TFP has been an active observer of Mr. Eddie Huang for a long time now – what with his book, his restaurant, and the television show that was inspired by his book.
The American Dream, right?
ABC kid moved from D.C. to Orlando, grows up in abusive household, identifies with Hip Hop music, goes to college, becomes a Lawyer, stops being a lawyer, opens a restaurant, becomes famous chef, does food based shows, writes a book, book becomes TV show. There is even a clothing line in there somewhere.
Recently though, Mr. Eddie Huang seems to be in the midst of self-imploding and TFP is observing that as well.
with, truth be told, a bit of sadness.
Mr. Eddie Huang seems bent on becoming the most hated Asian American male in America, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop him. He hatesFresh Off The Boat on ABC because it does not include Domestic Violence. Well, OK, but Bruthaman, you sold it to ABC as a sitcom on a Family Block Night – most situation comedies do not include beating of the children.
All in all, he seems to be having a self-admitted crisis, as shown in this article from Papermag:
Huang: Let me ask you this though, how have you dealt with acceptance and success? Because I have only recently been going through it, and I feel like acceptance is kind of the worst shit because you spent your whole life being the underdog.
As TFP is reading the situation, he wants to be rich and successful, but he does not want to be seen as rich and successful, because being rich and successful means….um…. he can no longer enjoy Hip Hop?
He wants to talk and he wants people to listen to what he says, but then when they listen to what he says and they find it confusing or objectionable he is not responsible for what he said because he was not being a role model, he is an outsider!
HE DOES NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK, WORLD, IF YOU DISAGREE WITH HIM YOU ARE A HATER!
And with “Haters’, one is able to
However, Mr. Huang is de facto a ‘celebrity’ now, so people pay attention to what is is saying, even while what he is saying is geared, essentially to promote his ‘brand’ of Bad Ass Hip Hop Restauranteur. And when you stay stupid sh*t as a ‘celebrity’, people pay attention.
So, TFP thought perhaps she should say a few things….
Mr. Eddie Huang, you are not the only API to ever like Hip Hop…
Love of Hip Hop comes in all forms
In fact before TFP fell in love with Musical Theater, she was ALL about the Hip Hop
However, loving a music and a culture is no reason to be all
TFP knows who you are. She gets your ‘brand’.
You are a guy who grew up in Orlando with Immigrant Parents who became a lawyer.
You always liked Hip Hop, and identified with that music.
You left the law and focused on creating great food.
That won you awards and attention and some food tv shows…
After which you wrote a book and sold the book to ABC.
And whilst on that journey you went from wearing a suit every day to
Very impressive to be sure – to realize that you could parlay your love and identification with Hip Hop into a branding machine. It’s made you quite a public speaker and a fortune.
But Mr. Huang, it’s time to stop being a douchebag.
Sometimes SILENCE is a good thing. Let’s role play –
REPORTER: Mr. Huang, how do you really feel?
FICTIONAL ZEN EDDIE HUANG: I feel really good, and…I have no comment.
You see? Easier than making pre-fab Ramen noodles on a hot plate!
Here’s the problems, as far as TFP can see them:
1. You are trying to sink the first API family show on television in 20 years. Not OK.
2. You are dressing down, in print, the Executives and Writers who believed enough in your story to take a chance on it – even though chances of professional failure were high. Not Ok.
3. You co-opt, in the name of love, a style and a swagger, but then you treat the people whose struggle it comes from with disregard. Especially the women. Not Ok.
If TFP‘s Korean American Husband acted like that, we would have had a visit from his Momz pretty damn quick.
TFP is not ok with this laundry you are airing.
TFP thinks you are struggling with the success of the show – and that is ok, very natural to have ‘Buyer’s Remorse”.
But save that for therapy.
TFP is thinking you need a Publicist.
APIs have the HIGHEST disposable income in America today – and you are a man that they have gotten behind. What happens when the consumers of your brand find it too hard to support you?
No one likes a guy who is rude to women. No one likes a guy that takes what most consider an opportunity for many, and trashes it for personal reasons. TFP remembers when you took on Bill O’Reilly, which is hilarious because in some regards, you are using some of his egregious habits – loudly proclaiming your right to ignore criticism, carrying on about oversensitive people and their reactions to your voice. Who does that sound like?
One supposes either way you ‘win’, if they show stays on, you get to keep cashing that check (oh yes, Children, he gets paid), and if it gets taken off the air, while you lose a check, your swagger with the Hip Hop crowd gets even bigger, because you blew up your own ‘haus’.
One question, is the Hip Hop crowd going to step up when all the APIs go away because you took down their first chance to watch an API family on TV in 20 years?
Are you fully prepared to take down a whole bunch of people with you in the name of your ‘swagger’?
So, do YOU, Mr. Eddie Huang, of course DO YOU, no one is telling you NOT to…but Dude, do what you need to to make “doing you’ a bit happier, cuz Homes….you a bit too fortunate to be this angry.
The Fairy Princess is recovering from the joy of seeing that Dallas Summer Musicals has cast the very talented Alan Ariano in the role of The King in their production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s The King & I. She was also thrilled to see that the Broadway Cast of the same show has wound up in Vogue Magazine, and that Anna Wintour is rumored to be taking over the Red Carpet of the TONY Awards so that everyone stops wearing a dress ripped from The Little Mermaid and puts on a damn eyelash!
These are good things and must be celebrated accordingly.
Then she read this article from Hollywood Deadline which yes, ‘reports’ Insider industry news, but in this case has forgone actual facts and gave us instead, a fearful Zombie Apocolypse “What if“, should projects like EMPIRE continue to decimate all others on the television and cable landscape and leak it’s considerable influence into pilot season.
Apparently the writer at Hollywood Deadline is concerned about all these pesky minority actors getting opportunity.
In fact, the writer of this, Nellie Andreeva, is so concerned about minorities booking jobs on television shows, she is so fearful of the result this may have on , well, I guess on ‘the children‘, everyone is always worried about ‘the children’ right?, that she has manufactured her own ‘backlash’ with the ridiculous question – has Hollywood in pilot season ‘gone too far‘ in casting minorities during Pilot season?
“The TV and film superhero ranks have been overly white for too long, workplace shows should be diverse to reflect workplace in real America, and ethnic actors should get a chance to play more than the proverbial best friend or boss.
