Racebending and yellowface.
This has been a constant issue for the Asian/Asian-American community in the Entertainment Industry. As Wong Fu Productions points out, the movie 21 took a real-life story about Asian MIT students, but casted only two Asian actors. Cloud Atlas took non-Asian actors and thought make-up would be enough to pass them off as Asian (because apparently the more appropriate decision of just casting Asian actors was impossible for them). A number of Asian films are remade to be “more fit for an American audience”. The main difference? Casting Caucasian actors instead of Asian actors.
So what does Wong Fu decide to do? Turn the tables. In this funny and enlightening mockumentary, we follow the boys for their first movie production- a remake of the popular television show Saved by The Bell with a full Asian cast. By mocking the decisions of some movie-makers, Wong Fu points out how ethnicity is taken so lightly.
Our favorite moment? By using tape to make Ryan Higa’s eyes look larger and a blond wig to make him look Caucasian, Wong Fu brilliantly points out how these tactics do a poor job of changing his actual ethnicity. Check it out for yourself and tell us what you think:
