I went to watch Star Trek last week and I LOVED it. I’m not a Trekkie, but I’ve watched my share of Star Trek episodes and movies. But to be perfectly honest, one of the main reasons I wanted to watch this Star Trek in the theaters was to support John Cho strut his acting chops as Hikaru Sulu (and strut them he did.) From the first moment Cho hits the screen to the last, my insides were doing all sorts of cheering and rooting for him – all while being completely engrossed in the movie.
Not ashamed to admit that I’m delighted each time an Asian actor/actress play a hefty role, I get more excited when they play a main character; remember Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels? I was glad that she was one of the angels, not an ASIAN angel, or an Asian girl doing this and that. In the same way, I was happy to see Cho play Sulu, and the color of his skin, or his ethnic background wasn’t an issue or part of the main story line.
I’m impatient to see more Asian actors/actresses star as main characters in a movie; I want to see Asian actors/actresses headline a movie. So I was sad to read from this article by Mandy Choie that talks about changing the marketing posters for the movie Better Luck Tomorrow so the Asians in the movie would look ethnically ambiguous.
Until Hollywood decides that they’ll fully embrace Asian actors/actresses as equal game in any and all roles they have to offer, I will attend a movie, for no other reason than to just root and cheer on the Asian actor or actress.
