Content Warning: Explicit discussion of race and potential slurs.
In this issue:
Featured Feminist: Kristina Wong
Behind the Curtains
"We're Not the Token Minority": A Student's Perspective
Broadway’s Ugly History with Stereotypes
-Miss Saigon
-The King and I
-Thoroughly Modern Millie
Featured Feminist: Kristina Wong
By Britney Gomez-Landeros
Kristina Wong is a proud feminist, performance artist, comedian, writer, and is actually an elected official on her neighborhood council in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.
She is well known for introducing heavy topics such as racism, misogyny, politics, and dissecting through a high comedic approach. In one of her many works, “The Wong Street Journal”, she brilliantly tackles topics like global poverty, privilege and economic theory using her own story and fun comedic twists. Her current solo performance, “Kristina Wong for Public Office” was originally live and touring, however due to the pandemic, it was adapted for Zoom and is currently still playing. Being an elected official, she tells the story of what that means to her, the history of voting itself, and how artists have an effect in our democracy.
This pandemic production, however, was not the only thing she had in store for 2020. She also started a non profit organization that blew up called Auntie Sewing Squad. It first started in March with Kristina simply making and donating about 25 masks a day in response to COVID-19. This grew as she built up volunteers (among which include award winning filmmakers and people with master degrees) who were willing and able to make masks for those in need.
“As an artist who my whole life has been reminded how unessential my work is or how extra my line of work is and how we don’t need cultures, we need doctors. I have one skill that I've used as an artist in my career which is sewing that now can help save people's lives.
[..]
I need to step up and be a human to another human.”
This is not the first time Kristina has stepped up to empower. She is also the host of a YouTube web series called Radical Cram School, which features nine 7 to 11 year olds of Asian American heritage, 8 of which identify as girls and 1 who identifies as gender- fluid.
In this web series, she educates, and inspires. The intro to every episode being, “We're gonna learn about social justice, revolution, and how to be powerful in the bodies that you have.”
It is important to be aware of what is happening when you are young so that you are able to recognize injustice and wrong doings, that most people just let slide, and stand up against them. Kristna strongly empowers and radicalizes these young kids and opens their eyes to how the world’s systems are built against them. They cover topics like oppression, structural racism, intersectionality, misogyny, wage inequality, etc. in a way that is easy for children or younger viewers to understand.
In one episode (S1E4, “Statistics”), she teaches them about wage inequality through cookies, saying, “We cannot understand structural racism by just hearing about it. We have to experience it.”
The kids were shocked and repulsed by the numbers and at the end joined together to decide that they wanted to form a union so that everyone is able to get 100% of the “cookie."
Kristina Wong is an inspiration to all these kids, and to me as well. She is not afraid to speak, educate, and lead, all while having a smile on her face and making others laugh. These were only a few things that she accomplished, and I look forward to seeing what the future has to offer.
To keep up with Kristina and her many adventures you can visit http://kristinawong.com/blog/, a blog written by her that documents her successes and struggles.
Behind the Curtains
By Jackie Jimenez
Makeup artists, hair stylists, stage managers, crew members, costume designers, set designers, and camera operators are the backbone of the entertainment industry. In every aspect of entertainment and the arts, it’s easy to forget the people who help bring an idea to life, whether it be on screen, on stage, or on a blank piece of paper. It’s also easy to be overlooked and ignored in an industry that has little representation for diverse communities and people, such as Asian Americans.
Hair stylist and makeup artist, Amapro, has been an artist for more than 20 years. She states that growing up as a Asian-American woman in the United States had its challenges. “I grew up in a neighborhood and at a time where Asians were seen as a rare breed, so to speak,” says Amparo. For more than 30 years, Amparo’s family has been the only Asian-family household in a predominantly white neighborhood. “We stood out like a sore thumb. Many people thought our house was Chinatown, which I thought was ridiculous because we are not Chinese. We are Korean,” says Amparo.
Driven by her passion to use her skills to highlight the beauty of everyone she works on, she started her career at 18 years old. Amparo has worked in four different beauty shops and recently began working in the film industry. “Recently, I went to Mexico to work on a film as a hair and makeup stylist. Our design and stylists team was very diverse. Our team consisted of people who were white, Black, Hispanic, and Latinx, but I was the only Asian,” says Amparo. It was an eye-opening experience for Amparo. When she started working in beauty shops, she worked in areas that were predominantly Asian because she wanted to work in a community where people look like her for once. Going from working in an asian community to a community where there were rarely any Asians was an eye-opener. “I am going to be honest. Once I was able to start working and was able to decide what areas I want to work and live in, I turned a blind-eye to what it means to be an Asian-American woman working and living in America. I did not want to experience what I experienced my whole-life. I wanted a break from being judged and ignored,” says Amparo. Amparo expressed that she thought she could escape this discrimination and prejudice if she “stuck with her own crowd.” After her experience working in the film industry, she realized that is not living. “Growing up, I was taught if you ignore it, other people will too. Looking back now, I wish I could tell myself, don’t ignore it. Your race and ethnicity are part of you. It is not the only thing that determines who you are. It is one of the many important things that makes up who you are.”
