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To All the Boys, some personal casting complaints

I read the books before the movie came out because I read that they were adapting the first book into a movie and the main character, even though she was half-white and half-Korean, was going to be played by a Vietnamese actress. I was a bit annoyed since Hollywood has a big problem of casting different ethnicities this way, pushing the assumption that all East and Southeast Asians are interchangeable (when they actually do choose to cast Asians at all).

And then I found out that Kitty was being played by a white actress (I have not found anything that Anna Cathcart is Asian at all, so I was further upset that in Disney’s Descendants, her character’s grandmother was played by an East Asian actress, further driving the idea that she’s part Asian). I was pissed, because that’s the other issue with Hollywood casting Asians, when they choose not to at all and cast white actresses instead.

But I tried to be excited nonetheless because I was/am deprived of Asian leads and Asians as romantic leads in US films, and I’m Viet, so that felt like a bonus.

In the first movie, I didn’t really care as much because of that representation hype and because they never discussed race at all. (Literally the only elements of Korean culture they includes was food) Which I guess I understand, if you’re trying to normalize the idea of an Asian-American lead, just don’t point it out. And the advertising did that work for them. Also, it’s supposed to be solely a love story, so I guess it’s unromantic to talk about race.

But in the sequel, it stuck out a lot more to me that Lana Condor and Anna Cathcart are not Korean to me when they dressed up in hanboks, traditional Korean dresses. And, less so, the scene with Lara Jean and Gen, where she mentions jung, a Korean word that describes the connection between two people that can’t be severed. As nice as that scene was, the whole jung bit felt too thrown in there for my taste because we never meet Lara Jean’s grandma, who introduced the term to her and, more importantly, we never see Lara Jean try to connect to her Korean culture.

It just felt weird to me to see a distinctly Vietnamese face and then a white face use elements from Korean culture, that was more than food, in a movie with zero Korean leads. Personally, I didn’t like that Korean culture was portrayed by non-Koreans as plot point.

That is to say, you can always argue the for the subtle integration of Korean culture in the plot and development of Lara Jean.

If it were up to me, I would have tried to cast Korean actresses, and everyone knows by now that there is no short supply of them. Or adapt to the culture of the lead actor/actress, since they could more accurately portray that culture, in my opinion. (I wouldn’t have done so in this situation because South Korea and Vietnam’s history with the US are very different and not at all interchangeable) (This is coming from the fact that I usually see actors and actresses of one ethnicity play side characters who are of another ethnicity and their culture is never all that important to their character development or plot. It’s more of whoever’s in charge seeing East Asian actors as interchangeable)

That will always be a part of why live-action adaptions are so hard to get right, in my opinion.

Personally, I will always believe the books were better, especially since they had the room to address and highlight Lara Jean’s race and ethnicity in a consistent way. (warning: book spoilers from when I read it around 2 years ago):

Halloween in the first book, Lara Jean said that she usually dressed up as Asian characters (ie. Cho Chang [a ridiculous name btw] instead of Hermione Granger) in order for people to recognize her costume. I think Peter and her decide on a couple’s costume, so that year people actually recognized her even though she didn’t dress-up as an Asian character.

New Years in the second book, Lara Jean and Kitty (and maybe Margot, I don’t really remember) dress-up in Hanboks

ending of the third book, Lara Jean spends the summer before college away from Peter and in South Korea (we don’t get to “read” it and it’s kind of brushed over)

I know it’s not a lot, but I remember feeling so seen and understood when Lara Jean addressed how she was always categorized and reduced to as an Asian. I think it really exemplified the other-ness she felt in small town in Virginia.

But the first movie didn’t address that at all, which I guess I’m okay with because of how irrelevant it is to the main storyline, the love story between Peter and Lara Jean. Especially since they never addressed race at all, it could have felt forced if it wasn’t consistent.

As I mentioned before, it felt so out of place for me to see the two non-Korean actresses dress-up in hanboks.

For the last point, I don’t know how the third movie will portray the ending, my guess is that they either won’t or really push that Lara Jean really hates the idea of the trip because it’ll push her away from Peter. I personally hated that she even disliked the idea of the trip when her dad first told her because I believe in the whole “don’t go to college with a boyfriend” idea.

Feel free to disagree with me, I pretty sure I have a pretty narrow (and selfish) view of how different ethnicities and their cultures should be portrayed in media.

SCP: voiceactor/artist/animator needed!!!

Hello! So, I just got accepted as a voiceactor for a SCP-themed animated series on Casting Call Club. Here’s the project: https://www.castingcall.club/projects/scp-beyond-welcome-to-the-family

The project isn’t mine, but we need more voiceactors and an artist to animate the story. So, if you’re interested please audition. I hope to see you there :)

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Keith Powers

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