But replacing one set of rigid rules with another by imposing a quota of ethnic talent on each show might not be the answer. Empire, Black-ish, Jane the Virgin and Fresh Off The Boat have been breakouts because they represent worlds and points of view that were not on TV‘
Hmmm. So what you are saying is that now that there is Jane The Virgin, the television landscape is full and we no longer have a need for a world with Latinos on our screens?
TFP has one word for you – Univision. (Look it up)
Did anyone else get a little ‘privilege’ in their eye, or was that just The Fairy Princess?
And now you are going to ‘come at me’ because my eyes are a slightly different shape, oh Miss Andreeva?
I don’t think so.
First of all, the logic here is faulty – Networks are not casting more creatively because Cookie Lyon needs a friend with a fabulous hat and four inch heels on another network – they are casting that way because the world in which we live, in America, is colorful. As TFP has often said, and which is backed by actual numbers – Diversity equals Dollars!
Producers are not sitting around trying to think “Hey, how can I cast a show that totally will not find an audience and will waste everyone’s time and money” – No, they are not. They are trying to make shows that sell. Television is the one place in the world where ‘trickle down’ theory works (perhaps that is where President Regan got it, when he was President of SAG) does not work economically, but in showbiz? Yeah, it works.
In the long history of Television in America, they have always, always done the exact same thing – they look at what is on television that is finding an audience, pulling in revenue, and entertaining people and then they toddle along and try to do that same thing. That #TGIT is making everyone wake up to the reality that there are strong Actresses of Color who can anchor a show and keep viewers coming back week after week with smart, snappy dialogue, and complex plot lines is a great thing. That this investment in opening minds is the brainchild, essentially, of one woman, Shonda Rhimes, is staggering.
The fact that Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling have two of the most successful and talked about comedies available to watch is mind blowing. That Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon has successfully rewritten the narrative of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to include an expanded possibility of what it means to be seen as a Hero in America, is nothing short of amazing. The Gender Gap that was so prevalent behind the camera in the creation of shows is not fixed, not by a LONG shot, but the successes of it cannot be argued with it. Nanatchka Khan has created a number one network comedy with Fresh Off The Boat – have any of their shows ‘suffered’ by waving the banner of diversity?
No.
Looking, Orange Is The New Black, Devious Maids all yes, meet a ‘demographic’ audience, but they surpass what is expected – because when there are multiple actors who can pull from varying life experiences, it gives the writers that much more to work with.
One could even argue that these shows are not waving any banner at all – they just cast wider, they looked further than the ‘status quo’ – they looked to the world.
Grey’s Anatomy was successful,
so now we have The Night Shift.
NCIS was successful, so now we have one in every damn city except Poughkeepsie…and that is probably coming if Mark Harmon gets a summer house there. The joy in this for ethnic performers is that they can finally have a Pilot Season flush with auditions just like less pigmented friends!
‘You booked a Pilot? Hey wait, ME TOO! – HIGH FIVE!”
Actors do not live in a bubble of privilege unless they are a child of celebrities – Actors are out there, seeing plays, supporting friends, making connections – and they get, sorry ‘we’ get, that the world is made up of supremely talented people – people who through career longevity and talent should get that moment of peace that being on a television show will give them artistically, which will have a ripple effect to their career, and that skin color has nothing to do with talent.
Color has only do to with opportunity and perception in Hollywood – and that is a truth most will not admit, but it is a truth nonetheless.
If you are an API Woman you will get called in for a hooker at least once in your career, to a cop show, because they are going to do the classic variant of ‘a brothel in Chinatown’ story that shows up on EVERY cop show. If you are Latino, you are going to be called for a Gang Member at some point in your career – why? Because that same Cop Show has a Latino Gang episode.
You may meet the API Hooker in the hallway of the audition and you kind of give each other a ‘Hey, what’s up” – because you both know why you are there – you are there to up the ‘Diversity Numbers’ for that particular show so that the Producers do not have to have ‘a conversation’ about Diversity on their show set in a major city with no Ethnic Main characters, even though the city in which the show is set, has large ethnic populations.
Or that is the way it has been.
However it seems that THIS pilot season…things are changing!
There is a clause in the SAG Contract that the Producers sign about this very issue – it is worded that the Producers, in getting the permission from SAG/AFTRA to produce this show, that THEY agree to ‘reflect the American scene’, which is what they are finally doing!
Casting is an art – if it is done well, as most Directors can tell you, they do not have to do much ‘heavy lifting’ at all. Some of the most successful shows on television right now – ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat, Fox’s Empire, CBS’s Elementary demonstrate that bringing Casts together of different experiences and backgrounds enhances the ability to tell compelling stories. Also, according to Scientific American, Diversity makes you smarter!
But you do not have to take TFP’s word for it, we can look at what people ON TV RIGHT NOW IN HIT SHOWS are saying:
For example, Constance Wu, when interviewed by TIME said:
It’s important to see Asians in those leading roles because it changes what I’m calling the anglo-heteronormative status of TV. [Imagine] that a producer says, “Guy and girl meet-cute at an ice skating rink. They fall in love, but then she has to move away.” If you say that to anyone, including an Asian person, you picture a white person because that’s what’s become normative to us.
She seems pretty smart…and if you do not think so, may TFP ask you when the last time you used the word “Anglo-heteronormative’?
There are of course, shows that exist ‘within a world’ that is, for all intents and purposes, Caucasian – AMC’s MAD MEN for example, but MAD MEN is wrestling with specific time period and the inclusion of women in the workplace and the change in America at the time. There are many, MANY more shows that exist within a Caucasian world than there are within the America we all actually live in – so to write –
“ABC’s medical drama pilot The Advocate was based on the story of former CAA agent Byrdie Lifson-Pompan and Dr. Valerie Ulene, who launched a healthcare consulting company. While the real-life inspiration for the two central character are both Caucasian, the show cast them with one white actress, Kim Raver, and one black, Joy Bryant’
is ridiculous.
Oh, it’s not?
You want to get into a discussion about WHITEWASHING ETHNIC PEOPLE OUT OF ROLES BY HOLLYWOOD NOW
MS. ANDREEVA?