When asked if more Asian representation in films, plays, and other forms of entertainment would have helped her feel more confident in being Asian-American in the United States, Amparo stated, “Yes and no. Yes, because it would have felt nice to know that people like me were being seen and our stories want to be told. No, because the majority of the time white men were the ones telling our stories and they only knew stereotypes of Asians. There would have been more misrepresentation than representation.” Amparo feels as time has passed representation in the arts and entertainment industry have improved, but there is still a long way to go. “Being the only Asian-American woman working in a film on a stylists team helped me see the big picture. When you work behind the curtains, lights and everything, you really get to see everything. And what I saw is that there needs to be more Asians working in the arts and entertainment.”
“We're Not the Token Minority”: A Student's Perspective
By Jackie Jimenez
The power of the media, arts, and entertainment is very strong and influential as it encourages a lot of people to feel confident with their identities. When their stories are being told in an authentic way on screen, on stage, or on paper, not only do they gain confidence, but people who are different and look different from them get a better understanding of what it means to be like them. It is one of the many ways tolerance is taught. However, in order to teach tolerance, we have to do it right.
Students within the CSULB Theatre Department have expressed that they want to do more shows that have more Asian roles and representation. A student I interviewed, who has asked to remain anonymous stated, “I want more Asian roles and representation that is offered to students like me, but I know there is limitation as there aren’t many plays or musicals out there for us.” They stated how they appreciated that the department wants to embrace the diversity in the Asian community in Long Beach and tell our stories, but more needs to be done. “I appreciated how they got an Asian-American woman director for a show, but that did not really do anything for the students. Yeah, the show called for a role for an Asian, but that is only for one student.”
To get a better understanding of what it means to be an Asian American student and an artist involved with Theatre Arts, Film, and Performance, I asked this student a series of questions below.
What stories would you like to see told/do you want to tell about Asians and Asian-Americans?
A story I would want to see about Asians and Asian American would be the story of a second-generation immigrant, who was raised in the US by parents who immigrated to the US as adults. This is a narrative that I haven’t seen often, or have only started to see recently, yet me and most of my asian american friends are in this exact situation. To be part of another culture and grow up in America is such a rich and complicated experience that holds many dilemmas of identity, family, racism, and more. As an Asian American I would love to see a narrative such as this one be told to a large audience. I think this would be representative to the stories of many Asian Americans and encourage discussions of culture and identity to many.
Why do you think there are there limited roles of Asians, of which many are typecast? How does this affect Asians in the industry?
I think that there are limited roles of Asians in the industry because the industry has always been heavily dominated by white people, and therefore most of the stories that they tell don’t involve minorities. Moreover, when a lot of films or tv shows seek to include a “token” minority character or story, it’s not often an Asian American that is thought of or sought out to be included. I also think that a main reason for the limited roles of Asians in the industry is because the commitment to include an Asian in a narrative always has the potential for backlash from audiences if the portrayal is not managed well or done right, so many executives will often either typecast the role or decide not to do it at all. This affects Asians in the industry because often many people in the industry limit the role to certain ethnicities. For example, an actor who is part Korean part Chinese might not get a role because the character was written to be Chinese only. However, there is backlash to that as well as someone who is Chinese is cast as Korean and vice versa.
Is there a specific show, film, or play that influenced your perspective on Asian representation? If so, explain how big of an impact it had on you.
One specific film that greatly influenced my perspective on Asian representation was Crazy Rich Asians. I have often heard many other asian americans mention this movie and how influential it was to see that many asian actors and that much representation on the big screen. To me, I had never before seen that many asian actors or seen a story in the media that was so focused on being Asian and Asian American. It dealt with the conflict between parent-child in Asian-Americans and the differences in culture between Asian-Americans and Asians. Although it was just one movie, it provided me a glimpse of how amazing it feels to have your own story and culture shown in the media and it gives you a feeling of belonging and validation. Moreover, the impact of this film opened up the productive discussion of Asian-American representation in the industry, and encouraged more inclusion of Asian-Americans in film. Personally, I was surprised by how emotionally I felt from seeing people that looked like me with similar experiences on the big screen.
