The Fairy Princess wishes you all a good riddance to 2020…
Look at Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris starting to put that ish out…they can make any outfit look good.
TFP is sure they have Ted Liu and Mazie Hirono, Joe Biden, Mayor Pete, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren ready to add some non racist equality foam- laced with health care and a relief package for all on standby. (Cuz you douse chemical fires w foam, & can you think of anything more toxic than the GOP right now, cuz TFP can’t!)
This past year has been fairly hideous, the USA under the mismanagement of the Toupee’d Orange has had 341,199 deaths since this pandemic started – and if you have lost a loved one, or a few, if you have lost a beloved friend, or a co-worker, or you work in health care, or you are food insecure, or about to get kicked out of your dwelling – TFP sees you, she is heartsick for you, and she wants you to hang in there. We have a new President coming (and honestly, does she think Joe is going to be a one termer…no, she doesn’t – he seems fired UP) and there are two vaccines to help the country survive.
If you take it.
Listen, there are objections out there- given the speed of the approval, but when you realize HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DYING, you understand why they were working around the clock – however – if you have ordered food or drink prepared by someone else, if you have danced in a college fraternity and fallen into the ooze that is on the floor and gotten up to laugh about it, if you have partied in a club, or attended a house party where they served large amounts of alcohol out of a trash can lined with a plastic bag filled with Hawaiian punch and Everclear…do not worry about this vaccine being lethal.
You did not care then what you were putting in your body, so please, spare us the narrative that you are highly aware of every single thing that goes into your toothpaste, deodorant, household cleaning supplies, daily meds, the fruits and veges you consume…
You survived all that. You can get through this with medical science.
Take the shot.
First, some good news – TFP‘s very good pal, J. Bernard Calloway has a show that has been picked up by BET+ – The Ms. Pat Show, so make sure you tune into that! They are just going down to Atlanta to go film, and TFP wishes them the magic number of 5 seasons and beyond.
Now we get to ‘the stuff’ aka, ‘why the heck did TFP start writing again, TODAY” – and there are a few reasons, bear with her – this is a new year, and we have new stuff to talk about, which mirrors the old stuff, but there you go….
Some old business, remember the kerfuffle with the Rob Guest Endowment in Australia? Where a musical theater competition came to the semi-finalist round and then all the contestants competing realized that there were no BIPOC people in the 31 member group?
Well, that prompted, among others – TFP‘s buddy, international Musical Theater superstar, Hayden Tee, who is of Maori heritage, to raise up the challenge to the MT community in OZ, and start a mentor program to change the dynamic over there. Nothing happens overnight – but TFP has been on a few Zooms, and is mentoring a few people, so…let’s keep positive thoughts.
SAG/AFTRA and AEA came to an agreement, which, oddly enough, looks very similar to the agreement that TFP wrote out a few blogs ago and told them to take to their attorneys. Anyway, it is settled, there is no Hollywood without Broadway, and there are no TONY Awards for film stars without Broadway.
PAAL, the Parent Artist Advocacy League started by Rachel Spencer Hewitt, is giving out emergency grants for Artists with Families. During this time, parents in the Arts are facing the financial and emotional toll of no work, but with little people who depend on them for everything – it’s a scary place. If you can give, or you need to apply, please go to www.PAALtheatre.com.
Now, we need to talk about how people talk about diversity. Everyone is kvelling over BRIDGERTON, and rightly so – beautiful cast, well acted, nice to see variation there in casting – but it is not a home run. TFP should be using cricket terminology, shouldn’t she? Ah well, the production company is American, and she loathes cricket…so…
The show is beautiful, and TFP has watched it. She had high hopes for it, frankly, because in one of the first scenes when the virgins, sorry debutantes are being presented, there is an East Asian Lady in Waiting furiously fanning the Queen. She was hopeful that this character would speak. Alas she does not, she holds a small dog. That is the extent of it.
TFP continued watching, she saw a South Asian male actor chat with one of the Bridgertons, and an East Asian playing the violin, and finally, a South Asian female spoke under 5 lines as the ‘beard’ of one of the series only LGBTQ characters.
TFP looked harder than Simon at a garden path at Vauxhall Gardens…she did not find any.
The triumph is, in fact, a binary one. People seem to think that this show ‘solves’ everything. Or they tell ‘us’ to wait our turn, or ‘eventually it will change’ – well, TFP has been writing this blog since 2012, and Asians are still waiting for true acceptance and inclusion.
East, Southeast, South, Middle – we are waiting.
Which is odd, because as TFP has pointed out in past work – the first Chinese male arrived in England in 1684 and was a friend of King James II, and in fact, King James II had his portrait painted and hung in his bedroom to mark the friendship. Presenting to the court and beyond, “Michael” Shen Fu Tsung. Read more about him here.
BRIDGERTON takes place beginning 1813, which leaves 200 years of actual intermingling with people ‘outside’ the binary to provide basis for a narrative to fictionally interact with, and yet there is nothing.
All this is proof that Chinese have been intermingling on a Royal Court level, while not consistently of course, but still it was there – since the 1680’s – which would play into the re-imagining of British society that BRIDGERTON is supposed to represent.
