I thought the character was so stereotypical and I'm not Asian.
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adresher-1 — 9 years ago(May 19, 2016 07:38 AM)
Exactly! Nobody in the 80s was offended by any teen comedy. These idiot Millenials look for racism that does not exist and then get all up in arms. They are going to be in for a big shock when they enter the real world and realize that nobody cares about their feelings.
I'll never forget, I believe I was in 6th grade, at a girls birthday party. A black kids was manning the music. He was looking through all her tapes and records. All of a sudden you see a big smile on his face. he puts on the Dukes of Hazzard soundtrack and starts singing "just the good ole boys.never meaning no harm" We all started laughing our a-ses.
Was the black kid offended by the Confederate Flag on the car? Nope! He loved the show and did not see any racism because there was not any. -
point-seven-mm — 9 years ago(May 27, 2016 11:02 PM)
I agree with you only up to the point that people are way too PC these days and I'm sick of comedians etc. having to apologize for everything on twitter every time someone complains.
What I noticed about people's opinions on racism: people don't consider something racist unless there's literal hate and slurs being depicted. Racism occurs on a spectrum and simply being disrespectful or treating people lower than you is racist. Sure, that's much more preferable than pre Civil Rights Era racism but that doesn't make it acceptable.
To address the problem with the Asian character in this film there are a lot of offensive things that I would like to point PC or not.
First, I'll give you that is was the 80s, it was a different time, and awareness about minorities in the media and real life has grown considerably since then and we should give the film a break on that end.
1.The character is referred to a Chinaman, he's given the name Long Duk Dong which is more Vietnamese or Southeast Asian, he yells Banzai when jumping out of a tree with is a Japanese phrase and he's played by a Japanese actor. Basically, no attempt was made to specify what he was. He's just vaguely Asian and the production and audience could care less.
2.Samantha and her brother talk about him in disdain, call him weird, and generally dislike him when he shows up. He does not grow on them at all throughout the movie. Samantha is annoyed by him all the way through the story until their final interaction together when Dong drops her off at the house before driving off with his date. I guess you can right this off as him just being foreign and weird but in the 80s where all Asian guys in movies had accents and were nerds and bad guys this is just part of a bigger problem in the depictions of Asians during that time period.
3.He parties and even meets a girl at the dance which I guess you can view as good or bad since the girl he's depicted as hooking up with is portrayed as an outcast or a weirdo. But since he's supposed to be a weirdo himself I guess they go together and that makes sense.
I'm just putting my thoughts out there. I thought the depiction of this character was racist but also kind of who cares in the end. He was foreign so from an American teenager perspective, in a movie made for teenagers, that gives the movie a lot of leeway to portray him as disliked and weird regardless of race. That part of it isn't so much a problem but in a business where Asians in American movies just recently started playing actual characters in the last 10-15 years or so it's kind of sad. -
drfunk-18075 — 9 years ago(December 20, 2016 04:25 PM)
I always took it as she didn't want anyone tagging along with her regardless of ethnicity. The whole movie is premised on the fact that it is her birthday and no one notices and she is infatuated with Jake and is in her own little world. The odd ballness of all of the characters is what always stood out to me.
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melinda2001 — 9 years ago(June 14, 2016 10:17 PM)
Actually, you're the one who's in for a shock because as the millennials enter what you call the "real world", guess who they'll be encountering? Other millennials! The real world will be increasingly made up by them and you'll be seen as the racist relative they're embarrassed to have around. It's called progress and you should be grateful because they're the ones who will fund your social security and medicare benefits and wipe your ass when you're no longer able to.
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adresher-1 — 9 years ago(June 15, 2016 10:44 AM)
Exactly, to be in a position of power you have to get a job and work your way up to the top. Most Millenials live in their parents basement or have their rent paid for by their folks. They can't survive outside their "safe-space." We have had Millenials quit their first day or week at my firm when they realize nobody care about their feelings and they can save the manatee on their own time.
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melinda2001 — 9 years ago(June 15, 2016 02:05 PM)
Ever consider the possibility that those millennials didn't quit to save manatees but because you've created a workplace in which nobody cares about anyone else's feelings? In other words, they're smart enough to know that they can do better. You should be so lucky to have employees that care about all living things enough to trouble themselves to save manatees.
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adresher-1 — 9 years ago(June 16, 2016 06:29 AM)
NOPE! Trading floors have been this way since, well the beginning of trading floors. You are here to produce. Our workplace is very professional and was ranked by a publication as one of the best firms on Wall Street to work.
