Burning Questions
Is the Fat Kid from Up Asian?
Forget all the speculation about Adam Lambert’s sexuality. (We mean it! Forget! He’s dead now, there’s nothing we can do, we have to keep moving!) The new hot is-he-or-isn’t-he question is this: Is the fat kid from Up supposed to be Asian? Let’s investigate!
Disney isn’t usually shy about tooting its own horn when the studio breaks racial boundaries (talk of The Princess and the Frog’s black heroine dominated animation chatter until that first, iffy trailer came out). So far, though, they haven’t said zip over whether Up’s Russell might be Asian, despite the tentative questions arising online.
Phil Yu, who blogs about pop culture over at Angry Asian Man, thinks Russell’s definitely Asian. Having seen the film, I could go either way — the character’s look is ambiguous, and a relative is glimpsed in only one scene (though she has dark black hair). The best evidence of Russell’s ethnicity, though, might come from the actor who voiced him: young Jordan Nagai, at left.
Why is the question relevant? Well, Russell might be Disney’s very first Asian male co-lead, if you don’t count that drippy dude from Mulan. And at a time when Hollywood is in no hurry to cast an Asian actor as the star of a movie (unless he knows martial arts), it’s significant that one of the summer’s biggest movies might quietly signify some small progress.
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Posted 21 May 2009, 7:17 PM
We Filipinos will shamelessly claim anybody (Vanessa Hudgens FTW?), so I'm just gonna say Russell is Filipino. Even if the voice actor has a Japanese surname. We don't care, we really don't. Lou Diamond Philips, anybody? Tia Carrere? Thank you.
Posted 21 May 2009, 7:47 PM
We won't know unless he has an extraordinarily small erection when marrying that fish girl to that prince guy.
Posted 21 May 2009, 8:41 PM
You know that video of the rally fat chubby-cheeked kid singing "you're my whatever chubby wubby something-or-other"? Fat kids get those Asian-seeming cheeks. Fact o' life.
Posted 21 May 2009, 10:02 PM
Leave Mindy Cohn out of this.
Posted 22 May 2009, 10:08 AM
Might ask yourself this question - how many Asian Boy Scouts have you ever encountered?
Posted 22 May 2009, 12:53 PM
To Old #7: Actually quite a few! My cousins were Eagle Scouts. Perhaps you lived in an area where there weren't as many Asian boys who were involved in BSA, but please don't generalize. Incidentally, all of my sisters and I were Girl Scouts.
To John "He is not a stereotype. Therefore, he's white.": Let's not assume that he's white b/c his look and demeanor don't fit what you deem as your stereotype of an Asian kid. Please consider that the character is stereotypical of an American boy who happens to be Asian & who is also involved with the scouts. That's why the character appeals to the mass audience.
And does it matter whether Disney acknowledges the character as Asian American? Yes, it does b/c Asian Americans are involved in (what some consider) "mainstream activities" and should be represented in public & entertainment media other than martial arts (like Russell Wong as the teacher in that WB show? Jackie Chan, Jet Li & Chow Yun Fat?) or in the "inscrutable assistant" (i.e., Bruce Lee as Kato)...
Posted 29 May 2009, 8:38 AM
Actually!!! A friend of mine worked up through the ranks of Boy Scouts and went to West Point eventually and he is Asian. So stop your assuming right now! =)
Posted 22 May 2009, 11:31 AM
It always floors me how white people insist on seeing Asian characters as white. (Avatar the Last Airbender, anyone?) Honestly, could this kid BE any more Asian? What do they want, for his eyes to look like =_=? Shall he wear a conical hat to aid in the interpretation?
Posted 22 May 2009, 11:33 AM
"Might ask yourself this question - how many Asian Boy Scouts have you ever encountered?"
