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Diversity In Hollywood

1282 Words6 Pages

What are the few A-list actors many people think of on the top of their heads? Ryan Gosling, Morgan Freeman, Emma Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, and Jennifer Lawrence are some of the actors that many people today would recall. I’ve had the pleasure of watching these actors on the screen over the years as many of them take on new roles and receive amazing awards. Recently, the 89th Academy Awards added more diversity into its categories compared to the previous year, where the host Chris Rock called out Hollywood for “white-washing” the nominations. Hollywood today aims to focus on the importance of diversity in the performing arts. However, it is not always the case because many people still find a cultural barrier for other races, such …show more content…

For decades, many children grew up watching Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. They both became well-established in the industry for their abilities in various forms of self-defense and attacks as they would perform many these unbelievable stunts alone. Although many people give a positive reaction seeing action through skilled fighting techniques, this has created an attached image to many Asians in society. Numerous of Hollywood castings seek physical backgrounds from these particular clients — “‘now the flipside of stereotyping is that every Asian American actor is expected to know some form of martial arts,’ Tisa Chang, director of the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre in New York, told ABC News”(Nittle). On many occasions, Asians are in the spotlight when the storyline resonance with what many people depict this race as. Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior is an example of detrimental stereotype that many people would categorize Asians with. Although one of classic childhood Disney movie with an empowering Asian female lead, it storyline focuses on a girl who “is the reincarnation of a power female warrior and the only person who can prevent an ancient evil spirit from destroying the world” (Wikipedia). Why are the lives of Asians explored mainly when warriors and the practice of Kung-Fu are included in the plot of an American film? Afterwards, many Asians on screens are seen involved in movies and television shows with similar plots. Principally, the portrayal of the Asian with knowledge in martial arts on both television and film screen adds as another tired

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994 Words | 4 Pages

African Americans on the battle front are put into segregated divisions, whereas Native Americans dealt with compliment racism or unintentional racism. Chinese Americans were concerned with being accused of being Japanese, while the Japanese Americans tried to prove they were American too. Throughout his book, Takaki demonstrates the varying levels of racism experienced, and how hard work and perseverance helped these groups prove themselves to some degree. Takaki claims, all of these minorities groups, gained some form of freedom and equality either through the military or through job opportunities and improvements.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

When we think of heroes we often think of a masked vigilanty or a cape crusader swooping down from the heavens and saving the day. Although heroes come in many shapes and sizes, they also tend to come from different backgrounds. The people of the United States pride themselves with freedom and equality. However, still to this day there is a struggle with discrimination. Matt Zoller Seitz’s article “The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die” definitely sparked some interest and was definitely right when it came to the offensive issue most people do not see.

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499 Words | 2 Pages

• African Americans – The cultural transition from the 1970-1960 promoting African Americans literature, was also a musical and vocal movement for a culture coming of age after the liberation of slavery. The fierce anxiety of post-Civil War racism created a “voice” through artistic creativity, making a deliberate statement of the status of America through African American eyes. The timelines show artist telling a story of character and circumstance. • Asian Americans – The timelines showed advancement in music, literature and theatrical fields. They also showed more popularity of this sub-culture during the last fifty years.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

While many Asian, Hispanic, and Black people tried hard to make their dream of acting become true, racial stereotypes always are the barriers that inhibit their future in the movie industry. Thus, directors are the only ones who can make that change. Some directors said that they just do their job which follows the audience interest. However, according to the documentary film "Yellow Face”, producers did a survey on a lot of American audiences about casting Asian actors to the movie that based on other cultures. The majority prefers using Asian cast because they can perform the original culture realistically.

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1089 Words | 5 Pages

It all started when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, causing the U.S. citizens to be extremely furious and unite the support of media to create propagandas. The Japanese are portrayed with slanted small eyes and buck teeth- undermining the intelligence of their race; moreover, they were even dehumanized and depicted as animals. The U.S media was very biased when comparing the Chinese to the Japanese. While the Chinese man had an amiable appearance and a slender body, the Japanese had an unpleasant frown on his face and was described as short and stout (Miles). The article “WWII Propaganda: The Influence of Racism” also states that “The Chinese man’s occupation implies that he helps people, while the title of Japanese warrior alludes to danger and disloyalty,” (ibid).

