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.

Signs of the Dragon Boy

January 08, 2007
Vinay Menon
vmenon@thestar.ca

Jerry Ciccoritti, here's my unsolicited blurb:

"The miniseries crackles with attitude, atmosphere and style. This frantic action-thriller about Asian gangs in Vancouver will grab you by the throat, yank you to the edge of your seat and transport you to another world."

If the rest of you are confused, well, you obviously missed last night's premiere of CBC's Dragon Boys, a hypnotic, high-octane romp through the savage underworld of organized crime on the West Coast (Part II airs tonight at 8).

What can I tell you? Sometimes, all the cathode stars line up – writing, casting, directing, acting, camera work, lighting, set design, soundtrack, post-production – and a television project twinkles with undeniable greatness.

Written by Ian Weir, who executive-produced with Michael Chechik, Dragon Boys follows Tommy Jiang (Byron Mann), an RCMP detective investigating increasingly treacherous factions within an Asian crime syndicate.

The four-hour project – which also stars Steph Song, Tzi Ma, Lawrence Chou and Eric Tsang, Simon Wong and Darryl Quon – is a veritable clinic in narrative pacing.

But Dragon Boys is more than just an action ride; it's anchored by subtle yet powerful insights into cultural assimilation, generational conflict, personal identity and, most of all, the need to be an insider when you're seen as an outsider.

It is, in short, outstanding television.

I know, I know. Mondays are quickly becoming "gushing praise" days.

That said – and because I can't spoil tonight's conclusion – let's completely change gears and conclude this dispatch with a list of random observations inspired by last night's premiere.

Here now, 30 Signs You May Have Accidentally Joined an Asian Gang:

1. Thugs kick down your door to give you a gift box that contains a meat cleaver; it's promptly used to cut off your face.

2. "I thought we were friends" roughly translates into "I'm so going to terrorize your family."

3. The most important people in your life have names like "Movie Star" and "Willie the Duck."

4. Your new "modelling" job is actually at a "massage parlour" where VIPs pay $120 per hour for happy endings.

5. Whenever you're asked to grab a briefcase from the back of a Mercedes, your head is repeatedly slammed in the door for no apparent reason.

6. You are sworn to secrecy at least twice a day under the threat of brutal violence.

7. Your old peer group enjoyed video games; your new peer group enjoys swarmings.

8. New associates refer to you as "Eggroll."

9. Inexplicably, the bullies who tormented you in gym class have been hospitalized.

10. You meet this new girl who seems really, really nice – until she bludgeons an elderly couple with a phone.

11. Local strippers know you by name.

12. In your world, there are more males than females who dye their hair blonde.

13. You can calculate the street value of heroin while doing your homework.

14. You can't go to a karaoke bar without getting recruited into another violent scheme.

15. The thought of "school detention" makes you giggle.

16. Your new best friend knows more about the Young Offenders Act than most judges.

17. You now have a "Dai Lo."

18. You're encouraged to kill. You're also encouraged to get a teardrop tattooed on your cheek after each kill.

19. You root around the bathroom each morning, searching for your mom's cosmetics so you might hide the bruises that cover your face.

20. Just before he serves afternoon tea, your brother pummels you with the kettle.

21. Submerging your arm in a cauldron of boiling cooking oil now seems like the only way out.

22. In casual conversations, the word "triad" always follows the words "Hong Kong."

23. You have a parole officer.

24. You're learning new domestic tricks. For example, an orange concealed in a hand towel can be used as a weapon.

25. The wisest person in your life is a junkie.

26. You often sneak home with a garbage bag full of bloody clothing.

27. One day you're flirting with a girl from school, the next you're face down in the woods with a pistol to your head.

28. You can't even check into a seedy motel without bumping into a psychopath who's determined to kill you.

29. Your new friends smoke and drive very bright cars.

30. After-school activities now include robbery, assault and home invasion.

Enter the Dragon

For once, CBC gets it right with this high-intensity mini-series
By BILL HARRIS
Toronto Sun

Do not make the mistake of thinking you're tuning into Dragons' Den when you tune into Dragon Boys.

Dragons' Den is a CBC reality series through which would-be inventors beg for money from investors. It got decent ratings on at least one night last fall (translation: nothing good on the other major networks).

But CBC can be more proud of Dragon Boys, a slick, four-hour drama about Asian gangs on Canada's West Coast. Part one is tonight (8 p.m.), with part two tomorrow at the same time.

Dragon Boys is set in Vancouver, as is Chris Haddock's high-quality CBC series Intelligence, and there are atmospheric similarities. There is some crossover from the Haddock stable of actors with a few of the smaller roles in Dragon Boys, too.

But as a made-for-TV movie rather than a series, Dragon Boys moves far faster than Intelligence, and it's considerably more violent. Let's just say the first few minutes tonight will grab your attention in a hurry.

Directed by eight-time Gemini Award-winner Jerry Ciccoritti and written by Ian Weir, Dragon Boys isn't merely a crime story. It also examines how the existence of Asian gangs impacts the wider community, and how some members of that community struggle to break free from the stereotypes the gangs help to cement.

Dragon Boys has two excellent performances at its core.

Byron Mann plays RCMP Det. Tommy Jiang, whose own self-image is tied up in his attempts to put a dent in the Asian crime hierarchy.

And Lawrence Chou plays a long-haired loan shark nicknamed Movie Star, whose reckless ambition throws the Asian gang world -- which includes many of his own blood relatives -- into chaos.

Dragon Boys boils down to a battle of wits between Tommy and Movie Star, but there are several intriguing side-stories that tie into the main plot.

For example, Steph Song plays Chavy Pahn, who comes to Canada from Cambodia with the promise of a modelling career but is forced to work in an erotic massage parlour; and Simon Wong plays Jason, a mild-mannered high-school kid of Asian descent who casually is attracted to the gang lifestyle but is stunned by how quickly his own life can be ruined.

There are several gripping scenes in part one tonight, including the one in which Tommy is arguing with his estranged wife Andrea (Stefanie von Pfetten). She accuses him of pursuing the gangs like a "samurai warrior," at the expense of his own family life, because of some psychological need to separate his Hong Kong roots from cookie-cutter criminality.

"You know, you could say something if you really wanted," Andrea pleads. "This is our lives we're talking about."

Tommy stares back blankly. "Samurais are Japanese," he says before walking away.

Part two tomorrow can get a little confusing, with so many twists and turns that it's easy to lose track of who is siding with whom. But if you're patient, it all sort of works itself out in the end.

Dragon Boys is no Dragons' Den. But there is an inventors' element to Dragon Boys, too.

For a change, CBC has "invented" some high-intensity TV.