They go out of the way to point out that the character is not a Chinese, but a Korean. But you can clearly see that's in reality a Chinese person. Why not just make the character Chinese too? Story would not be changed at all and have more integrity to boot. Blows my mind.
shareBecause it's a Liquor store in early 90s L.A.? Idiot
shareIsn't it the same as white British actors playing white Russian terrorists in every 90s film though?
They look right for the part. They are acting after all.
As someone who doesn't encounter East Asian people often, I can't tell which country someone is from by looking at them. They just look East Asian.
It's a known psychological trait called racial bias.
Yes, the producers look for a match in actor with character then the issue of racial or ethnic fit. Look at Ricardo Montalban playing an Asian Indian on Star Trek decades ago for instance.
shareYou're missing my point. The guy specifically corrects main character's remark that he is Chinese. You comparison would only work if those Russian terrorists were specifically mislabeled as Brits in said movies and then corrected by the "Russians" themselves.
shareThat joke fell flat because it's not at all obvious that East Asians look different.
shareAh ok, I see what you mean. Sorry, I've misread your post.
But still, they're just acting ay 🤷🏻♀️
"But you can clearly see that's in reality a Chinese person."
No, you can't, no more than you can tell an Englishman from a Scotsman from an Irishman just from their appearance alone. There's nothing about the appearance of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people that positively distinguishes them from each other, and it's been proven many times in tests with people who are Asian or of Asian descent. Their accuracy rate for correctly identifying the nationality of fellow Asians in pictures is never very good. Here's one of many examples:
https://youtu.be/VLiYqMwKpK8
The first one got 11 out of 18 correct, the second one got 6 out of 18 correct, and the third one got 7 out of 18 correct. You would do no better.
Yes, you can. Those examples in that video are so silly. All young clean shaved model photo shoots spent in the make up department for hours beforehand. Those are not representative of the average citizen. If you go up in age to that man's age and walked by the streets, there would be far less problems. Also, some of those examples are probably bi racial.
share"Yes, you can."
No, you can't, and like I said, it's already been proven many times.
"Those examples in that video are so silly. All young clean shaved model photo shoots spent in the make up department for hours beforehand."
Even if that's true, what does it have to do with anything? It's not as if they're wearing prosthetics that changes the appearance of their facial structure. Also, that's not the only test that's been done, as I've already mentioned. Also, this is comically ironic, since this thread of yours is about an actor in a movie, who definitely was in the makeup department before filming, like all actors in a Hollywood movie are.
"Those are not representative of the average citizen."
No one is representative of "the average citizen," including the actor who played the Korean store owner in this movie. What of it?
"If you go up in age to that man's age and walked by the streets, there would be far less problems."
What does age have to do with anything? And what does "walked by the streets" have to do with anything? This thread of yours is about an actor you saw in a movie, not on the streets.
"Also, some of those examples are probably bi racial."
"Probably"? What's this alleged probability based on? In any case, you're wrong, which is evidence that you're no better at telling Asians apart than anyone else is. The test they took is from this site - https://alllooksame.com/ - which says:
These are photos taken in New York City. The people who appear in these pictures are 100% Chinese, Japanese or Korean; nobody is mixed.share
He was korean because the US attempted to help Koreans during the Korean War. This man represents the ungrateful attitude and lack of assimilation by some groups who were helped by the US.
The reason that actor was chosen is because he was probably the best actor for the job according to the casting director.
As for his Chinese looks, that's you being judgmental based on someone's looks rather than their talent.
Because when this was made, we didn't have social media as we see it now to point this shit out and no one cared and overanalyzed it like in 2024. We simply enjoyed it for what it was worth at the time
shareI think it is not very relevant. Two australians have played as American rebels against the British in "the patriot ", and it was OK.
share