| Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Jonesy 12:52 am EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | Kung Fu--Good Show! - Zelgo 11:04 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| I know Bruce Lee had an accent, but Cole Horibe uses an almost offensive caricature of a Chinese accent it sort of evokes Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I was really uncomfortable. He eased off it near the end of the play, but it really left a bad taste in my mouth. | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 12:03 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Jonesy 12:52 am EDT 03/14/14 |
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| You only need to check out YouTube to discover that Bruce Lee indeed had a very thick accent. I would say, and I believe the general opinion is, the fact that Lee did have such a heavy accent was very much a pert of his persona and had an impact on the types of roles he played in American projects (and the amount of dialogue included in those roles) -- for one example, THE GREEN HORNET. I didn't find anything remotely offensive in the accent Cole Horibe uses in KUNG FU. If anything, I find your opinion offensive in itself, since it seems you don't understand why such a heavy accent was used. P.S. As thick as Horibe's accent for the character is, I had no problem understanding what he said. I don't think I missed a single word of dialogue. | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Jonesy 01:27 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Michael_Portantiere 12:03 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
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| Um... I have no problem with the fact that he had an accent in the show... but the fact that his accent was so bad it reminded me of a time when white actors would use that same accent in an offensive manner. Francis Jue (the father) also used a Chinese accent, but I had no problem with it. If people here can complain about bad English accents, I think I am entitled to complain about bad Asian accents. | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 02:09 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Jonesy 01:27 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
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| Thanks for clarifying. Then I just disagree with you that Horibe used a "bad" Asian accent. | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Jonesy 03:24 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Michael_Portantiere 02:09 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
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| Well, I highly doubt David Henry Hwang would have allowed it, so I'm thinking he probably just drifted towards caricature as the show went on. Hopefully the dialect coach came back to correct him. I certainly don't think Cole Horibe is doing this on purpose. It was just a bit unsettling. Just as some people can detect slight variances in English accents and are irritated when it's done wrong, I guess my ear is trained towards Asian accents... but then there isn't any historical baggage attached to bad English accents. | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 04:14 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Jonesy 03:24 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
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| "Well, I highly doubt David Henry Hwang would have allowed it, so I'm thinking he probably just drifted towards caricature as the show went on." That's possible, but of course, whether the accent you heard was "caricature" is a matter of opinion. As I said, some YouTube clips reveal that Lee had a very thick accent, so if Horibe did in fact go a little too far with his accent, I think that can be forgiven. Maybe a big part of the issue is that I felt Horibe virtually shouted almost all of his lines -- something I heard someone else in the audience comment on, as well. ("Did Bruce Lee go through his life declaiming everything?") I attributed this to the fact that Horibe was trying to project despite a lack of training as an actor, and I think his shouting may well have contributed to your feeling that his accent itself is "bad" or caricatured. | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | Jonesy 04:34 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Michael_Portantiere 04:14 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
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| Yes, I heard that too about the shouting. That's probably part of it... | |
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| re: Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? | |
| Posted by: | NeoAdamite 09:44 am EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | Was anyone else bothered by Cole Horibe's accent? - Jonesy 12:52 am EDT 03/14/14 |
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| I know Bruce Lee had an accent, but Cole Horibe uses an almost offensive caricature of a Chinese accent it sort of evokes Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I was really uncomfortable. He eased off it near the end of the play, but it really left a bad taste in my mouth. For what it's worth, Hwang has written that having Lee speak with an accent was a specific choice (and one that Hwang has avoided before this). That doesn't mean the actor has maintained the same exact accent through the run, of course. | |
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