He is not a stereotype. Therefore, he is white.
http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/21621/wm/pd1384534.jpg
Posted 22 May 2009, 12:10 PM
I guess he is Asian, now that I stop to think about it, which I guess is cool, now that [again] I stop to think about it. And yeah, it'd be nifty if Disney casted other ethnicities for leading roles, but it seems slightly trivial to deem it as some kind of "progress." Considering Asians make up about 4% of the U.S. population, their lack of presence in Disney's films probably correlates with their lack of presence in Disney's audience?
Posted 22 May 2009, 12:22 PM
Not only are there "Asian/American Boy Scouts, but there are actually a lot of "Boy Scouts" in Japan and other "Asian" Countries.
Posted 22 May 2009, 12:26 PM
John - Bingo.
Characters whose race has nothing to do with the story = normal = just white.
Characters who are stereotypes, flamboyant caricatures, or have their race related to the story = hispanic, asian, black, native american, etc.
It's the same with gay characters... and women, to some extent.
I would love to see a popular hollywood with a leading black character that isn't considered a 'black' movie, but just a regular movie with black characters!!!!
Posted 22 May 2009, 12:39 PM
Dear Earthlings:
The worms who will eat your carcass do not care what color you are. Start getting over this crap now for a better tomorrow.
Posted 22 May 2009, 12:44 PM
I don't know which is more stupid, this topic or me for reading it. Who cares? I mean seriously, in what context does it matter? Hmm, let's see... if Disney didn't define his ethnicity and it's not relevant to the story then I'd say he's definitely A CARTOON, he's a freakin' drawing. Who knows what was in the animator's head when he drew it.
I grew up in the US Southwest where there is a large Native American population. You know what? They share many features with Asian people, so you can't look at a particular feature and pin him down because he's a racially undefined drawing. So, I say he's Navajo. Who's going to say I'm wrong?
Posted 22 May 2009, 2:01 PM
No eyelid crease = asian.
Move on people, nothing to see here.
Posted 23 May 2009, 4:55 PM
"Might ask yourself this question - how many Asian Boy Scouts have you ever encountered? "
What kind of silly question is that? That's like asking how many Asians have you met that are 6+? Just because people haven't encountered them, doesn't mean they don't exist.
How many White people have you encountered that have Black hair and have squinty eyes?
What's even more ironic, anyone can simply and find a quick answer to that Asian boy scout question.
This coming from the Boy Scouts of America: National Council!!! lol
http://www.scouting.org/MultiCultural/AsianAmerican.aspxgoogle
Posted 23 May 2009, 5:39 PM
"I grew up in the US Southwest where there is a large Native American population. You know what? They share many features with Asian people, so you can't look at a particular feature and pin him down because he's a racially undefined drawing. So, I say he's Navajo. Who's going to say I'm wrong? "
You know what? Native Americans came from Asia via Bering Straight.
Posted 26 Sep 2009, 1:30 PM
Well, Asians are from Africa and there are some African populations with the epicanthic eyefold. That Bering Strait BS won't work here, son. American Indians =/= Asians.
Posted 23 May 2009, 7:10 PM
It's 5%, Colton. Which means that 1 in 20 Disney characters should be Asian. If you think that anywhere near 1 in 20 Disney characters is Asian, you haven't seen many Disney movies. Similar things could be said about the representation of black people, Hispanic people, and other minorities.
Steve H and Bill Smith,
Cool, thanks for letting us know what the white man thinks. We certainly don't hear from white men enough! They're so underrepresented!
Race matters. It's just that you, as white men, have the luxury of not caring about race. You've never dealt with racism in your lives, other than bogeymen like affirmative action.
Posted 23 May 2009, 8:13 PM
you are all stupid, everyone knows the kid is supposed to be Korean. And his mom at the end? HELL OF ASIAN, c'mon, it's not even a question. While Russell is slightly ambiguous, his mom isn't.
