GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Where are the Asians?

POSTED BY: MOJOECA
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 8, 2009 02:36
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 14740
PAGE 1 of 2

Saturday, August 31, 2002 3:41 PM

MOJOECA


We know Chinese culture will feature prominently alongside Western culture in FIREFLY. The characters even speak Chinese! (Which is way cool). But why aren't any of the regulars Asian? I've been thinking which characters could have been ...

MAL: I may be cynical, but I don't think FOX would have accepted an Asian male lead. OTOH, Joss may not have either simply because the heavy Western motif almost demanded that Reynolds be white.

JAYNE: I don't see many hulking Asians who are good actors on TV and in movies. Either there aren't any in Hollywood, or no one has parts for them.

WASH: It's the anti-Star Trek. You can't have an Asian pilot. OTOH, a prominent Asian/Black married couple might have been a television first.

ZOE: Definitely could have been Asian. But since Gina Torres is the hottest woman in Sci-Fi, there's no way I'm going to allow a (pseudo) cast change.

BOOK: Replacing Ron Glass makes Torres a "token black." So let's switch out one of the remaining white actors.

KAYLEE: She was described in the casting sides as "chubby and sexy as hell." My last girlfriend was Chinese, chubby and sexy as hell. So Kaylee's a possibility.

INARA: I think there were some Asian prostitutes in the Old West -- if YOUNG GUNS is accurate at all.

SIMON: An Asian doctor! There you go. Cliched casting for the man who thinks cliches are awesome ... for him to poop on! Heh. That also means his sister ...

RIVER: ... must be Asian. Summer Glau even looks kinda Asian in some of the casting shots, so it's not hard to imagine at all.

Okay, then. I think Simon and River should have been Asian in the interest of diversity, in a universe that's supposedly diverse. But now we need a Hispanic character! Ooh, and an Eskimo!

AN EXTREMELY BELATED EDIT: Turns out Morena Baccarin is Italian-Brazilian, so there's our hispanic, or South-American, or non-Anglo European, or whatever the hell she would check on a census survey...

--- Joe

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 2:07 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


Well, one thing for sure, Mal swears in Mandarin in the pilot (Serenity).

His Mandarin is terrible, but I could have swore that he said "Ta Ma Da", which basically means "motherfker" in Mandarin.

And really, enough with the "Aiyah" because no Chinese would say that in the particular situation that they were in. It sounds really out of place.

As for Simon and River, "Tam" is a Chinese surname.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 2:24 AM

GUANTES


Quote:

Originally posted by mojoeca:
Ooh, and an Eskimo!



Aren't we supposed to refer to Eskimo as Inuit instead?

Is there a plural for Eskimo?..... Or Inuit for that matter!?

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 2:35 AM

GUANTES


Quote:

Originally posted by mojoeca:
But now we need a Hispanic character!



Sean Maher (Simon) is said to be from Pleasantville NY, but Summer Glau (River) is from San Antonio as far as I can tell.... So she might be your Hispanic anyway, its certainly possible its in her background somewhere.

Still puts the Asian thing up the spout again!

But I have to say for 400 years in the future I think its entirely possible that most 'white' americans will be somewhat Hispanic..... since Spanish is meant to be fast approaching the second most popular language in America.

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 5:11 AM

TINYTIMM


"Send in the clowns"
"They're already here..."

After 400 years and no Earth left, everybody should have a bit of everything remaining of geographically isolated "racial differences."

Toss in Genetic engineering of children, "But Lee, blonds are in this year!" and you get a very human race.



Jeff
Who is betting on the Koreans to form early star colonies.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 5:16 AM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Haken:
Well, one thing for sure, Mal swears in Mandarin in the pilot (Serenity).

And really, enough with the "Aiyah" because no Chinese would say that in the particular situation that they were in.


But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

Quote:


As for Simon and River, "Tam" is a Chinese surname.



And in several other languages.


Jeff Timm
Who notes Awful quite recently meant "So impressive it filled one with Awe!"

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 6:49 AM

MOJOECA


Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
"Send in the clowns"
"They're already here..."

