Berliner Boersenzeitung - 'Interior Chinatown' satirizes Asian roles in Hollywood... and beyond screen

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.961758
ALL 98.138602
AMD 405.652886
ANG 1.877182
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.720247
AUD 1.602814
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.955573
BBD 2.102956
BDT 124.465544
BGN 1.955294
BHD 0.392554
BIF 3076.642669
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.403837
BOB 7.197164
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.041579
BTN 87.914489
BWP 14.229347
BYN 3.408604
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.099456
CAD 1.456529
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930957
CLF 0.036923
CLP 1018.83097
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4573.368835
CRC 530.538382
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.252195
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.478458
DKK 7.457729
DOP 62.772709
DZD 139.835759
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 127.508391
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831435
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.456089
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8977.957272
GTQ 8.040066
GYD 217.904692
HKD 8.109446
HNL 26.320943
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.72412
HUF 411.522823
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.863061
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1364.44153
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 165.930728
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.242873
KES 134.884334
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4193.512952
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.867999
KZT 520.059599
LAK 22878.342838
LBP 93271.167197
LKR 303.144792
LRD 187.998165
LSL 18.795317
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.086409
MAD 10.478083
MDL 18.997794
MGA 4861.435378
MKD 61.522855
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.35093
MRU 41.443187
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1806.090235
MXN 21.281613
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.795317
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.325549
NOK 11.531328
NPR 140.663663
NZD 1.78585
OMR 0.400943
PAB 1.041579
PEN 3.949541
PGK 4.193513
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.239507
PLN 4.337676
PYG 8131.055634
QAR 3.798559
RON 4.978071
RSD 116.991412
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1421.834864
SAR 3.911473
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.272055
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.501974
SGD 1.402931
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.230868
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.113941
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.788818
THB 35.922648
TJS 11.092512
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.309016
TOP 2.440072
TRY 36.018972
TTD 7.074178
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2770.578216
UAH 43.089995
UGX 3848.553017
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.294855
UZS 13362.448044
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 655.880824
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.792308
XOF 655.880824
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.862746
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.772658
ZWL 335.468513
  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

'Interior Chinatown' satirizes Asian roles in Hollywood... and beyond screen
'Interior Chinatown' satirizes Asian roles in Hollywood... and beyond screen / Photo: VALERIE MACON - AFP

'Interior Chinatown' satirizes Asian roles in Hollywood... and beyond screen

A "meta" detective series in which a struggling Asian waiter becomes the unlikely hero of a police procedural-style criminal conspiracy, "Interior Chinatown" satirizes Hollywood's stereotypical treatment of minorities -- while also nodding to the progress the industry has belatedly made.

Text size:

The new show, out on Disney-owned Hulu next Tuesday, is based on the critically adored novel by US author Charles Yu, who is of Taiwanese descent.

Yu's 2020 bestseller delivered a humorous takedown of racism in US society through the adventures of Willis Wu, a Hollywood extra reduced to playing roles like "Background Oriental Male" but who dreams of one day being promoted to "Kung Fu Guy."

Yu now serves as the TV series' creator and showrunner.

"I grew up watching TV in the '80s and '90s, and I just never saw Asians on TV. It's as if they didn't exist," he told a press conference in July.

"They existed in real life when I'd go outside, but they weren't somehow in my screen. And so, that sort of shaped me in wanting to tell this story."

Even a decade ago, Yu's literary creation would likely have been ignored by Hollywood.

But in recent years, breakout successes for Asian American productions like "Crazy Rich Asians" and "Everything Everywhere All At Once," not to mention South Korean hits "Parasite" and "Squid Game," have proven the commercial appetite for diverse storytelling.

Hong Kong-born US actor Jimmy O. Yang, who appeared in "Crazy Rich Asians," stars as Wu in "Interior Chinatown."

Oscar-winning New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi ("Jojo Rabbit") directs the pilot episode.

- 'Metaphor' -

Viewers are introduced to Wu as an ordinary waiter at a restaurant in Los Angeles's Chinatown -- but quickly find out that he also appears to reside within a police procedural.

In these scenes, "Interior Chinatown" adopts the visual codes and tropes of a TV cop drama. Wu is relegated to a background character role, as the series' Black and white cop duo solve crimes.

Even more strangely, unexplained cameras are shown filming Wu and his colleagues, reminiscent of "The Truman Show."

The distortion of reality echoes the premise of the original novel, which was itself written in the form of a television screenplay.

"It's such a great metaphor for what it means to be Asian American in this country," said Yang.

"But at the same time, it's a universal story of someone longing to be more, someone finding themselves in their career."

When Wu witnesses a kidnapping, twists and turns see this background actor take on increasingly important roles in the narrative of a criminal intrigue.

"He moves on to be kind of like a guest star. And then the tech guy, which, of course, I played before. So it really drew a lot of parallels to my own career," said Yang.

- 'Mind-bending' -

The series blends English, Mandarin and Cantonese dialogue.

Among its characters is Lana Lee, a mixed-race novice cop, who is assigned a case in Chinatown by superiors who incorrectly assume that she must know her way around the Asian neighborhood.

The irony was not lost on actress Chloe Bennet, born Chloe Wang to a Chinese father and white American mother, who in real life had to change her last name in order to land roles in Hollywood.

"My journey through the industry is so meta for Lana," she told the press conference.

"I literally was told at the beginning of my career... 'You're just not white enough to be the lead, but you're not Asian enough to be the Asian.'"

Wu's best friend Fatty Choi, played by comedian Ronny Chieng ("The Daily Show"), provides a hilarious counterpoint to audiences' pre-conceived notions of Asians as the "model minority."

A video game-addicted stoner, Choi aggressively lectures the restaurant's demanding white customers that they are "not the center of the universe."

"To do something this cool, this meta, this mind-bending and smart -- social commentary, but not hitting people over the head with it... this is the stuff that you only dream of being able to do," he said.

(S.G.Stein--BBZ)