Posted 23 May 2009, 9:38 PM
To end this discussion,
The character is based off one of the animator’s of Pixar, Peter Sohn, who voiced Emile in Ratatouille.
http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/up-director-pete-docter-on-talking-dogs-youth-scouts-and-adventure.php
Here’s a pic of Peter Sohn,
http://www.superiorpics.com/pictures2/Sohn_sd1.jpg
Posted 25 May 2009, 10:54 PM
Ever notice it is always the white people who always say "Race doesn't matter"? That's because race issues are not important to them. Which is why they are usually ignorant when it comes to race. And then they blame everyone else for being the 'sensitive' ones. Hmmm....
Posted 29 May 2009, 10:35 AM
The ones who don't care about the ethnicity are always the white ones...
Posted 31 May 2009, 2:49 PM
True Asians make up only around 4% of the U.S.population but Asians make up 60% of the Earth's population so lets see how this movies does worldwide if that's the line of reasoning or the line of marketing you're making.
Posted 31 May 2009, 5:06 PM
Not that it really matters but if you read Wikipedia it says "The animators designed Russell as an Asian-American, and modeled Russell after similar looking Peter Sohn, a Pixar storyboarder who voiced Emile in Ratatouille and directed the short Partly Cloudy, because of his energetic nature." Peter Sohn is also Asian-American so I would think that makes Russell, an Asian-American.
Posted 01 Jun 2009, 11:13 AM
Maybe he's bi-racial?
Posted 01 Jun 2009, 1:13 PM
I thought he was asian the moment that I saw him. After watching the movie, his mother also looks very asian.
Posted 03 Jun 2009, 12:26 PM
He is a Korean American. My roommate is an animator at Pixar.
Posted 20 Jun 2009, 1:09 AM
The character is based on Peter Sohn (and the two look very similar, a quick google will confirm that), so yes he is Asian. And maybe it's not a big deal to some, but it's a big deal to the Asian American community that is rarely represented in the media without stereotypical roles and actually has some--gasp--character development/significance in the film, especially in something as big and as mainstream as a Disney Pixar film.
And no shit there's Asian American boy scouts.
Posted 07 Oct 2009, 12:28 PM
I knew he was Asian the instant I saw him. Black hair, peachy skin, almond black (small) eyes, all the traits of a stereotypical Asian.
Posted 04 Jan 2010, 4:43 PM
Russle is not asian he is an american our character creater is asian and it is the way she draws
Posted 05 Jan 2010, 8:23 PM
The animators designed Russell as an Asian-American, and modeled Russell after similar looking Peter Sohn, a Pixar storyboarder who voiced Emile in Ratatouille and directed the short Partly Cloudy, because of his energetic nature.
Posted 09 Jan 2010, 11:06 PM
American "minorities" are very racist. They act so persecuted, they all themselves "people of color" which to them includes ANYONE except whites (even though white people are not white) and most stupid, they get offended when white people AREN'T racist towards them or don't fit their racist stereotypes.
So big deal. The kid is Korean-American. White people can enjoy the movie, Asian Americans can throw a fit that they can't say there aren't "regular" (non-martial arts) Asians represented in American cinema.
Good for them, keep the racism going.
Posted 02 Feb 2010, 12:52 PM
wow. lucky you, you dont have any stereotypes to fit. except for that of the stereotypically ignorant, self-righteous caucasian majority member, who despite never having experienced "racism," supposes themselves an authority on the matter. of course you must know so much about acting "persecuted" and how stupidly we get offended at completely non-offensive things.
it must be so difficult for you, how we "minorities" must continually deal with this social construction called "race." i mean, its not like you could help being born into the one slice of the socially-constructed cake, that got all the frosting. so maybe all us "people of color" should just leave it alone, let you get back to eating your frosting... that delicious, racism-free, white frosting. sorry we're so judgmental down here, its just that cake without frosting kinda sucks.
Posted 16 Feb 2010, 10:17 AM
Guys!!!!!!!!!!! Stop fight and take a look at this!!!!!!!!!!!! Who would argue he's not asian after you see this picture below!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=11166158&id=504230036#!/photo.php?pid=11166158&id=504230036&fbid=472015870036