From Charlie Chan to Jackie Chan

Sometime in September I heard an episode on one my favorite radio shows called Off Ramp on KPCC entitled, Charlie Chan - villain or hero? The episode was about
Charlie Chan, the Chinese detective who would offer up fortune cookie wisdom as he solved crime. Created by Earl Derr Biggers Chan appeared in many movies until people got tired of an Chinese hero appearing in their televisions at the height of the Cold War. Charlie Chan was not played an Asian, but a white actor in yellow face and featured the worse of Asian stereotypes. American audiences like them because he was nonthreatening, and wise-cracking and best of all he living on television and not on there block. In the episode, the host, John Rabe interviews UCSB professor Yunte Huang who published a book called Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History. I provided a link for those interesting in hearing in the entire interview.
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/offramp/2010/09/15/1890/jrblog-charliechan/

Recently, one of my fellow teachers mentioned that there is a movie coming out next year about the 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves. This is disappointing, because after the huge success of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, one would expect Americans to increasingly see movies that featured an all-Asian cast. The movie was a good movie, but was it successful in part because it conveniently fit into and fed our stereotypes of Asian people? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a martial arts movie and that type of genre has been historically successful in the past. I knew a teacher who showed this movie when he covered Chinese culture. I guess he felt that the movie was a true representation of Chinese culture. Most Americans do get most of their views of other cultures and history through movies. Another issue I have with Hollywood beyond the typical stereotypes they churn out on television and in the movies is the lack of minorities in the hero roles. Why can’t the hero of a movie be an Asian (or a minority) who not only defeats the bad guys but gets the girl too? In most American movies the Caucasian is the hero most of the time and minorities regularly get relegated to supporting roles. Hollywood movies like The Last Samurai feature a Caucasian as the hero who also gets the girl. Why can’t it be an Asian hero who gets the Caucasian girl? Is this not palatable to American audiences? Is it that American audiences aren’t ready for this or is it that Hollywood isn’t ready to put this onscreen because they feel it will offend American audiences? Let’s face it we live in a culture in which the ideal is still white. The show the Bachelor still has yet to feature a minority male or a minority female in the lead role. So, I repeat the question is it that Americans audiences aren’t ready for a hero like Jackie Chan to not only kick butt, but also get the hot Caucasian girl? I think there has been progress from the days of Charlie Chan to Jackie Chan, but we still have a long way to go.