org
http://www.manaa.org/
http://www.jacl.org/


HERE IS CBS contact 411:




http://www.cbs.com/primetime/without_a_trace/




CBS Television Network
Human Resources Department
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

CBS TV City
Human Resources Department
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036




CBS Television Network
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

Main Number:
(212) 975-4321 CBS News
555 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Main Number:
(212) 975-4114


I suggest you make an VERY ANGRY PHONE CALL.

IMO emails don't have same effect as REAL LIVE VOICE

SO guys out there in East Coast should make this happen, since my phone call gonna cost me since I'm out here in socal





http://www.cbs.com/primetime/without_a_trace/


CBS Television Network
Human Resources Department
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

CBS TV City
Human Resources Department
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036




CBS Television Network
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

Main Number:
(212) 975-4321 CBS News
555 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Main Number:
(212) 975-4114

[Fandango]

I saw the whole fuckin episode last night. I'd like to make a thorough commentary on it, but I'm too fuckin pissed right now.

[Dialectic]

(Hey Fandango, you're gonna have to stop with these photo sigs. They're just really annoying.)

I only slept for four hours last night 'cause of these bastards!

[Dialectic]

What the ...

"I now know why Black people have high blood pressure: because they've been dealing with ignorant privileged white fucks for 400 fucking years." -- me

What kind of egomaniacal monk uses his own quote as a sig? Actually, I'll admit it - I'm kinda jealous cuz that's, like, the best line I've read in awhile.

The kind that's itching to show these fucks the Buddha-nature of my foot up their asses!

[ric]

Well anyways look like I PO Parry a tad bit


I still stand by what I said. I audition a lot and that was some of the better dialogue I've read for - Asian part or non. And maybe that's a sad commentary in itself. All I know is what I know.

There are truths to stereotypes, my friend. I still see this kind of old world expectation stuff and expectations put on college students from their parents all the time--as a matter of fact just yesterday when I was at Northeastern.

So just because you've seen it before, doesn't mean it's not realistic.

And the performances were extremely solid on the show because of the writing and vice versa. Not speaking for myself, cuz that would be presumptious, but Nicole Bilderback and especially Kelvin Yu (the boy kicked major ass) showed the world that Asian-Americans can act (the usual excuse of producers in the business for nto casting Asians) -- and that maybe it's about time they be utilized some more in other roles. It's all baby steps, man.

There was nothing to stand up to. You have to work from within the system to change things.

And the whole "You're not Korean so you shouldn't play Korean" arguement is really lame.

[Dialectic]

I dunno what you said to Parry, but I hope you weren't aggressive or accusatory with him. Acting is a hard game.

As for the quality of the show, well, you can even have good acting, drama, etc. with stereotypes, as I've repeatedly said that stereotypes in themselves (and portraying them) aren't necessarily bad things. In this case, however, the acting and writing were pretty damn atrocious, and it seemed clear to me that whoever wrote the show put no real depth behind any of the characters. So the low quality, plus the spreading of hate for the Asian parents and Asian males, puts this ep pretty damn low in my book.

[mphan01]

This episiode sounds pretty bad. Haven't had the opportunity to see this yet though



8. Uptight and somewhat dorky Asian males.

Could they have picked 2 more "average looking" AMs for the brother and "fiance"?

Genetics usually runs in the family - Why pick an attractive AF actress to play the sister and then use an AM actor that is decidedly less attractive?

Just like "Ping" - the short, scrawny Chinese delivery guy on "Seinfeld" with the tall, attractive AF attorney sister.

And what was up with Jin's buttoning his shirt to the top and his 50s style part and comb over?



I've seen Nicole Bilderback and she really isn't all that.....If anything looks wise, Parry Shen is at least equal with her if not better looking. Too bad he ended up gay anyway.

[jaehwan]

Hi Dialectic:

Long time no talk.

Well, I agree with what you said about acting being tough. Shit, I can only imagine what it must be like to be an actor/actress and having opportunities to play bad Asian men in Joy Luck Club types of movies or emasculated Asian men in M. Butterfly types of plays. I agree that it's hard.

At the same time, I feel misled by Parry. I saw the preview to Without a Trace last week, and I was going to skip it but was swayed by Parry's statement that it was "not your typical "Let's go to Chinatown/Koreatown/Little Tokyo and break up some gangs" episode." I interpreted that to mean that it wasn't stereotypical.

Instead, I found that it was every stereotype in the big great book of anti-Asian propaganda. The loose Asian ho who makes herself freely available to every white guy in sight, the successful Asian male who turns out to be gay, and the bitter, emasculated wimpy Asian guy who hits a girl with a 2X4. Sure, it's tough being an actor, but when Parry says it isn't stereotypical and then directs us to a show that is nothing but stereotypes, I question why he chose to mislead me. I can't think of one possible excuse that Parry would have for excusing the anti-Asian themes in this horrible piece of garbage that I saw last night.

