Posted on 03/13/2010 1:56:09 PM PST by JoeProBono
The revival of a 42-year-old documentary on the fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan has reignited the controversy surrounding that character specifically and, more generally, the portrayal of Asian-Americans in Hollywood.
The documentary, The Great Charlie Chan, made in 1968, was all but forgotten. But Harvey Chertok, who was vice president for advertising, promotion and publicity at Warner Brothers-Seven Arts when it was created, said he discovered it recently while cleaning out old files. The New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the group that organizes the New York Emmy Awards, held a screening in February and another is scheduled at the National Arts Club in Manhattan on March 16.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I guess Karloff, Lorre, Oland and Toler would be ousted from Hollywood today.
Why don’t one of these whiners do a movie about the real guy Charlie is based on, or shut up?
“Rose in fish market still smell like fish.” “Hey Pop”................. OOOOOOOH, that’s racist???? As a matinee kid, he was one of our favorites. Who knew?
Chang Apana was most famous for carrying a bullwhip, rather than a gun, with which he would go after the bad guys.
Agree with you, loved him as a kid, that was before we were all taught that we were racists...I am glad I am old, wouldn’t want to be young in todays culture...
I’m offended at all those white people wearing “blue face” in Avatar.
This one was my favorite Charlie Chan...
I caught that. Let’s see if anyone else does.
As far as Oland himself, the films had been tried with Asian leads and hadn't done well. What happened was pure Hollywood - a hot script tied to a name actor. The formula worked, and they repeated it 15 times. That wasn't about racism, it was all about the bottom line.
Yeah, all three of 'em. It always cheeses me off when Corporate America assumes the fetal position when dealing with these professional victims. Paying attention to them only increases their sense of power. Better to say, "Your complaint has been noted - NEXT?"
I just finished watching all of the Warner Oland DVDs and saw just a cool unassuming guy underplaying his hand - until the final scene when he ALWAYS outsmarted and nabbed the bad guy.
Gee, where were all the Italians "activists" when "Colombo" was in his prime? There were episodes where he was an absolute suck-up to some celebrity, then like Charle, nailed them in the end. Both used the "dumb as a box of rocks" approach, which every viewer knew, and just waited to see the bad guy tripped up.
Put this whiner Choy on the spot and ask him what scene in what Chan movie was so offensive. Bethcha this idiot never even watched those movies.
The character was usually played by white actors who were made up to seem Asian and who spoke English with an exaggerated accent. The portrayals also frequently perpetuated the cliché of Asian-Americans as inscrutable.
In one of the extras on those DVDs mentioned above, they showed Warner Oland touring Shanghai and the narrator made the observation that the Chinese there all thought Warner WAS Chinese. It's called ACTING for a reason, Mr. Choy.
I know it’s TV and not movies, but David Carradine didn’t look like a Shaolin monk to me.
I couldn’t have said this better. Bravo. You nailed it. I love Charlie Chan and as far as I’m concerned the biggest controversy is who is the better Chan, Oland or Toler. My vote goes to Toler and I LOVE Jimmy Chan!
A spade is a spade...
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