Hollywood Is Changing For The Better, And We Are All Lucky To Bear Witness To It
Ke Huy Quan / Photo by GabboTThink back to the Hollywood of yesteryear. Think back to the Hollywood which committed horrible atrocities over the years that today would never fly. A Hollywood which had a horrid film called Birth Of A Nation that depicted Black people as monsters and the KKK as heroes. A Hollywood that thought it was ok to cast Mickey Rooney as an Asian man in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. A Hollywood that thought the “hero” of Revenge Of The Nerds committing rape would garner laughs. A quick anecdote, when I was a kid, I saw Short Circuit in the theater. My young mind thought it was funny, but for years I wondered what happened to the Indian actor in that film. It wasn’t until I was well into my late teens that I found out that Indian actor was in fact the white actor Fisher Stevens. This was in the mid 80’s, and Hollywood was still perpetuating Cultural appropriation and having white actors perform in Blackface and Brownface.
Just recently the actor Ke Huy Quan, who shot to fame as a child actor in The Goonies and Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom, has been reintroduced to audiences with his beyond remarkable role starring alongside Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All At Once. You see him be amazing up on that big screen and get misty eyed as you feel like you’re watching your life-long friend succeed. I say that because I feel as if I grew up with Mr. Quan. Now in a recent interview he stated that after he saw Crazy Rich Asians he felt he could start acting again, and actually getting good roles as opposed to stereotypical ones. The lack of good roles was his reason for remaining behind the scenes doing stunt work all these years.
Thankfully society as a whole society has started to awaken, and Hollywood has taken notice and followed suit. Now there are more and more positive depictions of minorities being displayed on big screens across the world, and showcasing Asian, Black, Latin, Native American and Indian actors, and actresses in a proper light. Showing the world the powerhouse acting, writing, producing, and directing that they are capable of. More and more women are spearheading film and television. More and more Transgendered people are being positively represented in various media outlets. The changes that occurring now are a beautiful thing and are ushering more and more positive changes by the day. I’m not sure about you, But I for one am for it.
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