Anyway, I'm trying not to judge Parry. But I feel a little hurt that he misled us all.

[Dialectic]

Hey whassup jaehwan, it's been a while!

I understand what you're saying, and yeah, I agree that what Parry said was bullshit one way or the other: either he knew he was spouting crap or he really deluded himself into believing it.

Coming down on him, though, just makes everyone crabby, and not a lot of good really gets done. Expressing our hurt/ disappointment politely to him is totally cool; I simply don't think anyone should be mean to him or attack him.

Save that for the bitch-ass network motherfuckers! And Jerry Bruckheimer. This totally negates Pirates, and he owes us for Pearl Harbor and countless other pieces of cinematic feces.

[jaehwan]

Yes, I totally agree. That's why I'm not going to write Parry--I'm sure he's already taken a lot of flack from other Asian Americans. I'm sure he does get the message, and it wouldn't help for me to further attack him or pull him down. I really liked what he did in Better Luck Tomorrow, and I'll mentally choose to associate him with that work instead.

I do think that we need to come down hard on the writers though. I know that if the writers of that Without A Trace were Asian, I'd be really pissed. I remember a few years ago when this one fucking asshole of an Asian American writer wrote this ridiculously stupid piece of crap called "The Lost Empire." It was supposed to be about the Monkey King, but instead it had Bai Ling as Kwan Yin wearing a skimpy outfit and jumping around with this white guy. Russell Wong was relegated to the sidekick. Acting in bad roles is one thing, but actually sitting down to write this bullshit really takes a different kind of personality.

Bruckheimer owes us big. I hope someday he pays us back in full.

[kimtae]

It's all baby steps, man.
Yeah but he better be sure all of his baby steps are going forward.

[vsoy]

Fucking DVR records 10million freaking episodes of "Good Times" but for some reason doesn't records this week's episode of "Without A Trace".

There's a lot of people with no lives but they're handy in finding out info about this show:

http://www.missingpersonsunite.net/eps/s4.php?subaction=showfull&id=1130421605&archive=&start_from=&ucat=12&

Honor Bound

Season Four - Episode N? 5 [#74]
First Aired: October 27, 2005
Production n?: #

Written by: Amanda Segel Marks
Directed by: Ken Collins
Created by: Hank Steinberg

[toml]

Parry has turned down acting gigs before because of the accent requirement. And whenever he encounters a gig that requires an accent, he'll try to convince the director otherwise.

I'm a bit torn on this though.

Not so much because he took this project, but rather because he felt the stereotypes were justified. But hey, he has a family now and they're buying a new house, so a job's a job.

One more thing, I don't think we should quibble about the ethnicity issue. There are so few Asians in the media that it's not an issue right now.

And to be honest, we do look a lot more alike than some of us like to admit. I'm Chinese but I get mistaken for Korean by Koreans and Japanese by Japanese (of course us Chinese consider all you guys to be subsets of our great culture! HAHA :) )

Anyway, you guys should check this out if you think you can really tell the difference between the various ethnicities (don't let your biases affect you...)

http://www.alllooksame.com/

[the Good Captain]

^ I'm sorry but you are a stupid fucking retard

When Parry says he needs to prove that "Asians can act", he reveals himself sadly confused and blind to the real situation. Unfortunately his need for money is pushing him into denial

The problem is not that "Asians can't act", obviously. The problem is not that the Man is not sure whether or not "Asians can't act". The problem is that he is Asian. The statement that Asians can't act makes no sense; the reason why he and others are rejected and pigeonholed is because he is Asian

( Are Asians by virtue of their skin color magically defective? Are all those plays and stories and operas of China not good acting? Is Chow Yun-Fat not an actor? Does Hong Kong suck at making movies? What the fuck was Better Luck Tomorrow? If Asians can't act, then why all these things, and why is the Man using and abusing Parry Shen in speaking roles on godforsaken stupid ass shows? If the Man believes that Asians can't act, he is incompetent or lying. But let us grant that he actually believes such. Then what is the reason for casting Parry, apparently a robotic defective dude who can't act? Is it merely to reflect the reality that Asians can't act and to educate all those who thought otherwise or who didn't know how strange those Asians are? )

By Asians can't act it is meant that the Man does not want to see Asians in natural, human roles but instead confine them to their stereotypical place, their proper role, their real role in the Man's scheme of things. The reason Parry and co. are pigeonholed is not because they can't act, it is because they are Asian

As for Asian ethnicities, actually they can be told apart. However, that is not what All Look Same ends up examining. Instead All Look Same wittingly or not proves that we don't look the same. You have to actually think about the situation and understand what is actually happening

I am surprised that you would roll over and give up like this, but I guess I can't say I can magically know you from a post here and there

Parry is a fool - does he not know the outstanding and famous actors are supposed to have high testosterone? Where are his balls? Just because the Man makes it difficult or perhaps even almost impossible, should he just give up and roll over, compromise himself, sell out?