After 400 years and no Earth left, everybody should have a bit of everything remaining of geographically isolated "racial differences."

Toss in Genetic engineering of children, "But Lee, blonds are in this year!" and you get a very human race.

What Warren Beatty said (in BULWORTH): "We should all just keep f*cking each other 'til we're all the same color."

--- Joe

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 8:51 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....



Except, well, they happen to drift back to the Old West in Firefly as far as the English language goes. One then wonders what the Chinese language sounds like.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 10:30 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by Guantes:
Quote:

Originally posted by mojoeca:
Ooh, and an Eskimo!



Aren't we supposed to refer to Eskimo as Inuit instead?

Is there a plural for Eskimo?..... Or Inuit for that matter!?

Plural for Eskimo is Eskimos. The origins of the word are controversial, so there's no "original" language to enforce silly rules. Though I have heard "Eskimo" used as a plural.

Inuit is plural, for inuk ("human being"). Though people often say "Inuits". And the word is only used in Canada and Greenland. (And "Eskimo" is only considered offensive by Canadian Inuit.) Related peoples in North Alaska use the word slightly differently, and their cousins in West Alaska and Siberia don't use it at all.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 10:57 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

Try comparing English as used in 1602 with that used in 1202. I won't tell you to compare dictionaries, because they didn't have them in 1202 -- they're weren't enough literate people to use them, and there was no body of printed literature to base them on. Anyway, you'll find that English in 1602 was a lot closer to that of 2002 than it was to that of 1202. People still read Shakespeare (died 1612), but how many can make sense of this verse, written in 1300?

Ich libbe in love-longinge
For semlokes of alle thynge,
He may me blisse bringe
Ich am in hire baundoun.


Hey, I know a language joke from the 1200s! A guy from southern England goes into an inn in northern England and asks for a plate of "egges". Yep, he meant "eggs," though he would have pronounced the second e. The innkeeper says, "Sorry, I don't speak French". Get it? No? Oh well. Any way, the local usage was "eggen".

Anyway, technology has a way of slowing down linguistic change. Printing, moving to an industrial economy (meaning more people were literate), and finally broadcasting.

Broadcasting was the biggie, but even before radio was invented, language change was slowing down. Which is why the Declaration of Independence is still readable, more than two centuries after it was written.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 11:12 AM

GUANTES


Wow! Knowledge guy! Cool! It's like a history lesson on the internet!

Cheers, I'd only heard that Inuit was the politically correct term.... Good thing I didn't call any of my Eskimo friends Inuit! ;)

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 11:21 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by Guantes:
Wow! Knowledge guy! Cool! It's like a history lesson on the internet!

Cheers, I'd only heard that Inuit was the politically correct term.... Good thing I didn't call any of my Eskimo friends Inuit! ;)

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

Actually, "Inuit" is just about mandatory in Canada.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 11:41 AM

SHUGGIE


Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....



Yes and no. I suspect that they'll be using 20th/21st century English as well.

They're using the Chinese as a way of representing a particular type of cultural melding. Unless the idea is that Mal speaks bad Chinese then they need to get it right.

Shug

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 12:07 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


Quote:

Originally posted by Shuggie:
They're using the Chinese as a way of representing a particular type of cultural melding. Unless the idea is that Mal speaks bad Chinese then they need to get it right.



Serenity has about 3 to 4 lines of dialog in Mandarin, two of which has "Aiyah" in it, one where Mal swears and mumbles something (it's that bad), and one where Wash tells Zoe something, which doesn't even come close to sounding like Mandarin (not that I know Mandarin, but I've heard it enough to know that the pronounciation is all wrong).

"Aiyah", by the way, isn't really a word. It's sort of like "oh" in English, but has the same meaning as "damn" as in "damn, they're coming."




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 1:20 PM

MOJOECA


I'm sure their Mandarin will get better as the show progresses.

--- Joe

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 1:23 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Broadcasting was the biggie, but even before radio was invented, language change was slowing down. Which is why the Declaration of Independence is still readable, more than two centuries after it was written.



