The intended ethnicity of the Tams?
POSTED BY: deigaman
UPDATED: Thursday, July 30, 2009 00:49
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Even if there are fewer Asian-American actors out there than any other group, I STILL find it unlikely that not enough would have been available and good enough to gain at least some of the guest roles, like I described in my earlier post. The premise of the show warrants giving Asian actors some preference for a certain percentage of the speaking roles. Yet there is exactly one speaking Asian role in the whole of the show.
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Quote:
Originally posted by AgentRouka:
Even if there are fewer Asian-American actors out there than any other group, I STILL find it unlikely that not enough would have been available and good enough to gain at least some of the guest roles, like I described in my earlier post. The premise of the show warrants giving Asian actors some preference for a certain percentage of the speaking roles. Yet there is exactly one speaking Asian role in the whole of the show.
Joss obviously intended to feature Asians more prominently, but he can't wave his magic wand and create actors available and willing to do TV with the amount of talent necessary to be in a Whedenesque show. He only got fourteen episodes in which to do anything, so it's not a huge sample. Maybe as things developed he would have been able to attract the right actors, but apparently he was unable in the short span he produced the show. I think it's weird to condemn him for trying.
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Hard to believe there wasn't one qualified Asian actor for the cast... if Joss was really looking for one he would have found one.
I think more likely he was trying to avoid the multi-culture Star Trek bridge look for Serenity. And of course, no telling who we would have seen in seasons/eps to come.
Talk about ironical though, Maurissa Tancharoen, is an Asian actress/writer married to Joss Whedon's brother, and:
"She co-wrote Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and appeared onscreen as Groupie #1; she appears on the DVD audio track "Commentary! The Musical," in which she sings about the scarcity of non-stereotyped roles in television and film for actors of Asian origin."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurissa_Tancharoen
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Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Hard to believe there wasn't one qualified Asian actor for the cast... if Joss was really looking for one he would have found one.
Ironically enough, he *was* looking for one, to play the part of Kaylee, he just found Jewel Strait played it best. None of the roles are ethnically specific, as yourself who you would have replaced with an Asian actor and which Asian actor would you choose? Let's say he cast Yunjin Kim (from "Lost") instead, despite the fact she was about a decade older than the character, do you think the show would have been as good, and Kaylee as compelling?
He gave the roles to the actors who earned them, there's nothing wrong with that.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kaosium:Quote:
Originally posted by AgentRouka:
Even if there are fewer Asian-American actors out there than any other group, I STILL find it unlikely that not enough would have been available and good enough to gain at least some of the guest roles, like I described in my earlier post. The premise of the show warrants giving Asian actors some preference for a certain percentage of the speaking roles. Yet there is exactly one speaking Asian role in the whole of the show.
Joss obviously intended to feature Asians more prominently, but he can't wave his magic wand and create actors available and willing to do TV with the amount of talent necessary to be in a Whedenesque show. He only got fourteen episodes in which to do anything, so it's not a huge sample. Maybe as things developed he would have been able to attract the right actors, but apparently he was unable in the short span he produced the show. I think it's weird to condemn him for trying.
You have exactly one example of Joss trying, which is Kaylee. She's a member of the crew, a vastly important role, so there the talent thing might fly. But, say, Atherton Wing? The guy was horrible. He could have been replaced by anyone else. A broomstick, seriously. You can't tell me there wasn't one available Asian actor with the talent of a broomstick.
Even though you keep saying it, I am not at all convinced that actually trying to find Asian actors and actresses would have resulted in a show with exactly one Asian speaking role, as it did.
I think it's more likely that there is a casting bias at work. Not necessarily by Joss. But it's the far more likely explanation compared to "every Asian actor auditioning for speaking roles on the show was less talented than the non-Asians, to an extent that even a preference for Asian actors couldn't overcome".
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Quote:
Originally posted by AgentRouka:Quote:
Originally posted by Kaosium:Quote:
Originally posted by AgentRouka:
Even if there are fewer Asian-American actors out there than any other group, I STILL find it unlikely that not enough would have been available and good enough to gain at least some of the guest roles, like I described in my earlier post. The premise of the show warrants giving Asian actors some preference for a certain percentage of the speaking roles. Yet there is exactly one speaking Asian role in the whole of the show.
