And what about Peter Lorre's Mr. Moto who kicked butt on all sorts of white people? But everything is racism /sarcasm
We’re going to see a war between the ‘Offended by the depiction of Asians’ people, and the ‘OMG he has a GUN with his finger on the trigger; and there’s a Knuckle Knife!’ people...
Today, there's probably too many of the "ah so" comments by Charlie. The racism! The horror!
Confucius say liberalism is mental disease in the noodle.
Leni
LOVE the Charlie Chan films. It seemed to me that they actually had more Asian actors in them than any films at the time. And they weren’t portrayed as sinister, etc. they were just regular people. The actor who portrayed number one son, adored Warner Oland. So much so that he wouldn’t do another Chan film Oland’s breakdown.
I can’t believe that people waste time getting offended over films that are so old.
And don’t forget Boris Karloff had a series of films as well as a Chinese detective. Mr. Wong.
Charlie Chan on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bGxI6J1M7M&feature=PlayList&p=76DEE1C229E807A5&index=0&playnext=1
“But some Asian-Americans say that although Charlie Chan was an amalgam of stereotypes, he should be looked at in a broader context 80 years after he was created.”
Charlie Chan was modeled after Chang Apana, also known as Ah Ping Chang, a real-life detective with the Honolulu Police Department.
Photo of Chang Apana with Warner Oland can be seen here:
“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?
I’m offended at all those white people wearing “blue face” in Avatar.
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.
1. Most mysterious is what mankind does to itself for reasons difficult to understand 2. Mind, like parachute, only function when open 3. Little knowledge sometimes very dangerous possession 4. Favorite pastime of man is fooling himself 5. Optimist only sees doughnut, pessimist sees hole. 6. Sometimes very small cloud hide sun 7. Theories like fingerprints...everybody has them. 8. Theory like mist on eyeglasses - obscures facts.