We will have to add the effect of the diaspora and survival on strange new worlds to the mix. The species could end up with one or two written languages and may dialects.

Jeff Timm
Who remembers linqistic drift. "He will be here presently." "He is here at present."

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 1:25 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Haken:
Except, well, they happen to drift back to the Old West in Firefly as far as the English language goes. One then wonders what the Chinese language sounds like.



But pioneering is not a drift it's a survival mechanism.

Jeff
Who can't tell Cantonese from Mandarin.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 1:28 PM

GUANTES


Besides their bad accents, it is a nice and easy way for the serenity crew to express displeasure without displeasing the censors.... As a way of getting round the rules its quite clever and neat.

It leaves those of us who don't know chinese to watch what the character is doing, to see what they mean and not listen to them say it. Its all very clever stuff really.

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 1, 2002 1:37 PM

TINYTIMM


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Actually, "Inuit" is just about mandatory in Canada.



Isn't it enshrined in their new constitution?


Jeff
Who notes the last "Indian" war in North America was fought on a golf course in Canada.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 6:08 AM

MIZZSHASTI


Hello, everyone, I'm new.

For those of you who want to know, the Mandarin is actually spelled out in Closed Captioning. I'd give you all the Mandarin here, but I didn't get to tape the episode! So just turn on closed captioning next time you watch if you want to see.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 7:51 AM

JASONZZZ


Aiyah is *not even* Mandarin. It is completely a cantonese expression. No self respecting Mandarin speaker would even know about it. Besides the Chinese language has been so self contained that, the only changes in the last 600 years have actually only been in the last 2 or 3 years - with the introduction of the internet and popularizing all of the new phrases. Hehe, of course, it helped that the common people generally couldn't read or write until after the cultural revolution and the failed attempt to romanize the language (as the French - successfully, did with the Vietnamese language)...

In any case, linguistically speaking, languages would diffuse just as well as how the different racial make up would meld into each other. The blade runner scenario is actually the most accurate, we would actually be speaking a mish-mash of English, Spanish, and Chinese (yes, Japanese in the movie, but I am a bit partial).


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 8:00 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


It's interesting that you said that about "Aiyah", because on the Official Firefly Websites, in Kelly's Weblog, she says "N-E-HOO", which I'm guessing sounds like "NAY-HOO"--a Cantonese pronounciation. A Mandarin speaker would probably say "NI-HAU" or "NI-HAU-BU-HAU".

I'm guessing whoever Joss is talking to about the Mandarin is mixing the dialects. Just my thoughts.



NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 8:18 AM

TRANKED


Quote:

Originally posted by mojoeca:
We know Chinese culture will feature prominently alongside Western culture in FIREFLY. The characters even speak Chinese! (Which is way cool). But why aren't any of the regulars Asian? I've been thinking which characters could have been ...
--- Joe





Asians? What about the Indians and Pakistanis, they are considered asians too aren't they?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 8:36 AM

JASONZZZ



Yesh, what about the Indians? Tell me where they are and we can talk about them...

And don't forget the Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.
Southwestern Asian people don't like to be all lumped together into the Asian Indian category.

And Pllllleeeease, don't forget the Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Mongolians, and Vietnamese.

no sig. I am too good.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 8:58 AM

NOVAGRASS


Quote:

Originally posted by Haken:
It's interesting that you said that about "Aiyah", because on the Official Firefly Websites, in Kelly's Weblog, she says "N-E-HOO", which I'm guessing sounds like "NAY-HOO"--a Cantonese pronounciation. A Mandarin speaker would probably say "NI-HAU" or "NI-HAU-BU-HAU".

I'm guessing whoever Joss is talking to about the Mandarin is mixing the dialects. Just my thoughts.





Haken, I think she meant something along the lines of "anywho." You know all that internet lingo... writing things how they sound. "N-E-HOO" would be anywho.

I think.

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

"Oh, shoot" - Mal

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 9:08 AM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


Ah, you might be right! Didn't think about that.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 6:44 PM

FLIGHTYKITTEN


Answer to MOJOECA, "Where are the Asians?"

In Asia.

hee hee.

I had to, really.

