My Take on Thoroughly Modern Millie

I just returned from Thoroughly Modern Millie and I want to start by saying that the cast is incredibly talented and deserves much accolades for a well done show. The leads, particularly Maddy Waters as Millie Dillmont, Aiden O’Neal as Miss Dorothy Brown, Peter Diamond as Jimmy Smith, Kelsey Fox as Mrs. Meers and Will Champion as Trevor, Graydon III, are particular standouts. They carry the show with their considerable musical talent, acting skills and comedic timing. I also thought the dance numbers were outstanding, the sets impressive and the costumes breathtaking. I can see the allure of this show from the costumes alone.

That being said, I have considerable issues with the Asian stereotypes in the show.

1) There Really is No Reason Why Mrs. Meers Needs to Pretend to be Chinese Except for Gratuitous Humor

[plot spoiler warning] Mrs. Meers is a criminal hiding out so she pretends to be Chinese as her “greatest acting role” and speaks with a strong Chinese accent. As someone in hiding, it is an easy change to make Mrs. Meers a different kind of character. For example, a Southern Blonde is she is supposed to be a brunette in real life.

In real life, no one I know takes a new identity to hide out in which a white person pretends to be Asian. It’s not realistic. It’s insulting to Asians. It’s certainly comedic because it’s easy to laugh at a Chinese accent where English is not your first language and therein the comedy lies. It’s easy to laugh at an Asian stereotype.

But it’s not necessarily to the storyline and could have been easily changed.

Yellowface: Asians have not always been accurately represented in Hollywood. Many times, Asian characters have been portrayed predominantly by white actors, often while artificially changing their looks with makeup in order to approximate East Asian facial characteristics, a practice known as yellowface. Media portrayals of East Asians in the American media’s history have predominantly reflected a dominant Americentric perception rather than realistic and authentic depictions of true cultures, customs and behaviors.

And by contrast:

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used by white performers to represent a black person. It is often considered offensive, because it can imply stereotyped caricature of black people as in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the “happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation” or the “dandified coon”.

Blackface was an important performance tradition in the American theater for roughly 100 years beginning around 1830. It quickly became popular elsewhere, particularly so in Britain, where the tradition lasted longer than in the US, occurring on primetime TV as late as 1978 (The Black and White Minstrel Show) and 1981.

By the mid-20th century, changing attitudes about race and racism effectively ended the prominence of blackface makeup used in performance in the U.S. and elsewhere. It remains in relatively limited use as a theatrical device and is more commonly used today as social commentary or satire.

I think it’s an easy logical conclusion:

Blackface is offensive …

therefore

Yellowface is offensive.

But because I had multiple conversations with parents who tried to explain that Mrs. Meers is a very wicked villain and she gets her just deserts in the end so her doing yellowface is acceptable and plus she’s so funny that I think it bears repeating:

Blackface is not ok …

therefore

Yellowface IS NOT OK!

It seems that Yellowface is still acceptable in the year 2014!

2) The plot does not have to revolve around Asian Males Who Assist in Selling White Females Into Slavery

[plot spoiler alert] It actually makes more sense to have a kidnapping theme, particularly since Miss Dorothy Brown could easily be held for ransom.

3) Ching Ho and Bun Foo Don’t Have to be Poor Chinese Immigrants Either

I don’t understand why they have to speak in Cantonese while singing in Mandarin either. Is this supposed to show how the playwrights have such insight into Asian culture?

This is a sub plot line and could have easily been removed. If you need henchman or henchwomen, it is an easy fix not to cast them as Asian stereotypes.

And I feel that it has already been covered in considerable detail my issues with the historical inaccuracies of the plot line.

And there was no discussion to educate the audience on busting stereotypes beyond this page in the program and a gratuitous meeting on Monday night where any peeved parties (e.g. Asian Americans) can air their grievances.

