"At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents. We were not pulled screaming from our mothers’ arms." -
@GeorgeTakei
No Asian woman has won Best Actress. “I feel like my full Asian community has thought about it. They come up to me and they say, ‘You’re doing it for us.’” -Michelle Yeoh is Time Icon of the Year. 🙌🏼
U.S. journalists: please research international actors to avoid asking them insulting questions like this. Lee Jung-Jae is a top S. Korean star who has film/TV credits as far back as 1994.
"For you, I'm sure you can't leave the house anymore without people recognizing you. What has been the biggest life change for you since the series came out?"🤡
OH THE CRINGE
Wow. Lashana Lynch is the next 007. She’s not playing Bond, but will take over the code name. Brava, Phoebe Waller-Bridge for ushering in a new era where WoC can lead a spy series, like Sandra Oh in
#KillingEve
. H/t
@iamlaurenp
No one thinks Michelle Yeoh should win an Oscar for being Asian. We are asking why she (and WoC actors) do not get opportunities/recognition for their talent. Halle Berry is the ONLY WoC to win Best Actress in 95 years. How much more proof do you need to question this system?
Happy 58th birthday to Keanu Reeves, who said with a smile, "My relationship to my Asian identity, it’s always been good and healthy. And I love it...We’ve been growing up together."
#Parasite
demonstrates how great cinema can affect social change. “The Seoul City government will financially support 1,500 households living in semi-basement apartments...to improve their living conditions.”
ScarJo is the highest paid female actor in 2018, banking $40.5 mil. But she feels entitled to take roles away from Asian, Trans & other underrepresented actors?
This historical
#Oscar
first doesn't mean there weren't great Asian actors in the past. Remember that none of the actors in Slumdog Millionaire, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or Parasite were nominated.
Wow, this is huge. NBC is developing an Asian family drama (not comedy!) featuring a Korean American family in a "Shakespearean battle for power." And the showrunners are Asian American!
Meng’er Zhang, in her very first movie,
#ShangChi
:
* learned martial arts
* fought stereotyped trope of Asian women having streaked hair
* acted as informal on-set Mandarin coach.
* found love on set
* rocked her role & positioned herself for superstardom
Sesame Street adds new Filipino muppet “TJ,” who says to Kal Penn: “I’m learning Tagalog it’s a language my Filipino family speaks and I have confidence because I can always ask my Lola for help when I don’t know a word.” 🙌🏼 🇵🇭
Yuh-Jung Youn wins BAFTA for Supporting Actress. Her speech is 😂 “Every award is meaningful, but this one especially, recognized by British people known as very snobbish people and they approve me as a good actor so I am very very privileged & happy.”
Sandra Oh made
#GoldenGlobes
history as:
1) 1st PoC to host the Golden Globes in its 76 year history,
2) 1st Asian to host any major awards show,
3) 1st Asian performer to win multiple Golden Globes.
4) 1st person to make me feel seen at an awards show
Steven Yeun AND John Cho have both been cast in Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone reboot, but starring in separate episodes. I'd love to see them in a project together--drama, comedy, thriller, they can do it all!
A woman of color has never received a Best Director Oscar nomination in 92 years. This could change in 2021 with Regina King (
#OneNightInMiami
) and Chloe Zhao (
#Nomadland
).
Academia does not want to share knowledge with the general public because that would erode their elitism (hence articles behind paywalls, using big words that could be said in simpler terms, not rewarding and even punishing folks for doing public scholarship).
Oscar Firsts: Hong Chau (The Whale) and Stephanie Hsu (
@allatoncemovie
) both nominated for Best Supporting Actress: 1st time two Asian actresses nominated in any acting category. If Michelle Yeoh (
@allatoncemovie
) wins Best Actress, she’d be the first Asian and 2nd WoC ever!
Woke up thinking about how great we have Bowen Yang on
#SNL
& pissed that Shane Gillis is triggering my childhood trauma w/his name-calling & accent mocking. Using centuries old stereotypes is not a "risk" or "pushing boundaries." It's just racist & lazy.
“Six Chinese guys made it off the Titanic alive, and 24 hours later were written out of the story. That wasn’t an accident. That was deliberate.” The documentary, “The Six” reclaims this untold story.