Obscure Tv show reference: "Harry, it's Cooper, meet me for breakfast, 7:00 am, at the hotel lobby. I know who killed Laura Palmer. (Pause) No, this can wait till morning!"

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, September 21, 2002 7:42 PM

LIVINGIMPAIRED


Am I the only person on this site that doesn't know a damn thing about Asian languages?

Oh, and a thought about Mal supposidly mispronouncing his lines: Maybe English influenced the Asian languages just as the Asian languages have obviously influnced English. In other words, maybe in the future, Mal was giving the correct pronunciation.

Or maybe the actor wasn't hired for his linguistic abilities.

________________

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass." —Maya Angelou

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, September 22, 2002 12:04 AM

MOJOECA


Just a note: I edited my original post to take into account that Morena Baccarin is Italian-Brazilian (according to her Playboy interview). So that Serenity crew is just a tad more diverse than I originally thought.

Still no Asians, though! Pfft!

--- Joe

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 8:49 AM

REXRAYGUN


Quote:

Originally posted by Guantes:
Quote:

Originally posted by mojoeca:
But now we need a Hispanic character!



Gina Torres is part Hispanic, and proud to be so, if her appearance in a recent Latina Magiazine would indicate. I am partial to the mixture of races idea. I don't know how intentional it was in the casting (and not trying to be stereotypical at all,) but both Mal and Kaylee have a slightly Asian appearance to their features. In addition, Simons mannerisms strike me as somewhat resembling Asian manners as well.

The only two that look blatantly, full-out Caucasian to me are Wash and Jayne, who, like me, looks a bit devolved and cool!

Just my dos pesos,

Rex!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 9:00 AM

REXRAYGUN


Quote:

Originally posted by Shuggie:
Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
But after 400 years of Linguistic drift what would it mean? If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....



Yes and no. I suspect that they'll be using 20th/21st century English as well.

They're using the Chinese as a way of representing a particular type of cultural melding. Unless the idea is that Mal speaks bad Chinese then they need to get it right.

Shug



But it would also be fair to say that the cultures don't mesh exactly, either. How many European countries, not to mention Japan, teach English in their schools, yet we'd be hard-pressed not to notice an accent. What makes you guys think that the future will be different?

Chinese (Mandarin) and English are both very complicated languages with many tricky rules. I'd imagine that the Asian characters, for consistancy's sake, should speak their English parts somewhat better than Jackie Chan, right?

In addition, the "Western" (really Southern) American slant to some of the characters' dialogue is perfectly attributable to growing up on different worlds, populated by colonies from a specific area. America has been a country for more than two hundred years, yet there are an incredible amount of dialects. Put a Bostonian and a fellow from Georgia in the same room and see what happens.

Case in point is that the accents used for Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump was taken from the boy who played the younger Forrest. Not to mention Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone. Kilmer researched the dialect of the place where Holliday was from, and learned to do it extremely well. Then he had to speed it up, because the movie would have beenn seven hours long if he had done it at the correct speed for modern usage!

Just my dos pesos,

Rex!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 9:37 AM

NEOOLONG


What I would like to see is some sort of Chinese Tong like organization. It sort of fits in with the Western motif(though I think they came about a little after the Western time period), and would allow a lot of Chinese actors to get parts. It is kind of cliche, but could be good depending on how it was done.

The casting of the regulars not including Chinese or East Asians may be due to the fact that there aren't that many East Asian tv actors. I don't know that the casting is due to this, but it is a possibility. The only ones I can think of are Daniel Dae Kim, B.D. Wong, the guy on VIP, and the guy on Witchblade.

Honestly though casting a Chinese actor in about half of the regular cast spots make cliches. You have the engineer, the doctor, the pilot, and the prostitute. All can become cliches if you make them Chinese.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 5:53 PM

JASONZZZ


Why, they don't need real Chinese Actors.

If they run out of Chinese, they can start casting, Koreans, Japanese, Filipinos, Laotians, Cambodians, Vietnamese, or whatever. When they run out of all of them other Asians.

They can just cast people like David Carradine.