[the Good Captain]

The main reason I called you a retard is over All Look Same, and your defeatist and confused demeanor. Parry deserves the above regardless

All Look Same demonstrates that we don't look the same.

Think that over and figure it out for yourself.

Whether or not this is the conscious express desire on part of the creators of All Look Same, I do not know. In a way they may be doing a disservice to the community; they may need to be chastised for that

[toml]

I am surprised that you would roll over and give up like this...

...

The main reason I called you a retard is over All Look Same, and your defeatist and confused demeanor. Parry deserves the above regardless

All Look Same demonstrates that we don't look the same.

Think that over and figure it out for yourself.


Iím surprised thatís the conclusion you drew.

The point of AllLookSame is not to suggest that all Asians look the same.

The point is that our own biases can make it hard to tell the difference between what we think a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean person should look like.

And of course there are some tell-tale signs that are more prominent in one group than another, but on that site, there are many faces that ìlookî like one ethnicity and then turns out to be another.

And no where in my post did I say to roll over and give up--so youíre injecting your own biases into it.

My main point is itís not the time to in-fight among us about who can represent us.

The simple fact is that a stereotype about one Asian ethnicity is going to affect all Asian ethnicities. What we need now are good Asian actors, regardless of their ethnicity.

***

Parry has a tough choice to make. Yes, he needs to make money, but I know heís not blind to the real situation.

If you check out his blog, he has turned down roles that were too stereotypically ìAsian.î

I agree with you that by just being Asian, we are denied good roles, and thatís why I said Iím torn on this issue. Because though Parry is an Asian Activist at heart, I was disappointed that he felt the stereotypes were justified.

[the Good Captain]

And no where in my post did I say to roll over and give up--so youíre injecting your own biases into it.

My main point is itís not the time to in-fight among us about who can represent us.

The simple fact is that a stereotype about one Asian ethnicity is going to affect all Asian ethnicities. What we need now are good Asian actors, regardless of their ethnicity.


i don't know about your analysis of All Look Same, but what you posted before looked like you thought that we really did "All Look Same" and were deluding ourselves. I am only going with what I am given, whereas the lessons All Look Same has to teach us that you state merely reflect your biases, unless you somehow know the motivations of the creators

I am not merely disappointed and saddened at Parry, I am subjecting him to condemnation

[toml]

True, my score on that test was a reflection of my biases.

But did you actually take the test? What was your score?

(I scored a 50%. Meaning I might have well just guessed.)

Anyway, below is the creator's explanation of the site:

I figured this is a good time to respond to some of the criticisms and concerns that were raised in the message board.

Firstly, Iíd like to clarify that I didnít mean this site to be some sort of a political arena. The bottom-line is that I thought it was a funny idea, but it ended up opening some interesting discussions. Some people felt that this site would promote racism, or that the site itself is racist. Others felt quite the opposite. I was very surprised to receive many emails with encouraging words from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people. In some ways, I was expecting to upset many of them.

Why do I think this is funny? Here is a long explanation. We are all afraid of unfamiliar things, and we all have things we are unfamiliar with. This is part of human nature. We cannot accuse others of being unfamiliar with certain things. I have a friend who once admitted to me that, when she was first getting to know me, she felt uncomfortable and somewhat afraid of me. She told me that she grew up in a suburb where there were only Caucasians. Apparently I was the first Asian person that she got to know. I appreciated her honesty. I came to this country when I was 16. I went to an ordinary American high school for my junior and senior years. At first, I had great difficulties telling Caucasians apart. One day in my PE class, after about half an hour into the class, my teacher suddenly approached me and said, "Who are you? You are not my student." Apparently I had followed a wrong teacher. Both of the PE teachers had blonde hair and mustaches, and I could not tell them apart. If I see them now, Iím sure I would say to myself, "What the hell was I thinking?"

Eskimos have a few dozen names for different states of snow (though someone told me recently that this is a myth). Iím sure most of us will not be able to tell the difference between one name and another. I once had a Caucasian hairdresser who told me that he worked for a Japanese hair salon in New York for a long time. He looked at my hair and correctly guessed which region of Japan my parents were from. The more familiar you become with something, the more distinctions you can make. Just because I am an Asian, does not automatically mean that I can tell the difference among Asians better. After all, I grew up being surrounded by virtually 100% Japanese people.

