From a recent myspace blog post by Chris Tashima:
"Today marks the release of "21," based on the best-seller, "Bringing Down The House," about a group of MIT students who figured out a card-counting scheme, and cracked the blackjack tables in Vegas, taking them for millions. It has been noted that Hollywood changed the ethnicity of the central character – modeled after Chinese American Jeff Ma – to your generic White-guy hero, "Ben Campbell," played by new-comer Jim Sturgess.
I have always proclaimed that Hollywood – the flim and TV business – is one of the most racist industries around, blatantly able to discriminate (in hiring/casting) under the guise of "artistic freedom," so this type of old-school racism shouldn’t surprise me. Nevertheless, I am shocked by how brazen Hollywood still is about this type of racist practice, here in the 21st century, and equally saddened by some of the ignorant excuses behind it, and equally ignorant mindset of those defending it, including Ma himself. But, Racism is ignorance. So, the educating that needs to happen definitely is far from done. For the producers of the film, and others who may wish to be informed, let me try to shed some light."
Read the rest here.
- Sujewa
"Today marks the release of "21," based on the best-seller, "Bringing Down The House," about a group of MIT students who figured out a card-counting scheme, and cracked the blackjack tables in Vegas, taking them for millions. It has been noted that Hollywood changed the ethnicity of the central character – modeled after Chinese American Jeff Ma – to your generic White-guy hero, "Ben Campbell," played by new-comer Jim Sturgess.
I have always proclaimed that Hollywood – the flim and TV business – is one of the most racist industries around, blatantly able to discriminate (in hiring/casting) under the guise of "artistic freedom," so this type of old-school racism shouldn’t surprise me. Nevertheless, I am shocked by how brazen Hollywood still is about this type of racist practice, here in the 21st century, and equally saddened by some of the ignorant excuses behind it, and equally ignorant mindset of those defending it, including Ma himself. But, Racism is ignorance. So, the educating that needs to happen definitely is far from done. For the producers of the film, and others who may wish to be informed, let me try to shed some light."
Read the rest here.
- Sujewa