We have had numerous millennials come here and do well, they understood that survive and make money they had to basically not behave like a typical millennial. They have to show up early, make lots of phone calls, crunch numbers and read, read, read. They actually laugh at their generation's laziness.
As for the millennials who could not survive outside their "safe zone," well I am sure they at some non-profit either doing a non paid internship or making 1/3 the entry level salary at most Wall Street firms. Ironically they will be begging those millennials who survived at mine and numerous other firms by not behaving like a typical millennial for donations some day. -
melinda2001 — 9 years ago(June 16, 2016 02:45 PM)
No, some of those millennials who passed on you will go on to help to create the automated trading systems that are already putting you out of work. You create nothing of value. Your entire industry is based on scurrying around to pick up the crumbs left while other people conduct business. The ones that passed on you could tell that you're not part of the future. I feel badly for the ones who remained. What will they do with their "skills" when the dinosaurs of your industry are extinct?
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adresher-1 — 9 years ago(June 17, 2016 07:00 AM)
You are correct about the industry changing, I personally will be retiring from the industry soon. A new opportunity has arisen which I jumped on and will be using the money I have made from my career to invest.
I have mentored many of the interns and helped many land jobs. I have told them that trading desks are dying and many desks will be gone in 5-10 years, if not sooner. I encouraged them all to look for jobs in private wealth, asset management, accounting and to think long term. Meaning take a job that you do not like for a few years that will open doors.
Point you are missing is that an internship at our firm opens doors. I was able to help one land a job as an analyst at big pension. Another one I helped land a job at top private wealth management firm. Both of those position have huge upside and they have the potential to make seven figures some day. I have called in favors from the contacts and relationships I have and helped them land numerous interviews for the interns we have had over the years. Ironically one of the interns who left hear after a few days called us up and asked for a job recommendation and needed us to confirm he worked here. I do not believe HR complied with his request.
The issue(s) with millennials is they never want to take any job which is not to their precious little snow flake ideals. If you cannot handle a summer internship at our firm which requires you to make tons of calls, crunch numbers, get us lunch, etc. because it is not your idea of "fun" or because you are not working on some big "cause" you are not going to make it in the work force. You are going to end up doing so kumbaya type job living in your parent's basement or asking them for money for rent every month. -
melinda2001 — 9 years ago(June 17, 2016 03:24 PM)
So you justify being a slave driver by the training it provides so people can please other slave drivers, and you wonder that the slaves hope for something else? It's normal for youth to have passions for things that the older population feels is superfluous or pipe-dreams, and it's good for them to follow those passions even though most will certainly fail. That's because they are young enough to start over several times while the older population can't afford such risk. The kids are the ones who make all the technical and cultural breakthroughs, and their failures are important learning opportunities.
Yes, a raising number of young adults are living with their parents or moving back in with them, but that's not because they're doing something wrong. They're doing that because of the crushing costs of college tuitions and the Great Recession caused by multiple financial crises created by people like you who used their wealth to lobby congress to deregulate Wall Street so they could shift their risks onto the taxpayers. Well thanks for nothing. The kids are alright and are being burdened with taking care of us even though we clearly don't deserve it. -
adresher-1 — 9 years ago(June 20, 2016 06:56 AM)
NOPE! I would hardly call having interns getting you lunch, making calls and crunching numbers slave driving. It is the same thing they would would be doing your first year at any firm. Those who thought they were too good to do those simple things are going to be in for a very rude awakening if they ever land a job.
As for college debt, my generation had college debts too. Difference is we worked hard and paid it off. Nobody cried that it was unfair and that society should pay for their student loans. A friend of mine who graduated with over $100k in student debt said "yeah, I should have gone to a state school instead." He never once cried "it's so unfair!" He got a job and paid them off.
Millennials were protesting outside our building years back as part of the "occupy" crowd crying that they want to play guitar, make paintings, put on puppet shows (my personal favorite) and they want society to first pay off their student loans and then give them a salary so they pursue this pipe dream. If you want to be a musician, artist or puppeteer go for it. Just know the odds are heavily stacked against you and that society does not owe you anything. If you want to be an artist, make art and sell it. -
melinda2001 — 9 years ago(June 20, 2016 05:02 PM)
They are interns? That makes it even worse. You're supposed to make it easy for them. They're there to get some first-hand visibility into fields of interest. They're definitely not there to fetch your lunch.
College debt today is nothing like it was in our day. I found it easy to pay off my debt because tuition and related costs were much lower than today and grants were more available.
The millennials know what the risks are for their careers of interest. They even seem to know better than we did because they are saving at rates much higher than we did, probably because they watched us as cautionary examples and don't want to end up in the same position.