This is the page in the program:

Asian Stereotypes in Thoroughly Modern Millie

I know we had a problem when I wanted to preface this production with: “The opinions expressed in this musical do not necessarily reflect the views of Newton North High School.” We’ve all seen the classic television disclaimer alerting the audience that controversial, and even offensive attitudes remain present within the program. Without question, Thoroughly Modern Millie contains extreme negative stereotypes and offensive attitudes when depicting Asian men and women in the 1920s. However, instead of simply flashing a disclaimer along the stage before the opening number, Mr. Brown, Ms. Leong, Ms. Beh, and I worked together with the Office of Human Rights to figure out a way in which to maintain the integrity of the production, while addressing these negative images head on with the community and our students. Over the past few months we have participated in discussions regarding stereotypical images of Asian men and women in the media. We participated in panels that spoke out against stereotypes and damaging images of cultural experiences within the media. We learned about the Geisha image, and the overtly sexualized Dragon Lady. We learned about the submissive Asian male stereotype, and the Kung-Foo warrior image. Consequently, some of these images will appear within our production this evening, such as Mrs. Meers’ portrayal of the Geisha Girl, as well as Bun Foo and Ching Ho’s sometimes submissive male natures. Our hope is that awareness around these caricatures would allow us to dig deeper in rehearsals and find the true, human complexities of these previously flattened characters.

While we set out to find the authentic human complexity behind the Cantonese speaking Bun Foo and Ching Ho, we also addressed the wildly offensive Mrs. Meers and discussed the potential reasons for her racism. Mrs. Meers must be understood as the villain of the production. She is a racist and covers her own insecurities and life failures with hateful attitudes and behaviors. As director, I am extremely proud of the socially conscious work that our cast and community have carried out over these past few months. I believe that doing this production, the cast, crew and school community have become aware of the dangerous images within Thoroughly Modern Millie, and the lack of truthful portrayals of Asian and Asian-American men and women within the media today. I encourage you to continue this necessary dialogue at home with your families, using our musical as an effective conversation starter.

So please be advised, “The opinions expressed in this musical do not necessarily reflect the views of Newton North High School … in fact they strongly oppose the beliefs and attitudes found within our school culture. Furthermore, we have worked hard to analyze and revise these images in order to align them with our socially conscious mission of acceptance and open-mindedness.”

My Response

First I would like to post an excerpt from an email and hope to get permission to post it in its entirety:

“Asian American faculty members at Newton and the AACC have been trying to tell the director of Theater Ink, the chair of the department of Performing Arts and the principal how offensive the play is since it was first announced. They’ve made some slight changes but they still don’t get why it’s offensive and there’s no telling what the actual performances will be like.

…

THanks so much again for speaking up against this. [Asian American faculty members and students] have been feeling shut out and dismissed so voices from the community really help a lot. (The school officials still may not get why it’s bad, but they’ll understand bad PR and bad press, so please keep it up. I look forward to reading a review of the performance if you are able to go.)”

The Anti-Asian stereotypes by which you speak of do not exist in modern media: Geisha Image, Dragon Lady, Submissive Asian Male, and Kung-Foo warrior image to the extend that they offend Asian Americans. The issues of Asian Americans in media is much more subtle that.

If I may direct you to my post titled: Asian American Actors in Recurring TV Roles you will note that Asian Americans get parts that are in a very specific box: The Doctor, With a Martial Art Slant, The Beautiful Ones, Playing Regular People, Intergalactic, Comedians, Heroes on Heroes, Reality TV, and the Pioneers.

Going back several decades in TV, your concerns about Geisha Image, Dragon Lady, Submissive Asian Male, and Kung-Foo warrior image that you worry plague us Asian Americans simply are not a reality. They are not our reality.

But this is what our reality is. Asian Americans NEVER GET THE LEAD.

And you furthermore underscore this message — e.g. Asian Americans Never Get the Lead — by producing a show in which the roles for Asians are, again, in a very specific box and in a supporting role. And include outdated negative stereotypes that we thought we were through with to boot. So, in doing this show, instead of creating a meaningful and helpful racial conversation that is relevant to Asian Americans today, you simply dredge up old stereotypes and reintroduce them to the community.

