Typecasting [Final Six]

For Lighting People, we have an assignment called Final Six, where we propose a subject and take six photographs with the theme you get approved.  For my final six I knew I wanted to express my love for movies, photography, and my heritage.  Being Japanese has always been a big deal for me and I have always tried to immerse myself in my culture by doing things like kendo, koto, and shamisen.  Before Brook's I wanted to major in Japanese and become a translator ever since I was in middle school.  I also am very into movies and cinema, and at one point I even thought about becoming a cinematographer.

One thing about the movie industry that has always bothered me is the roles of Asian characters in movies.  It always bothers me that they play the same old, traditional roles throughout the years.  Perhaps it is people being historically accurate or there not being enough Asians in the acting industry, but I feel like there are only a few roles that they are given.  Sure they work, but I feel like there are probably Asian American actors out there trying to get into the industry, but can't because they are not being looked at for movie roles.  Another big problem I have with the industry is that they tend to stick with the big name Asian stars from other countries to play roles in American movies so that more people are drawn in to see them.  I feel like there should be equal opportunity for everyone.  I'm sure it's not just a problem with the Asian community, but it is just how the industry works in general.

For my images, I decided to have two traditional Asian character roles and make them in the classic, black and white, old Hollywood feel.  Then I wanted to have an "unconventional movie role" that Asians typically do not get to play with a new feel.  I used different lighting systems that went with the times they're supposed to emulate and ended up with some great images.  Both Morgan and Jenna did incredibly well with the posing and attitude of their characters and they were so amazing to work with.  I hope you enjoy the images and hopefully understand the concept and argument I was going for.  [Remember you can click on the images to see a full size, high quality version.  For some reason this blog layout kind of squashes together the horizontal oriented pictures.]

For those interested there is actually two movies that portray Asians in Western influenced movies.  1 is a Japanese movie called "Sukiyaki Western Django" and the other is a Korean movie called "The Good, The Bad, The Weird."  Both are amazing and should definitely be checked out.  =] (though The Good, The Bad, The Weird is definitely more for everyone)  I sincerely hope you enjoy my images from this session, and here's to a new session (and year anniversary) filled with products and advertising!