Eugene Hsu

When I first saw the movie few days ago, I thought Toshiaki was hilarious to a point where he became the reason to why I loved the film so much. I couldn’t stop laughing every time he opened his mouth x) I’m a first generation Asian but I can’t say I found it to be a problem while watching the movie but now that you addresse it, I can see your point. I still loved the movie,
though.

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I enjoyed the film on the whole, but I found the way this character was handled was sloppy and insensitive. I was surprised to only find this and one other blog post about it when I searched the internet for it. I thought it was pretty blatant and it made me uncomfortable, when I frequently don’t even pick up on these things because I’m pretty naive…

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Your so right, why couldn’t he have a American accent. A lot of Asians are born in the states!

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My comment was directed at ‘levelheaded sensitive logical human’, by the way.

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For the record, I believe the poster of this entry is Asian.

I wanted to comment on your assumption that media has no influence for how our society works.

As someone who works in the media industry and who is decently educated in how it works, I can tell you that nobody is free from its influence.

ADULTS are not free from the influence or media, so how can you expect a child to be? Children imitate the behaviour they see around them. They play adult, they use words they heard older kids say, they try and act like the characters from their favourite shows and films.

The media industry is not harmless, it’s manipulative. And NO MEDIA IS OBJECTIVE. So although media can absolutely be used to fight stereotypes and educate people, unfortunately more often than not it perpetuates old stereotypes instead. People have become lazy and don’t think for themselves. We’re numb to atrocities and disasters because the media spoonfeeds us fear. The fact that you brush off teen suicide on them being ‘misguided’ is frankly terrifying. Stop and think for a moment. HOW alone and HOW helpless did those CHILDREN have to feel to take their own lives? They weren’t shut off from the world. They were in school. There were teachers around.

And WHY couldn’t the Asian character portray an Asian-American child with an American accent? What is the use of perpetuating a negative immigrant stereotype and ostracising the character based on their race? We should all be careful and responsible when we put something out into the world, especially when it’s likely to reach a wide AND vulnerable, susceptible to suggestion audience.

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I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and concerns regarding this film, and I apologize for some of the rude, thoughtless comments you’ve received.

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didn’t c movie yet but if u r gonna act uncomfortable about a disney movie, go drown in holy water u over-sensitive censorship crusader, do u have nothing better to do? have any actual asians commented on it? also, this movie was a throwback to old fifties monster movies like franenstein and godzilla where there were stereotypes in characters such a asians. but tim burton is an artist and grew up as a lonely outsider kid, deemed as weird. i think u r just fishing for controversy where there should be none. Kids are not gonna bully other kids because of a fictional character in an animated movie. kids will bully each other, however, because humans are not nice. the adult world is full of bullying, and really being picked on as a kid has always been a major theme in the work of tim burton’s art and life. besides, there are asians like that out there. the movie in no way intends to claim that “hey, this is how they all are”. furthermore, you should not prevent a film’s freedom to express its forms of entertainment, especially for a manufactured issue like this. If you look for things to feel offended about you can make up tons of stuff, but what does childhood bullying really have to do with a kids animated movie about bringing dead pets to life? that’s the real concern, kids might try it at home. children are at a higher risk of electrocuting themselves by trying to bring back a dead pet than they are of bullying someone because of their race. when has that ever happened? there have been plenty of stereotypical racial roles in kids movies, no bullying has resulted. Plus, u shouldn’t try to stop children from learning to defend themselves. Just because a few misguided, quiet teens commited suicide is no reason to police and patrol every aspect of a kids life based on how polite they act towards one another. That’s lazy parenting. Its up to parents/guardians to teach children respect and kindness, not up to hollywood to make everything more fake than it already is.

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What offended me the most was his fake accent- the actor couldn’t manage an actual Japanese accent. Nothing sounds uglier than an American voice making fun of the way other people- people who are impressively bilingual- speak. I can’t take my mother to this movie because it will make her sick to her stomach.

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Actually not sensitive enough. I totally agree with you, Mr. Hsu.

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Sorry… too much sensitivity in the world.

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