Joss obviously intended to feature Asians more prominently, but he can't wave his magic wand and create actors available and willing to do TV with the amount of talent necessary to be in a Whedenesque show. He only got fourteen episodes in which to do anything, so it's not a huge sample. Maybe as things developed he would have been able to attract the right actors, but apparently he was unable in the short span he produced the show. I think it's weird to condemn him for trying.
You have exactly one example of Joss trying, which is Kaylee. She's a member of the crew, a vastly important role, so there the talent thing might fly. But, say, Atherton Wing? The guy was horrible. He could have been replaced by anyone else. A broomstick, seriously. You can't tell me there wasn't one available Asian actor with the talent of a broomstick.
Even though you keep saying it, I am not at all convinced that actually trying to find Asian actors and actresses would have resulted in a show with exactly one Asian speaking role, as it did.
I think it's more likely that there is a casting bias at work. Not necessarily by Joss. But it's the far more likely explanation compared to "every Asian actor auditioning for speaking roles on the show was less talented than the non-Asians, to an extent that even a preference for Asian actors couldn't overcome".
He 'tried' by creating a world with a heavily Asian influence that included the unprecedented practice of regularly having dialogue in Chinese. He wanted an Asian young woman initially, just none auditioned that were as good for the role as Jewel Strait.
One thing to keep in mind, something I've learned through my brother casting plays and musicals is you don't always get who you want to audition. In my brother's case he's perpetually short of adult men. He always has a plethora of teen-aged girls at auditions, but has had to cast me for minor roles as he never gets as many adult men as he needs. I'm not an actor and cannot sing, but I can remember the few lines I might get and can at least 'sing' the talky "Rock Island" from "The Music Man." He'd be happier if he had a real actor, but not enough talented ones audition.
Point being, with a tiny minority like Asian-American actors, and the mass of parts being considered from TV, the movies and theater, it's not unlikely he just didn't get any to audition or the ones he contacted declined in favor of something else.
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Incidentally, I thought of one replacement that might have worked: Ken Leung (from "Lost") in Wash's role as the wisecracking pilot. He has the talent and they wouldn't have had to use all those weird camera angles and odd blocking to try to hide the fact Alan Tudyk is no "little man" at six feet tall.
However, Ken was in two movies in 2002, he might well not have been available. At that point in his life he might not have wanted to commit himself to a TV series, hoping to garner more movie roles instead.
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While looking around for information about this subject I came across a thread on another board where they're discussing this very thing. As to the original subject of this thread someone notes the part of Simon was open to Asians, though Summer had been pre-cast as River. As some think Summer has vaguely Asian features it was thought that would work. Thus with the name and the fact both Sean and Summer (as well as Gabriel) look as though they might have Asian ancestors, I think it not unlikely that was intended.
Another poster notes that he's done a dozen different shows and including auditions has run into only two East Asian actors. It reminded me that I've participated in about the same number of productions with my brother (usually stage crew, set-building and bartending) and have seen exactly zero Asians audition for a show. That's hundreds of potential roles; we had a cast of about fifty for "The Music Man," about the same for "Annie" and almost as many for "Jesus Christ Superstar." Our area, due to having one of the largest and most prestigious universities in the US, has a larger than normal percentage of Asians and Asian Americans. Yet not once has one come to an audition which are advertised at all the local colleges and on the local community theater websites. My brother cast a young black man as Harold Hill, he does not cast racially at all.
[url] http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=86034&page=2[/url]
Here's that thread, it doesn't prove anything as they're just posters like us, but there doesn't seem any reason to totally discount that information and it is interesting how it pertains to this debate.
In truth, if you want to see more Asians on screen then your best bet would be to go up to Berkeley and try to convince the best and the brightest to drop their engineering and pre-med courses in favor of Drama. They'll probably look at you a little funny though. 
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