A bit surprised how easily it left out the strides made in films of the era like Tora! Tora! Tora!, tossed out M.A.S.H, and happily ignored factual history.

a basic rundown can be found here: http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Asian-American-Cinema.html

I get the frustrations coming from it though. I have issues with Hollywood’s continued portrayal of anyone from a Spanish speaking country…but Hollywood isn’t static and the studio system is much more to blame for what happened in that era than Carradine ever was.

This wasn’t the Hollywood of myth as it likes to think of itself. This was the Hollywood of raw business. The Hollywood were Latin American actors Americanized their names or developed over the top accents, where white actors were routinely used to fill in minority roles. Not only out of established racial & social policy but because there was no serious inroad for minority actors even on a talent agency level to get big Hollywood leads. Look how hard it was for African American actors. Nearly every major actor of Carradine’s era played a minority role as he did on some production. Many of those are largely forgotten now or have not been screened since that era. Yet that was STANDARD practice. Actors were expected to play characters beyond their own race since social concerns, taboos, production codes, and expectations made it “safer” to explore stories that for example had a mixed race couple. Thankfully some like filmmaker Sam Fuller didn’t particularly give a damn about that and pushed many social taboo’s in his films with a few featuring Asian Americans in unique roles. Plus sometimes it was just simple economics…cast an obscure Asian actor or big name star and just make him look Asian?

Sure much of what Carradine later did was cash in on the camp value of his era as much as his role. Poor choice? Maybe, but one can’t read so much into it either. His legacy didn’t supplant what Bruce Lee and other Asian actors, directors, and performers would later push forward not long after Kung Fu faded into memory.

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/06/05/david-carradines-legacy-of-shame/

@celestyna- for the time the show came out that was groundbreaking. As Tequila pointed out the Asians depicted in Kung Fu weren’t done in the old form, but in a different way. That in and of itself is groundbreaking.

The fact so many of multiple generations have such great memories of that show is a testament to not only Carradine’s portrayal of the lead character but the tone of the show itself.

The man was a treasure. Sad to see him go.

He’ll be missed but man it sucks to see him pass on in such a tragic way. Hope he’s found some peace though.