The controversial material of Dragon Boys
By Craig Takeuchi
Straight.com
January 8, 2007
Though criminal activity, drugs, violence, and prostitution are far from complimentary subjects to depict about any culture or community, the CBC crime drama miniseries Dragon Boys (which aired tonight and will continue on Monday night), about Asian Canadian organized crime in the Lower Mainland, is one of the few Asian Canadian dramas to hit our television airwaves.
As scriptwriter Ian Weir pointed out in an interview with me for the feature I wrote about Dragon Boys, the crime drama genre lends itself well to the TV format (which is why there are popular American crime dramas like CSI as well as Canadian shows like DaVinci's and Intelligence).
Also, after I reviewed the screener, and interviewed Weir and lead actor Byron Mann, it was clear that the filmmakers, cast, and crew had gone to great lengths to ensure cultural and factual accuracy.
They may not have originally intended to set out for the show to represent the Asian Canadian community, probably hoping to simply make a crime drama set in the community. However, due to the lack of visibility of Asian Canadians, the show is being perceived by some as an all-encompassing representation of the community. It's understandable, as this is the first time such a large Chinese Canadian cast has been assembled for TV.
Although it only shows a fragment of Asian Canadian urban life, for many viewers across Canada, it may be one of their few views of Asian Canadians.
Yet there was a racially balanced portrayal of characters. The lead character is a Chinese Canadian RCMP officer, and there is also a Chinese Canadian couple who run a restaurant and are concerned about the well-being of their son.
There are also Caucasian characters who are on either side of the law as well (one of them gets constantly beaten up), but are all side characters whose primary relationships are with Chinese Canadians.
I think Vancouverites are a very Asian-savvy bunch due to the high level of interaction with Asian Canadians on a daily basis. What would be of some concern would be with Canadians who live outside cosmopolitan areas that don't have much interaction with Asians and would misinterpret some of the depictions in the miniseries.
Nonetheless, I have far less concern about this show than films like Memoirs of a Geisha in which there were gross cultural errors and no attempt to maintain accuracy.
I should also point out that in Dragon Boys, there are two characters played by actresses who aren't the same ethnicity as their character. Korean Canadian Jean Yoon plays the massage parlour businesswoman wife. However, she did live for several years in China and was able to improvise her Mandarin dialogue. Steph Song plays a Cambodian character. Her character was originally Chinese when she was cast, but it was then changed to Cambodian when it was pointed out that a character like hers are currently coming from countries like Cambodia and not China. In both cases, the actresses made concerted efforts to speak the language or accents of the characters, unlike the cast of Memoirs of a Geisha.
What is of concern to me is whether or not there will be more Asian Canadian dramas made after this series. I hope that this miniseries sets an example to Canadian broadcasters of the unexplored possibilites of Asian Canadian talent (as well as other ethnicities). This can't be the final word on Asian Canada or Chinese Canadians.
Something to keep in mind is that the volume of Canadian TV drama productions are currently at a seven year low. Canadian TV productions also have a significantly smaller budget than American TV studios, who dominate our own airwaves.
American studios spend as much as $12 million on a pilot, and about $4 million on a one-hour drama. The average production budget for English Canadian TV was $1.3 million in 2006.
And as I've said before in previous blogs, American shows benefit from the daily gossip sheets that advertise their stars in our papers, sometimes to the exclusion of coverage of Canadian stars and their projects.
Canadians weaned on (and unconsciously biased towards) American TV often put down Canadian productions in comparison. Yet it's a vicious circle: if Canadians don't support Canadian shows, then it's harder for Canadian productions to be competitive, and then produce inferior quality work, which in turn fare poorly against American productions. And so on and so on.
But when is the last time you've watched an Asian American TV show? All-American Girl by Margaret Cho? It is commendable that the CBC has made the attempt to make some effort to employ Asian Canadian actors, particularly at such a difficult time in the Canadian TV drama industry.
Also, CBC has featured Asian Canadian characters in shows such as This is Wonderland and the short-lived These Arms of Mine.
If there is criticism of the show from viewers within the Asian Canadian community, I hope that is expressed in a constructive way that will encourage or help the CBC and other broadcasters to make better projects in the future, rather than discourage or deter them. The Dragon Boys series is an opportunity for the community.
Let's hope it's only just the beginning.