Likewise the British first went to India and established the British East India company in the year 1600 – and in doing so, began an entire mixed race population of what they called at the time, Anglo Indian, which brought us people like…Ben Kingsley, Merle Oberon, and Joanna Lumley to name a few.
While yes, BRIDGERTON is embracing inclusion, it is also including only certain people – and it is in fact, very specifically excluding quite a lot of people that would have been in England at the time.
All TFP is saying – and of course she will watch the second season – is that…she noticed.
Now, let’s turn our attention to WARRIOR – a truly fascinating show that, honestly, has been handed both a tremendous opportunity, and yet, the keys to it’s demise.
Originally based on the journey of Chinese Americans to this country – via an idea by Bruce Lee – yes, THAT Bruce Lee – it was filmed on location in South Africa. Two seasons. Produced by Cinemax, so TFP did not get to see a lot of the episodes, however NOW it has moved to HBO Plus!
She is gonna watch the heck outta that show now!
Which is wonderful = however…the show has the scripts and the arc to extend for a third season and beyond, but because Cinemax was dumping all of it’s producing efforts, a third season was never filmed. They need to be filmed.
Not because TFP says so – but because America was inviting it in to it’s living rooms – and that needs to continue to happen. It is a part of laying down the foundation for conversations on race in America, and the Asian diaspora. The longer WARRIOR is on, actors on the show have a real shot at maintaining their careers – which to some, goes into the “Why do I need to care about Actors?”
Well because, when you start asking questions like “Why is Emma Stone playing a mixed Asian and Hawaiian gal?” and demanding that Matt Damon no longer be allowed on The Great Wall – you need tangible people to sub in there as alternatives. You need people that Hollywood recognizes as having done ‘the work”, and who are ‘ready’ for the next big step.
Not just the actors – the writers, the producers – do you know who is one of the executive producers? Justin Lin – who directed BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. Who diversified the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise. He is changing the conversation every day, and he cannot do it alone. He has to grab a sandwich or something.
Which is where YOU come in, oh reader – oh martial arts loving, history of America, possibly Asian reader – here is what needs to happen – you need to blow out those numbers on HBO Plus. You have to watch WARRIOR, seasons 1 and 2 (which, by the way, are not hard to do, the characters are complicated and the storyline is gripping) and then…you need to go to Twitter, to Instagram, to Snapchat and discuss HOW MUCH YOU LIKE THE SHOW AND HOW MUCH YOU WANT A THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH SEASON.
Listen, it worked for a bunch of white shows, numbers have no color. Invite all your people. All kinds of people.
If you are a martial arts fan, if you are period drama fan, if you are an action/sex fan, if you are just bored with there only being one narrative in the history of America – you can expand your thinking, expand the circle of this show. Every time you watch something different, it is noted. Every time you tweet or own your social media space with hashtags and opinions, it is noted.
This show, should be noted. San Francisco at this time period was a whirl of politics, racism, sexism, bartering – honestly is America different now?
No.
Give it a watch – and tell HBO you want a third season – because #RepresentationMatters and so do all of you.
Finally – there has been a bit of a late coming uproar over Actor, Rizwan Manji – not because he has not been representing 24/7 for the past 15 years at least on American Television – but because he has used an accent on occasion. He dared to talk about it, and it set off a firestorm.
Did you get this upset when Meryl Streep did it? No? Then sit down.
Mr. Manji is a first generation Canadian whose parents were immigrants. His accent work is one of the tools of his trade – and the accent is never one of the jokes. The jokes in regards to Mr. Manji’s work, arise from cultural misunderstandings – not because they were said with the accent.
The accent may clue you in that something may go awry – but to pooh pooh Asian actors because of accent work – especially in regards to shows that hail from Canada – you would also have to throw out KIM’S CONVENIENCE. If you are are playing someone who hails originally from another country, or is playing a scene in another country – they would have an accent.
Or have you never met an Australian? An Irishperson? Why are the only acceptable accents that people do not fuss over, why are they only European?
In COBRA KAI – Tamlyn Tomita and Yugi Okumoto used Japanese accents, specifically Okinawan. Because the show in that episode takes place in Okinawa. It was shot in Atlanta, folks.
Likewise another actor in the scenes in Japan, Miki Yamashita uses an accent.
TFP knows all three of those actors – they have American accents on the daily. Being familiar with the setting of a scene and trying to be as authentic as they can, they chose to use an accent. They were – all three – just great.
Mr. Manji – who TFP also knows personally – does not have an accent other than your run of the mill Canadian when he blows around LA, but he is the child of immigrants, he is familiar with it, and he is allowed to use it – he cannot say about btw, which is the only reason TFP knew he was from Canada when they met.
TFP can do an Aussie “Fair Dinkum” or a “Sydney-side” accent, a “Irish from Kerry’ accent, a Chinese “From NY Chinatown” accent, and frankly a “Mother in Law from Busan” Korean accent – because those are things she hears within her family.
Accent work is not shameful. It is not a let down. Why do y’all only get crazy when it is a minority doing an accent but you don’t yell about Streep doing them?
Cuz it is YOU that have the issue. Not the actors, who are using the tools of their trade to make you believe that you are in another world entirely – and doing a great job.
So stop.
TFP out.