www.thefrisky.com: Last night’s episode of CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” is under fire for the racist decision to depict three of its white characters in “yellowface” — that is, dressing up like they are Asian, in this case Japanese in this case Chinese. Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders both dressed in kimonos Chinese gowns, their hair pinned up geisha-style, and ate using chopsticks; Radnor wore a silk jacket and a long Fu Manchu mustache. There were fans, references to Shanghai and jokes about noodles.
7 comments:
As an avid viewer of "How I Met Your Mother," I am shocked that the writers and creative team let this happen. The entertainment industry as a whole really needs to be conscious of the material they are showing to their audiences. Although "How I Met Your Mother" is a great, funny, and overall well-intentioned television show, they definitely went too far with this episode. I wonder if the writers and creative team will be issuing some sort of apology after the audiences' responses. This incident should really be sending a message to the entertainment industry at large to really consider what material audiences may find overly offensive. Hopefully the "How I Met Your Mother" team will be able to go back to the fun-loving show it is and avoid insulting more of their fans in the future.
Frankly, I am appalled in the choices that the writers of 'How I Met Your Mother' made in this episode. I've watched several seasons of the show, and have actually noticed in more recent seasons the tendency of the show to push the boundaries of racism, sexism, and overall inappropriate behavior. The portrayal of white characters as Asians in this case, or in many cases in 'blackface' is never a good idea, and should be avoided in stage and on film. Especially in this sitcom style comedy, this racism is both out of place and disgusting, and I hope CBS realizes their error and issues an apology, at least making sure that this never happens again.
Jess, not only did the writers let this happen, THEY WROTE IT. On that note I think that out of all the shows that make bad/semi racist remarks and all "How I Met Your Mother" is probably the last one that needs to be more conscious of the material. Granted the idea does not sound very funny to me, but think about how relate-able and 'out there' in the world these types of jokes are. At CMU we are constantly reciting jokes and comments about Asians. This is our way of addressing their heavy presence on campus. The Chinese Americans and that whole culture is becoming more and more tied into people's daily lives (no matter where they were originally from). This show is just addressing the world we live in today. I think I would have to see the episode to see if I personally thought it was racist. With this post I am not defending this show, I just think that there was some thought behind this move. I am curious to know exactly how many people (I guess over twitter) were offended by this showing. I mean, it is pretty clear that the writer of the article REALLY did not like the episode.
I feel like with what the writers were trying to do with the story, then they had no choice but to use the actual cast for these parts. It is like in The Wizard of Oz when the people on the farm also show up in Oz as characters. They wanted the audience to connect the real characters to these Asian counterparts, so the easiest way to do that is to just use the same actors. I mean, they weren't in real "yellowface" because their make up and things weren't done to make them look Asian, like how "Blackface" would be done. Sure they are kind of using the Asian culture, but they are also just using it in a way that the audience would recognize the culture. I don't think they meant to offend anyone with it. There are plenty of movies out there that should be offensive to a lot of people if they are basing it on this. Jack Black's Kung Fu Panda should be considered VERY offensive, but I guess it is alright since it has a good moral at the end. I would have to watch the actual episode to back up any of the things that I am saying because I don't know how exactly they are using the culture, but from the clip, I am pretty sure that they are not mocking the culture at all.
I think this may be a bit out of hand, I have seen plenty of shows that have exhibited higher forms of racism that have not be called out as much. I am a big fan of the show and have watched this episode and would not classify this as racism. It was a joke within the episode that intact made me laugh. I hope that this incident does not have too many negative affects on the show because in all the years it has been on there have not been much argument over jokes before.
I don't understand how there are people who still find this okay behavior. I don't even understand how this made it, not only through filming, but also production and airing. The fact that sitcoms can get away with racist things like this makes me really upset and uncomfortable. I'm sure it was only meant to be funny, but because it is at the cost of a racial group, it is not acceptable. I hope that the writers and producers take more care in the future to censor themselves and produce funny work that is not at someone's expense.
I feel that this was pushed a bit farther our of proportion. As an avid watcher of the show, I know my opinion is a bit bias but I want to examine the creators choices past the issue of race. While they did address up their the cast to take on these short term guest roles, never once painted their skin white or altered the shape of their faces to appear more Asian. They used this approach because the modern stereotype is that modern citizens can learn a lot from ancient Asian practices. And I while yes I acknowledge that yes it is a stereotype of Asian culture and stereotyping is making nothing more than an assumption that offends and can harm people, but I also want to call in to question that modern America praises the wealth of forgotten knowledge when people rant and rave about yoga and ti-chi being everyone's new obsession. I acknowledge what the creators did was questionable, but to say it was out right offensive I know to be wrong because it makes this a simple one way or the other issue which it's not. Anything involving race opens up an world full of grey area problems.
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