In the US, publicly admitting that you cannot tell Asians apart, comes across sounding racist or prejudiced. But deep down, most people feel that. In other words, you feel it, but you are not allowed to admit it. For many people, this feeling has been subconsciously suppressed for a long time. But with this site, knowing that it was created by an Asian man, these people finally felt safe to admit what they had been feeling. Itís this release that makes this site funny for these people.

On the opposite end, we have people who have always believed that they can tell Asians apart no problem. They typically have certain preconceptions about how each nationality looks. For instance, there are people who think that any Asian who is fashionably dressed is Japanese. This probably comes from the media which frequently covers the modern Japanese culture, but not so much of China or Korea. Most peopleís perception of Chinese, for instance, may be what you see in "Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon." The problem here is that these people would see a fashionable Asian, without confirming it in any way, assumes they are right, and end up affirming their own convictions. This is also a form of prejudice, and for many of them, the test on this site made them realize how wrong they were. This humbling experience was quite funny for some of them.

Much of racism is complicated by the fear of being called a racist. Not being able to admit oneís own unfamiliarity ends up prolonging the problem. I have several friends who are gay, but I must admit that I still do not feel completely comfortable with homosexuality. Morally and intellectually, I have nothing whatsoever against homosexuality, but I am simply not familiar with it. This naturally makes me a little uncomfortable with gay people. I do make efforts to familiarize myself with gay culture whenever possible, like going to a gay parade and dancing among topless gay men. But beyond that I do not feel guilty about my discomfort. I openly admit it.

In my life, every time I came across something that I felt uncomfortable with, I pushed myself to be more comfortable with it. Even for something as silly as Dr. Pepper, which I thought was disgusting when I first tasted it, I would force myself to drink it over and over again until I understood why some people liked it. Now I love Dr. Pepper and I canít understand why I ever thought it was disgusting.

I personally separate prejudice from hate. The two are very different things for me. We all have prejudices; no one is completely free of them. Prejudice works unconsciously. Hate on the other hand is a conscious act, and therefore is not seen to be a problem by the haters. Prejudice is a matter of degree. In this sense, we are all racists. Denying this would perpetuate the problem forever. Only by recognizing the problem, can it ever be solved. This goes for everything else: sex, age, nationality, religion, etc..

Once when I was visiting a friend of mine, as I was waiting for him to buzz me in at the front door of his building, a nosy lady asked me, "Where are you delivering it to?" I happened to be holding a plastic bag, and apparently she thought that I was a Chinese food delivery man. This is an example of prejudice. She has a preconception, working at a subconscious level, that told her that an Asian man holding a plastic bag is a delivery boy. Iím sure she did not intend to offend me. And, I am sure that if I had asked her if she was a racist, she would have replied no. Similar things happen when you hear words like "doctor" or "lawyer"; many people imagine a man, not a woman, from which many female doctors and lawyers suffer. I feel that it is important to be able to openly admit my own prejudices, so that I can do something about it. If I say Iím not a racist or sexist, this act of saying it, would superficially give me the satisfaction of integrity, and I will do less to deal with the problem. We are all so blind to our own shortcomings.

But hate, on the other hand, is a very different problem. It is actually not a problem for the haters. They love to hate. This becomes a social problem. My stance on this issue has always been to ignore them. Here is a quote from John Cage, the composer, that Iíve always admired and agreed with:

"My notion of how to proceed in a society to bring change is not to protest the thing that is evil, but rather to let it die its own death. Ö I think that protests about these things, contrary to what has been said, will give it the kind of life that a fire is given when you fan it, and that it would be best to ignore it, put your attention elsewhere, take actions of another kind of positive nature, rather than to continue to give life to the negative by negating it."

Changing the subject slightly: some people have commented on the message board that the act of labeling people is inherently racist. Iíd like to explain my position on that.

If you would trace the cause of prejudice to its primal elements, you will find yourself looking into our own language. Language is a very powerful tool, and as with anything else that is powerful, it can be powerful in a good way or in a bad way. "Labeling" is an act of giving a word to an entity. What this entity is, is a big question of modern philosophy. We see similarities and differences in the world around us. Not just in people, but even in abstract concepts. Without seeing similarities or differences, we cannot use language. For instance, a book and a pencil are different. So, we have different words for them. But if you think about it, they are not all that different. Both are made out of trees. For some space aliens who have never seen books or pencils, they may just look like some "junks" that they have no interest in distinguishing. How about books and magazines? You may find some people on this earth who would not care about the distinctions and call them both "books". So, whether something is given a word or not is determined by similarities and differences that we perceive. If we saw absolutely no differences in the whole world, we would not have any languages. But these differences are not absolute. In the end, all differences that we perceive are interpretive, that is, they are only in our heads. After all, everything in this world is made out of quarks or super-strings, or whatever the smallest unit of all matters is.