When asked what steps do they think the CSULB Theatre Department needs to take to offer Asian students more opportunities for representation on stage, the student stated, “Honestly, I can’t speak for all Asian students involved with Theatre Arts, but I think they really need to do more research and educate themselves on what shows are out there for students like us. If they are lost and don’t know what to do, they should reach out to us more. Many of us know shows that have proper representation for our community or we know of people that write shows that tell the stories of people like us and for us. It concerns me how some people are more concerned on what show is going to sell rather than focusing on what show is going to educate audiences and offer representation. I am glad we have made progress to include communities such as the Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQIA+, and Black community in shows. There is a lot of color in our Theatre Arts community, but the one color that people are forgetting and neglecting whether it be knowingly or unknowingly, is yellow.”
Broadway’s Ugly History with Stereotypes
Miss Saigon
By Rory Smith
Miss Saigon, a 1989 musical written by two white men, is an undeniably popular piece of theatre. In fact, it is Broadway’s thirteenth longest-running show. But it might be worth investigating why this show is so appealing to Broadway audiences. Well, who are the majority of American theatre-goers? White people with at least some measure of disposable income. It is unsurprising, then, that Miss Saigon is a classic white savior story. But even worse, the story deals heavily in offensive stereotypes of Asian people, featuring hypersexualized, submissive Vietnamese women who work as sex workers, and evil, scheming Vietnamese men. Ultimately, the narrative acts to enforce American white authority and white supremacy, by commodifying the atrocities of the Vietnam War and mapping them onto Asian bodies for white audiences.
The original production of Miss Saigon cast a white actor in yellowface to play the role of The Engineer, a pimp who seeks to control Kim, the protagonist, for his own profit. The revival of Miss Saigon “rectified” this choice by casting an Asian actor, without examining the stereotypes about Asian manhood that are at play within the character itself. In this retelling of the Vietnam War, American GIs are the heroes and Vietnamese men are the villains. This simplistic narrative structure alone classifies this musical as barely more than propaganda, seeking to rewrite America’s shameful imperialist legacy in the global south.
The problem with white people controlling the narratives about people of color, using them essentially as props to support the narrative they are selling, is that stereotypes are inevitable. It is impossible for two white men like Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg to write a truthful story about a Vietnamese woman’s experience with sex trafficking during a useless war that ravaged Vietnam. Instead of investing more millions of dollars into endless revivals of shows like this that perpetuate harmful stereotypes about Asian people and reinforce a false narrative about American greatness, American theatre producers would do well to invest in stories by and for Asian-Americans. Qui Nguyen’s play Vietgone is a version of his own parents’ story as refugees and starred CSULB theatre alumnus, Raymond Lee, in its New York premiere and at South Coast Repertory. Allegiance, with music and lyrics by Jay Kuo, is a 2015 Broadway musical inspired partly by George Takei’s experiences as a little boy in the Japanese internment camps during World War II. Soft Power, a 2018 musical with book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang, reverses the stereotypes of The King and I by exoticizing America and mocking the practice of offensive nonspecificity when appropriating elements of Asian cultures. Countless more Asian women playwrights, such as Lauren Yee, Young Jean Lee, Julia Cho, and more are producing new, exciting works. The truthful Asian representation we need and crave is out there, but it’s not going to be written by white folks.
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The King and I
By Mattie Limas
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I is yet another of these shows that joins Broadway’s ever-growing list of painfully outdated productions. The story follows Anna Leonowens, an English school teacher who is brought to Siam (now known as Thailand) by King Mongkut in an attempt to modernize his country. From the synopsis alone, it is easy to see how the play is on the “Orientalism is cool” boat ride, and yet audiences seem to love it?
The play, when premiering in 1951 on Broadway, was met with wide acclaim, landing three Tony Awards, two of which were for performances from Gertrude Bryner as Anna and Yul Brynner as King Mongkut. It is to be noted that Yul Brynner is indeed a Russian-American. Yes, you heard that correctly. He would reprise that role for the movie adaptation, winning an Academy Award for his efforts.
Most modern productions have acknowledged the racist history in casting and have ensured that actors of Asian descent are playing the appropriate roles in the show. Other efforts have been made to lessen the emphasis on theatrical aesthetics that reinforce Orientalist tropes, as was the case with the 2015 revival production on Broadway directed by Bartlett Sher.
But even with the changes that have been made, critics are still unsatisfied with the presence of the show on prominent stages around the nation: no matter where you go, community, regional, or national theatres, you’ll find this show on the roster. How much must you have to change or adapt from an original script before you realize that the source material is probably just not worth telling anymore?