Where to begin? Where to begin?
You want TFP to keep going or should we just let the Spirit of Bruce Lee smack you in the head, Ms. Andreeva?
TFP is gonna lay some truth down now, Ms. Adreeva, so get ready:
There is NO WAY that out of the HUNDREDS of pilots being shot, the casting of a small percentage of minority actors IN ANY WAY imperiles the status quo of white privilege in this country we know as America. Casting some people of color and gender and sexual preference on one or two televisions pilots that may or may not be picked up for broadcast will IN NO WAY harm Caucasian people in this country looking to turn on the television and see reflections of themselves.
You know why the pendulum will never, ever swing ‘too far‘ to prevent Caucasians from seeing themselves on television?
Because television is run by Caucasian people!
See all the Presidents…look close, can ya see what TFP is talking about?
They don’t look like they are leaving anytime soon, now, do they?
(Also, Gentlemen and Lady, thank you, sincerely, for shaking up your Pilot seasons and diversifying, congratulations on that)
1. Minority actors are underrepresented in film by a percentage of 3:1
2. Women are underrepresented in lead roles in a film by a factor of 2:1
3. More than 1/2 of the films had 10% OR LESS casting of Minority Actors
4. Minorities amongst Film Directors are underrepresented 3:1
5. Minorities are underrepresented among Writers by 5:1
6. In Television, Minorities in LEAD Roles are underrepresented 7:1
7. In Television, Minorities are, 7:1 more likely to be leads on REALITY SHOWS than Network shows (thanks Top Chef)
8. Minorities are underrepresented by a factor of 9:1 in creating Broadcast Comedies and Dramas
9. Women are underrepresented by a factor of 2:1 in creating Broadcast Comedies and Dramas, and are ‘less likely’ to be creators on Cable
10. Dominant Talent Agencies contribute little to Broadcast Television Diversity
So you can relax, Ms. Andreeva…’Mount HollywoodLand” is for the most part safe from these pesky hordes of creative people whose skin shade is not alabaster, who have feelings and talent and ambition and the will to use them – for the most part….in the grander scale of things…white television is safe, and will be for a long, long time.
TFP is sure you will sleep better at night, on your lvory pillow, wrapped in a blanket of Caucasian condescension within the fortress of solitude that the internet firewalls provide, so you do not have to interact with the peasants and dream on, Ms. Andreeva….
“We‘ of the minorities are not ‘coming for your TV“, we would just like to expand the meaning of what it means to see and be seen, and ‘we’ would like to book a pilot because for an Actor, it can be life changing. It can provide a bit of financial security, health insurance, and opportunity to continue on in a life of creation.
It has nothing to do with which way your pendulum swings….we have a broad definition of inclusiveness, in that we, of the minorities (which include people of age, sexual preference, color, women, differing physical abilities) would like to be seen in this country, and television is the best way to do that.
For stirring up racial panic in the midst of what looks to be a good Pilot season for Minorities, TFP fines you 35 whacks of the wand – you invoked racial fear to write a column that had no statistics to back it up, just a general sense of warning to show runners not to get ‘carried away’ with this pesky “People of Color” thing – and that is wrong. Flat out wrong. TFP read your article and was not going to say anything, because it was so poorly substantiated, but then she thought “what if someone actually takes you seriously?” and then she thought
Not only is it wrong, it is disheartening when there is good news, to have someone who has a national platform to discuss these issues, choose to come down to “Boogie Man’ threats that get in the way of progress.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
TFP is thrilled that Pilot Season is getting with the program of inclusion – it makes us all better – what you did, was to try and make it worse.
The Fairy Princess had a great week last week, for two reasons – she was able to go out twice…at night.
If you have a toddler, you understand that sentiment.
First, she went to a friend’s viewing party to see him Guest Star on a giant TV show that spans new branches like a giant oak,
Scott Bakula, Russell Wong, and B.D. Wong on NCIS New Orleans
and the very next night was the Uber Awesome, Fresh Off The Boat Viewing Party in Manhattan, where TFP was delighted to sit on one of the two panels that evening.
Panelists Greg Pak, Jeff Yang, and TFP – Photo by Lia Chang
It was a great night and absolutely everyone who was in New York City, who could make it, were there to support.
From Orange Is The New Black, Actress Lori Tan Chinn, Standup Comic and Actor, Phil Nee, Actress, Karen Lee
Cast Members and some of the Creative Team behind the show were also in attendance…
L-R: Eddie Huang, Hudson Yang, Randall Park and Exec. Producer Melvin Mar answer question from Jeff Yang
To TFP, who was in the crowd as well as being on a panel later, the show seemed all inclusive, while of course, highlighting a specific experience of a Taiwanese American Family who moved to Orlando. To TFP, it was a chance for everyone to laugh with everyone else. The press that was there, loved it.
For those who were unable to attend the NY launch, there was an LA launch and of course, there was promotion via commercials and reaching out to popular bloggers in hopes that they might write something about the project and influence people to watch it at home, and it worked – in that night, Fresh Off the Boat did well ratings-wise.
In fact, Fresh Off The Boat beat what regularly airs in that time slot, The Goldbergs.
Yes, really!
Happy Dance!
In fact, there is only one group that (well, aside from ‘the haters’, but who the Taylor Swift cares about them?) was not invited to participate in this Fresh Off The Boat celebration in a way in which they could bring more numbers to the Nielsens and it was, oddly, Asian American Mommy Bloggers.
This does not mean that Mommy Bloggers did not receive outreach, they did.
Just not the API ones.
No one can really give a straight answer about why this happened, but let’s look at the situation as a learning opportunity, because, frankly, TFP did not grasp the pull of the “Mommy Blogger”, when she learned of this situation.
2. Of those 4.2, there are 500 that are considered ‘influential‘, because 18.3 Million Moms across America read blogs EVERY DAY.
3. Mothers control $2 TRILLION Dollars of spending in the United States.
4. Women who normally do not respond to Brand Advertising, respond to endorsements from “Other Moms” aka “Mommy Bloggers”. You want to sell a baby carrier that won’t chafe? Tap into the right “Mommy Blogger” and…
MAKE IT RAIN
Because there is so much money to be had from an endorsement from a Mommy Blogger, Studios and Networks (and Theme Parks and Publishers and People who produce products for children) often pursue ‘Mommy Bloggers‘ of certain Internet pull – they invite them to Press Junkets specifically designed for them, to introduce them to new shows or films, this is not surprising.
