In July 2019, Marvel announced the title of "Shangqi" and the three main actors at the San Diego Comic Con, which was followed not by expectations and cheers for the introduction, but with great disappointment and confusion.
In addition to the controversy over the two male protagonists, the female protagonist Okafina was also ridiculed by the overwhelming crowd, five big and three thick, no neck, rustic appearance, and wore a particularly high-end big-name dress very low.
For a time, Okafina became a representative of Westerners' stereotypes of East Asian women.
Many people think that Marvel's choice of Okafina is a deliberate attempt to vilify Chinese, which is a concrete manifestation of American aesthetic hegemony.
So why did Marvel put Okafina in such an important role? Aren't there other Chinese actresses in Hollywood?
Okafina was born in 1988 in Stony Brook, Long Island, New York, under the name of Nora Lum, Chinese lin jiazhen.
Okafina as a child
Her grandfather immigrated to the United States in 1940 and opened a Cantonese restaurant in Farasheng, Queens, New York, and her father, Wally, was born in the United States and worked in the IT industry.
Okafina's mother, Tia, was a Korean who immigrated to the United States with her family in 1972 and works as a painter.
In this way, Okafina is considered to be of mixed Chinese and Korean East Asian descent, not entirely Chinese, and the reason why her appearance is so unique is also because of her Mixed Korean ancestry.
Okafina's parents
Okafina and mother
Unfortunately, okafina's mother died of pulmonary hypertension when she was 4 years old, and she broke off contact with her mother's relatives, and was completely brought up by her father and grandmother.
Grandma, in particular, took on more of the burden of taking care of Okafina's life, so Okafina had a deep affection and unusual relationship with Grandma.
Perhaps inheriting her mother's artistic genes, Okafina Attended the prestigious LaGuardia School of the Arts in the United States, where she received a professional education in classical and jazz.
The stage name "Okafina" Awkwafina also arose at this time, taken from the English "awkward", which means "awkward and clumsy".
Because in middle school, she felt that her image and race were incompatible with her surroundings, and she felt depressed and lonely, so she changed the word and became her own code name.
However, this name, which has been used today because of her inferiority, has now become her unique symbol.
Okafina in high school
From the perspective of birth, Okafina grew up in an ordinary Asian American family, not a second generation of stars, only the middle school experience laid some foundation for her later acting career.
After graduating from high school, Okafina did not continue to study art, but chose to study Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University.
One of the purposes of her own hermeneutic Chinese was to communicate better with her grandmother, who immigrated to the United States as an adult and was fluent in both English and Chinese, while she could only speak English.
Okafina, who attended university in Beijing
In later film and television works, we can also hear Okafina say a few Chinese with a heavy accent from time to time.
After studying Northern Chinese for almost two years, Okafina returned to the United States to complete her studies in journalism and women's studies at the State University of New York at Albany.
After graduating from college in 2011, Okafina found a public relations job with her professional counterpart, playing rap in her spare time.
During this time, a rap song she uploaded on the video website, My, unexpectedly became popular.
This song was written by her in college, and she did not expect a small fire, which made her get a certain degree of attention.
In the MV, she wears a pair of huge retro glasses, which she often appears in later.
Okafina in the My MV
Okafina explained the reason for wearing glasses, partly because she still had a job at the time, afraid of being recognized by the company boss, and the glasses could be covered; on the other hand, the glasses also came from her deceased mother, who left a small relic for Okafina, and there was a large pair of glasses.
When she was a child, she often missed her mother with these glasses, so wearing them was like her mother looking at herself in the sky.
In fact, the image of Okafina wearing glasses in the early days was not ugly, and it also covered up the lack of her face shape, which was cool and recognizable.
Although she was shielded, the company recognized Okafina in the MV and immediately fired her, so Okafina entered the most difficult period of her life, but also achieved her future acting career.
After being fired by a pr firm, she worked odd jobs at restaurants and briefly worked as a publicity assistant at a publishing house.
On the other hand, she also insists on acting work, trying various forms such as rapping, talk shows, hosts, and performances.
This experience is similar to Liu Yuling, a representative of chinese actresses.
