Nobody's Asian In The Movies - 10

The tenth track of Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog's Commentary: The Musical, That's Me. Main Part by Maurissa Tancharoen.

Lyrics:
Maurissa: I wrote all Penny's lines in the song, you know...
I even sang her part up on the demo.
But when it's time to cast the show,
Do they want somebody yellow? Hell no.
Noooooo...

Nobody's Asian in the movies,
Nobody's Asian on TV.
If there is a part there for us,
It's a groupie in the chorus,
That's me.

I begged and I pleaded,
"Please don't pass me by"
They say, "Hey, give us a hand
Go and stand in the back with
That fat guy"
My role, though be it brief, at least
It isn't Viet Cong,
It's comic relief.
Ohhhhh!

Nobody's Asian in the movies,
Nobody's Asian on TV.
If there is a part there for us,
It's a ninja, a physician, or a goofy mathematician, or
a groupie in the chorus,
That's me.

Who do they want before they want an Asian?
A Mexican.

Who do they want before they want an Asian?
A Black.

Who do they want before they want an Asian?
A Persian or a Cajun, or an Indian or an American
Indian,
Played by a Mexican,
Or, if you're lucky, someone Asian
Like me.

JW: (But Maurissa! Movies couldn't even be made without Asians. We need them to play the parts we're not willing to.)

MT: (You're right, Jed!)

Without the Asians in the movies
Without the Asians on TV
Who'd play the goofy mathematician?
The computer technician?
A wise old healer from Japan?
A short but wealthy businessman?
Sell Korean groceries?
Do your laundry "Thank you, prease"
We're the victims of a crime!
We'll be loving you long time!
If your movie is a bore,
Just watch the groupie in the chorus,
That's me.

I guess my parents will be proud of me, after all!

JW: What does your father do again?

MT: Oh, he's a nerdy, funny scientist.

JW: Isn't your dad a transpo guy?

MT: Oh, like an Asian could do that. I'm gonna go in the corner and play my violin, and - math!



Thanks to Spidra for transcribing the lyrics.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Dr
• Horrible
• Sing-Along
• Blog
• Commentary
• the
• Musical
• Commentary!

[B4Brendetta]

Its not just about how Asians aren't portrayed in the media, but how. Not only do you not see an Asian play a main role, the only times an Asian does is when they are a kung fu master (Jet Li or Jackie Chan), science whiz, or Buddhist monk. Usually they are very fobby characters like Hiro Nakamura or Ando from Heroes or the Korean couple from Lost. Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans are much more American than portrayed in the media.

[PUFFYsaidgo]

[CONTINUED]

ethnicity."

-Benjamin Wynn, The Track Team

Did I disappoint you? Why is it frightening to you, and many other people, to accept Avatar: The Last Airbender as an Asian fantasy? So what if the concept of the show was made by two white men? They specifically stated that they wanted to make an Asian "Legends & Lore"-type story.

The Asian elements in the show are "small"? Why is Chinese the world's language and is in the logo of the show? Everything in the show is Asian or Mongolic

[Peaches7217]

Only in a Whedon production would the funniest joke be a musical cue rather than a line.

[bookemist]

@B4Brendetta true. although asians are often main protagonists in books, just rarely in visual media.

[xray0851]

Asian in glee just proves it.

[CBeliever]

@B4Brendetta

hey, what about Sulu from Star Trek? Roddenberry specifically said that the part wasn't meant only for an Asian, that anyone could play the part.... wow... I feel so nerdy.

[stephanieclark1]

@anphorus More of a dig at firefly, by the creator of firefly; I imagine he'd be the first one to admit a show about a chinese-american alliance should of had more asians in it. Though also a dig at the rest of film/tv for doing the same thing.

[stilldexter2999]

Well, technically the character falls into one of the stereotypes as "science whiz" but the character of :"Archie Johnson" on CSI (while not a regular character but reoccurring) played by Archie David Kao is arguably the coolest mofo on that show.

And who doesn't love "Boomer" on BSG? God, I can turn off the volume and watch her on HAWAII FIVE-O.

[JennyWrath]

@anphorus it's not chinese/american, they just curse in mandarin.

[jay7tennis]

Thank you prease.

Love you long time!

[SonicUnderground316]

Though I agree with this video 100%, every minority are portrayed stereotipically, even the one that seem to be treated more fairly in madia:

-Black :Gangster,drug dealer,side-kick,taxi driver,stoner,almost never survive in film ect

-Latino/mexicain:Gangster,drug dealer,dance teacher,gay,designer/hair dresser,rebels,trouble maker,coward/traitor ect

Indian:Yoga/kamasutra/dance adept,pervert,taxi driver,stoner,greedy owner,coward ect

N.american:TRIBAL,bad guy, wizard,alcoolic,wife beater ect.

[Konform2zoidberg]

what about margaret cho?