Chinese & Chinese-Americans in Hollywood share their stories
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail CNTV, October 9, 2014
|
|
|
Actress Chloe Bennet |
From on-camera talents to behind the camera, American story telling often portray the Chinese as exotic and devious characters reflecting the entertainment industry's inherent racial prejudices as well as its fascination with the Far East. Comedy writer Jessica Gao, who immigrated from China, feels it is her duty to watch for any stereotypes whenever there is a Chinese character in a script.
"Hi, Jessica, thank you so much for joining us today. Now how did your Chinese heritage influenced you in being able to shape those stories out here? How has it helped you," asked Sanyee Yuan, the reporter.
"For all the projects I have worked on, whether it's Star Wars Detours or Robot Chicken or anything, for me it's just about that being Chinese makes me very protective anytime on any show there's any sort of Asian character because I don't want the character to fall into a stereotype or some sort of cliché. I don't want them to make any type of cheap jokes at my cultural expense. You know," said Gao.
Working behind the scenes, stunt director Andy Cheng came to Hollywood with Jackie Chan; and for him, making it in Hollywood as a Chinese Kung Fu master has been about working with mutual respect.
"So with all these major movies like Twilight that cater to global audiences, how are you able to have the stunts that are required for Hollywood," asked Yuan.
"They learn from us, you know? Like wireworks and how we do fighting. (They learned) the tempo, the timing, the rhythm. What I learned (from them) to bring back to China is what I was learning from them, like they ask me “why you do this”, “why you wire it”, “why that guy is flying? ” So they will question me a lot. And I have to find a reason, a logic and storytelling to tell them for them to understand how to do that," said Andy Cheng, a stunt director.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)