On the Travesty of Hollywood Remakes of Asian Films and TV Shows.
Hollywood remakes of Asian movies and tv shows are the absolute worst and actually help drive xenophobia and impede Westerners from being able to understand the various Asian cultures and people. Westerners end up only ever seeing Asians as anime caricatures or dragon people as a result. Why? Well, any movie or tv show that make Asians look like normal everyday people with everyday problems are always changed to meet Western standards and are changed for Western views.
Rather than encourage Westerners to simply watch the original movies or tv shows, Hollywood remakes them and turns them into something that often 1) completely bastardizes the original and 2) turns people off from watching the original because the remake was so trashy.
I know I shit on dubs of animes a lot. I have always preferred listening to the original Japanese voices and reading the subtitles. Not everyone feels the same and thus prefer the dubs so they don't have to deal with reading. However, it brings up the question of why don't we have dubbed versions of the movies and tv shows instead of the remakes? Western movies get dubbed! So why can't Asian movies and tv shows be dubbed as well? Why do we need remakes?
Take the Philippines for example. Okay, there have been Filipino remakes of Korean dramas. However!! Before they even make an attempt to remake it for Filipino audiences, the Korean dramas are always dubbed in Tagalog first from start to end. Additionally, the show is aired a few times. Example, Temptation of Wife was originally a Korean drama that was remade in the Philippines. Episodes of the original version aired twice. Empress Ki (which doesn't have a remake but was dubbed) also aired twice and is available on Iflix.
Why can't Westerns do the same? I do think though that it speaks volumes about Westerners who are able-bodied and have no impediments with vision or reading that too many absolutely refuse to watch anything with subs. If Asian movies/tv show being dubbed will get these people to watch these shows, then so be it. But seriously, maybe if people listened to different languages that aren't Western ones, people wouldn't be so threatened when they hear someone speaking another language.
Thankfully, with the advent of Netflix and Hulu (as well as other streaming services), Asian movies and tv shows are becoming more wildly available with subs. I wish people would give these shows and movies a chance, rather than rushing to remake them.
You won't suddenly burst into flames if you watch and listen to the original Asian movie/tv show with subs. If anything, you might learn a few new words or be better able to pronounce things.
Part of the reason why I feel like so many people struggle to see Asians as more than dragon people or anime characters is because they aren't exposed to anything else but these kinds of movies/tv shows.
The discourse for Asian Americans and other Asians in the diaspora is another matter, but there is a tie between them. Just as Westerners need to see Asians in the diaspora be in more Western media, Westerners also need to be exposed to Asian media from the homelands. By doing remakes, Hollywood is essentially encouraging this view that Western media is more superior and that it must remake any Asian media that they want their hands on. Hollywood is encouraging this view that Asian media is lesser and thus, Asian stories aren't worth telling or watching.
We don't need Hollywood remakes of Asian movies or tv shows. We don't need Asian movies or tv shows to be retold for Western audiences. It's about time that Westerners start watching Asian movies and tv shows in their original forms so that they can actually see Asians as people.