The Week in Azn Pop Culture - July 22nd
Phillipa Soo on playing a Broadway Asian American Cinderella who rejects the prince | NBC Asian America
Early in her career, actor Phillipa Soo was advised to change her name. Soo’s father is Chinese, her mother is white, and Soo was told her name “sound[ed] too Asian,” she recalled. At the same time, industry professionals also said, “You don’t really look Chinese.”
Soo didn't change her name, and she’s gone on to play a variety of roles where her background was an asset, from Eliza Hamilton in the Broadway musical “Hamilton” (which was filmed and released on Disney+) to the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e in the Netflix film “Over the Moon.”
Now Soo is playing Cinderella in the classic musical “Into the Woods,” whose new Broadway revival has a more diverse spin and is running at the St. James Theatre until Aug. 21.
Cinderella has historically been played by white actors, and getting to be the rare Asian American actor to play that role “has been incredibly affirming,” Soo told NBC Asian America from her dressing room at the St. James two hours before she had to be onstage. “And it feels very right.”
Constance Wu’s harassment exposes Hollywood’s glaring double standards | NBC Asian America
“Fresh Off the Boat” actress Constance Wu’s recent revelation that she attempted suicide after receiving a firestorm of hate on social media in 2019 has some examining the undue pressures placed on women of color in the spotlight, experts say.
At the time, Wu, who starred as the matriarch Jessica Huang in the groundbreaking Asian American show, had expressed disappointment after the sitcom was renewed, tweeting that she was “so upset right now that I’m literally crying,” among other remarks.
The comments set off a deluge of internet hate, with the actress being labeled “ungrateful.” Wu deleted the tweets, apologized and left social media for three years, remaining out of the spotlight. However on Thursday, she revealed that after “a few DMs from a fellow Asian actress told me I’d become a blight on the Asian American community, I started feeling like I didn’t even deserve to live anymore.”
Sociologists say that the aggressive criticism that followed Wu highlights some glaring double standards in Hollywood. Many across social media pointed out that when other high-profile actors, like Robert Pattinson, made digs at projects that had propelled them to stardom, they were portrayed as more relatable, rather than becoming the target of criticism. When they’ve made moves to further their own career ambitions, like Wu said she had hoped to do, they were met with respect, the sociologists said.
In recent years, we’ve seen new takes on the classic genre of the teen coming-of-age rom-com, flipping the script on what were once traditionally cisgender, heterosexual narratives. But even as strides are made depicting queer teen representation on-screen, the United States has taken several steps back.
With the passage of anti-gay mandates and anti-transgender legislation across the nation, the next generation is facing the threat of having to suppress their queerness and stifle their authentic selves. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth considered attempting suicide in the past year, according to a survey from the Trevor Project published in May 2022.
“In a way, it seems better to grow up in the LGBTQ community now, but at the same time, not so much. Politically, it’s a very difficult time. People can’t say gay in schools, there are all these attacks on trans youth,” said screenwriter and director Natalie Jasmine Harris, whose short film “Pure” premiered on HBO Max.
“Having films that speak to your existence in a way that is happy and joyful can really help remedy if everyday life isn’t always looking like that. It really can help LGBTQ+ youth to see themselves and see that joy, because I know that it’s kind of hard right now when you’re being attacked just for being who you are.”
How 'Bend It Like Beckham' Was A Watershed Moment For South Asians | HuffPost Entertainment
In “Bend It Like Beckham,” Mr. Bhamra (Anupam Kher) makes a powerful statement to a room full of British Punjabi relatives right after his daughter Jess (Parminder Nagra) says she wants to go to the U.S. to train for soccer: “I want her to win.”
I still remember seeing my father, sitting in our Calcutta living room, tear up watching this moment. When the film, directed by Gurinder Chadha, was released in 2002, Hindi films fed us a very different idea of father figures — angry, rigid and just generally apathetic to the personal freedoms of the women in their family. Twenty years later, the film’s biggest legacy is that it didn’t teach us to be better daughters — but it taught parents to be better parents.
In “Bend It Like Beckham,” Jess is the soccer-obsessed Punjabi daughter of immigrants growing up in Southall who joins a women’s soccer team. Her parents would rather have her pursue higher studies and pick up domestic skills on the side. While she often sneaks away to play matches, things come to a head when she is spotted by a talent scout and is awarded a fellowship to train in the U.S., on the very day her older sister is getting married. The film helped change the way the world spoke of South Asian immigrants, viewed diasporic cinema, and the way in which films approached gender and sports.
There had been films — mostly of the indie, arthouse, festival-touring type — that had explored the “never the twain shall meet” lives of diasporic South Asians in Britain. In fact, Chadha made the criminally underseen “Bhaji on the Beach” in 1994. But “Bend It Like Beckham” was a watershed moment within British culture because it took British Asians to the mainstream, outside of the limits of exclusive film festivals and word-of-mouth recommendations.
H.E.R. set to play Belle in new ABC special celebrating 30-year anniversary of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ | AsAm News
Grammy and Academy award-winning artist H.E.R. has been tapped to play Belle in ABC’s upcoming animated and live-action hybrid special, “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration.”
The two-hour special honors the 30-year anniversary of the Disney classic being historically nominated for the 1992 Oscars Award for Best Picture, becoming the first-ever animated film to be considered for the award. H.E.R., whose real name is Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, sets a different record this time around as the first-ever Afro Filipino actor to play the role of Belle on screen.
“I can’t believe I get to be a part of the Beauty and the Beast legacy. The world will see a Black and Filipino Belle!” H.E.R. said in a statement on Thursday. “I have always wanted to be a Disney princess, and I get to work with two wonderful directors Hamish Hamilton and my favorite, Jon M. Chu. It is very surreal and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Gold medalist Eileen Gu wins 2 ESPYs. Not everyone happy. | AsAmNews
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu won two ESPYs Wednesday night at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles..
“This is insane,” she declared. “Winning an ESPY for doing flips with wooden planks on my feet and flying around on rails…wow. Thank you guys so much.”
She said she wanted to be an ambassador for young girls. She thanked those women who came before her and dreamed of inspiring those who will come after her “who will be changemakers and push it one step closer to equality.” She also thanked her “passionate, selfless and kind mom” who taught her what it means to be a strong empowered woman.
The model from San Francisco who represented China in the Olympics also generated some controversy both at the Olympics and the ESPYs for choosing to become a Chinese citizen.