Straight.com
January 8, 2007
Though criminal activity, drugs, violence, and prostitution are far from complimentary subjects to depict about any culture or community, the CBC crime drama miniseries Dragon Boys (which aired tonight and will continue on Monday night), about Asian Canadian organized crime in the Lower Mainland, is one of the few Asian Canadian dramas to hit our television airwaves.
As scriptwriter Ian Weir pointed out in an interview with me for the feature I wrote about Dragon Boys, the crime drama genre lends itself well to the TV format (which is why there are popular American crime dramas like CSI as well as Canadian shows like DaVinci's and Intelligence).
Also, after I reviewed the screener, and interviewed Weir and lead actor Byron Mann, it was clear that the filmmakers, cast, and crew had gone to great lengths to ensure cultural and factual accuracy.
They may not have originally intended to set out for the show to represent the Asian Canadian community, probably hoping to simply make a crime drama set in the community. However, due to the lack of visibility of Asian Canadians, the show is being perceived by some as an all-encompassing representation of the community. It's understandable, as this is the first time such a large Chinese Canadian cast has been assembled for TV.
Although it only shows a fragment of Asian Canadian urban life, for many viewers across Canada, it may be one of their few views of Asian Canadians.
Yet there was a racially balanced portrayal of characters. The lead character is a Chinese Canadian RCMP officer, and there is also a Chinese Canadian couple who run a restaurant and are concerned about the well-being of their son.
There are also Caucasian characters who are on either side of the law as well (one of them gets constantly beaten up), but are all side characters whose primary relationships are with Chinese Canadians.
I think Vancouverites are a very Asian-savvy bunch due to the high level of interaction with Asian Canadians on a daily basis. What would be of some concern would be with Canadians who live outside cosmopolitan areas that don't have much interaction with Asians and would misinterpret some of the depictions in the miniseries.
Nonetheless, I have far less concern about this show than films like Memoirs of a Geisha in which there were gross cultural errors and no attempt to maintain accuracy.
I should also point out that in Dragon Boys, there are two characters played by actresses who aren't the same ethnicity as their character. Korean Canadian Jean Yoon plays the massage parlour businesswoman wife. However, she did live for several years in China and was able to improvise her Mandarin dialogue. Steph Song plays a Cambodian character. Her character was originally Chinese when she was cast, but it was then changed to Cambodian when it was pointed out that a character like hers are currently coming from countries like Cambodia and not China. In both cases, the actresses made concerted efforts to speak the language or accents of the characters, unlike the cast of Memoirs of a Geisha.
What is of concern to me is whether or not there will be more Asian Canadian dramas made after this series. I hope that this miniseries sets an example to Canadian broadcasters of the unexplored possibilites of Asian Canadian talent (as well as other ethnicities). This can't be the final word on Asian Canada or Chinese Canadians.
Something to keep in mind is that the volume of Canadian TV drama productions are currently at a seven year low. Canadian TV productions also have a significantly smaller budget than American TV studios, who dominate our own airwaves.
American studios spend as much as $12 million on a pilot, and about $4 million on a one-hour drama. The average production budget for English Canadian TV was $1.3 million in 2006.
And as I've said before in previous blogs, American shows benefit from the daily gossip sheets that advertise their stars in our papers, sometimes to the exclusion of coverage of Canadian stars and their projects.
Canadians weaned on (and unconsciously biased towards) American TV often put down Canadian productions in comparison. Yet it's a vicious circle: if Canadians don't support Canadian shows, then it's harder for Canadian productions to be competitive, and then produce inferior quality work, which in turn fare poorly against American productions. And so on and so on.
But when is the last time you've watched an Asian American TV show? All-American Girl by Margaret Cho? It is commendable that the CBC has made the attempt to make some effort to employ Asian Canadian actors, particularly at such a difficult time in the Canadian TV drama industry.
Also, CBC has featured Asian Canadian characters in shows such as This is Wonderland and the short-lived These Arms of Mine.
If there is criticism of the show from viewers within the Asian Canadian community, I hope that is expressed in a constructive way that will encourage or help the CBC and other broadcasters to make better projects in the future, rather than discourage or deter them. The Dragon Boys series is an opportunity for the community.
Let's hope it's only just the beginning.
posted by wontonguru @ 2:39 PM
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