Is Charlie Chan Back?

Claire Light
August 9, 2005

Don't know how I feel about this. Will have to wait and see the series to come up with a complete comment. Initial reaction, though: my god, let the character die already! It's not like we don't have enough Asian American-written characters to choose from. Why not film one of those, rather than returning to a character that originated in a racist stereotype? Leonard Chang writes mysteries. Why not film Over the Shoulder?

By the way, Charlie Chan was based on a real person, Chang Apana, a Hawaiian police detective who died in 1933.

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Comments

Comments

lcj wrote on Tue, 08/09/2005 - 11:40pm
Hmmmm, Lucy Liu as Chan's #1 Daughter.... I hope she does not talk in fortune cookie sayings. I have never seen a Chan movie, but I have read that it is a gross stereotyping of the Chinese (accept that Chan is basically an idiot that solves cases akin to Inspector Gadget). But I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now, Hollywood has not been very kind to Asian Americans, but you never know, maybe Lucy will finally come through for us, since she is supposed to be producing this film as well.
matt wrote on Wed, 08/10/2005 - 11:35pm
There IS no way to make a Charlie Chan movie inoffensive. It relies on stereotyping a heavily accented soothsaying exaggerated featured caricature. Otherwise they'd call it something else entirely.
GK wrote on Wed, 08/17/2005 - 9:36am
Lighten up..around the world Americans of ALL ethnicities are seen as the weakest, most whining individuals in the world. Rightly so.Charlie Chan is entertainment. A character. I loved the movies and still do. Frankly, I never ever saw Chan as weak, dumb and incapable. I saw the opposite. He was brilliant and solved mysteries beyond the mental capabilities of others.Offensive? Only for the weak who are offended by such trivialities.And, I highly doubt today's movie would be scripted as the old ones. Just as art, music, literature etc., film mirrors society at that point in time. Fascinating.Personally, I hope they make the character not only more modern but a bit darker. Chan was so likable. Such a good man. Maybe throw in some darker qualites al la Batman, where we discover WHY he fights crime (a personal tragedy maybe?).As we have so many global and national issues to be legitimately concerned about, fretting over and being offended by a movie and character is pretty lame.Don't like it? Don't watch or patronize it. But don't ever equate your personal dislike as a reason to censor or cease anything. Before you know it all personal freedom is lost.Cheers.GK
a questioner wrote on Wed, 08/17/2005 - 3:12pm
GK - "American" is NOT an ethnicity. It is a nationality.
Aaron wrote on Thu, 10/27/2005 - 5:35pm
Just a note about the Iranian Know Your Rights......Why is it that we never hear about what these communities (Persian, Arab, Asian, etc.) are contributing to America and only what they want FROM America? Perhaps there wouldn't be so much "so-called discrimination" if members of these communities contributed more than they take.
claire wrote on Thu, 10/27/2005 - 6:05pm
we "never" hear about what iranian, arab and asian communities are doing because the mainstream media ignores these communities. stop and take a look around at the website you're commenting in. this is an ASIAN AMERICAN magazine dedicated to illuminating the things asian americans contribute to OUR COUNTRY.