Oscars Results !

[Miriel]

About Crash, I thought it was a good movie, with amazing performances (I actually would have been happy if Matt Dillon had won the Oscar) and an interesting concept. But Crash did a rather horrible job of protraying racism in Los Angeles. I live in Los Angeles. I am Asian. I have faced racism in Los Angeles, as has most of my family members.

The Asian population in Los Angeles is the largest in the United States, and for a movie dealing with racism in LA, it's amazing how nonexistent the Asian characters in the movie are. Not only that, but the Asians who are actually depicted in the movie are depicted as bad-driving irritants who speak with cartoonish accents and engage in human-trafficking. So you know what I say to that? In the famous words of Angry Asian Man, THAT'S RACIST!

Ultimately Crash was a good movie, with many flaws that really did not have new or interesting commentary to add about racism in our society.

And I think it's hilarious that a movie dealing with racism did nothing to further the respect of minorities in the Industry yet Brokeback Mountain was the vehicle in which the first non-white director won the Best Director award. Go Ang.

[Winter Nights]

I think that's what bothered me the most. The story and concept was solid, but a good deal of the characters fit into the very stereotypes the movie was supposed to be fighting against. Not only that, but the film loses points for that scene that everyone seems to cry at. It was a shameless ploy to smurf with your emotions, just to make people feel that the movie was "edgy" and "emotional". It had no real point, except to treat the only likable character like <img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"> for no reason. Plus, you are not likely to make me believe that someone that they never show having any violent tendencies would be capable of doing something like that so easily. He would have been so jittery, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed some one running toward them. Unless he falls under the previous statement of stereotypical characters, of course.

On a completely different note.. Whoever decided that hiring Tony Danza was a good idea should be fired. That man has played way too many nice guys for anyone to take him seriously in that type of role. I couldn't stop laughing through that entire scene. The movie was semi-credible (though Brendan Frasier and Sandra Bullock made me want to shove a knive in my ear) up until that point and it went straight to "afterschool special" hell right when Tony Danza walked into frame.

[Loony BoB]

About Crash, I thought it was a good movie, with amazing performances (I actually would have been happy if Matt Dillon had won the Oscar) and an interesting concept. But Crash did a rather horrible job of protraying racism in Los Angeles. I live in Los Angeles. I am Asian. I have faced racism in Los Angeles, as has most of my family members.

The Asian population in Los Angeles is the largest in the United States, and for a movie dealing with racism in LA, it's amazing how nonexistent the Asian characters in the movie are. Not only that, but the Asians who are actually depicted in the movie are depicted as bad-driving irritants who speak with cartoonish accents and engage in human-trafficking. So you know what I say to that? In the famous words of Angry Asian Man, THAT'S RACIST!

Ultimately Crash was a good movie, with many flaws that really did not have new or interesting commentary to add about racism in our society.

And I think it's hilarious that a movie dealing with racism did nothing to further the respect of minorities in the Industry yet Brokeback Mountain was the vehicle in which the first non-white director won the Best Director award. Go Ang.

I'm not entirely sure, but wasn't the insurance guy an Asian dude? I mean, I agree that they played some stereotypes but I think that needed to be done in order to get the message across, at least in some of the situations. Certainly not all of them. I'm just saying that they didn't stereotype every role, just the leading ones. The others were made up of various races, although I do stress that I'm not 100% sure as I'm going by memory, here.

[Miriel]

The issue of Asians in mainstream media is a pretty sore spot for me. I have Asian friends struggling in the Industry, and I've worked with the creators of Harold and Kumar, and I have heard first hand how racist Hollywood can be to Asian actors and the protrayal of Asian characters.

Anyway, Phil Yu (aka Angry Asian Man) who is one of the most intelligent and outspoken voices on Asian racism and discrimination in the Media and popular culture, articulated everything I felt about Crash:

The big suprise upset win of the evening was for Crash, which won Best Picture. A lot of people ask me what I thought of this film. Pretty interesting, I think. But as much as I wanted to like this movie, I just have HUGE problems with it. It's been applauded and acclaimed for being a candid, provocative take on race and tolerance. It's the kind of movie people like to walk out of feeling sort of satisfied with themselves for stepping out of their comfort zones, and being challenged with a subject they normally have the luxury of ignoring. And yes, I give it points for trying. But the film just falls short in a big way when it comes to—what else?—its portrayal of Asians. One of the major goals of this film is to show that race relations must extend beyond black and white, or good and evil, and on some levels, it succeeds. But the story, set in Los Angeles(!) and told with a multitude of diverse characters, blatantly leaves Asians out of the bulk of the conversation—as usual. All these characters are drawn with sympathy and complexity, but the Asian characters—revolving around a stereotypical bad driver and human trafficking operation—are decidedly one dimensional, and exist only to fulfill one of the other characters' redemption. It's frustrating and irresponsible. I know a lot of people are happy this film won, but I'm shaking my head over missed opportunities.

So, what's the point of all this? Like I said, Crash was a good movie, and the performances were excellent, but it just wears a person down when even a movie specifically meant to deal with racism manages to relegate Asian charaters to cliched sideline roles.

[auhin]

I personally thought Narnia should've won more awards, that was probably the greatest movie I'd seen all year. I can't wait for the next one, which'll probably be Prince Caspian.
Did anyone like Mrs. Henderson Presents? I never saw it.

[Loony BoB]

Fair points, Miriel. Of course, it's not just Hollywood, it's movie makers around the world in that regard. I can't think of many movies I've seen, foreign or English, that are truly multicultural.