One of my favorite Gilligans Island episodes

[marked50]

Yesterday we marked the passing of the Professor of Gilligans Island and up popped the following story

Japan's last WWII straggler soldier, 91, dies--http://news.msn.com/obits/japans-last-wwii-straggler-soldier-91-dies

Gilligans Island did an episode about a lost Japanese submarine sailor who was still fighting the war- this was before this solider "surrendered".

Just admiring the irony

[AsahinaKimi]

1. back in the day ...before sterotypes....were no longer funny.

[Aristus]

2. That reminds me of an episode of "The Black Sheep Squadron" that I saw as a kid.

The Black Sheep captured a downed Japanese fighter pilot (played by Clyde Kusatsu, IIRC), and are trying to interrogate him. They are goggling at him, mugging, and trying to ask his name in broken Japanese.

After a few minutes of this, the Japanese pilot replies, in fluent English: "My name is..." (and I forget what it was, but you get the idea.)

A number of Japanese officers who fought in the war had attended university in the US, and spoke fluent English, and often treated American POW's compassionately.

[AsahinaKimi]

3. Its amazing back than...

You had shows like McHale's Navy.. many of you might remember...actor Yoshio Yoda who played, Fuji Kobiaji, the Japanese pow who was kept in hiding from Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn).



It was probably rare that an actual Japanese actor got to play in TV series and whose part was played with some dignity. The actor who played the Japanese lost on Giligan's island was played
by Italian actor Vito Scotti who was not even close to Asian.

Another prominent Asian actor of the time was the Chinese actor who played HopSing on Bonanza. Victor Sen Yung was also treated well, in his scripts... things were starting to change back than... Slowly.



A long way from Jerry Lewis playing a outrageous Asian character

[yuiyoshida]

4. Don't forget our favorite....

OH MYYYYYYYYY!!!

[Aristus]

5. As far as "Bonanza" goes, Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, and Dan Blocker were all

liberals, and probably wouldn't have put up with any scripted racism. That was pretty inspiring for back then.

[AsahinaKimi]

6. I am sure the same could probably be said for

Ernest Borgnine. I seem to remember a comment about it from him, but I don't recall exactly what he said.

** Edited to add additional, Many of my Chinese friends, while growing up told me they hated David Carradine for playing Kwai Chang Caine and thought Bruce Lee should have played the part. In looking back, I think the show Kung Fu was not only a success in popularity but it made viewers go and scramble to learn a bit more about Asian culture, and helped later in bringing more Asian actors to the screen. (Maybe not immediately but eventually.) One of my favorite actresses
later was in a show as the leading role...

Tia Carrere in the show Relic Hunter.


Also Lucy Lui has had a great career...

[NewJeffCT]

7. Liu still has a good career

Isn't she the co-star of a popular weekly drama based on Sherlock Holmes.

Chinese actors seem to have done pretty well in Hollywood the past 15-20 years - Jackie Chan, Jet Li for men, Lucy Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Tia Carrere (part Chinese, I think?), Gong Li, and a few others for women.

Unfortunately, most Asian/Chinese men still seem to be confined to kung fu roles to get leading man parts - or samurai/ninja parts if they're Japanese. Not too many romantic leading man roles for Asian men yet - Chow Yun Fat never really made it nearly as big in Hollywood as he was in China.

[yuiyoshida]

8. Ken Watanabe

drools...

[NewJeffCT]

12. I like him in the roles he's played

but, he hasn't been a leading man in Hollywood, other than Memoirs of a Geisha

[Kaleva]

11. Having Netflix has opened my eyes to quality Asian films.

Korean, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indian, and so on.

I don't mind sub-titles one bit and I think the actors speaking in the language pertinent to the films adds to it.

Edit: And I should say that there's many quality European, Middle Eastern, African, and South American films to enjoy too.

[marked50]

9. My apologies

for not mentioning the stereotype part of that episode in this post, which it most certainly was.

[AsahinaKimi]

10. no need to

apologize, this wasn't your doing. It was how things were back than. We have all grown more aware of it over the years...You remind us how far we have come and how far we have to go, still.