When she was young, she also worked in a restaurant while making cameo appearances and brushing experience in various TV drama crews.
In 2014, Okafina released a rap music album Yellow Ranger, which contained 11 songs, including my, which had been popular before, and the masterpiece NYC Bitche$.
She also spread the songs to video sites, which went viral and were played very well.
These videos and songs are really cool, which has garnered a lot of attention from Okafina as a web rapper.
Okafina during the rapper period
During this time, she also participated in MTV's reality show "Girl Code" and produced her own online talk show Twak, which further expanded her popularity.
According to the media, Okafina debuted as a rapper, comedian and talk show performer.
Her characteristics are indeed very much in line with her stage name, both "awkward" and "clumsy", "embarrassing" refers to her uniqueness, Asian women engaged in rap is very rare, and "clumsy" refers to her rapping at the same time as she is still a funny girl, with comedic talent.
In 2015, Okafina's previously accumulated heat and preparation finally met the nobleman, and her MV and video were seen by Hollywood comedy movie bigstar Seth Rogan.
Seth Logan, one of the producers and stars in the film Neighborhood Wars 2: The Rise of the Sorority, invited Okafina to play a minor role in the film.
Although the role is not much, only one or two lines, this appearance marks Okafina's official entry into the mainstream Hollywood film field, and she also participated in the premiere of the film.
Okafina in the film Neighborhood Wars 2: The Rise of the Sisterhood (2nd from left)
Okafina made her debut as a film actress
In interviews after her fame, Okafina also often mentions and thanks Seth Logan, because the comedy star helped her achieve a career leap forward, making her from a single-player Internet singer to a mainstream studio film production.
After starring in "Neighbors vs. 2," Okafina snowballed and became more and more famous, and each of her works pushed her one step closer to the top of The Hollywood Asian actress.
Okafina's acting career so far can be summed up in three characteristics:
First, Asians have fewer opportunities to pick up suitable roles in Hollywood than whites, blacks, and Latinos.
Therefore, Okafina frequently participates in various variety shows and talk shows outside of film and television dramas, constantly brushing her face and mixing popularity.
She herself has been a talk show performer and host, and she will be funny and have a strong sense of variety.
Okafina has participated in or hosted a variety of programs than she has acted in film and television dramas, and you can always see her figure in various programs, so she is not familiar to everyone simply by film and television dramas.
Okafina hosts shows and participates in variety shows
Second, each new play Ocapina receives highlights her position more than the previous one.
For example, the first time she played "Neighbor Wars 2", she was only a marginal supporting role, and the next movie "Dude" became one of the protagonists.
Although "Flowers and Flowers" is an online movie, not as influential as "Neighbors Vs. 2", it is a step forward for Okafina herself, promoting from a small supporting role to a starring role.
Okafina in the movie "Flower Boy"
After "Neighbor Wars 2" and "Flowers and Flowers", her career has been upgraded to a higher level, starring in two movies: "Hidden Sky: Beauty Plan" and "Picking Gold".
"Concealing the sky and crossing the sea" is the female version of "Eleven Arhats", which also tells the story of several people with extraordinary skills who have different divisions and strengths, cooperate perfectly, and rob huge wealth.
There is also a Chinese actor in 2001's "Eleven Arhats", who is an acrobatic performer (as is himself), who was invited to join the company because of his special skills in bone reduction and breath holding.
The core of the "Eleven Luohan" IP is that everyone in the gang has their own characteristics, which are very different in terms of expertise, race, age, image, etc.
As mentioned earlier, Okafina starred in the online movie "Flowers and Flowers", and the director and screenwriter of this film, Olivia Mirich, is also the screenwriter of "Hidden from the Sky: Beauty Plan".
She thought of Okafina when she wrote about the Asian characters, and recommended her to the group, so Okafina got a chance to work with Top Hollywood actresses such as Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Helena Carter, The Big Devil, Sister Banana, Rihanna, and so on.
From the relevant interviews of "Hiding the Sky and Crossing the Sea: Beauty Plan" later, it can be seen that Okafina gets along well with those actresses who have become famous, and does not look like a newcomer at all, which shows that she has a high emotional intelligence and a strong ability to seize opportunities.
