Literary Strange--Not in a Good Way!

I read this Vanity Fair article about Dr. Strange.   I'm going to pass on this movie. Love Tilda Swinton but she's miscast. In the comics, her character, the Ancient One, had been an older Asian man.  The producers made her Celtic.  If she's supposed to be Celtic, then why is she "oriental" looking, spouting eastern philosophy, and  living in Nepal?

All their explaining sounds like, "I'm trying to save my ass so I don't look racist."  I don't buy this stuff about not using an Asian person because they didn't want to play to stereotype (in this case a Fu Manchu type). Why couldn't you make the Ancient One a gorgeous Asian man--THAT would be playing against stereotype.  Instead you make the brave choice of hiring an aristocratic white woman who shaves her head for the role (oh, how edgy).  If you didn't want to offend the Chinese by sticking to the character's Tibetan roots, why didn't you just make her Chinese then?  C'mon, if she can be Celtic, she could have easily been Chinese.

Back in the day, when a white guy played an Asian dude in Miss Saigon, people defended the choice by saying this was "non-traditional casting."  You know what's non traditional casting?  Have an Asian person actually play an Asian person in the movies is non-traditional casting.  In Hollywood's history, it was tradition to have Asians played by white people. For the producers of this film, rather than breaking a stereotype, they reinforced it.   

(George Takei who would have been great in this role, had this to say, "Marvel must think we're all idiots.")

Literary Images: On Mapplethorpe, Star Trek and Being Seen

I had the pleasure of going to the Mapplethorpe shows at LACMA and the Getty.  They were amazing.  He shot iconic images and he was one of many artists we'd lost to AIDS.  His photographs tell a story of a time and place in latter part of the twentieth century.  They speak of what was attractive and interesting and edgy during the 1970s and 1980s.

Robert Mapplethorpe

Mapplethorpe's eye was truly one of a kind.  From his photographs, one can see how moving and controversial his photographs were.  He spoke of gay sex and sexuality.  He spoke of S&M--in this world of Fifty Shades of Grey, people would hardly blink now.

 
He loved working with models of color.

 
One of his favorite models was Asian female body builder Lydia Cheng.

He photographed many celebrities.

Grace Jones

Yet through these images, I kept looking for the photographs of Asian men.  As an Asian man who counts the 1980s as formative years, I thought it was interesting that we weren't there.  This is NOT a slam of Mappplethorpe.  However, I do think it was common to treat Asian men, particularly gay Asian men, like we didn't exist. The world, it seems, is merely black or white.

I also saw Star Trek Beyond.  I wanted to support the movie on the first weekend, the most important weekend for a movie.  I usually don't go to the first weekend--too crowded--but I wanted to support this.  Why?  Because it was announced that Sulu, played by John Cho, would be gay.  A gay Asian man in the future!

I was more than thrilled to know that he had an Asian husband and a child.  He had a family!

Actor/Writer Doug Jung

It was important to me that his husband was Asian.  What does it say about a gay Asian man when he couldn't even entertain the idea of loving someone who looked like himself?

I spend years at the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team trying to convince my peers that safe sex was self love.  I enjoyed seeing the new Star Trek.  Even though the gay Asian story line was implied, it was nice to be part of the narrative.  It was nice to be seen.

On Beijing

Summer Palace

I hadn't written about this because to do so meant it was over.

I was in China from March 15 - 20. It was a wonderful, life affirming, life changing trip.  It was great being connected to a history that way.  I was in ancient environments. I climbed the Great Wall and walked around the Forbidden City.  It was really amazing and it will take me awhile to process this.

Asian Americans for Prop 30

I went to a press conference urging Asian Americans to vote YES on Prop 30, which would stop $6 Billion in cuts to our schools this year and prevent tuition hikes.  California's wealthiest (those who make $250,000 or couples who make over $500,000 a year) will have their taxes temporarily raised for seven years. 

Civil Rights Activist and Zen Nun Angela Oh, Senator Carol Liu and me

I was there to present a world where $6 Billion cuts would affect our schools:  less English lessons, which would be deadly for Asians with a large limited English population; less history, which may mean leaving out stories of people of color in our curriculums; or less health education, which means putting our youth at risk for sexually transmitted diseases like HIV.

Assemblymembers Warren Furutani, Mike Eng, State Senators Ted Lieu and Carol Liu, Mayors Ed Lee, Jean Quan, Evan Low are among those those who favor Prop. 30.

The LA Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle also favor Prop 30.

More on Prop 30 here.

Sumi and Me

Every once and awhile, I get to do something really cool.  On October 27, I wen to the launch of the Philippine Heritage Collection at the Echo Park Library.  That was the library I used to go to as a child.  It was truly a remarkable feeling being apart of this event, particularly since my novels have scenes set in the area.

What a greater joy it was to sit next to Sumi Haru, a woman who recently released a memoir about her life.  I'd greatly admired this woman for a long time.  Back in the 1990's I went to an event that the Screen Actors Guild was sponsoring for actors of color in Hollywood.  Sumi was one of their panelists.  She had been on SAG's board since the 1970's and did amazing work to push for equal opportunities for minority actors in entertainment.

Now, in her 70's, Ms. Haru continues to grow and change.  Author is her latest title.

I'm not in a couple, but I played one in a parade

I got married! Well, not really. In the Lunar New Year Parade earlier this month, I was asked to be in a pretend a gay marriage. That's my friend Alan above. A lesbian couple marched next to us. It was to raise awareness about the marriage issue to the residents and visitors of Chinatown.

I was a little afraid at how we might be treated at the parade. Afterall, this was rather bold for a rather conservative community. And, you know what? It was great! We weren't booed or anything. It was actually quite...liberating. We were cheered and appreciated for our actions.

I remember five years ago when we hoped to march for the very first time in the oldest parade in Los Angeles. There was some tension among the organizers. But we were given permission and away we went.

Someday, this will be looked at with such folly. People will wonder what the big deal was. As I marched down the parade, I truly felt like a young groom looking toward his future.