Quote:

Originally posted by neoolong:
What I would like to see is some sort of Chinese Tong like organization. It sort of fits in with the Western motif(though I think they came about a little after the Western time period), and would allow a lot of Chinese actors to get parts. It is kind of cliche, but could be good depending on how it was done.

The casting of the regulars not including Chinese or East Asians may be due to the fact that there aren't that many East Asian tv actors. I don't know that the casting is due to this, but it is a possibility. The only ones I can think of are Daniel Dae Kim, B.D. Wong, the guy on VIP, and the guy on Witchblade.

Honestly though casting a Chinese actor in about half of the regular cast spots make cliches. You have the engineer, the doctor, the pilot, and the prostitute. All can become cliches if you make them Chinese.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 6:11 PM

HAKEN

Likes to mess with stuffs.


Quote:

Originally posted by neoolong:
The casting of the regulars not including Chinese or East Asians may be due to the fact that there aren't that many East Asian tv actors. I don't know that the casting is due to this, but it is a possibility. The only ones I can think of are Daniel Dae Kim, B.D. Wong, the guy on VIP, and the guy on Witchblade.



I know that isn't true. Asians, like most minorities in Hollywood is just not wanted. And Firefly, being filmed in California--a state with a large Asian population--I think if they put the call out for Asian actors, I'm sure many will show up.

Asians, like African Americans and Hispanics, are under-represented on television. Why that is remains a mystery to me. Perhaps some intelligent person out there can enlighten us.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, October 10, 2002 4:35 AM

NEOOLONG


But if you look at the statistics for tv actors I think you'll see that Asians are on the low end of the population. Besides, it was just a possibility. Unless I see some evidence either way I couldn't say which one it was. Though I bet you're right that a call wasn't made to get Asian regulars.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, October 10, 2002 5:30 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by Haken:


Asians, like African Americans and Hispanics, are under-represented on television. Why that is remains a mystery to me. Perhaps some intelligent person out there can enlighten us.

Pure cowardice. Just as Hollywood is afraid people will reject original or intelligent storytelling, it's afraid people will reject stars that "aren't like us".

It's an appalling waste. Black people in particular have more than their share of first-rate actors. Yet this ethnic group appears mainly in off-the-wall comedies aimed mainly at other black people. There are a lot of good Asian and Hispanic actors I'd like to see more of also.

I have to say that Joss Whedon has not distinguished himself in this area. Non-whites on Buffy are always peripheral characters. There's Gunn on Angel, but he's typecast as "inner city", which is kind of pathetic. Well, at least they had the guts to give him a white girlfriend.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, October 10, 2002 6:53 AM

NEOOLONG


Yeah. There is also the lawyer on Angel, but since it's L.A. shouldn't there be more of an Asian and hispanic presence?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, October 10, 2002 8:00 AM

LOONYTOON


Mal and Kaylee don`t look hispanic at all,IMHO.
It seems to me like many of the colony worlds would have the same type of borders. Each culture tends to be the most comfortable in there own culture. Certain cultures are more comfortable around others. Hispanics are comfortable with whites(though the line is blurring daily) I`m comfortable with natives(indians) cuz I live in Alaska with a high concentration. Europeans are most likely more comfortable with muslims, as the live quite close to each other. Those boundrys will most likely still exist in space.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, October 11, 2002 9:26 AM

ZICSOFT


Well, Mal and Kaylee are both played by Canadians. But not all hispanic people "look" hispanic. Did you know Martin Sheen's real name is Estevez?



JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, October 11, 2002 9:29 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by neoolong:
Yeah. There is also the lawyer on Angel, but since it's L.A. shouldn't there be more of an Asian and hispanic presence?

