Asian Representation Is Felt in ‘Abominable’
When I first heard about “Abominable,” the animated movie centered on a modern Chinese family, I grimaced at the non-Asian name of the actress playing the movie’s main character: Chloe Bennet.
“Actually, that’s Chloe Wang,” my wife, who is also Asian-American, told me. She went on to explain that Wang was the half-Chinese, halfwhite actress known for being outspoken about Hollywood’s racism toward Asian-Americans. Casting directors had rarely considered her for roles until she started using Bennet (her father’s first name).
In an industry in which Asian-Americans are scarcely represented — 3.4 percent of film roles went to Asian-Americans in 2017, according to a Hollywood diversity report by University of California, Los Angeles — here was a big-studio movie with Chinese characters voiced mainly by Asian-Americans.
Add to this casting the recent Hollywood productions of “Crazy Rich Asians” and “The Farewell,” which featured actors of Asian heritage from around the world, and a question arises: Has Asian representation in Hollywood reached a turning point?
The makers of “Abominable” said their mission was to achieve authenticity.
“I would never want a Caucasian actor representing a Chinese character,” said Jill Culton, the film’s director. “You’re trying to represent a different culture, and when you do that, especially as a director, you have to tread carefully.”
Donatella Galella, a professor of theater history and theory at the University of California, Riverside, said that the issue has its roots in American theater. The lack of Asians onstage may have been a symptom of xenophobia in the late 1800s and onward.
On American stages today, important feeders for Hollywood, Asians are still underrepresented. Only 7.3 percent of acting roles on Broadway and at New York’s largest nonprofit theaters went to people of Asian heritage in the 2016-17 season.
Darnell Hunt, a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who leads the university’s Hollywood diversity report, noted that the key decision makers at major studios are mostly white men. If more people of color were in those positions, they would probably have different perceptions about what viewers want, he said.
“Asian-Americans have not been at the table,” he said.
Ms. Bennet said that she was hopeful that “Abominable” would accelerate her career. But she was uncertain about whether this movie, along with the string of recent hits with Asian-American casts, was a watershed moment.
“I’m not sure if this is going to be the thing that changes everything,” she said. “It’s going to be a slow burn, and it’s one I’m willing to fight for.”