Is the Fat Kid from Up Asian?
Forget all the speculation about Adam Lambert's sexuality. (We mean it! Forget! He's dead now, there's nothing we can do, we have to keep moving!) The new hot is-he-or-isn't-he question is this: Is the fat kid from Up supposed to be Asian? Let's investigate!
Disney isn't usually shy about tooting its own horn when the studio breaks racial boundaries (talk of The Princess and the Frog's black heroine dominated animation chatter until that first, iffy trailer came out). So far, though, they haven't said zip over whether Up's Russell might be Asian, despite the tentative questions arising online.
Phil Yu, who blogs about pop culture over at Angry Asian Man, thinks Russell's definitely Asian. Having seen the film, I could go either way -- the character's look is ambiguous, and a relative is glimpsed in only one scene (though she has dark black hair). The best evidence of Russell's ethnicity, though, might come from the actor who voiced him: young Jordan Nagai, at left.
Why is the question relevant? Well, Russell might be Disney's very first Asian male co-lead, if you don't count that drippy dude from Mulan. And at a time when Hollywood is in no hurry to cast an Asian actor as the star of a movie (unless he knows martial arts), it's significant that one of the summer's biggest movies might quietly signify some small progress.
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We Filipinos will shamelessly claim anybody (Vanessa Hudgens FTW?), so I'm just gonna say Russell is Filipino. Even if the voice actor has a Japanese surname. We don't care, we really don't. Lou Diamond Philips, anybody? Tia Carrere? Thank you.
We won't know unless he has an extraordinarily small erection when marrying that fish girl to that prince guy.
You know that video of the rally fat chubby-cheeked kid singing "you're my whatever chubby wubby something-or-other"? Fat kids get those Asian-seeming cheeks. Fact o' life.
Leave Mindy Cohn out of this.
Might ask yourself this question - how many Asian Boy Scouts have you ever encountered?
It always floors me how white people insist on seeing Asian characters as white. (Avatar the Last Airbender, anyone?) Honestly, could this kid BE any more Asian? What do they want, for his eyes to look like =_=? Shall he wear a conical hat to aid in the interpretation?
"Might ask yourself this question - how many Asian Boy Scouts have you ever encountered?"
He is not a stereotype. Therefore, he is white.
http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/21621/wm/pd1384534.jpg
I guess he is Asian, now that I stop to think about it, which I guess is cool, now that [again] I stop to think about it. And yeah, it'd be nifty if Disney casted other ethnicities for leading roles, but it seems slightly trivial to deem it as some kind of "progress." Considering Asians make up about 4% of the U.S. population, their lack of presence in Disney's films probably correlates with their lack of presence in Disney's audience?
Not only are there "Asian/American Boy Scouts, but there are actually a lot of "Boy Scouts" in Japan and other "Asian" Countries.
John - Bingo.
Characters whose race has nothing to do with the story = normal = just white.
Characters who are stereotypes, flamboyant caricatures, or have their race related to the story = hispanic, asian, black, native american, etc.
It's the same with gay characters... and women, to some extent.
I would love to see a popular hollywood with a leading black character that isn't considered a 'black' movie, but just a regular movie with black characters!!!!
Dear Earthlings:
The worms who will eat your carcass do not care what color you are. Start getting over this crap now for a better tomorrow.
I don't know which is more stupid, this topic or me for reading it. Who cares? I mean seriously, in what context does it matter? Hmm, let's see... if Disney didn't define his ethnicity and it's not relevant to the story then I'd say he's definitely A CARTOON, he's a freakin' drawing. Who knows what was in the animator's head when he drew it.
I grew up in the US Southwest where there is a large Native American population. You know what? They share many features with Asian people, so you can't look at a particular feature and pin him down because he's a racially undefined drawing. So, I say he's Navajo. Who's going to say I'm wrong?
To Old #7: Actually quite a few! My cousins were Eagle Scouts. Perhaps you lived in an area where there weren't as many Asian boys who were involved in BSA, but please don't generalize. Incidentally, all of my sisters and I were Girl Scouts.
To John "He is not a stereotype. Therefore, he's white.": Let's not assume that he's white b/c his look and demeanor don't fit what you deem as your stereotype of an Asian kid. Please consider that the character is stereotypical of an American boy who happens to be Asian & who is also involved with the scouts. That's why the character appeals to the mass audience.
And does it matter whether Disney acknowledges the character as Asian American? Yes, it does b/c Asian Americans are involved in (what some consider) "mainstream activities" and should be represented in public & entertainment media other than martial arts (like Russell Wong as the teacher in that WB show? Jackie Chan, Jet Li & Chow Yun Fat?) or in the "inscrutable assistant" (i.e., Bruce Lee as Kato)...
No eyelid crease = asian.
Move on people, nothing to see here.
"Might ask yourself this question - how many Asian Boy Scouts have you ever encountered? "
What kind of silly question is that? That's like asking how many Asians have you met that are 6+? Just because people haven't encountered them, doesn't mean they don't exist.
How many White people have you encountered that have Black hair and have squinty eyes?
What's even more ironic, anyone can simply and find a quick answer to that Asian boy scout question.
This coming from the Boy Scouts of America: National Council!!! lol
http://www.scouting.org/MultiCultural/AsianAmerican.aspxgoogle
"I grew up in the US Southwest where there is a large Native American population. You know what? They share many features with Asian people, so you can't look at a particular feature and pin him down because he's a racially undefined drawing. So, I say he's Navajo. Who's going to say I'm wrong? "
You know what? Native Americans came from Asia via Bering Straight.
It's 5%, Colton. Which means that 1 in 20 Disney characters should be Asian. If you think that anywhere near 1 in 20 Disney characters is Asian, you haven't seen many Disney movies. Similar things could be said about the representation of black people, Hispanic people, and other minorities.
Steve H and Bill Smith,
Cool, thanks for letting us know what the white man thinks. We certainly don't hear from white men enough! They're so underrepresented!
Race matters. It's just that you, as white men, have the luxury of not caring about race. You've never dealt with racism in your lives, other than bogeymen like affirmative action.
you are all stupid, everyone knows the kid is supposed to be Korean. And his mom at the end? HELL OF ASIAN, c'mon, it's not even a question. While Russell is slightly ambiguous, his mom isn't.
To end this discussion,
The character is based off one of the animator’s of Pixar, Peter Sohn, who voiced Emile in Ratatouille.
http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/up-director-pete-docter-on-talking-dogs-youth-scouts-and-adventure.php
Here’s a pic of Peter Sohn,
http://www.superiorpics.com/pictures2/Sohn_sd1.jpg
Ever notice it is always the white people who always say "Race doesn't matter"? That's because race issues are not important to them. Which is why they are usually ignorant when it comes to race. And then they blame everyone else for being the 'sensitive' ones. Hmmm....
Actually!!! A friend of mine worked up through the ranks of Boy Scouts and went to West Point eventually and he is Asian. So stop your assuming right now! =)
The ones who don't care about the ethnicity are always the white ones...
True Asians make up only around 4% of the U.S.population but Asians make up 60% of the Earth's population so lets see how this movies does worldwide if that's the line of reasoning or the line of marketing you're making.
Not that it really matters but if you read Wikipedia it says "The animators designed Russell as an Asian-American, and modeled Russell after similar looking Peter Sohn, a Pixar storyboarder who voiced Emile in Ratatouille and directed the short Partly Cloudy, because of his energetic nature." Peter Sohn is also Asian-American so I would think that makes Russell, an Asian-American.
Maybe he's bi-racial?
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