Is Ken Jeong's character Mr. Chow in The Hangover a racist stereotype?

published by ANBM on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 20:07

Examiner.com - Doctor turned comedian turned actor, Ken Jeong, who first hit the big screen playing a short-tempered doctor in “Knocked Up,” can be seen portraying an angry Asian crime boss in the new comedy “The Hangover."

Those who have seen the movie will probably agree that Jeong's character Mr. Chow is quite possibly the most blatantly over-the-top racial stereotype of an Asian man since Mickey Rooney put on "Yellow Face" makeup to play a "crazy Jap in the upstairs apartment" for the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Granted "The Hangover" is a raunchy comedy that pokes fun at everybody, not just Asians, but nevertheless the fact that the movie has raked in a boat load of money at the box office, makes me wonder what are moviegoers thinking?
Has society become so anti-"Political Correctness" that now it's okay to make movies like this?

Are moviegoers that hard up for laughs that this is the only thing they can go to see?

And just what in the hell is Hollywood trying to say by making these kinds of movies?

I recently got an email from a friend who saw "The Hangover" and he was extremely upset at the way Jeong's Mr. Chow character is portrayed.

After reading my friend's email, I had to ask myself, has Hollywood gone backwards? Have movies de-evolved in the last 50 years?

For years, Asians struggled to create meaningful roles for themselves in Hollywood films and television. Asian actors like Keye Luke, who played the "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan movies of the 1930-40s and later stars like Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat worked hard to break through the negative stereotypes to create heroic Asian male lead characters.

Asian American male actors made great strides in the 1990s and 2000s when actors like Daniel Dae Kim, Russell Wong, Jason Scott Lee and Chris Tashima came along to play leading roles in film and television.

Lee burst on the scene with his performance in "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story", while Wong had a series lead role on "Vanishing Son" and Kim a co-starring role on "Lost". Tashima even won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for "Visas and Virtues" in which he portrays Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara

Read the full story here

Tag: