Asian stars rise in Hollywood

Even as racist attacks on Asian-Americans have risen during the pandemic, Asian cinema is having a moment in Hollywood – something the stars of Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon say can’t come soon enough.

The Mouse House’s latest animated adventure, out today, is set in a Southeast Asian-like land, where a young princess sets out to find the dragon who can save the world and reunite the bitterly divided realm of Kumandra.

It features an A-list cast of stars of Asian descent such as Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, Kelly Marie Tran and Gemma Chan, marking another diversity landmark for Hollywood’s most powerful studio.

But the film’s release comes as studies show surging anti-Asian racism in the US since the Covid-19 outbreak emerged from China, with a spate of attacks on Asian-Americans near San Francisco and elsewhere drawing condemnation.

“All of us have seen these attacks happening over and over and over... you do get to that place sometimes where you feel, ‘Oh, this is a very broken world,’” Tran, who voices Raya, told a virtual event ahead of the film’s release.

The US actress of Vietnamese descent is no stranger to racist abuse, after becoming the victim of appalling trolling from misogynist Star Wars fans after the divisive 2017 movie The Last Jedi.

Racial motivation is hard to establish in many cases, but reported anti-Asian hate crimes more than doubled from 49 to

122 last year across 16 major US cities, including New York and Los Angeles, according to a California State University study.

The report looked at events categorised as criminal in nature and showing evidence of ethnic or racial bias. –