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750 Words | 3 Pages

Asian culture is extremely beautiful and diverse; it deserves to be portrayed as such. Hollywood’s constant use of typecasting in it’s films contributes and reinforces stereotypes and racial biases towards the Asian American community. Historically, Hollywood does not have a very good track record of being kind to actors of color. The use of black and yellow face was quite popular in the early 20th century to portray people of color as unflattering.

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston addresses prevalent topics faced in America today. How should women act? Should women be treated differently from men? In her memoir, Kingston faces many obstacles with her Chinese-American identity such as finding her voice as a young woman. In “White Tigers,” Kingston tells her own version of a popular Chinese ballad, “Fa Mu Lan,” while incorporating her own reality back into the section.

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997 Words | 4 Pages

Bruce Lee is a world-renowned Chinese martial artist, actor, and film producer. Bruce Lee is famous for his unique martial arts style, solid physical fitness, and high-stage charisma. ' Fist of Fury' (1972) is a martial arts film directed by Lowe and starring Bruce Lee. In 1930s Shanghai, the film tells the story of Chen Zhen, a young Chinese martial arts student who fights against foreign powers for revenge after his Master is murdered. In this article, we explore Leon Hunt's assertion of the centrality of Fist of Fury to his critical claims in shaping Bruce Lee as a Chinese hero.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

To begin, Bruce Lee broke racial barriers in the world of acting. He helped Americans realize that Chinese people are more than their facial features. According to Block, “As the first Asian international action star, he smashed the Western stereotype of the Chinese coolie, and provided reason for a whole generation of young Asians, as well as other minorities, to be proud of their heritage.” Lee proved many racist stereotypes wrong and he gained a lot of respect from many cultures around the world. Being Chinese in America not too long after World War ll, people were still wary and thought of him as suspicious.

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1704 Words | 7 Pages

You hurt me! I thought you were born in China, the land of Confucius, Lao-Tze and Buddha. But you are as tough as any white brat I ever met when I was South!” (106). In this single moment, Pearl Chang subverts the power dynamic in two ways.

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1015 Words | 5 Pages

Diversity in Hollywood includes more than race and more than acting. There is little diversity not only in front of the camera but behind the scenes too. Likely hood of seeing a nonwhite cast or set of directors is low since the industry is own by Caucasians. Hollywood cast their movies base on their liking. Which they would cast an all Caucasian cast instead of being diverse.

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649 Words | 3 Pages

Asian Americans include persons that come to the United States from a variety of countries in Asia and the Indian subcontinent (McNamara & Burns, 2009). Although the do share similar physical features, each subgroup has its own history, customs, and culture (McNamara & Burns, 2009). There are many different perceptions of Asian Americans in general. One is that they have overcome barriers and discrimination to be successful and achieve the ‘American Dream’ (McNamara & Burns, 2009). One reason for this I believe is that the majority of Asian Americans come to the United States with a dream and a goal to be successful.

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304 Words | 2 Pages

After thorough research, I finally nailed down a recent current event immensely impacting the film and entertainment industry. Although, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a one of a kind entity, industry leader, and entertainment media organization—they are not prone to controversy. To demonstrate, Kira Hudson Banks wrote an article in the Harvard Business Journal titled, Diversity at the Oscars Is More than a Numbers Game—https://hbr.org/2016/02/diversity-at-the-oscars-is-more-than-a-numbers-game. Kira, critically breaks down how worthy actors are being passed up for Oscar nominations simply because of their race, she, ultimately, analyzes the underlying problem as “Institutional Racism”, in which she ties to

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2257 Words | 10 Pages

I still remember how I was once suffocated with the burden of belonging to an Asian cultural background. Being Asian had its perks like getting the divine recognition as of a smart person, the godly praises of being the embodiment of discipline; however, all that gold was nothing more than ordinary glitter. The praises, the recognition, the credibility, it all meant nothing when it came to individual freedom. There was never a day painted in history that my shoulders were not dragged to the ground bearing the burden of family honor, proper code of conduct and well this struggle to be simply, perfect.

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1587 Words | 7 Pages

Embracing diversity in the media is important because it will shed light on the importance of protecting against racial stereotyping. Racial stereotyping is a well know problem that all minorities have faced. Racial stereotyping is when a person has preconceived notions on a person because they are of a certain race. A great deal of stereotyping stems from the media’s lack of diversity that has casted stereotypes towards minorities.

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