So, there's this film called Paris, Je'Taime [translates into 'Paris, I love you] which I saw this past summer and while there were some films I was kinda iffy about, some of them were rather cute/good.
Essentially, it's a collection of short films by a bunch of well-known directors from around the world and they all take place in Paris. Anyway, following the success of Paris, Je'Taime, they are now coming out with a 'New York, I love you' in 2009. Same concept except all the short films take place in New York [durr].
So while procrastinating on homework as per usual, I decided to check out the trailer on YouTube. At first I was really excited about it [and hoped that a Chicago, I love you was in the works] buuuuut now I'm not so sure.
While watching the trailer, there are indeed a few Asian faces in there [yay!]. But my excitement was shortlived as they seemed to be rather stereotypical depictions. Granted, what I saw of these faces was only a few seconds but oh that was enough.
One of the scenes that made me raise my eyebrow was when the the voice over narration was saying how the thing they love about new york is that everyone comes from somewhere else. and during that, the second image they show is of an Asian girl. Okay, maybe they didn't do that intentionally. Maybe they just wanted to show how diverse New York is. blahblah. Okay. Maybe I'm overreacting. Keep watching.
The second one is when Maggie Q is walking out of a dry cleaners and the guy after her [i know him!! just can't remember his name. dammit] says 'same to you' in what I believe is cantonese.
Maybe she was speaking in Canto to the guy working at the cleaners so he thought he'd try to impress her with his Canto, I dunno. But really, was that necessary? Don't assume that every Asian you see speaks an Asian language, buddy.
And the next scene, is when Ethan Hawke is talking to Maggie Q on the street and he asks her what she does and she says she's a hooker.
Okay, that made me GROOOOANNNNN. Dammit! Why, Maggie Q, WHY? Why does she have to be a hooker?! Perpetuating the notion that all Asian women are hyper-sexual and/or all they want to do is have sex and/or all they're good for is sex. Waaahhhh.
Anyway, again, like I said, it's a trailer. So I could have interpreted these scenes completely wrong because they're out of context. But STILL. WHAT THE FUCK.
It also made me chuckle in a 'durr' kind of way that they listed Shu Qi as a 'Chinese woman.' Well, right.
And come to think of it, I don't think I saw one Asian male face in the trailer. Except for the possibility of the taxi cab driver. But I'm not sure.
Anyway, check out the trailer and let me know what you think.
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You know what I noticed about the trailer? Asian Americans in the trailer were the only people of color. No Latinos, no Blacks. Also, no South Asians, despite the fact that a quarter of the nation's South Asian Americans live there.
On top of that, yeah, I mean, the hooker scene was pretty fucked up, and the dry cleaners scene was pretty fucked up, but yeah, context and what not.
Less than half of New York is white [per Wiki]...yet in that trailer, which shows quite a few people in speaking roles, it's all white people, and two Asians, one of whom said she was a hooker.
It's hard for me not to pass judgment, though I'm trying my best not to. Still though...
Oof.
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