There was a ‘slight’ hiccup in inviting the Bloggers to the Fresh Off The Boat junket though, no one who was invited to see and blog happened to be Asian American Mommy Bloggers like Hapamama or I’mNotTheNanny or even at HeyMona.
Norwere these Asian American Mommy Bloggers asked to participate in the “Web Buzz” or whatever it’s called around the feature film, “Big Hero 6“, a film which featured the story of 2 Eurasian or Hapa Brothers as the main characters – something that to TFP’s knowledge, has never been done before in an American big budget Animated Feature. For APIs who have Hapa kids, this was a HUGE deal, and it should have been allowed to be acknowledged as such.
The two at the top, the upside down ones? Those are the Brothers
TFPloved that Russell in UP was API,
but Russell did not seem to be of Mixed heritage. Also, some might think Russell is not Asian American per se, but based on this photo of his Mom,
TFP kinda thinks that Russell was Asian American – thanks Pixar!
We have also had Mulan by Disney featuring a Chinese Story, voiced by Asian Americans, which was a great gift, but it did not, of course being set in China, feature children of mixed race, a large growing demographic in the United States.
However, let’s return to the main issue – which is that in two cases, where the ‘subjects’ of the pieces were Asian American, and where other POC Mommy Bloggers were invited to view the project early and take a fun bus together and explore and ask questions, Asian Americans who blog in the same field, were not.
Now, TFP feels that there was a PR disconnect, and that the Studio didn’t know what the Production Companies were doing and the Network didn’t know what the Studio was doing and there was a guy somewhere who screwed this up, but just kept drinking his $6 latte and figuring he could just ignore it and it would go away….
Yeah, but that is how Studios and Networks work sometimes, like a Hydra
API Mommy Bloggers were upset, and they wrote about it. Which is what Bloggers do, they write about what is going on with them personally. If a Blogger is upset, they are more inclined to write, however as any API kid can tell you, you do not want an API Mom upset.
Now, as these API Mommy Bloggers have addressed this situation and are taking pains to fix it, and improve their network of contacts, and as the Network and Studios are learning from their snafus, and are aware that they made a HUGE blunder….
TFPwas going to let this one go, she was.
BUT then she learned that one of the repercussions of the API Mommy Bloggers posting about missing this Blogger Bus Trip, was that they were being attacked by some of the people who were on that junket, who felt that, by dint of being ethnic themselves or by one or two of them having Hapa kids, that Asian American voices were not missed on this junket and nor were they needed.
At all.
Mr. Furley just CANNOT!
And neither can The Fairy Princess.
So she wanted to take a stand for those API Mommy Bloggers, because while she is not a “Mommy Blogger” per se, she is a Mom who blogs. A Mom who blogs on Diversity. Whilst blogging on Diversity is a great social tool and has engendered change that is tangible (particularly seeing the difference in American theater), TFP is unlikely to ever be invited on junket or sent an advanced copy, or offered cool free stuff.
Because if you blog on Diversity and people do not want to hear it, the last thing they want to do is send you stuff. Well, not stuff that one would want.
This is what she wants to say to those ‘other’ Mommy Bloggers who so vigorously believe that they can speak for Asian Americans while not actually being Asian American themselves…
You can’t.
This may come as a surprise to you, but you cannot speak for Asian Americans, even if you have children of mixed Asian heritage – because….you are not Asian American. You personally, cannot speak for another group of people for whom you share no kinship.
“Asian by Injection” doesn’t count.
You can speak to being a Parent of a mixed race child, you can speak to being a Person of Color, but the Asian American experience is unique and manifold. It is like saying one can go and speak Portuguese in Columbia – it does not work. There may be a thing here or there that is able to be understood, but gaps will be missing. TFP has been to Brasil, she knows this.
People of Color are expected to band together in times of ‘crisis’. Women, in this case “Mommy Bloggers’ are asked to unite as Women and Moms for different reasons – death, cancer, illness, birth, sharing – but in this case, all those API Mommys wanted was support. They had given it to you in the past, and they wanted it returned.
All they wanted was for you to say “We get it. We see you. We too, have been underrepresented, and we hear you, you should be on the bus. You should be on the bus with us, because as women raising the next generation, we have to set an example.’
We have to set an example – we, as Mothers.
My Son, My Niece, & I
Here is why TFP writes about Diversity so strongly, because she has a son. She has a son who is a minority in this Country, and his life will have challenges based solely on the shape of his eyes and the color of his skin. These API Mommy Bloggers have similar concerns, all People of Color, or People of Under representation, have these same concerns.
How do we NOT teach separatism? How do we NOT teach distaste for someone not of ‘our’ particular group?
We include them. We give our children the rainbow, in all it’s colors, in all it’s shapes, in all it’s sizes, in all the ways people can love one another. We make room for one another.
James Herbert, Zion, and Alec Mapa
The way we ‘include’ is by telling Networks, telling Studios, that we need more Diversity on screen, behind the scenes, in the stories told, in the opportunities given. We do this, because we do not want our kids to get involved in the pettiness that this whole situation has sunk to. Our goal should be to help our kids be better than that.
Here are some more facts:
1. Asian American Population has risen by 33% in all states except Hawaii, where it was already large
Let’s go back – how much spending do Mom’s control? Currently?
2 Trillion.
So the question to ask is, with API income advancing so rapidly and the population growing, how much money do you think Asian American Moms will control by 2050?
With API Internet purchases higher than any other group – how much more will be purchased because of what API Mommy Bloggers are going to be writing about?
With the way API’s use the Internet, who do you think, in the next 20 years, will have some of the most influential Mommy Blogs?
Don’t you think the Networks and Studios and Publishers and all the Givers of Free Stuff are going to realize that? Probably sooner than you think.
So isn’t it time now, to make friends? Isn’t it time to teach ourselves to share?
C’mon can’t we show our solidarity as Moms who Blog, and get off that hubris train of “well I can represent anyone I like” and realize that acknowledging that one does not know or see everything the same way is far more powerful than any amount of SWAG given out in a environmentally reusable bag with a logo?