Chills. I love Ellie Chu already. She feels like a younger version of
@michellekrusiec
’s character in ‘Saving Face,’ also directed by
@thatalicewu
. Can’t wait to see ‘The Half of It’ on 5/1!
Pinch me, I am on Meghan Markle's podcast
#ArchetypesWithMeghan
along with icons
@margaretcho
and
@lisaling
to discuss the "Dragon Lady" trope and the hypersexualization of Asian women in popular culture and beyond.
The 30-minute longform music video for
@JanetJackson
’s ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ includes a captivating chair routine that would be imitated for years after.
#JanetJacksonAppreciationDay
Squid Game makes SAG Awards History as first non-English-language TV series to win acting prizes: Lee Jung-Jae won male actor and Jung Ho-yeon won female actor in drama categories. 
Support the sons of Hyun Jung Kim (their single mother), who was murdered in GA on Tuesday. They found out about her death from a survivor, not the police:
You can read about their story here
“Overlooked Great Acting” headline held by
#Parasite
director Bong Joon Ho, with cast members Park So-dam and Song Kang-ho pointing.
#Parasite
actors were all snubbed by the Academy despite the film receiving 6 Oscar nominations.
H/t
@neonrated
I met a
#Shangchi
performer at Disneyland and asked him how popular he is compared to other superheroes, and he said “I sometimes blend in with the crowd, but when someone recognizes me, then more folks come over.” I proceeded to shouted to the crowd, “Hey look it’s Shang-Chi!”
Start the campaign for Michelle Yeoh to win the Best Actress academy award for her performance in
#EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce
. This would make her the first Asian woman and second woman of color to win Best Actress in 95 years of Oscar history.
Confession: I get bored by most western action films because I grew up seeing sophisticated & clever martial arts sequences like these. Martial arts is a conversation (like the cup scene), not just people beating one another up.
PoC writers are “regarded as ‘soy sauce’-hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay,” not “credited w/substantive work of crafting the story” says
#CrazyRichAsians
co-screenwriter Adele Lim.
H/t
@its_willyu
#TurningRed
was the top streamed film by BIPOC and white households (so basically everyone!) in 2022, according to the newest UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report 2023. For the full report:
Another Asian historical first: Director Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga are the first Indian filmmakers to win a Best short documentary
#Oscar
for ‘The Elephant Whisperers.’
H/t
@netflixgolden
This is my first bday party, hosted by my 2nd grade teacher after hearing I never had one. She asked me what I wanted & I said, "miniature golf & Chinese food!" She made it happen, giving me life as an immigrant & child of a single dad. If you see this, Mrs. Hoagland, thank you.
Since taking a stand against wage inequality in Hawaii 5-0, Daniel Dae Kim has executive-produced ‘The Good Doctor,’ got cast in Hellboy, and is now developing the “first U.S. drama series outside of the action genre where the main lead is Asian American.”
Today was special. If you missed our
@sxsw
opening day keynote panel with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,
@katiecouric
,
@errinhaines
, and
@BrookeShields
, talking about my favorite topic, representation in the media, stream it here:
I also hope that the Japanese women won't be portrayed as geishas or lotus blossoms. There are apparently Onna-Bugeisha, Feudal Japan's women Samurai. Um, now that I've discovered them, I'd actually like to see a film just on the Onna-Bugeisha.
Women over 40 change the world. Rosa Parks was 42 when she refused to give up her Montgomery bus seat. Susan B. Anthony was 58 & Elizabeth Cady Stanton was 63 when they introduced an amendment giving women the right to vote. Dolores Huerta is still registering voters at age 88.
New: Atlanta shooting suspect told police he had “sexual addiction”, “indicators now may not be” racially motivated, says Cherokee Cty Sheriff Frank Reynolds.
Cherokee actor, Wes Studi, first Native American to officially present at the
#Oscars
. Before him was Sacheen Littlefeather in 1973 who gave a speech for Marlon Brando.
The defense for calling coronavirus “Chinese” by claiming it blames the Chinese government, not Chinese Americans, ignores the racism that marks Asian Americans as foreign threats no matter their citizenship or generation.
An award that nominates 'Emily in Paris' in multiple categories has no legitimacy to call Minari a foreign language film. Yes, I'm bitter.
#GoldenGlobes
As the first Asian American woman chair of my department, here are my reflections on the new series
#TheChair
, starring Sandra Oh, now streaming on Netflix.