Why the grass isn't greener on the Asian side of the fence

Hello everyone. Now I have come across an article that has been shared quite a lot on social media - it is written by Dana Ter "Why Young Asian Americans Are Fleeing Hollywood." There are only so many British-Chinese actors in the UK and I know many of them on Facebook; they have been so busy agreeing with this article they have failed to question the other side of the coin. Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence? Well, I don't think so!

Now Dana Ter made a few valid points in her article: that it is hard for Asian-Americans to break into the entertainment industry (we're talking singers and actors alike here) and there are limited roles available for Asian actors in Hollywood. Let me just deal with those two points for a moment: firstly, what Dana Ter conveniently ignored is the fact that it is hard for anyone to break into Hollywood or the American music industry. It doesn't matter whether you are white or black, Asian or Hispanic, old or young, male or female - quite simply, the ratio of aspiring actors to the number of roles available means that statistically, the supply of actors far exceeds the amount of quality work available. This, my dear, is quite simply a function of mathematics. Do white actors have an easier time breaking into Hollywood simply because they are white? Hell no. Everyone has a bloody hard time trying to break into this industry. So stop pretending that it is only the poor Asians who suffer this fate - white actors suffer in very much the same way.You don't get to play the race card here.

Secondly, she talks about limited roles for Asian-American actors - okay, I accept your point but perhaps it is because I am a Chinese geek who is good with maths, I respond again with statistics, Is she implying therefore that if you're white, beautiful and say 23 years old, you would have no problem getting lead roles in feature films? Do you have any idea just how complex the casting process is Dana? My point is that even if there are roles available, the chances of a young white actor scoring a huge part like Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games is in fact, pretty darn low - for every one success story like Jennifer Lawrence, there are thousands of young white, pretty actors who simply get by doing bit parts, here and there, with a career that never amounts to much after years of trying. My point is simple: yes Asian-Americans have a hard time in Hollywood, but so do white-American actors. You need to acknowledge that as well.

This is a very hard industry to break into.

Furthermore, mathematics and statistics will come back to haunt Asian-Americans who move to Hong Kong, Singapore or China. You're Chinese - well guess what? So are all the other actors who are going for the same lead role in a Chinese film and you have to get in line for the auditions. Competition is extremely fierce in Asia and standards are extremely high. Don't expect any special favours from Chinese casting directors just because you have just arrived from America. Sure you hear about the success stories of American born performers like Daniel Wu and Stefanie Hwang (of Girls' Generation) who have found great success in Asia, but you never hear about those who have made the move back to Asia only to have found nothing but disappointment and frustration - we live in a culture obsessed with the cult of celebrity and most of us will simply ignore those who have not made it in the industry.

Dana Ter mentions a number of mixed-race actors (half Asian, half white) who have found success in Asia: Maggie Q (Polish-Irish-Vietnamese mix), Russell Wong (Dutch-French-Chinese mix) and Daniel Henney (Irish-Korean). What do they have in common? They are mixed, they are at least half European - they do not look typically Asian. Thus at least when they turn up in Shanghai or Hong Kong, they still stand out from the crowd when they turn up at a casting with their exotic looks. Would they have been half as successful in Asia if they had been completely Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese? How much of their success do they owe to their European DNA, giving them those exotic features?

I am sick and tired of Asian actors and singers in the West speaking as if everything is so wonderful and perfect in Asia - is the grass really that much greener in Asia? I don't think so. I see Dana Ter shares my love for K-pop and she talks a lot about Girls' Generation - thus I am sure she would be aware of the recent tragedy from the world of K-pop where two members of Ladies Code were tragically killed in a car accident. This isn't just a freak accident but is indicative of just how hard K-pop stars have to work in South Korea - questions were raised about the way the group were rushed from one location to another in the middle of the night (the crash happened at 1:30 am) during a ferocious thunderstorm. Couldn't they have allowed the singers to have rested in Daegu for the night after the concert instead of traveling through the night back to Seoul (a journey that takes about 4 to 4.5 hours)? What kind of working conditions were they subjected to? I shall let Simon & Martina of Eatyourkimchi explain this to you as they know the K-pop industry extremely well and are not afraid to speak very openly and honestly about the darker side of the Korean entertainment industry.