Language is a very powerful, convenient tool. We use it because it allows us to do what we do. There is nothing in the use of language itself that is good or evil. Whether you see enough difference to give something a word is a matter of practicality, not of morality. I received two contrasting messages on the board from hate-racists. One said that all Asians are the same dirty scums. Another thankful of the difference because he is Japanese, and he hates Koreans and Chinese. One wants distinction and the other doesnít. It does not matter in the end whether you "label" something or not. Promoting or banning the "labels" would not stop these haters from hating. By the same token, for those who love Asia and Asian cultures, to see small distinctions is a sign of their love and respect for the cultures. And in other situations, to see no difference can also be a sign of love and respect. If one feels that the act of "labeling" itself has something that inherently promotes prejudice, then one would have to stop using language altogether.

Language however does have a tendency to lead us into prejudice, and, because of this, some may feel that the way to get around it, is to manipulate the language itself. But this does not in the end solve the source of the problem. Even if it were possible to delete the words describing different races from the memories of all human beings, those who are prejudiced will simply manifest their prejudices in some other ways or elsewhere. Manipulating the language will not change human beings fundamentally.

In conclusion, Iíd like to say that AllLookSame.com is ultimately a joke, but is at the same time a celebration of the similarities and the differences among Asians. And, to that Iím drinking Tsingtao, a Korean beer (or is it Chinese? Well, whatever.).

Dyske Suematsu

Source: http://www.alllooksame.com/opinion01.html

[toml]

I am not merely disappointed and saddened at Parry, I am subjecting him to condemnation

Iíll say again: He has turned down many roles in the past because they featured stereotypical roles.

He knows the situation and he knows the struggles. He realizes that by doing stereotypical roles he is type-casting himself and thus hurting his future chances of employment.

So before you condemn him perhaps you should read his blog http://www.xanga.com/ParryShen

Especially this post:

At first the role called for a Chinese Accent that was kind of integral for my character's setup. However, in my auditions, I did a Bostonian Accent in lieu since my character mentions that he's from Boston. The director loved the choice but once he booked me for the part, asked if I would change the character back to speaking with a Chinese Accent.

I talked to him about being uncomfortable doing a Chinese Accent and not wanting to perpetuate such a stereotype after "BLT" and that I would not have accepted the part if I had to do so (since I always maintained the Bostonian Accent throughout all my auditions).

...

I address this during a portion in my speaking engagements: That the line of stereotypes and racism these days is so subtle and minute. The obvious situations are hate-crimes and bigotry -- but most of the time it's just plain 'ole ignorance.

If a certain image or archetype is constantly exposed to a mass audience -- that's all they will know. You can't really blame them. And in turn, this exposure also gets into the minds of the future writers and directors of tomorrow. I've lost out on a lot of parts because my initial choice wasn't to use an Asian Accent for the character. And no, I wasn't told or forced to do one by the producers -- I just wasn't hired. And someone who was willing to make the choice of doing an Asian Accent was. Hence the vicious cycle.

Source: http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=ParryShen&tab=weblogs&uid=264328929

[tonic]

It's all baby steps, man.

What a tool. 20 years from now, he will probably be portraying the father in an episode similar to this.

[tonic]

1. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 24.2 million viewers.

2. (3) "Without a Trace," CBS, 21.8 million viewers.

3. (X) World Series Game 4: Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros, Fox, 20 million viewers.

4. (4) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 19.9 million viewers.

5. (7) "NCIS," CBS, 18 million viewers.

[Fandango]

Fuck Parry Shen. I used to like him. Fuck him.

[ric]

Hey whassup jaehwan, it's been a while!

I understand what you're saying, and yeah, I agree that what Parry said was bullshit one way or the other: either he knew he was spouting crap or he really deluded himself into believing it.

Coming down on him, though, just makes everyone crabby, and not a lot of good really gets done. Expressing our hurt/ disappointment politely to him is totally cool; I simply don't think anyone should be mean to him or attack him.

Save that for the bitch-ass network motherfuckers! And Jerry Bruckheimer. This totally negates Pirates, and he owes us for Pearl Harbor and countless other pieces of cinematic feces.

Coming down on him, though, just makes everyone crabby, and not a lot of good really gets done. Expressing our hurt/ disappointment politely to him is totally cool; I simply don't think anyone should be mean to him or attack him.

Then HOW HELL is suppose to learn what he did or played a role in DID NOTHING to break stereotypes of KAs/AAs for that matter?