Should we not be able to say “Yeah, if it were a film or show about my particular group and none of the Mommy Bloggers of that group were included, I would hate it.”
The Fairy Princess thinks so.
For refusing to acknowledge that API Mommy Bloggers should be seen and heard on PR Junkets specifically designed for Mommy Bloggers, particularly in cases where API Actors and Story lines are featured – TFP awards 20 whacks of the wand to the PR Depts who screwed this up initially, and those Bloggers who so vigorously defended their exclusion.
Although the current New York weather, aka The Great Blizzard of 2015, is potentially going to be a nightmare of frigid proportions
TFP still enjoys change.
Also, she like s people who can hear about something, acknowledge that there is a problem, and change their mindset so that the problem can be solved. It does not even have to have a name this problem, but if you like, go ahead and name it…
Nevermind, the problem TFP was concerned with already has a name, we call it “Yellowface”.
And, occasionally it looks like this:
Or this:
Actor Lambert Wilson as The King of Siam in a French Production of King & I
Or this:
Jered McLenigan as Anthony – Photo by Mark Garvin
Seriously, TFP could post photo after photo of this kind of thing and what it is IS (for those not in the know), is a Caucasian Actor donning makeup and clothes to portray an Asian person, and in this day and age in 2015, it is not cool.
TFP honestly gets no joy in writing about this phenomenon again and again, it’s like riding a rocking horse so fast you get motion sickness, and no matter HOW many times you write about it and no matter how many people acknowledge that it seems in poor taste, it happens again, and you are back on that damn rocking horse and you feel a bit like…well….
Like no one is hearing you.
Such was the case when TFP wrote this post about a production of The King and I that was happening at Dallas Summer Musicals this summer, when they announced the casting of a Caucasian King.
TFP was pretty annoyed…
She wrote her blog and said what she had to say, as she does from time to time, and quite a lot of people read it, thanks to the internet thingy and a very fired up Orville Mendoza
AAPAC, (Asian American Performers Action Coalition) also wrote a letter.
And guess what?
We had a response from Mr. Michael Jenkins!
Mr. Michael Jenkins, head of Dallas Summer Musicals
He read many of the emails sent about this issue, was no doubt told of the strenuous objections posted on the Facebook wall of his organization, and here was his response:
TFP was delighted to hear that Dallas Summer Musicals will re-cast their King!
And now, here is her ‘charge’ to the API denizens of the Dallas/Ft.Worth area – GO TO THIS SHOW AND…..
MAKE IT RAIN
That’s right, TFP wants You, Asian America, to PROVE that you will stand with those who will represent you and your stories and BUY A TICKET.
Be prepared, you may have to PAY FULL PRICE!
Yes, really.
Because what you are paying for, is a top notch production on a world class stage full of Asian Americans who will be singing and dancing their hearts out and they NEEDS TA GIT PAID!
Why?
Because APIs buying tickets and supporting the hiring of APIs onstage leads to great things for our community – more visibility.
Right now, we, the API Community are in a wonderful, starting off place, we have shows on television where we are represented – Karen David in GALAVANT, Reggie Lee in GRIMM, Maggie Q in STALKER, Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park and Masi Oka in H50, Ming Na Wen and Chloe Bennet on AGENTS of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mindy Kaling in THE MINDY SHOW, Lucy Liu on ELEMENTARY…and we have these charming kids ready to premiere on Feb. 4 on ABC….
But we are not on everything. We are not at the Oscars. We are not at the Golden Globes. We are not at The Tonys in a discernible way. We are not at the big award shows on the podium winning awards, you know, the shows that ‘everyone’ watches and grows up dreaming about being on. There is a path to that, and we are still at the beginning.
Look, in order to get more of us on television, we have to ‘prove’ we are bankable, and that proof starts at the ground level. If we were to steal a phrase from a popular tv show, APIs in show business, we need you, the (much more sensible) APIs not in show business, we need you to be ‘our person’.
If you are an Asian Pacific Islander living in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, even if you do not like musicals, even if you have never seen a musical, if you can afford the ticket price, buy one and go – show them that Asians on the stage means Asian butts in the seats.
Because all the theater wants is a full house, and they do not care what color the people sitting in them are, as long as they are S.R.O. (Sold Right Out)
Yes, they made a misstep in the casting in the first place – but the show was not up yet, TFP and Orville Mendoza ‘caught’ it in time to make a difference, but we cannot do it alone. We have to have the support of the general API Community to show that our faces on the stage matter!
Yes, Mr. Jenkins may not be aware that Yul Brynner’s Russian heritage included Mongolian and that Lou Diamond Philips has Filipino heritage, which makes them both men OF Asian heritage, which means they were perfectly suited to play The King, yes – yes we know.
Yes, they have cast many APIs before in various shows, and really did not understand what the message they were sending was…(maybe they thought it was like Weight Watcher points and they get to spend them when they want to splurge or something, and btw, casting APIs is not like WW points at all)
BUT NOW THEY DO.
LESSON LEARNED.
MOVE ON.
BUY A TICKET.
Or you will have wasted all TFP’s time and outrage, and many others. We, the Actors, cannot do this alone. We cannot fight for all of ‘our’ representation by ourselves, we need your support!
BUY A TICKET.
SELL IT OUT.
CAN YOU DO IT?
MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THIS:
That is all.
Finally, Mr. Jenkins, Dallas Summer Musicals, and Glenn Casale, The Fairy Princess thanks you for taking the time and conversation amongst yourselves to make a change in your thinking. She appreciates the big step you took in acknowledging that a mistake was made, and she thanks you for taking the time and effort and financial cost to fix it.
She also wishes Mr. Jenkins a healthy recovery and a great summer season with which to enjoy it.
Christiane Noll and Paul Nakauchi as Anna & The King JUST AS AN EXAMPLE
Remember, APIs of Texas, we can help you from afar with changing things, but you have to stand WITH us in this ‘battle’ and buy a ticket.
The Fairy Princess has been watching a lot of Network TV.
Mainly because she has a toddler, and as most Parents know, once you have a toddler, you do not get to go out as much as you had before.