Being able to talk and laugh with these top actresses has added a lot of fame to her, and many Chinese audiences have also known Okafina since "Hidden from the Sky: Beauty Plan".
In the same year of the release of "Hidden Sky and Over the Sea", there was also a hyped movie "Picking Gold", which is known as another rare mainstream film of the all-Asian lineup in Hollywood, gathering a lot of popular and senior Asian stars.
Okafina, who is in the ascendancy period, was naturally selected and played a funny role next to the heroine.
Because there are too many Asian handsome men and women in "Picking Gold", Okafina contributed the function of the atmosphere group.
Most local Chinese audiences do not like "Picking Gold" because the Chinese in the Western world and the Chinese in China are not in the same world at all.
But we still remember Okafina, who has a unique comedic attribute compared to other Asian stars who have won with looks.
But it's not that Okafina can't play the right thing, her next work", "Don't Tell Her", is an official recognition of her career.
Okafina won the Golden Globe For Best Actress for her role in Don't Tell Her, making her the only Asian woman to win the Golden Globe For Best Actress.
Until now, no Asian woman has won an Oscar in the acting category, and the Status of the Golden Globe Award is second only to the Oscar, so the Golden Globe Award is also the highest performance honor for Asian women in the United States.
This award was won only 4 years after Okafina officially entered Hollywood, and it is indeed a huge breakthrough.
Actually, Don't Tell Her and Okafina's acting skills in this film suck, but there is a powerful force behind this movie that has operated a lot of honors for it.
Even Ang Lee and Obama have recommended it, just like many best-sellers who recommend celebrities who post themselves on the cover, the actual look and feel is very general, completely relying on the so-called masterpieces that are hyped up.
Whether it is real force or operation, Okafina's position in Hollywood after winning the Golden Globes has stabilized, and the drama path has become wider and wider, and her status has become higher and higher.
She is the heroine of the same status as Dwayne Johnson in Brave Game 2: Fight again.
In the independent film "Yuba County Breaking News", Okafina behaves naturally, truly integrating into the plot and into the characters, rather than deliberately funny and using her Asian face, which is the work she looks most normal and the most suitable for her role.
Movie "Yuba County Breaking News"
During this time, she also led two seasons of the American drama "Okafina is Nora from Queens" based on her own experience, and starred in films such as "Paradise Mountain" and "Swan Elegy".
In addition, Okafina's voice has a unique charm, and the voice acting in animations such as "Dragon Quest" and "Bad Guy League" also impresses everyone.
In 2021, Okafina entered the Marvel MCU, reaching her personal peak in Hollywood commercial films.
The third characteristic of her career can be derived from the works that Okafina has starred in, and the role she plays requires an Asian face.
For example, the movie "Paradise Mountain" is set as a dystopian story, so an Asian race is needed to reflect the diversity of the world.
The second type of character is the hilarious and funny atmosphere group, such as Ming in "Brave Game 2".
Combine these two characters to become Katie in Shangqi.
As Okafina becomes more and more famous, there are not many people who are popular, and it is impossible for one person to make everyone like it, and everything is perfect.
Even if you really do everything carefully, you may as well have someone deliberately do nothing wrong and pick a bone in the egg.
In China, Okafina's image has been sprayed by many people and has become a target for some Chinese to resist Western stereotypes; in the United States, the racial dividend on which Okafina relies for success has also brought her a lot of negative effects.
Some people have picked out that Okafina became famous in her early years by borrowing black voices and black culture, but enjoyed the resources of Asians.
Her early rap was imitating black rap, and her speech and reading lines also imitated black English, rather than the Asian speaking habits.
This not only caused dissatisfaction among black Americans, but also explained the embarrassment and weakness of Asian Americans in the United States.
Okafina retired from the network due to the "ethnic and cultural transfer" controversy
The force of these negative accusations was so strong that it forced Okafina to withdraw from Twitter and dodge attacks and responses.
So what do you think of America's most popular Asian-American actress? What do you think of her current status?
Feel free to leave a message in the comments section.
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