Highlights
- There’s been a push for Asian talent on-screen over the past two years, says an Australian casting agent
- The stereotypical Asian roles as prostitutes or cleaners are disappearing, say Asian-Australian actors
- US TV show to be inspired by Melbourne Facebook group Subtle Asian Traits is expected to attract an all-Asian cast
Known for their inside jokes and reflections on growing up as first-generation migrants, the Melbourne-born Facebook group Subtle Asian Traits (SAT) has been a hit among Asian diasporas across the globe, gaining more than two million followers.
Its memes and jokes are so shareable that the group has inspired a US television series.
One of its nine co-founders Angela Kang recently told SBS Chinese that the project is at “an initial stage of planning” with recently launched US studio Jumpcut.
“They told us we have an enormous group and an interesting topic.”
The SAT-inspired series will have an all-Asian cast if plans develop further.
Melbourne-based co-founders of the Facebook group that celebrates Asian heritage, Subtle Asian Traits. Source: Angela Kang
“It’s so exciting for our group, to think we have such as big influence,” says Ms Kang.
The news has been welcomed by members of the Australian film industry, including actor and diversity advocate Oakley Kwon, who shares Vietnamese and Chinese heritage.
“It’s really heartening to see an [all-Asian] cast,” she says.
If it weren’t for the international market pushing for greater demand in Asian and diverse content, then Australia would probably take longer to reach screen diversity, says Ms Kwon.
This year she’s noticed exponential growth in Asian productions and Asian faces on our screens.
“There's a big push, not just in terms of sentiment, but in terms of funding as well,” says the star of Hungry Ghosts, an SBS series which premiered in August with a rich Asian-Australian cast.
Vietnamese-Chinese actor Oakley Kwon plays Diane Tran in Hungry Ghosts. Source: Sarah Enticknap
Ms Kwon believes the ‘push’ seems to be coming off the back of events in the United States such as the Black Lives Matter movement and crimes against Asian-Americans which “somehow have pushed and nudged the world or the US in particular”.
“Now the world is relooking at how it represents certain cultures and communities within its society,” she says.
“It's a very exciting time and it does take a little pressure off us.”
Social impact of cast diversity
Research has suggested that across OECD countries limit what they can do as a profession because of what they see or don’t see as role models on-screen.
“That’s the power of film and television,” says Ms Kwon who adds that prior to the recent trend, Asian actors would stereotypically play the roles of prostitutes or cleaners.
“They were the only roles that were being written so it kind of boxed Asian actors into playing this stereotype in a way that is unfair … to a group of people who just want a fair go in terms of just being able to show their talent.
“It's probably quite demoralising as well time and time again to be presented with this one-dimensional character to put your hand up to play.”
For actors such as Lap Phan, Asian people hardly resemble anything like the stereotypical roles that are prescribed to them by non-Asian film and TV producers.
I noticed a change probably about three or four years ago when I started getting briefs for roles that weren't your typical Asian role.
“It's pretty much the same for all of my POC (people of colour) actor friends too. They're all able to read for the main cast or god forbid, the love interest.”
The Vietnamese-Chinese actor says Hungry Ghosts – a series he also stars in - could not have been done 10 or even five years ago.
“It’s an unstoppable wave really … There is an appetite now for new stories that reflect society and I think viewers are just too sophisticated to have the wool pulled over their eyes.”
Asian-Australian actors say they now feel more relaxed knowing there are more roles for them in Australian films and on television, whereas in the past it was hard to establish a supportive network when every role they competed for was against friends.
Lap Phan plays a doctor and head of emergency in Hungry Ghosts. Source: Sarah Enticknap
“When you only have a handful of roles for a particular demographic, you're pitting actors against each other. You are just perpetuating that unfairness and it can't be good for our psyche,” says Ms Kwon.
‘Australia seems to be a follower’
Filmmakers are seeing the benefits of increasing the diversity of their casts with the film, Crazy Rich Asians, as a case in point.
The 2018 film initially looked like a risky bet with its all-Asian cast. But it became a major success critically and commercially and was the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the 2010s.
suggests there’s profit to be made in racially diverse screencasts.
But industry insiders say that despite the data being “already out there”, investors needed more large-scale examples to validate and confirm having diverse casts.
Major picture Crazy Rich Asians made history for its majority Asian-American cast. Source: Warner Bros. Entertainment, AP
It also proved to executives that people want to watch films that reflect the world around them.
“It has given the Australian industry confidence in following suit,” says Ms Kwon.
“Australia seems to be a follower … They want to wait to see whether a more established space or organisation succeeds in something first before they try it.”
Caucasian actors feeling threatened?
Sydney casting agent Anthony Kidd says that diversity on our screens is here to stay.
“I'm glad the pendulum has swung out. Many people talk about the pendulum swinging back and I just don't think it will. I think it will stay out.
It's certainly very exciting as an agent to be able to feel more inclusive with who we represent.
He says there has been a shift over the past five years in terms of people looking outside the box for different and varying ethnicities, which makes him consider who he has on his books.
Currently, 10 per cent of his actors are of Chinese or Asian descent.
“I would have more if I had my way.
“In terms of Asian talent, I feel like certainly two years ago there was a real push.”
He says with the rise of streaming services, control is very much with audiences.
“I think there was a bit of backlash for a while for people saying they were seeing the same faces on TV and they wanted diversity in many different aspects and I think producers, networks and streaming companies have really listened to that.”
Mr Kidd says he has Caucasian actors who are starting to feel worried about getting roles, something that was unheard of five to six years ago when the industry was pushing for “blue-eyed, blond talent”.
Other insiders say some Caucasian actors, in particular males, now fear they can score only one type of role – the villain.
Sydney casting agent Anthony Kidd (left) with his assistant Jess Hollingworth. Source: Anthony Kidd
“We've had the pendulum one way, we're swinging it in the extreme in the other, at some point it will come to a balance,” says Ms Kwon.
She believes that a definite reset is occurring in Australia and in other Western countries with diverse communities living within them.
“It's a necessary swing. Just as it was necessary when we fought for women's rights. We had to. We had to speak up loudly. We had to kick and scream and make ourselves heard.”
But the ideal scenario may still be a while off yet.
“The ideal future is that when you watch a show or a film, diversity is not even an issue. That it just is.”
