Multicultural Initiatives: Do you ever watch a movie and think, "Hey, that person looks just me"? Unfortunately, that rarely happens for this woman.

What's this blog about?

I teach several courses under the broad topic of "Multicultural Education," prioritizing social justice issues of access, power/privilege, & narrowing the academic achievement gap. I am a person of color and I almost always have a white co-teacher. We include topics, such as: racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, ethnocentrism, deculturalization, transforming curriculum, etc. This is a place where I post information that we teach; lesson plans for activities; and resources we use and/or which are shared with me by my adult students.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Do you ever watch a movie and think, "Hey, that person looks just me"? Unfortunately, that rarely happens for this woman.

http://www.upworthy.com/after-being-frustrated-by-hollywoods-portrayal-of-asians-one-woman-took-action?c=ufb1

For as long as she can remember, Villemaire has wanted to be a television personality. But for most of her life, she figured she didn't have a shot because there was hardly anyone on the big (or small) screen that resembled her.

Throughout history, and even today, many Asian characters are played by nonAsians. Villemaire calls it yellowface, and she doesn't mince words when it comes to how she feels about it.

Check out four stunning examples of Villemaire depicting Asian characters. She appears on the right in all of the photo sets:
1. Luise Rainer playing the Chinese wife of a Chinese farmer in the 1937 movie "The Good Earth."
2. Myrna Loy as the Chinese daughter of Fu Manchu in the 1932 movie "The Mask of Fu Manchu."
3. Katharine Hepburn playing (you guessed it) a Chinese woman in the 1944 movie "Dragon Seed." 4. Yep, it happens in present day movies, too. Emma Stone played a half-Asian woman in the 2015 movie "Aloha."