There is: secondary characters, extras, bad guys, etc. I call it the side-kick cop out. You hire lots of minorities for non-staring roles so you can claim you're racially balanced. It's almost a cliche that half the characters on TV and the movies have black sidekicks, bosses, best friends, etc.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, October 11, 2002 11:21 AM

NEOOLONG


I know. I was just trying to be complete. You're right with the sidekick cop-out.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, October 11, 2002 1:22 PM

WILLIAM


It is sort of weird that there aren't any asian actors playing the characters, since the alliance is with the Americans and Chinese. But this show is set in the future. Maybe, finally people's ethnic background doesn't matter, and everyone just got it on, so everyone is sort of from 2+ ethnic backgrounds. Same with the languages, they all just meshed together.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, October 11, 2002 4:50 PM

NEOOLONG


Only problem is that the characters don't look mixed. Or that could just be me.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, October 12, 2002 12:04 AM

WILLIAM


Well, Jayne and Wash certainly don't seem to be from any other ethnic background other than Caucasian, but you never can tell. And anyway, does this whole "Where are the Asians?" really matter ? My ethnic is Chinese, but the thing really is no one can be really sure, where their ancestors came from. Unless they have their ancestors diaries, I mean I could be Korean/Malaysian/Chinese/etc for all I know.
My new friend (He's Chinese) at Uni, thought I was Malaysian... I certainly look Asian. But from what I've heard from my parents, my ancestors came from a small village in China. But who really knows for sure ?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, June 30, 2006 5:32 PM

SHADOWFLY


Figures.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, December 3, 2009 7:38 PM

HOLLISGREEN





and Ninja Assassin with Rain



Is this better?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, December 4, 2009 12:52 AM

NCBROWNCOAT


You guys will be proud to know that the new fan film Browncoats:Redemption is very ethnically diverse. Just look at the crew in the trailer.



http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/








NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, December 4, 2009 2:25 AM

OPTIMUS1998


Quote:

Originally posted by Guantes:
Besides their bad accents, it is a nice and easy way for the serenity crew to express displeasure without displeasing the censors.... As a way of getting round the rules its quite clever and neat.

It leaves those of us who don't know chinese to watch what the character is doing, to see what they mean and not listen to them say it. Its all very clever stuff really.


an Interesting device to be sure, but been used before,not so much to the extent as firefly, but i remember in one of the early, if not the first, episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jean Luc Picard (supposed to be French, played by an Englishman) looking at something on the view screen and saying "MERDE!", which is French for "SHIT!", and then continuing on in his fancy British accent.

Make Cartoons, Not War
- Sue Blu
Once, while having sex in a tractor-trailer, part of Chuck Norris' sperm escaped and got into the engine. We now know this truck as Optimus Prime.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, December 4, 2009 4:20 AM

IREMISST


Don't know if anybody remembers a post a couple years ago that said Summer Glau is Irish? or Did I hallucinate that?...

Surprised the hell outa me...

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, December 4, 2009 5:15 PM

JAMERON4EVA


Quote:

Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Quote:

Originally posted by TinyTimm:
If I take my 1602 English dictionary and my 2002 English dictionary..humm one hand's a bit empty here....

Try comparing English as used in 1602 with that used in 1202. I won't tell you to compare dictionaries, because they didn't have them in 1202 -- they're weren't enough literate people to use them, and there was no body of printed literature to base them on. Anyway, you'll find that English in 1602 was a lot closer to that of 2002 than it was to that of 1202. People still read Shakespeare (died 1612), but how many can make sense of this verse, written in 1300?

Ich libbe in love-longinge
For semlokes of alle thynge,
He may me blisse bringe
Ich am in hire baundoun.


Hey, I know a language joke from the 1200s! A guy from southern England goes into an inn in northern England and asks for a plate of "egges". Yep, he meant "eggs," though he would have pronounced the second e. The innkeeper says, "Sorry, I don't speak French". Get it? No? Oh well. Any way, the local usage was "eggen".

Anyway, technology has a way of slowing down linguistic change. Printing, moving to an industrial economy (meaning more people were literate), and finally broadcasting.

Broadcasting was the biggie, but even before radio was invented, language change was slowing down. Which is why the Declaration of Independence is still readable, more than two centuries after it was written.




We all know that the primary basic language in english, providing something like 220,000 words, is the Germanic language? That's right folks, English is based off of German!

"Mom, he has her chip. He has her."
John Connor,"Born To Run", TSCC EP 2x22

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

FFF.NET SOCIAL