Therefore I have noticed that some of my favorite non-Asian named but played by Asian American characters have been killed off, rather gruesomely, on Network Television and I can understand why some are getting upset. (Upset being the mildest word to describe what they are feeling)
Let’s break it down for those who cannot understand the fuss –
Now, Luli was a cool chick. She was. She had an MBA in Economics from Stanford, and was the youngest ever head of a Billion Dollar Hedge fund until, in a spectacular death blow to Tiger Parenting, she was charged twice with wire and securities fraud. However, she survived all of that and went on to manage James Spader’s character ‘Red’ ‘s money and was his lovah….all of which I enjoyed both as an audience member and as a fan of diversity.
And then…dum, dum, dum….Luli had her face blown off and brain matter splattered right there on Network TV in the episode “Anslo Garrick“.
Poor earnest Shelby Moss, who in her work for the NSA ‘overheard’ the conversation between the “I love my Dead Gay Husband, who I just killed” Vice President played by the formidable Kate Burton and the “I let my live Gay Husband sleep with your Dead Gay Husband to get blackmail photos‘ Cyrus Beene, played by the brilliant Jeffy Perry, in the Episode “No Sun On The Horizon”.
Poor Shelby, she was only trying to help when she turned the conversation in to Olivia Pope’s Sub-Gladiator Family, headed up by their Don Quixote, David Rosen.
But what did she get?
Bullet to the forehead, no warning, and buried in an unmarked grave by Scott Foley’s Jake, who is now ‘Command”.
Ouch. Not even a double tap.
Single shot. Brutal.
Probably Shelby Moss should have taken the hint when she walked on set, given the way Scandal handled it’s last API Character – ‘member Press Secretary Britta Kagen?
Played by Keiko Agena.
Britta got filtered so Fitz could live….
Britta bit it too. Only fatality. Ouch.
To be an Asian American actor on Scandal is the same as being a ‘red-shirt’ on Star Trek.
Damn, they were only following orders, Kirk!
Anyhow, Asian American female characters dropping like flies in some spectacularly gruesome ways, how are the men doing?
was attacked by an Aswang (Filipino monster) and wound up in a mental institution!
Alec Mapa‘s Renzo on ABC Family’s Switched At Birth was accused of leaking Lea Thompson’s first draft manuscript!
“I was supposed to have done WHAT?”
Hmmm, the men, not so good. I mean, good that they are getting so much screen time, but they are dealing with a lot of stuff too.
Which is great!
Because that means more airtime, and that means that APIs are becoming part of the American Television landscape in a larger way, and that means, we are finally getting ‘our due’ as integral cast members! Bad stuff happens to Cast Members, because that is what a dramatic show is all about.
So if Reggie Lee has to go crazy, or if Alec Mapa has to defend himself, or if our Hawaii 5.0 bruddahs and sistahs have to enjoy huge character arcs, in the name of propelling their show’s drama, all the better.
However one can see where Asian American audience members were perhaps having a rough viewing Network TV season, and then came…Beverly Katz.
Everyone likes Beverly Katz – maybe it’s the name, maybe it’s the no nonsense approach she has to science. Perhaps it is because Beverly Katz was indeed a breakthrough character in many ways, right from casting.
Hannibal Creator, Bryan Fuller first saw Hetienne in a play on Broadway called “Seminar”, and that may be where our public attachment started.
First off, as everyone knows, (but if they do not they can read this AAPAC study on the dearth of APIs on Broadway) Asian Americans on Broadway in seasons where Miss Saigon or King & I are not playing are low to non-existent. To be an Asian American on Broadway is to defy incredible odds. To then be able to propel it into a television role is exceedingly rare, so of course Asian America would embrace Beverly Katz, er…Hettiene Park, er…Beverly Katz. (because you see, she’s a character, ahem)
Here’s glam, but understated, Beverly going head to sewn-on head (onto another body, you have to watch the show), with monster Hannibal Lector, who has planted evidence to frame the mentally nimble but unsteady, Will Graham. Beverly is the only one, using reason and logic and science, who finally comes to the realization that Will is telling the truth.
So she goes to Hannibal Lector’s house. Alone.
Repeat that last part, she goes to Hannibal Lector’s house alone. Would YOU go alone to someone’s house if you thought they were a mass murderer who eats his victims?
Probably not, but it makes for good television.
Good television, good storytelling, good craftsmanship is why people watch the show. Any show.
Unless you watch reality tv exclusively.
Honey Boo Boo, Ladies & Gentlemen, Honey Boo Boo
Now, there are many, many reasons that fans attach to a character and a show. Asian Americans in particular have been so long ignored on the TV landscape that we attach rather strongly – so there was a resulting uproar when poor Beverly Katz turned around and saw Hannibal seeing her, in his basement, pawing through his stuff.
Characters die for all sorts of reasons on television. Sometimes it’s a production decision, sometimes it’s an actor’s decision, sometimes it is a combination. A non-meeting of the minds. Or it is a decision based on, oh, what is that thing we all tune in for?
Oh right, the story.
You can be sad when your favorite characters die on a television show, for example…
There are really good things coming for Asian Americans who like seeing Asian Americans on television or in films –
Cast of the Pilot, Far East Orlando – Constance Wu, Ian Chen, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, Randall Park
And there are some really good things already up and running:
Arden Cho on Teen Wolf
Rex Lee in the Entourage Movie
The Cast of TBS’s Sullivan and Son
Grace Park & Daniel Dae Kim
Christina Chang and the cast of Nashville
Chloe Bennett & Ming Na
So we are not NON Existent on Network TV, get that out of your head. We’re there. Not everywhere, but we are there.
Of course you are allowed to be sad about poor ol’ Beverly Katz, who likely will ‘get served’ on this evening’s Hannibal.
panch’an -small dishes of food served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine.
However you must remember….your favorite characters dying on one show means that soon – they will be on another show playing someone else you can grow to love just as much. Or perhaps they can go and do a play or a musical on Broadway and you can see them live, up close and in person.
Being on a Network Television show in a role that recurs opens many doors, it is the gateway to a career that can be challenging, as a minority, to get noticed in. When Hannibal started, no one outside Broadway knew of the range and talent of Hettiene Park. Now, as of the numbers last week show, 2.5-2.7 million people have seen Ms. Park and what she can bring to a role. She will be just fine. She will live on – not as Beverly Katz, but as someone equally cool. Same goes for Deborah S. Craig and Julia Cho and Keiko Agena….they will all be fine.