He is soft and a pushover, let's not mention he is married to WF :roll:

[ric]

From Parry"



Wednesday, November 02, 2005


The Aftermath

Oh, boy. Here we go.

I was 100% sure I'd have to do another entry on the "Without A Trace" episode regarding what I had said about the episode before it aired.

Because sure enough, the posts: (Post 1, Post 2),

And comments:

THANK YOU for playing a TV drama the hot EVERY SINGLE Korean stereotype out there.

SELLOUT

It may not be a typical " Asian theme" storyline, but it's more like
of a "let's go to the Korean corner store and bust up my sister episode."

I know it's about being paid, but you could've stood up on this

I just hope you knows [sic] that you are spouting bullshit, but I have this feeling you may have deluded yourself into believing what was written.

And emails started flowing in:

Subj: Without A Trace -Are you Kidding me?

Hey, Parry, didn't you notice that this EP hit EVERYSINGLE FRICKIN' Asian stereotype? I just watched it and spent the last hour and a half vomiting. Great job, Parry.

And this has been my official response:

Nope--I'm not kidding you.

I still stand by what I said. I audition a lot and my part was some of the better dialogue I've personally read for - Asian part or non. And maybe that's a sad commentary in itself. All I know is what I know.

There are truths to stereotypes, my friend. I still see this kind of old world expectation stuff and expectations put on college students from their parents all the time--as a matter of fact just yesterday when I was at Northeastern University.

So just because you've seen it before, doesn't mean it's not realistic.

And the performances were extremely solid on the show because of the writing and vice versa. Not speaking for myself, cuz that would be presumptuous, but Nicole Bilderback and especially Kelvin Yu (he showed some major acting chops at the end) and proved to the world that Asian-Americans can act (the usual excuse of producers in the business to not cast Asians) -- and that maybe it's about time they be utilized in some other stuff. It's all baby steps, man.

There was nothing to stand up to. You have to work from within the system to change things. And I think we did that--because believe me... it could have been a lot worse in lesser hands (and we couldn't do that if the show was absolute "ass").

I feel this one reader's comment "got it":

I watched last nite and thought that everyone's performance was really strong. I'm not familiar with the show, but thought that Nicole Bilderback's Roshomon like performance was very good, how different she was in each flashback depending on who was telling the story. Although the set up was a little disappointing (Korean grocery store, old world parents, independent gal struggling to break free), I thought the writing and the performances elevated the story above the stereotypical set up. Kudos!

So I'm not saying what all the folks above had to say is without merit -- I'm not oblivious to the setup. But a lot of the comments and reactions to the episode have people looking at things very narrowly.

I'm actually kind of glad all these posts are up because it clearly illustrates exactly what I touch upon in my speaking engagements when I say there's this vat of "haterade" that is often dipped into within the Asian-American community's ranks and as a result, we are so disjointed as a community.

I mean come on, having me get criticized for playing a Korean because I'm really Chinese? (I got the same flack for playing a Filipino in "BLT" as well. Did DeNiro get this much flack for playing 1/2 Irish in "Goodfellas"?) And how about Daniel Dae Kim from "Lost" receiving hate mail from the Korean Community because he doesn't speak fluent Korean -- while the rest of the Asian Community bags on him because he doesn't speak English on the show? Or people who call Justin Lin a sellout for doing "Fast and the Furious 3" and are so horrified having him do the remake of "Oldboy"?

It's about looking at the big picture. Daniel's on a Top 5 rated show - millions of people are seeing a talented Asian Actor kick major butt week after week on screen and is now on the American Public's radar. Justin is now working at the studio level and gaining respect there -- that respect gave him the leverage to offer Roger Fan a very coveted role in "Annapolis" (even though Hollywood had other choices, all non-Asian of course) and then that allowed him to also bring back Sung Kang and Jason Tobin in "FF3".

Yes, I know, it's "FF3" -- but would it be better to have the film filled with the rappers who can't act that the studio originally wanted? Should Justin continue doing only little independent films and gain no clout whatsoever? Regarding "Without A Trace", would it have been better to have even less Asians on screen? Would it be better if Daniel wasn't on "Lost"? (And I guarantee if Daniel Dae Kim's character ever gets killed off in "Lost", the Korean/Asian community would be in an uproar and recanting their previous "Negative-Jin" statements.)

Here's a true story: After "BLT", I turned down everything that came my way. I was the biggest snob. I was going to "stand my ground" and any project that had the slightest hint of being perceived as stereotypical or anything less than the quality of "BLT" -- I turned down.

And you know how many projects I worked on the year after "BLT"?

One.

You know how much money I made from acting in 2002?

