A Quote by Eugene Lee Yang
A lot of times I go to a comedy show, I sit there and wait for the comedian to run out of ideas and look at me and make an Asian joke. Which is very different for blacks and Latinos. You can't say certain things because everyone is cognizant of when things are and should be offensive. Asians don't have that luxury.
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Beauty means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. A lot of different ways in which things can be beautiful. But this really has a very specific meaning and which is more along the lines of elegance which is that we say an idea is beautiful or elegant in mathematics or physics if a very simple principle or a very simple idea, or simple set of ideas, turns out to be very powerful and leads to all sort of unexpected structure and unexpected predictions.
I get the headlines for being slick and different things like that - which is part of my game - but it's just amazing to me that a lot of times, the people don't see the other things that go on in that ring. But a lot of times, when my opponents figure it out, the fight is over. It's too late.
When you look at the Asians, the Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch. They're very creative. And you look at the Indians, they have been very gifted in the spirituality.
I don't think all comedy should be mindless. Have something that's thoughtful. Maybe some things are tongue-in-cheek; maybe some things are very direct. I like that people have to think about things. That excites me. Because if you say certain things, it starts a dialogue. Even if you disagree, it's still a dialogue.
It's kinda crazy to say, but the way Jay [Duplass] and I stay afloat, because we don't make particularly commercial fare that makes a lot of money, is that we make things cheaply and we make things small. We would kind of be afraid to go make a $100 million movie because you have to do certain things to it to have it make its money back.
Things that are really offensive make me laugh because I like things that push the envelope, go out on a limb, and are bold.
As a community, we're fighting for Asians to play Asian roles. And then there's the other battle, which is Asian Americans playing roles that aren't written for Asians, and I think that's something that completely should happen; Why can't an Asian American male just play a leading cop figure... or the Matt Damon roles?
I don't necessarily look for what I respond to in a script. I look for things that scare me, and take that as an indication that I should probably do it. I don't want to be bored. I look for challenges. I look for a variety of different things because it's so easy to go the cliche route.
I think that these are different times, and different things are available to artists, and certain things have become passé. You've already seen the outcome of a lot of things that seemed to have a lot of potential. We've already heard that, and I can't tell you if it made a difference or not. But we already know that artists can do that, and they shouldn't feel threatened by doing it. They're probably not going to change the world. They're going to change a few people's perspectives and maybe make somebody's day at times, if they can.
A lot of times it's the child that sees something and not the grownup. I love that because, when readers get older, they start looking for the most important ideas in the story. They don't look at things in the same way anymore. Children haven't really learned to do that yet. They take all their great, intellectual skills, look at the full page, and appreciate all of the different things.
What I noticed is that the lens from which people want to look at 'Minari' is just from that Asian-American angle. And I think that can end up being very frustrating. Because the craft of the film, and this film itself, is meant to embody a lot of different things.
I get very confused about being called a comedian, because when you say 'I'm a comedian,' people expect you to crack a joke. Maybe I use laughter and humour to make people think. I don't know what you call that - a humourist? A satirist? A pessimistic comedian? I don't know. Satirists can be very dark.
You have to laugh at yourself. I do a lot of humor about all ethnicities that are at the show - Latinos, Asians, Indians... What I say is, 'We're laughing together. I'm laughing with you, not at you.' Never say, 'Oh, I'm better than you.'
I think that there's certain music that instead of saying a lot of different things that are on my psyche, I just say, 'I've aged out.' Because that is the best way of putting it, because a lot of things I simply don't understand and will not understand and can't see any intrinsic value in.
Every ghetto you go to, Latinos and blacks are the two people that are together. We don't look at each other in any different way, like 'He's black; I'm Latino.' I look at us as one.
I've only gotten directly offered two or three movies, ever. I don't have the luxury of being able to say no a lot, and I don't really have the luxury of just getting to pick and choose certain things. If I did, I probably would choose even more different roles than I've played.
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