5/10/2010
Remembering Charlie Chan
The older generations may still recall this Hollywood creation called Charlie Chan. I think he was some kind of a Chinaman detective with the Fu Manchu moustache, slit eyes and everything of a stereotypical Chinaman except the actor. Charlie Chan was always acted by a caucasian. In those days it was difficult to find a Chinese actor to play a lead role in any Hollywood films or TV serials.
I am wondering how the movies of Charlie Chan would be received today. I suspect there will be cries of racism. In the Today paper the Australian Chinese are crying foul again. The Australians are making a film about an Australian Chinese war hero during WWI. The soldier, Billy Sing, was a very successful sniper who killed more than 200 enemy soldier in the Gallipoli campaign, and was a decorated war hero.
Isn't it generous for the Australians to want to make a movie of an Australian Chinese soldier? Now why the outcry? Oh, they could not find a Chinese actor for the lead role and it went to a white actor. I just hope they did not put a set of Fu Manchu moustache on this Billy Sing, and to make it more authentic, an additional pigtail will be just fine. : )
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9 comments:
Can't they get our very own compatriot Jet Li to play the part of Billy Sing? Or if the part is not interesting because not much real kung fu is needed, maybe a comedian like Jackie Chan will do nicely. Nah, on second thoughts, Jackie won't do. This is a serious film about a serious Aussie hero.
How about another of our "celebrity" Mr. Mark Lee? He does look a little like Billy Sing with his big adam's apple going up and down when he is nervous!Can you not imagine the tense situation when Mark is sniping with his hands on the trigger, sweat forming on his face and his adam's apple running up and down his neck? Sheer suspense worthy of a Hitchcock, No?
Mediacorpes should just loan Mark to the Aussies, after all we had joint productions with China on many flicks.
Hehe.
Good opportunity for Media Corp to sell their actors. And we have the famous glen Oei and and the Heng guy. Plenty to choose from Singapore. And we speak good English, our mother tongue.
We can lend them our directors as well.
All the offers and suggestions here will not be well received by the Whites as far as my personal opinion goes.
The White movie makers have the penchants of making funs, poke and dig at Non-whites whenever and wherever they could do it subtly and subliminally.
patriot
Billy Sing is a cross between a Chinese and a caucasian? No wonder they got a white to play Mr. Sing. Just hopeful that they won't insist that this white glue a Fu Man Chu mustache to make himself look more sinister than is necessary for the part and that Mr. Sing spent a large part of his childhood in a laundry shop or a Chop Suey joint.
LMAO. Hehe.
If you look at a picture of Sing, he looks definitely a product of "mixed" coupling. Notice the similarities of Keanu Reeves, who dad is Eurasian-American and mum of English descent.
Billy Sing
Keanu Reeves
But turning Sing into a Foo Manchu character is something I would do, as a director, just for a few laughs and to piss the fucking Asians off :)
Mr. Sing definitely don't look Chinese! More like Matt Damon. I think the Aussies are right to cast a white in the role. While we may root for Mr. Sing's dad, we must be objective and say that Mr. Sing's mom was more dominant when they coupled up and hence he turned out to look more caucasian than chinese.
I think the Australian Chinese are barking up the wrong tree.
It's a non issue.
If Jackie Chan had the part, he would look like a bloody fool. If Mark Lee acted as Mr. Billy Sing, everyone would run out of the cinemas yelling ughh........
> I think the Australian Chinese are barking up the wrong tree.
I would say only a few provocateurs, and of course the bullshit Aussie media will play it up as if this is some dort of "worthy" issue. It ain't.
I don't blame the provocateurs --- this is a free country (somewhat...and at the moment) and people can say whatever the fuck they want -- complain and disagree as publicly as they like, and KPKB until the pass out from anoxia.
...and the (so-called) "free" press can do what they like, and cop shit form folks like me :)
Isn't it bad enough that we have the abo's making constant noise in the media (the usual sing-song story about being "oppressed"), and then there are the muslim immigrants -- who come over here, get the welfare then slam Australia... and now the ABC's (Aussie Born Chinese)... no I don't believe it. Like I said, it is only the voice of a few agent provocateurs.
Fuck the media.
P.S. OK. Maybe I'm a bit jealous. No one approached me to act the part of Billy Sing. A month in the gym should do it..., tighten up the arse and gut a bit. I think with a bit of make up, maybe some minor cosmetic surgery, and if all else fails some CGI I could be the "token Asian" poster boy for the nation's defence force.
Ya, he looks more like Matt Damon than Jackie Chan or Mark Lee.
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