Rose says:
Thu, 27th Mar 200810:38 am 

haha, that is sooo dumb! i love sixteen candles, and obviously everyyyy asian isn't like that.. but no one said they were. He is one character, and that's just the personality of the character. anyone who sees racism is reading into it wayyy too much, and creating that idea in their own mind, because it's just ridiculous!

Dan says:
Thu, 27th Mar 200812:12 pm 

I think that you are, unintentionally or not, discounting the views of Asian Americans when you say the character isn't racist. No one is saying that the role isn't funny, at the very least his antics do what they are supposed to do and provide laughs in the movie, but it also represents stereotypes that have become long held in the social consciousness. Things like the stereotypical gong sound at his every entrance and the nature of how he acts show him as someone who is different and socially untrained (forgive the poor wording on that last sentence). What you don't see is the experience that Asian Americans experience because of the role, things like people making the gong sound when they enter the room or being called that whether there is resemblance or not.

there are so few roles for asian americans in modern cinema and when you take into account that films like Sixteen Candles set the standard for teen flicks all the way up to now it becomes much easier to see how it is racist and in fact limits roles that asian americans receive and thus are portrayed in mainstream popular culture.

Carly - Grinnell says:
Thu, 27th Mar 20081:27 pm 

Dan–

I agree that roles like that can make life hard for Asian-Americans (like with your example of people making gong sounds when an Asian-American enters a room). I still have trouble saying that the role is racist, because I don't believe it is. I think the problem isn't with the role–it's with those idiots who make the gong sound at Asian-Americans.

It's true (and unfortunate) that you don't see a lot of Asian-American actors or actresses in mainstream cinema. I would love to see more, and I think it's a pity that they're most often cast in roles like Long Duk Dong's.

However, I think that's an entirely separate issue. Though you might be able to connect the two (racist roles and lack of Asian-American stars), I'm not convinced that they're correlated.

Leah says:
Thu, 27th Mar 20082:37 pm 

I think everyone is forgetting that Sixteen Candles was made in the 80s, so it's in an entirely different context. Of course you still find stereotypes about members of a visible minority in the media today but it is getting better. In Canada the show Little Mosque on the Prairie depicts the relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims as well as the existing beliefs of various individuals. Members of visible minorities are popping up in all types of different shows and while there may be some stereotyping people must acknowledge things have gotten significantly better since the 1980s. Just putting this out there as a half-Chinese Canadian.

Dan says:
Thu, 27th Mar 20084:24 pm 

Just sort of an interesting point, people often measure progressiveness using different yardsticks. To put it simply:

-white people measure progress, in things like race, by comparing to the past. There is no doubt that compared to 40 and 20 years ago we have come quite far and we are for the better for it.

– People of color tend to measure progress not by comparing it to the past but by comparing it to what is still necessary. Therefore, when comparing our progress on equality to what we still need to overcome, we still have a long way to go.

Its from a washington post article: "Unequal Perspectives on Racial Equality" by Shankar vedantam. There is more to it than what i've said but thats sort of the jist.

I bring it up because using that knowledge one can easily see how some people would not see it as racist, as it does not regularly affect them in any way and compared to the past, we've come a long way. But for those who do have to endure we haven't come far enough and part of fighting for what is left is to point out that things like this portrayal are racist and do influence how people think about minorities, in this case asian americans.

SeonJin says:
Fri, 28th Mar 20087:28 pm 

I totally agree with Dan. Being Asian, it definitely made me feel insulted and somewhat angry watching Sixteen candles with American friends. After all, isn't racism all about what makes the victims(mind you the strong word)feel rather than the other way around?

Carly - Grinnell says:
Sat, 29th Mar 20088:15 am 

I guess you're right, SeonJin. It also, I think, depends on the individual–what might offend one Asian or Asian-American person might not bother the next one at all. It's hard to always operate with the most hypersensitive people in mind, but I think more effort could be made to strike a balance (or at least not to have the cinematic landscape littered with so many comic-relief-stereotyped ethnic characters).

dtr says:
Mon, 28th Apr 20082:45 am 

. I'd disagree that there isn't a correlation between the lack of good asian roles and stereotypical characters. When there are so many asian characters used for comic relief (used BECAUSE not in spite of their race) and so few asian characters to look up to, it does have a huge affect on the perception that we have of asians, and that asians have of themselves. This is not to say that the casting director is racist or the director is racist. The racism is institutional, which in ways is even worse because the cause of this racism is less tangible, and you can't criticize it without being called oversensitive of paranoid. We constantly bombard everyone with negative stereotypes of one race, hence stripping them of an actual identity. You could say "it's just a movie." But why are there so MANY of these " movies"? You have to think about it collectively. Collectively, it is harmful.

