This article treads on an old, familiar topic around here... the media representation of the Asian North American male, which ain't so good these days: The invisible visible minority. You gotta admit, things are a lot better than they were, say, twenty years back. But man, everytime you think Asian men are getting somewhere, something comes along that just pushes our media image several leaps back. For every Daniel Dae Kim and Yul Kwon, the only suckas people seem to really remember are Long Duk Dong, William Hung, and now Seung Hui Cho. It seems to be a constant struggle. And here a column on why it matters: How films affect the way we see Asians.
And while we're on the topic, I highly recommend checking out Jeff Adachi's excellent documentary The Slanted Screen, now available on DVD
, and also airing nationally May 10th on PBS (check your local listings). For more information about the film, go here.