At least in the UK where I live, we have Equity who are a relatively strong union for all actors and performers in the entertainment industry to protect us from unfair working conditions. I am an Equity member and yes, I am glad they are there not just to protect and help me, but to help all other performers in the UK so we are never subjected to the kind of appalling working conditions they have in South Korea. Likewise, in America, the actors there have unions like the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild to protect their rights. So you see, the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence - especially when it comes to working conditions, you are far better off working in the West than in somewhere like South Korea as an actor or singer.

In any case, I have spent the first half of my life in Singapore and the second half of my life in Europe. Even when I returned to Singapore to work for a short stint in 2011, I had a major culture shock though I tried my very best to hide it from American boss who relied on me in Asia. Did Dana Ter think there's some kind of red carpet waiting for Asian-Americans or British-Chinese people who decide to go work in Asia? Hell no. When you land in Seoul, Singapore or Hong Kong, you don't know anyone in town, there may be a huge language barrier and even if you get past that, there is an even bigger cultural barrier. In short, it's bloody difficult to uproot yourself, move halfway around the world and try to break into showbiz in Asia - it is hardly an easy option. If you think that Asian casting directors, agents and record label bosses are going to give you any kind of special favours just because you grew up in the West, then wake up and smell the coffee. What have you got that the locals don't already have? And more to the point, if you don't have what it takes to make it in LA or London, what makes you think you're going to find success in Hong Kong, Taipei or Seoul?

What do Asian-Americans have that Asians don't already have?

Lastly, Dana Ter seems obsessed with fluffy entertainment (nothing wrong with that, I love K-pop too) but what about more serious film makers and those in the entertainment industry who wish to deal with far more serious topics? Hong Kong, the mecca of Chinese entertainment that Dana loves, is currently in the news over student protests as Beijing tightens its grip of democracy in Hong Kong. The situation in Hong Kong getting from bad to worse, day by day - something Dana is conveniently ignoring in her painfully one-sided argument. No, she just wants to create a boogeyman so she can present a simple solution. In Singapore, Tan Pin Pin's film To Singapore With Love has been banned in Singapore, but this is hardly surprising given this country's extremely tough stance on censorship and freedom of speech. Sure if you wanna just dance around and sing songs about falling in love or make romantic comedies, then the governments in these countries will leave you in peace - but should you try to incorporate anything controversial such as politics into your artistic expression, then you're walking on very, very thin ice.

Having lived in the UK since 1997, I am so used to the kind of freedom of speech and expression that I have here - but when I talk to my friends in Singapore, they have to be extremely careful about what they say or do in the media because they are afraid about getting into trouble. There is a kind of Singaporean self-censorship that they practice, where they make sure they do not say anything that can may fall foul of what is considered 'acceptable' by the government. I know a Singaporean actor who is gay but is desperately hiding in the closet, paranoid that people may find out about his sexuality for he is convinced that he may not get any roles on TV should his sexuality becomes public knowledge. Contrast that to the UK... never mind openly gay actors, we have plenty of openly gay politicians who are in government.

So Dana, the entertainment industry in the Far East isn't this Utopia that you have described - you're guilty of ignoring the many challenges faced by those trying to make it in places like Seoul, Hong Kong and Singapore whilst idealizing the industry there. In short, the grass simply isn't greener in Far East Asia - the conditions are very different, but are they better than in the West? I don't think so. I think it is silly to get into a debate into which is better - Asia or the West. Some people will be happier working in Asia whilst others will be happier working in the West and if you are an actor who can find a steady stream of paid work, I say, good for you. A working actor is a happy actor.

What I don't like is this "victim's mentality" as it distorts the situation. In wrongly portraying the grass to be so much greener in the Far East, Dana Ter is perpetuating the misconception that somehow, Asian-American actors are being held back from success because of old fashioned racism, when really, the situation is far more complex than that, so stop playing the hapless Asian victim. It doesn't matter whether you are Asian, white, black, American or Chinese, you need everything from talent to looks to luck to land a big role - just ask anyone who has been through this process. Dana Ter paints his idealized vision of Hong Kong, where Asian-American actors can finally escape racist white casting directors, but guess what?  Have a read of this South China Morning Post article, "Is it time to leave beloved Hong Kong?" Even Hong Kongers want to leave Hong Kong these days - oh dear, that shatters Dana's vision of how green the grass is in Hong Kong. Time for a reality check Dana. Life in the Far East isn't as perfect as you would like it to be.

As always, feel free to leave a comment and please do let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!