\doc\web\99\07\starasia.txt I'm surprised none of the PC activists are up in arms over Star Wars. The effects guy is Chinese Am, the queen's outfits are pure geisha / chinese empress, Padme is a Tibetan name, Qui Gon is a Chinese name, the Jedi are named for Japanese knights, there are black and white jedi of 8 different species, yet no Asians! Amidala was originally typecast for a Eurasian or Latina. Qui Gon should have gone to a Japanese or Chinese Jedi, Amidala should have gone to a Filipina. Anybody else outraged? It's not too late to start a controversy! I'll write a whole column on this! HI, Arthur Hu here. I just posted this on your bulletin board, how about letting me do a whole column on the Asian connections to Star Wars and bitching about why Asians are half the planet, but none of the humans on Star wars are Asian! Yoda is Asian too - he's lifted from Kung Fu. I'm also wondering if none of the local Asians want to apply for superintendent why I could not be considered. I'm an expert of K12 education issues, especially diversity, poverty, and test scores, a member of theback to basics, reform-must-die, reform-is-bad-for-minorities movement. Can you give me a crack at why I should be considered? 425-814-2183 Yes you can print this below as a letter, but I could probably clean it it a bit . If you want a real ed story you ought to hear about my saga with kids in my public schools, I've been fighting battles with the state over assessments, the district over math and graduation standards, and my own school over shockingly way over grade level kindergarten and 1st grade homework assignements - my complaints prompted a letter from the teachers union threatening a lawsuit if I didn't stop telling my friends on the internet that my kids are gettting in appropriate homework. My kindergarteners are being expected to write sentences and answer comprehension questions as homework, my first grader was asked to write 9 words in alphabetical order and write 9 sentences around each of 9 words his 2nd week of first grade, and routinely gets homework based on skills he was not taught in class, so parents are basically required to spend 30-45 min a night going over homework kids, something all those working Asian parents are going to love. My K-ers read at first grade levl, my 1st grader reads and does math at G2 level, so there's no need to overwork these kids to get their skills "up to standard". Ed reform basically seeks to destroy any semblence of the rigorous rote-learning style of education favored by Asians, and actually harms minorities because basics are skipped in favor of "higher order thinking". WA is the only test in the nation where Asians do WORSE on math than whites because of empahasis on writing. I'll attach the article that could use some updating that got printed in Asian Focus up here about "higher standards". I appear to be the early front-runner in the race for opposition candidate for WA superintendent of instruction, (2000) I'll also attach the 1 sheet pitch I've put together. I called up Chinese for Affirmative action, and they indicated they didn't dismiss the idea right off the bat either, I'd be wiling to make concessions to liberals to get their political support. I can actually live with LIMITED race preferences as long as they are disclosed and justified, though with 209, it's probably a dead issue. It was my idea for Lowell to use MIT/Harvard style preferences to preserve diversity, only drop the caps on Chinese in favor of floors for blacks and hispanics, an idea that nobody put forward. Date sent: Wed, 26 May 1999 11:59:35 -0700 To: Arthur Hu From: asianweek Subject: Re: Asians in Star Wars, SF Superintendent > Arthur, > It's an interesting idea...and well worth considering. I've told Joyce > Nishioka, our ed reporter, to give you a call...and in the meantime, may we > print the below as a letter? > Margaret > > >HI, Arthur Hu here. I just posted this on your bulletin board, how > >about > >letting me do a whole column on the Asian connections to Star Wars and > >bitching about why Asians are half the planet, but none of the humans on > > > >Star wars are Asian! Yoda is Asian too - he's lifted from Kung Fu. > > > >I'm also wondering if none of the local Asians want to apply for > >superintendent why I could not be considered. I'm an expert of K12 > >education issues, especially diversity, poverty, and test scores, a > >member > >of theback to basics, reform-must-die, reform-is-bad-for-minorities > >movement. Can you give me a crack at why I should be considered? > > > >425-814-2183 > > > > > > > >\doc\web\99\07\starasia.txt > > > >I'm surprised none of the PC activists are up in > >arms over Star Wars. The effects guy is Chinese Am, > >the queen's outfits are pure geisha / chinese > >empress, Padme is a Tibetan name, Qui Gon is a > >Chinese name, the Jedi are named for Japanese > >knights, there are black and white jedi of 8 > >different species, yet no Asians! Amidala was > >originally typecast for a Eurasian or Latina. > >Qui Gon should have gone to a Japanese or Chinese > >Jedi, Amidala should have gone to a Filipina. > > > >Anybody else outraged? It's not too late to start > >a controversy! I'll write a whole column on this! > > > Where are all the PC activists when we need to them to complain half of the human species are Asian, ther aren't any Asian / PI stars in the latest Star Wars. They have Jedi knights in black, and white and 7 different species. Qui Gon is a Chinese name, and Lucas has told the press that "Jedi" are based on a Japanese samurais tradition. Yet we didn't see George Takei reprise is role as a master swordsman when it could have very well been cast as a Japanese or Chinese martial arts master rather than a British character. Yoda should strike people as being lifted from the popular "Kung Fu" series as the martial arts master who says "Grasshopper".... He was the only clearly Asian character from the original series. The diabolical Nemodians also speak in a vaguely Asian accent with robes that could come from "the orient". Most don't realize that Doug Chiang, a Chinese American who used to animate vegetable for Pee Wee's playhouse is the designer behind the marvelous ships and vehicles that populate this world, and he's gotten quite a lot of coverage in magazines like Popular Mechanics which features his work. If the Queen Amidala's striking "empress" pose looks familiar to Asians, it's because we saw a similar makeup job on last year's Mulan. The lavish outfits are clearly lifted from the Geisha and Chinese empress tradition. There are also Tibetan influences - Padme, the name of her lead handmaiden actually turned up on a web search as a Tibetan name. Sources on the internet also indicate that George Lucas originally had envisionted a Eurasian or Latina woman for the role, which sound like they could have found somebody like Lea Solanga for the role if they had looked hard enough. Come to think of it, the idea of a warrior queen who disguises herself as a commoner isn't far from the whole Mulan legend idea. Chances are there's probably a similar story somewhere in the thousands of years of Chinese or Indian literature, it certainly sounds like the sort of thing you'd find in Chinese movies which are full of warrior babes. Then there's that funny talking Jar Jar character. He's actually played by a black man, and been compared to a step and fetchit. But historically, the people with the most mangled speech for comic effect have been the Asians, with the most famous being Mister Magoo's houseboy Charlie (whose voice has since been redubbed in a white southern accent in a feeble attempt at political correctness). So maybe we're looking at another Chinese character as well. Is anybody else outraged? It's not too late to start picketing theaters and asking Lucas what parts Asians can get in the next movie. Maybe we can even get the female lead recast, or even the older Anakin.... > >