$384.62

And that's when I made the decision that I was not doing anybody any good just sitting on the sidelines. I couldn't change anything that way. And it wasn't just about the money - it also crippling me mentally as well as professionally.

So I started 2003 with the understanding that it would be a continuing journey and battle -- not every project was going to be as progressive as "BLT" and I'd have to take every part that I could and make it a fully realized performance -- spin gold out of whatever role I was given no matter the project. Not only continuing to bring in income and working but also doing the best I could representing Asian-Americans on screen to the public. All that negative energy just moping around was so unproductive.

A study from the Screen Actors Guild just came out. In 2004, there were 31,173 total roles in Film/TV.

917 of them went to Asian/Pacific Actors.

Which clearly demonstrates even more so why AA Actors have got make the most of what's there -- which is 2.9% of the theatrical roles. Writing our own roles, etc is obviously the way to go in the long run but as far as what to do in the here and now? In my opinion, the responsibility of the AA actor is to be so good in any role so that audiences, casting directors, producers watching will go "Wow, who was that?" Because once that happens, the "race thing" bleeds away. Or we can continue to have a chip on our shoulders, moan and bitch about every little issue-- giving producers more of an excuse to whittle down those numbers and have our representation totally disappear on screen.

Every role I've taken after "BLT" has been a real effort in terms of changing dialogue and characterizations to minimize a stereotype or incorrect depiction -- that was not the case with my role in "Without A Trace". It was a dream to work on because I did not have to change or asked the dialogue/situations to be altered -- which is why I said it was one of the best experiences I've had filming.

But this is what progress is. It's slow but forward moving. I'm not saying never speak up for certain issues -- but it has to be focused in the proper direction, otherwise it's just a bunch of noise from those "yellow people" again. Racist Ambercrombie & Fitch shirts? Worth speaking up against. Protesting that a housing development isn't being built conducive to Feng-Sui? Not worth speaking up against. Racist Tsunami song on Hot 97? Worth speaking up against. A bunch of Chinese actors not playing their own Asian ethnicity? Not so much.

Micro-bashing everything in sight is one of the major, major reasons why we as a community are so far behind the solidarity of say, the African-American community (ex: The African-American community does not bag on Terrence Howard for playing a pimp all the time.) We partly oppress ourselves and lose our collective strength when we do.

There I said it -- but the truth sometimes hurts. Hate me, un-subscribe from me, set up boycott campaigns for my future projects ... but those with leveler heads will look at the bigger picture and realize that I'm on your side and will seriously delve into how we can solve this "haterade" issue as a unified community.

Let the hate mail and comments begin. (Whew, I'm taking a huge breath as I hit "submit" on this one!)

www.xanga.com/parryshen



Let's all add out little tidbits on his WAT episode

[evil_FUX]

Looking at his explanation, it looks like he's confusing the degree and severity of the 'truths' in those stereotypes that he talks about. I think that's the real point issue. This guy's a partial dumbass.

[ric]

Looking at his explanation, it looks like he's confusing the degree and severity of the 'truths' in those stereotypes that he talks about. I think that's the real point issue. This guy's a partial dumbass.

Think you can add your 2 cents on this to him?

Also did anyone get some feedback from CBS?

I called but was left on hold....twice :!:

[tonic]

Coming down on him, though, just makes everyone crabby, and not a lot of good really gets done. Expressing our hurt/ disappointment politely to him is totally cool; I simply don't think anyone should be mean to him or attack him.

Then HOW HELL is suppose to learn what he did or played a role in DID NOTHING to break stereotypes of KAs/AAs for that matter?

He is soft and a pushover, let's not mention he is married to WF :roll:


Yes! If we dont tell people they suck, how else would they know?

I dont even want to mess with this right now cause to me, the cat is already out the bag. What that fucker Parry Shen should have done was warn our asses beforehand so we could have spiked this ep before they even shot it. Its got to get worse before it gets any better.

[Catatonic]

I've seen Nicole Bilderback and she really isn't all that.....If anything looks wise, Parry Shen is at least equal with her if not better looking. Too bad he ended up gay anyway.

She's kinda cute and that's about all. If Parry Shen is the best we can do, then we are in real trouble.

[badwill]

1. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 24.2 million viewers.

2. (3) "Without a Trace," CBS, 21.8 million viewers.

3. (X) World Series Game 4: Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros, Fox, 20 million viewers.

4. (4) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 19.9 million viewers.

5. (7) "NCIS," CBS, 18 million viewers.

I wonder if those 21.8 million viewers really believe the storyline on Without a Trace is somehow reflective of society.

[Vahz]

Heh. All his arguments are easy to circumvent.