You can be angry – but be angry at Beverly Katz, who was stupid/confident enough to walk into a psychopath’s house alone without backup. While you are at it, be mad at Cousin Matthew for driving too fast, and be mad at Will Gardner for taking on an unstable client.
That anger will be equally as useful.
Flipping out to flip out is not going to get you more Asian Americans on television. Flipping out to flip out, means you become, forgive the color inclusion but it’s the term, white noise.
No one will listen.
The Fairy Princess is not down for that, nope, not at all. You cannot cry racism or institutional racism or any other isms ad nauseum. Activism is useful when it is active. Not when it’s all about yelling. I know this, because my Family has, for generations, been activists in this country.
Beverly Katz is dead. RIP Beverly Katz – your passing will enhance the opportunities for actress Hettiene Park, and the storyline of Hannibal, and for those of us who watch it, we are grateful for your sacrifice.
And remember….
And if you cannot…..(I don’t know why, maybe you are a vegetarian, as am I) then it really may be as Elementary as…
The Fairy Princess just wanted to have a peaceful Thursday.
She wanted to watch Scandal, and see if anyone ate their arm off to escape twenty years of incarceration, and perhaps sip a hot chocolate while doing so.
There were some excellent things that occurred this last week, and while she generally sticks to commenting on theater, attention must be paid to Hollywood who has made some cool decisions this week.
The Aswang is so completely a creature that Filipino parents would use to scare children, that I cackled with laughter when I saw it. An Aswang sneaks into a pregnant woman’s bed and eats her unborn child. (I mean, of course, that is really, really bad, but that is definitely an Asian fairy tale – because most of them lead to someone having bodily harm, dying, or getting stuck in a mountain for millions of years – all designed to make us behave and continue to practice piano as we study to be a doctor while doing math problems in our heads.)
The ratings were FANTASTIC – so yay for Diversity, for Reggie Lee, and for Grimm fans who, let’s face it, might like to not always have to look to a Teutonic dictionary to figure out what is going on every week. Yes, I watch the show, and yes I love the show, but change is good too.
Alec Mapa, currently seen on the ABC Family show, Switched At Birth, as Lea Thompson’s new Gay “Bestie”….
This photo screams subtle, nuanced drama…or maybe that’s just my take
is getting an award this coming Saturday in Hollywood – The Fusion Achievement Award from OUTFEST’s Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival – which is the only multi-cultural film festival of it’s kind – dedicated to nurturing, showcasing and protecting LGBT Media. Oh – and, speaking of OH – Sandra Oh is going to be on hand to present him with his award, and therefore I give you THIS little gem to enjoy….
Although they probably will not talk about that kind of stuff when she’s presenting him with his fancy award, which coincides with the World Premiere of his new Concert film, Baby Daddy. The Fairy Princess has seen Baby Daddy several times live, and gives it a hearty recommendation – especially if you are a Parent.
Finally, a THIRD good thing announced this week, was the completion of the Casting of Far East Orlando, formerly known as Fresh Off The Boat. The pilot stars Randall Park as the Father, Constance Wu as the Mom, Ian Chen (Gary), Hudson Yang (Eddie), and Forrest Wheeler (Freddy). It is based on the memoir by Celebrity Chef, Eddie Huang – and if it gets ‘the order’, it will give us the first funny Asian American Family on a major network since Margaret Cho’s All American Girl.
Photo by Jeff Yang
If it gets a ‘order’ and runs at least 4-5 seasons, these small children will be able to buy and sell us all, so finger’s are crossed for you, Kids!
So everything was going good, yes? Seems like Hollywood was doing way better than Theater (Particularly theater in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, ahem). Until I read about Rooney Mara being Cast as Tiger Lily in the new big screen film being directed by Joe Wright.
Just so we are all on the same page – there is a play and a novel – called Peter Pan, Or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, and it was written by J.M. Barrie – who was Scottish. He wrote the play in 1904, and the novel later in 1911.
Author, J.M. Barrie
Scholars believe that the character of Peter is based in part on Barrie’s brother, David, who died in an accident at age 14. His Mother, Margaret had a hard time with David’s passing, as he was her favorite, and the way she coped was by enjoying a fantasy that David would never grow up, and therefore never leave her. He also based Peter on his friendships with the 5 young sons of Arthur & Sylvia Llewelyn Davies – to whom, after their parents passed, he became Guardian. The boys were named George, John, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas. He made up the “Peter Pan’ stories to keep the boys amused – but of course, he needed to create a world in which the characters lived, and so he decided upon “Neverland”.
Neverland is not a real place, of course, it is a dream. But, as with all dreams – and as even, with the character of Peter himself, Barrie based them on what was happening around him – he even named most of the characters for people that he knew. Peter, Wendy, John – all people he knew.
Though he may have known someone who was Native American, upon whom Tiger Lily was based, the odds are that she is simply a ‘made up’ character because he, as had most of the UK at the time, would have grown up hearing about stories of the American West and the British wars with the Native Populations of America, playing ‘Cowboys and Indians”.
Or, it could have been a fun story device – whatever the reason, he made up a name of a Tribe – the Piccaninny, which he based on Native American tribes, and made Tiger Lily their Princess and to a certain extent, a rival for Peter’s affections for Wendy Darling.
Tiger Lily is the proud, beautiful princess of the Piccaninny Tribe. In the book, the Indians of Neverland were portrayed in a nature that is now regarded as stereotypical.[9] Barrie portrayed them as primitive, warlike savages who spoke with guttural voice tones.[9] She is apparently old enough to be married, but she refuses any suitors because she desires Peter over all. She is jealous of Wendy and Tinker Bell. Tiger Lily is nearly killed by Captain Hook when she is seen boarding the Jolly Roger with a knife in her mouth, but Peter saves her.
Having studied literature at the University of Edinburgh, Barrie would have been most familiar with the British image of the ‘noble savage, which became very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. J.M. Barrie was born in 1860, so when he created the character of Tiger Lily and her tribe in Peter Pan, the images he may have seen of “Noble Savages’ might have been something like this:
Description: Portrait of a Native American woman, half-length directed to right, wearing feather headdress and holding a quiver with arrows Etching on thin paper Inscriptions: Lettered in top left corner: “Rembrandt f. / 1632”. Print made by: Rembrandt (Follower of) Date: 1650-1750 (c.)
as this etching is in a collection in the British Museum.