Sher claims that the criticization of the show is unfair, saying, “Do they say that about the Merchant of Venice?” after the gala opening of the show at the London Palladium when the show was in the West End. My answer to that: um, yes. Yes in every sense of the word.
There are a lot of issues I have with that statement, but the one that is especially enraging is the implication that we must reproduce canonized work forever. There is this idea that works made by the greats like Shakespeare or Rodgers and Hammerstein will be the only quality art that will grace our stages; and that all the best art has already been made (and made by white men). It perpetuates the myth of artistic scarcity; it’s ridiculous to assume that the next great musical or play couldn’t be created by a member of the community the play is about and written right now.
I am not saying that we should go through the theatrical catalog of every drama school and “cancel” problematic shows, not producing them ever again. There is value in reinterpreting a script and adding commentary that addresses the way in which the play is troubled. But, for a play with so many issues, why must it be one of the very few shows that Asian actors have the opportunity to work in. Again, artistic scarcity is a myth; there are plenty of musicals and plays written by and for Asian people that have the substance to be on modern stages, and yet the budgeting goes towards the same tired classics over and over again. Reproduction of shows like it continues to sideline the "next great play" written by actual people of color every day.
So to answer Sher, and to respond to all people who think that we shouldn’t try to impose modern sensibilities on harmful classics: if you aren’t Asian, please consider the value of simply not speaking.
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Thoroughly Modern Millie
By Rhiannon Lewis
Thoroughly Modern Millie premiered on Broadway in 2002, and is based on the 1967 movie musical of the same name. The role of Millie Dillmount is commonly known as Sutton Foster’s claim to fame, which is one of the reasons why it has been such a popular piece of contemporary American Theatre. However, there is a stark contrast between the way the white characters are represented in the script versus the Chinese characters, who happen to be the antagonists of the story.
The huge subplot of this musical is that Mrs. Meers, a white woman posing as a Chinese hotel owner, runs a “white slavery” ring in the “Orient” where she takes advantage of young women staying in her hotel. Those are the actual words Wikipedia uses for her character description. Just hearing that sentence should already raise some major red flags about the script. Some words that Stage Agent uses to describe Mrs. Meers are “criminal, liar, kidnapper, disgraced, villain, resentful, and cruel.” She is typically played by a white woman in yellowface. The fact that yellowface is actively written into the script and is a working part within the plot is incredibly problematic. It means that this character, who was written by two white men, was intentionally meant to be played through stereotypes, including a fake Chinese accent. A white woman disguises herself as a Chinese woman to do something illegal, villainizing the Chinese woman. Akin to Mrs. Meers are two other Chinese characters, Bun Foo and Ching Ho, who are described as her “henchmen.”
To be clear, “Bun Foo” and “Ching Ho” are not actual Chinese names. In fact, in the 1967 movie, these characters were not actually named; according to IMDB, they were referred to as “Oriental #1 and #2.” When the Broadway adaptation was written, they were given “Chinese-sounding” names, developing these characters as caricatures rooted in negative stereotypes. Similar to Mrs. Meers, these characters were intended to be played through negative stereotypes to purposefully be the punchline of insensitive jokes that, frankly, are not funny in the 21st century. According to a Playbill.com article from 2018, Francis Jue, who originated the role of Bun Foo on Broadway, states that these characters can be representative of Chinese immigrants in pursuit of the “American Dream.” Bun Foo and Ching Ho speak and sing in Chinese, and if it is portrayed truthfully, can be really meaningful.
“I have always thought that the Chinese guys and Mrs. Meers are the most revolutionary part of this show,” Jue told Playbill. “To actually have real Chinese guys singing and speaking in their own language and meaning it, and to link their immigrant story to the same story as Millie and Jimmy and Muzzy, all these people who just want to be their best selves and come to America because of the American Dream, all these people who come to New York to reinvent themselves and be modern—I think is exactly what the Chinese guys are all about.” -Franics Jue
It is problematic when the roles are not played by Chinese actors, further perpetuating negative tropes and stereotypes, making a mockery out of these two characters. Even though yellowface was not written as part of these characters like it is for Mrs. Meers, it is often what ends up happening. A message board thread from Broadwayworld.com shows the unfortunate reality that two caucasian men often end up playing these roles, and several people accept it as the norm for these roles.
Contemporary American Theatre should not hold space for racism. Stories about Asian-Americans cannot be written by white people. There are so many Asian creators, artists, playwrights, actors, and more out there, and we need to give their work a platform. (See above for recommendations.) Why do an outdated production of Thoroughly Modern Millie when you could truthfully represent Asian-Americans through their own work? As we get further into the 21st century, now is the time more than ever to stop using offensive tropes and stereotypes to represent other cultures in American Theatre.
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