If anything, he's not the one looking at the big picture and a dangerous aspect which he's treading on is that he assumes Hollywood will change for us, not the other way around.

[MATHABA]

he better do something damn good in the future to make up for this. im shocked that he thinks this is defensible.

[Vahz]

His argument is already exhibiting death rattles when he has to use the excuse of "some stereotypes are true so it's ok."

This is the sole reason why I'm typing up a manifesto as to why I need to cut myself off from the dumbest race on Earth, Asians. It's safe to assume that Asians and Asian Americans will never get their act together for two main reasons:

Worshipping whites.
Extreme social apathy.

Almost every problem Asian Americans have stems from one of those two categories.

[MATHABA]

cut yourself off? and do what? you think you can pull a michael jackson or something?
reading this is pretty infuriating but it's not the end. maybe we expected too much out of this guy just because he was in BLT. i personally wasnt very impressed by BLT. it wasnt bad, i just think it could have been better.
kind of like how i had my hopes up when people described harold & kumar to me, only to be let down when i actually saw it.

[Vahz]

I'm going to cut myself off from all the Asian American activist groups I was involved with during my college years. I'll acknowledge it's a very defeatist attitude but I might as well enjoy my free nights after work than assist in a fruitless cause. If the larger Asian American community doesn't care, why should I, right?

For every night I stayed up to toil with issues to address, both during and after my college years, there are always apathetic Asians working against the grain. That doesn't even count the apathetic whites that are exasperating the issue.

I'm tired of ice-skating uphill.

[MATHABA]

I understand what you're saying and I feel it too. I know maybe 2 or 3 Asians in my area who even pretend to give half a shit about any of this. Sometimes people get defensive if I talk to them about these things because they have the "don't rock the boat" mentality. they'll try to shut you up, deny everything you say. cliche, i know... but you know there were plenty of uncle toms back when black people were fed up, telling them to shutup and sit down, dont cause trouble for us, you'll only make it worse, etc. the black actors who took roles that made blacks look dumb and servile were criticized too, and they also tried to defend themselves in much the same way.
I made a new years resolution to speak up about shit that pisses me off. I don't care how uncomfortable people get anymore... I go off on a group of 6 white people, some of them are "smartasses" and some of them are "friends", i dont give a shit if they think im too uppity or whatever. they all disagree with me and try to tell me im wrong, they want to tell me that calling someone a gook or a jap isn't offensive, or it wasn't meant to be offensive, etc... typical bullshit. it could be 50 on 1 or a million of them telling me im wrong and i still wouldnt care. there could be a million AAs telling me im full of shit and just a stupid loudmouth good-for-nothing troublemaker and id still do it.

[the Good Captain]

I am going to conquer the world

[nskripchun]

I finally saw this episode of WAT tonight.

Oh.

My.

God.

I wanted to gouge my eyes out, but at the best part was seeing my fiancee (who was watching TV with me) getting irritated by the episode too.

"Kinky dragon lady sex?! GRRRRR!!!!"

WAT is on the banned list.

[AZN MAN]

By pure chance, I witnessed this episode last night as well; now I understand the angry reactions here but I remain unsurprised at the content. Here are some items that I noticed that haven't been mentioned previously:

1. The show's production team wasn't stupid; the image conveyed was that AF are accepted into the social fabric of U.S. Society whereas AM are not. This we know is reality, however I've rarely seen it so blatantly concluded by WM (Cops).

2. Due to the social acceptance, AF have an easier time breaking away from tradition/culture and finding options in the American WM patriarchal society than their AM counterparts (This of course in no way means that it's easy for daughters to break away - however in my life's experience I've found it more difficult for the sons to accomplish this than the daughters).

3. I found a parallel in that love can create so much violence in real life that people often take away the thing that they love the most instead of the thing that causes the tension. In this episode love (Familial) drove the son to take away his sister; the thing that he loves instead of separating himself from the tension - working in the family store(s).

4. The reoccuring theme that traditional Asian culture is obsolete and inferior to American WM patriarchal society.

In the first 3 items, I found this episode different than other TV show episodes mentioned in forums like these due to it's more critical conceptual design. However, let's be clear: It doesn't make it palatable nor acceptable by us, nor is it empowering to Asians on any level; all it does is reinforce the idea of the AF being saved by the WM from evil Asian parents and the evil (Jealous) AM. The power was blatantly shifted towards American WM. (Of course ... who created the fucking episode?).

#4. Unfortunately, way too many AA filmmakers also fall into this trap. This is another reason why I don't feel that a lot of AA filmmakers are taken seriously, they try so hard to garner the White audience in America by telling them visual stories that will be accepted by them in lieu of being accepted by their own communities. Yet these filmmakers market their product to our communities. Can you understand the irony?