“Our series is a bold and necessary reinvention — a proud reclamation of a complicated legacy,” said Lee and [Josh] Sager in a joint statement. “By crafting an authentic and modern hero, we are transforming a once-offensive cultural caricature into a complex, dignified protagonist for a new generation.”
But this is nothing new. I (Eddie) remember that back in the 1990s there were already discussions about reviving the franchise, with Russell Wong rumored to star and Lucy Liu potentially playing Chan’s granddaughter. Now, actor Tzi Ma is expected to portray Charlie Chan in this new version. The question remains: does replacing the old yellowface performances with an Asian actor actually change the character’s legacy?
Frank Chin has long argued that it does not:
“Charlie Chan will always be a symbol of white racism, no matter who plays him. If you put a black man in a hood, does that make the Ku Klux Klan a civil rights organization?”
Furthermore, if Lee and Sager truly intend to depart from the racist portrayal of Charlie Chan, one might ask: why keep the name Charlie Chan at all?
For those interested in Frank Chin’s thoughts on Charlie Chan and Asian American representation, I recommend his works Gunga Din Highway, The Confessions of a Number One Son, and The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co. And a debate he had with Yunte Huang.