Yes, it’s funny to laugh as a Chinese accent. And yes, you will hear Chinese accents in our community both in the student population and otherwise. It’s your choice to bring this comedic relief to light and it is offensive and unnecessary. It does not, as you suggest, start up meaningful dialogue that enlightens non Asians and helps Asian Americans. We don’t need that kind of help, thank you very much! In the same vein, we don’t need your “help” via Affirmative Action for college admissions either. And the broader conversation is why Asian Americans are denied a seat in the boardroom, assigned a cap on admission to top colleges and never get the lead. A more robust conversation would be around why this is so and I believe the root cause is this: Asian Americans are too successful and it’s resented.

Your misguided perceptions of where the issues lie demonstrates the deafness in which you hear the Asian Community speak to you. This concerns me deeply.

Hiroki Shibuya is an immensely talented actor and I’m sure you would agree. But you would have never cast him as the lead, Jimmy Smith. That was meant for a white man. Or Trevor Graydon III which was frankly the best, most complex character in the script for a male. Shibuya’s choices were very limited as an actor in this musical. He had to stay in his box. Ching Ho and Bun Foo. Isn’t that right?’

For example, instead of rewriting the part of Bun Foo from that of an Asian into the part of a Caucasian, you could have done the same for the part of Miss Dorothy Brown and made her a person of color or in hajib to the same comedic effect. In fact, it would have made for a more interesting and thought-provoking musical to cast Miss Dorothy Brown in hajib.

While there were a few people of color in the musical, they were relegated to the chorus. There was, for example, no role for an Asian American female speaking part in this show. So for all the rhetoric of busting the Geisha Image and the Dragon Lady, these roles were meant for non-Asians. How ironic that your stereotype busting includes casting these stereotypes with non Asians.

That is exactly the issue that Asian American actors face today in the real world outside of Newton North but we do appreciate you demonstrating this box to us by putting on this production. And this is where the meat of the discussion that WE as Asian Americans want to talk about. Why the box? Why the limitations? Why never the lead?

In conclusion, your promises for a deep and rich conversation to “bust stereotypes” is empty rhetoric. We recognize this game too. This attempt to placate Asian Americans. This expectation for us to be invisible, voiceless and non-confrontational.

I fully realize that by posting on the racism and issues I have with Thoroughly Modern Millie that there will be payback to me and my family as we enter Newton North High School next year. It will be subtle. That much I know well. It will come in many forms. My children will pay for my speaking out. I realize this and I am willing to pay that price because by not speaking out, nothing ever changes. I have spoken to many Asian American friends in this community and while they also are unhappy with the racism in this production, they are afraid to speak up for fear of reprisal. I hope the NNHS community hears that. You have not created a safe forum to express dissent it seems.

This play will continue to be performed in high schools across the country with empty disclaimers such as the one you have written. And maybe there will continue to be invitations to discuss: Geisha Image, Dragon Lady, Submissive Asian Male, and Kung-Foo warrior image. Discussions that are outdated, irrelevant and demonstrate how little our issues as Asian Americans are understood, addressed or taken seriously.

Thank you for revealing your hand. It’s been quite eye-opening.

I won’t be attending your Monday evening meeting. My response is here and you are all welcome to respond. In this way, our conversation is captured and indexed onto Google and not hidden behind a door in Newton North High School’s Little Theatre. I am frankly a little tired talking about The Geisha Image, The Overtly Sexualized Dragon Lady, The Submissive Asian Male Stereotype and the Kung-Foo Warrior Image.

I need to get back to the real world, not this 1920s world that is irrelevant to me and my issues as an Asian American. I assure you that these negative stereotypes do not plague me in my daily life. It’s only when you bring it up. I think the real question is why NNHS powers that be didn’t listen when objections — the same as mine — were addressed earlier. We brought up the same issues and the problems could have been resolved in a much stronger and less controversial show.

I apologize for the timing of my posts close to the show’s opening. I only learned about this show and the Anti-Asian slant last Saturday or I would have brought this up earlier. It was not my intention to take away from the members of the cast, crew or teachers who worked so hard on this show. In fact, it’s incredibly frustrating to me that these issues were brought up earlier in a timely manner and largely dismissed.