He may have walked past this Ashinaabe outfit collected by Lieutenant Andrew Foster during his military service in North America circa 1780, also in the British Museum.
However even if J. M. Barrie was not patrolling the Native American collection at The British Museum in the name of researching a character called Tiger Lily, there were dozens of images of young Native American women around, because there was this lovely invention called photography – so let’s see if The Fairy Princess can find images of NA Women from say, the 1800’s and up, upon who he could base images of his ‘Tiger Lily’ –
Portrait of Marcia Pascal, a young Cherokee Woman, taken 1880 (Collected by the Bureau of American Ethnology)
Isabelle Perico Enjady, a Jicarilla Apache Girl
Portrait of Hattie Tom, Chiricahua Apache, in 1899 by F.A. Rhinehart
Ah, so there were images of young Native American women on whom J.M. Barrie could have based the character of Tiger Lily floating around. Now, in 1904 – it would have been HIGHLY unlikely that J.M. Barrie or anyone else was looking to cast for ‘authenticity’ when casting Tiger Lilly, but here is the interesting thing, when they made the 1924 film of Peter Pan, they cast Anna May Wong as Tiger Lilly.
Anna May Wong in the 1924 film, Peter Pan
As most people know now, it is believed that an land bridge of some kind existed, and that people crossed over from Asia into what is now known as North America.
DNA Migration Pattern detailing the now widely accepted ‘Land Bridge” theory of migration, which indicates that ‘the ancestors of the First Americans came from an East Asian Homeland”
Ah, science says that Asian peoples and Native American peoples share some DNA, and are somewhat, super distantly, related! This is not a stretch to believe, after all, we have some shared traits in eye shape and hair, the difference in skin tones would have been because of growing up in different climates and exposures.
Anna May Wong was Chinese American, and our first Asian American film goddess.
Wasn’t she gorgeous?
Which means that the casting of Anna May Wong as Tiger Lily in 1924 was much closer to the mark than the casting of Rooney Mara in 2014!
Before she had a Dragon Tattoo…
No one denies that Rooney Mara is a talented actress, or that she is fully capable of investing into a role. But while it is perfectly fine for an actress to dye her hair, or lose weight, or gain weight to play a part, or allow herself to wrinkle, or present herself as a total mess in the film, but totally glamorous on the red carpet promoting the film – in 2014, this casting strikes a bad note. The mildest description would be ‘insensitive’.
Now, on the off-chance that Ms. Mara was going to claim some percentage of Native American heritage, a la Johnny Depp, in order to divert attention from the fact that in today’s world, this casting is in poor taste, I looked her up. Her Dad’s Family owns the New York Giants football team and they hail from County Down in Ireland. Her Mother’s Family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they are Irish and Italian.
My Father, who was 100 per cent Irish American, was a lawyer. His people were from Kerry. He passed away in 2012.
The One and Only, Himself
In the course of his practice, he represented two Native American tribes who were fighting for State and Federal recognition. My Dad did not get paid as the tribes did not have the money to hire an attorney such as himself, because they had all sorts of internal issues.
When I asked him once about why he chose to do this – because it was hours and hours on the phone talking to the Chiefs, and so on, he told me that America could never make up to the Native Americans for all the crimes that were done to them. He told me that America had been very good to the Irish people, that they had done very well in this country, and that Irish people and Native Americans should stick together – because the English had treated the Irish almost as badly as the Americans had treated the Native Americans – almost.
It struck me, as I was reading about Rooney Mara’s casting that my Father, who was made “Tribal Judge’ for one of the tribes, would not approve of the casting of an Irish American, whose family had done particularly well in America, to be portraying a Native American.
Even if it is a mythical tribe in Neverland, which is based on an idea, but which does not truly exist. The Piccaninnys may not exist, but they are based on people who do.
But you know – no Actress casts herself, she is offered the part. So while we can question Ms. Mara’s decision to accept it, it’s perfectly within her rights to do so.
I have read some quotes from the director that this is a ‘re-imagining‘ and it is going to be a multi-cultural cast but I will say this again – and again, and again, and I will keep saying it until people who are trying to justify their insensitive casting decisions get it:
Multi-racial is not an excuse for when you want to culturally ‘skin’ a minority & wear us like a coat
Multi-cultural is not supposed to take away from people whose representation is already marginalized.
Multi-cultural is not supposed to be a buzz word defense for being ‘called’ on casting choices that amount to appropriation.
Also, as The Fairy Princess looks to see who has been announced as the Cast of this film – Rooney Mara, Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund – she does not see a lot of ‘diversity’.
Maybe she’s being silly. Maybe Director Joe Wright is one of those guys who claims he ‘doesn’t see color’ –
Here’s the thing, Joe – may I call you Joe?
If you don’t see color, how do you drive?
Ten smacks of the wand to Director Joe Wright – because you could have helped move everyone forward, and you chose not to. It’s not a ‘creative’ decision you made there, Joe – may I call you Joe? It is a decision steeped in a ‘world view’ that does not view the world at all.
You could have done a remarkable thing and cast the first Native American as Tiger Lily on screen since, ummm, well, EVER!
(Apologies to Anna May Wong). But YOU chose not to, and that makes The Fairy Princess’s wings do a ‘sad flap’- because once again, the white guy refuses to ‘see’ people of color.
Which means that as in days past, the White Man is trying to erase Native Americans from the cultural landscape.
Man, The Fairy Princess just hates when people do not ‘get it’! You would think people were tired of being stupid and lazy, but apparently not. Frightening.
I guess, Mr. Wright, you can join the ever growing list of cultural arbiters with little progressive vision and…
He wants to talk and he wants people to listen to what he says, but then when they listen to what he says and they find it confusing or objectionable he is not responsible for what he said because he was not being a role model, he is an outsider!
TFP knows who you are. She gets your ‘brand’.
![Native_American_map[1]](https://fairyprincessdiaries.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/native_american_map1.jpg?w=460&h=342)
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