A Follow Up Thought on Don Lee's "Yellow"

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Just to quickly follow up a thought I posted in response to the Don Lee's "Yellow" thread, I stated that it was refreshing to see Asian characters without any special emphasis on their Asian-ness. Characters that just happen to be Asian.

I actually caught an episode of "House" the other week and it had James Hiroyuki Liao whose character was the long time partner of Iranian born actress Shohreh Aghdashloo who was portraying a performance artist. What struck me about this episode was that the screenplay didn't dwell whatsoever on their ethnic backgrounds. They just simply were....and we got to see their humanity. I actually feel like I want to write a letter to the screenwriter and commend him on a nice portrayal of an Asian American man and a Southwest Asian woman without falling into the lazy trap of just using stereotypes to "explain" these characters.

I found that to be refreshing and I'd hope for Hollywood to continue this (but I ain't holding my breath). We sort of see this with comic actor and Indian American Aziz Ansari on NBC's "Parks and Recreation". I don't watch the show, but just flipping thru it, it seems like not a big deal is made about his character's ethnicity.

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