The Red Dawn remake has been put on hold.
With that, I breathe a huge sigh of relief.
For those of you who are unfamiliar what this remake’s story, it’s basically China invading America in the not-too-distant-future. The notion alone reeks of sinophobia and honestly, that scares the crap out of me. Out of all the films in my absurdly named box of “Hollywood Movies That Will Possibly Make Asians Look Bad or Not Have Asians At All As Main Characters,” I am most concerned about this one because it has the danger of targeting Asians and Asian Americans in this country.
MGM rationalizes this by saying “it’s just an action film,” but what they aren’t realizing is that the power of the media is something that cannot be underestimated; what we see and hear on the radio, television, and the movie theaters can influence the way we think and perceive of the world and the people around us. When we see images of villainous Asian people invading America and the good guys all being white people (with African Americans sprinkled here and there), you have a recipe for another Vincent Chin waiting to happen.
My fears for this movie is immense. But after the intense conversation I’ve had with the APA community about the Karate Kid remake on my previous post, I had to seriously wonder about judging this film without even seeing it.
Could the Red Dawn remake surprise me as much as the Karate Kid remake surprised me? Could it be possible that there will be Asian American characters (and not just background extras or Asian damsels to be rescued by their Caucasian knights) who are questioned by others even though they are proud Americans? Could this film actually contain that narrative and show that not all Asians are foreign yellow peril menaces? Most importantly, could this film actually be good and satisfy both of my artist and community activist’s expectations?
From the early reviews of the script, the chances of the Asian/Asian American dynamics put into play for this film is very slim. Without that, you have a movie that is rife with the fuel to get people declaring that all Asian people are inscrutable, sly folks that are not to be trusted. All it needs is a match before hate crimes are committed in the name of taking America back from the “foreign yellow devils.”
So for now, I’m going to smile like an idiot, go buy a Cinnabon to celebrate this news, and look forward to a beautiful Friday.
