I mean, when he read the script, he could have obviously realized that this was a racist piece. Why did he even accept to do it? Same goes for Asian actresses who accept roles where they are overly sexualized.
shareMaybe they had a sense of humour?
shareThe same reason Jap Americans accepted roles in the 60s and 70s playing 'enemies' even though White America locked them up for being Japs
shareSadly some people would rather people up with the BS for some money than leave Hollywood. Tho some Asian American actors like Daniel Dae Kim hopes to create postive roles for Asians since in recent years hes been directing and producing and writing
shareBack then people weren't dementedly obsessed with racism.
shareI thought the role brilliantly exposed how racist and ignorant Upper Middle Class Midwestern whites were back then.
shareIt's funny.
shareBecause he figured 40 years later he could cry about racism and everyone would listen to him?
shareWatanabe seems pretty gracious about it & even defends the role. It's reporters who keep putting him on the spot about the racial implications. They never do that with the "bohonk" in-laws or the ditzy blonde sister.
And really, why should they? It's a farce. A teenage fairy tale. Everyone outside of Sam's inner circle is completely ridiculous. It's why I like the movie so much.
I meant in a general way not necessarily aimed at this actor. It just seems to be a trend that years or decades later we get the complaints. As per Molly Ringwald, no problem with the upskirt scene in Breakfast Club at the time but now that it's trendy to complain? Yep, huge problem.
People need to accept it was a different time. You can't retro-actively judge the past by today's standards. Although in the coming decades all of this Woke shit might end up getting written as a witch hunt.
No worries. My response was more a reaction to the OP.
We can sit here & nitpick Hughes. Nobody's perfect & it's easy to say that with hindsight. But consider what movies were like before him & what they were like after. I don't see how anyone can claim he was a net negative.