1984 saw the return of Harrison Ford as adventurer Henry Jones Jr inIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. While not as highly rated as the other movies in the original trilogy, Temple of Doom is the usual mix of action, adventure and the supernatural. It also featured one of the franchises' most iconic secondary characters in Short Round, played byEverything Everywhere All At OncestarKe Huy Quan. While the movie has since seen a number of complaints for using racist stereotyping, the actor doesn’t agree and recently toldThe Guardianthat he has “nothing but fond memories” of working on the film.
Ke Huy Quan returned to acting in Hollywood after a three-decade absence in the hit mind-bending multiverse movieEverything Everywhere All At Once, and is next set to appear in the Russo Brothers’The Electric State. After making his name in Indiana Jones and theTemple of Doom, and 1985’sThe Goonies, Quan only appeared in two other Hollywood movies prior to his appearance in the Nexflix movie,Finding ‘Ohana, mainly due to the lack of roles available for Asian stars. Despite his experiences of being effectively shut out of Hollywood, he feels that the frequent complaints about theTemple of Doom’suse of stereotyping are unjustified, and he feels nothing negative towards the movie. He said:
“We’re talking about something that was done almost 40 years ago. It was a different time. It’s so hard to judge something so many years later. I have nothing but ford memories. I really don’t have anything negative to say about it. Spielberg was the first person to put an Asian face in a Hollywood blockbuster. Short Round is funny, he’s courageous, he saves Indy’s ass. That was a rarity for then. For many years after that we were back to square one.”
Related:Harrison Ford Reunites With Ke Huy Quan 38 Years After Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Are So Many 80s Movies Really Problematic?
The rise of social media has allowed many people to share their opinions on any subject, including old movies that are “problematic.” Over the years, this has included many complaints about racism and sexism in some movies deemed classics of their time. This has included several early James Bond films that some people believe to be demeaning to women. Compared to more recent Bond movies, where the women are not just there to be a conquest of the title character, there is a basis for some of the complaints.
When it comes to racial stereotyping in movies likeTemple of Doom, the film included certain cultural aspects that are now deemed stereotypical because when the movie was made, that was the perception of those cultures, no matter how wrong it was. Many of these views have changed and evolved over time, but their depiction in movies as a snapshot of the times cannot be denied.
As Quan said in his interview, at the timeTemple of Doomwas released, very few Asian actors were given much screen time. Hollywood was still to completely move beyond white American actors playing Asian characters on screen, with one notable example being Fisher Stevens’ role as Ben in 1986’sShort Circuitand its sequel. Whilestill not perfect by any means, actors like Quan now have many more opportunities to take big roles in Hollywood, and for whatever faultsTemple of Doommay have had, the actor certainly seemed to enjoy his role and has even said thathe would love to reprise the roleat some point.
