I've noticed in a lot of Hong Kong movies, that the casts are becoming increasingly Pan Asian. For example, in Seven Swords, the movie had a rather substantial Korean subplot as well as a Korean actress. In Chen Kaige's new movie The Promise, there's another Korean actress and some Japanese guy. Then of course there's the Geisha movie, which isn't exactly Pan Asianism. It's more like Orientalism, but anyway there's another movie where Japanese actors and Chinese actors are on the screen together.
It sort of makes me wonder what's going on. Do people put Korean actresses, and usually it is actresses, into their films because they think it will make it more exotic or interesting to domestic or foreign audiences? Or possibly just because Korean cinema is so damn hot right now? Who knows?
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This is a big issue in Chinese cinema studies. The existing categories of "Chinese", "Taiwanese" and "Hong Kong" cinema are giving way to terms like "Chinese cinemas" or "Chinese-language cinema", as production and stars move freely around Asia and "transnational" Asian culture becomes the norm.
I bet you it's a marketing thing.
And they don't just use any Korean actress. They use the hot ones. Alex Su was in a drama that featured a Korean actress who was damn hot. She was also in Love in the Aegan Sea, also with Alex Su.
Hot girls = more interest = more money. Also if there's a foreign actor in the film, it's easier to plug abroad. Especially if it's Chen Kaige who is the master pimp of 5th generation movie thuggs.
And it may also be a talent-looks combination. There's not enough extremely hot people who can act well in China. If you've seen some of the stuff on TV over there, you'll understand what I mean.
I feel like Seven Swords was different to the way Memories of a Geisha seems - the latter looks just like the same thing Hollywood has always done with Asian type films - the same people play the same roles, no matter the country it's supposed to be in. Pretty girl/stern man/evil martial artist, and ideally these should all be actors we've already seen before.
The Korean factor could also be coming from television's influence... Everyone in Taiwan watches Korean soap operas.
Nien: I know what you mean about the tv... I think the key skill is to be able to do the "throw fireball" move convincingly.
I've always wondered why the Asian community idolizes Western features. Korean people look nothing like they used to, because they're all getting eyelid surgery, nose bridges and God knows what else - to look like mixed ethnicities. None of the Korean actors look "Korean" so it doesn't even matter what Asian is acting; you can't tell what they are anyway.
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