Erika says:
Thu, 1st May 20089:44 pm 

Why do you think you can speak for other people when you say that the role isn't offensive? I was most certainly offended by it, and yes, it's because I'm Asian — and honestly? People can't tell the difference between fiction like this movie and reality. A lot of Asian (or Latino, or Black…) people can probably attest that they've been treated differently just because they're of that race, and media portrayals like this DON'T HELP THE SITUATION. Nor do stupid posts like yours.

Bones says:
Sat, 21st Jun 20083:22 pm 

"You're not the one who has to sleep under a Chinaman named after a duck's dork"

"A big Trans-Am in the driveway with a ribbon on it and some incredibly gorgeous guy you meet in France and you do it on a cloud without getting pregnant or herpes.

Sam: I'll take a black one

Girl: A black guy?!?!?!"

You're right. Movie's not racist at all.

Anon says:
Mon, 23rd Jun 200810:00 am 

"Carly Grinnell"

C A R L Y

G R I N N E L L

Its obvious that you won't understand how Long Duk Dong had impacted asians during the 80's so please go back to talking how much you love your race.

azn103100 says:
Sun, 29th Jun 20084:15 am 

hollywood is and always has been racist against asians. many non-asians don't realize this because it doesn't affect them consciously. but what they fail to realize is that it does affect them unconsciously. because of the lack of asian characters in american media, people will associate asians with the few that are on the silver screen ie Long Duk Dong. media brainwashing makes it so that "it's ok because it's funny." for example, you yourself do not see why this is racist while to me it is painfully obvious. you don't know how many times people have told me to "get over" a racist stereotype and actually tried to justify it to me.

Long Duk Dong is just one example in a long line dating back decades if not longer. you should read up on Fu Manchu and the Yellow Peril propaganda they had back in the day. one would think things are better but they're really not.

another example is how hollywood is basically "whiting out" asians. asian cinema like The Departed, The Ring, The Grudge, The Eye, and a ton of others have been remade in america and earned a ton of money. however, the only real difference between them is that the cast is now white (copycats). anime movies like Speed Racer and Dragonball are being produced yet have made the leads caucasian. even movies based on TRUE STORIES are whiting asians out ie 21. it gets to a point where you realize that something is VERY VERY wrong.

sssss says:
Fri, 29th May 200912:23 am 

White people are free to hate us, and we are free to hate them back (even if its obviously wrong). Arriving in the United States as a teenager in the mid-80's, I got a better understanding of why white people treated me like absolute shit during that time when I watched a showing of "Sixteen Candles" ('84 or '86 release, if I am not mistaken) on TV in the early 90's. I stopped getting hurt feelings from being treated like shit from white people, when I gradually developed a viciousness in my personality. The only negative is I have to consciously remind myself we are still a society governed by the rule of law in order to keep the white person (or any other race) who treats me like shit , unharmed. If you think this LDD characters is not offensive to me and does not affect you, the author, a non-asian person (white female I assume) I would hope you and I never cross paths where you insult me with no other person present. If you get treated like shit because a movie character is equated to your asian heritage then its offensive. It offends a specific ethnicgroup and it puts the people who ridicule that ethnic group at risk. Got it?

Matrim says:
Fri, 29th Jun 20128:22 am 

I love necro threads.

*eh-hem* Anyway, to the point. Progress does not excuse racism. The fact that it was made in "a different time" doesn't excuse Breakfast at Tiffany's from having a horribly racist yellowface performance, nor does it excuse numerous Sixteen Candles for a ridiculous stereotype. Progress made is nice, but as someone above said, that's not the only measuring stick (nor, in my opinion, is it the best one).