November 15, 2002
Jeff Sakson
VP Publicity
Universal Pictures
100 Universal City Plaza, Bldg. 2160
Universal City, CA 91608
Dear Jeff,
Thanks for your quick and detailed response to my letter and
also your continued support in our efforts to find a resolution.
Your description of our action being “an extreme rush to
judgment” stems from several things, which should not be construed as “extreme”
or “rushed”. An advocacy group such as
ourselves always find it better to alert our concerns to a project before
they commence production. We gather our
information from trade articles announcing the cast and impending production
and also reports from various sources.
Based on this, we voiced our concerns, which was stated in the previous
letter. So if your movie actually
contains Jin Auyeung, an Asian American male, why was he not mentioned in any
of the articles? We suspect it’s
because you never included him in the press release. Plus, you probably hired him after our conversation. Was he announced in your press
release? If not will you put out one?
Also, when was he hired? After our
conversation? Maybe if Universal
promoted Rick Yun’s involvement in the original by mentioning his name in the
trailers. Maybe if his face and name
was on the poster – a poster that featured little known Jordana Brewster. Maybe if Rick’s character was more
developed and had a smidgen of any redeemable quality. Maybe if one of the, drag racers, partiers,
or even the mechanics was an Asian American Male. Maybe if the creators of the original did not rest on their
laurels and thought, “Hey we got Asian guys with guns on bikes – that should
clearly represent Asian American’s involvement in the import car scene.” Maybe if just one of these incidents
happened, we would not be so extreme this time around.
Also, let me respond to some of the other points you made in
you letter:
Your claim to never agree to arrange a meeting with John
Singleton is confusing as I recall you did – and I will stand by it. Plus, you
never voiced any invitation for us to call the director John Singleton
ourselves. Instead it was always agreed
that we should go through Universal. We
have the relationship with Universal and we wanted your company’s cooperation.
In regards to the Asian American presence in the sequel, I
never used the word preponderance. I
also did not justify the need to have Asian Americans by stating any population
fact about the city of Miami – YOU DID.
You keep telling us that the reason why there is less of an Asian
American presence in the sequel is because Asians Americans only make up 1.4
percent of Miami’s population. If
that’s the case this movie will feature Latinos in more than half of the roles
and extras as Hispanic and Latino represent 57.3 percent of Miami’s population. Will it?
Instead, what we are trying to get across is simply this: You
go any car culture event in Miami, you go to the Miami car culture websites,
you make a quick call to the top three car clubs in Miami (Sinister, Mock 5,
and Jade). I guarantee the number of
Asian American males will definitely be more than 1.4 percent. Asian Americans made the car culture what it
is today and the original did not reflect this. Will the sequel?
As for Devon Aoki and Jin Auyeung, because you had the
privilege of reading the script and we didn’t, we pose the following questions
to you: Is Devon’s role not mere
window dressing and stereotyped? Can
you say with confidence that her role will not further the exotification of
Asian American women as foreign sex objects?
Is she cleverly drawn out and dimensional, or is she someone there to
provide a visual short hand to the audience that she is unique in a white man’s
eyes and just by looks alone Brian O’Connor can’t refuse to have sex with
her. Do they have anything beyond a
sexual relationship. Will casting
Jin Auyeung make up for the absence of Rick Yun and his gang plus clearly show
the contributions Asian Americans made to this world? Will his on screen time match or better that of Rick? Is he dimensional? Does he have any redeemable qualities (like
how Vin was a bad guy but was heroic and honorable). Will you do better in promoting these two than you did with Rick? In other words: quality not
quantity. A Pasadena Weekly article
warns readers of “Asians driving supped up Honda” and blames them for the rise
of crime and murders. This is what
happens if we do not show that Asian Americans can like cars and racing and can
be heroic and honorable. Will your
movie help us combat this stereotype?
If your answers are positive and turn out to be true, I will publicly
give the biggest Mia Culpa to this movie and help promote it to the Asian
American/Car Culture community.
Finally, one of the most important point from our letter
that you fail to respond to. Will
you let us see the script and screen a preliminary cut? The facts you detailed still does not
satisfy that you’ve done everything to be sensitive to the importance of
including Asian Americans but more importantly how they are depicted.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to your
response.
Sincerely
Aki Aleong
President