OPINION

I WANTED so badly to get as excited as the rest of social media about The Legend of Monkey, the upcoming reboot of the hit 1980s show Monkey, but I can’t. Damn it.

It should have been a slam dunk for me. I was a kid during the 1980s when it was a pre-dinner staple along with Cottee’s cordial and Danger Mouse.

Monkey — or as we all knew it, Monkey Magic — was based on Journey to the West, a famous Chinese fable about three fallen gods/disciples with mystical powers being assigned by Buddha to protect a (real life) 7th century monk.

The TV show was a positive depiction of Chinese culture during the height of the “Asians taking our jobs” era when some kids were still pulling up their eyes and calling me a “slant”, so I was happy to overlook the fact the characters were played by Japanese actors (I suspect the distinction between Japanese and Chinese would have been lost on my bullies, who clearly must have been from families who had dinner at 6pm when the ABC — who are co-producing the reboot with TVNZ and Netflix — screened Monkey).

Yet a glance at the new cast photo shows viewers may be lucky to connect The Legend of Monkey with China at all. Not only are none of the cast, directors or writers Chinese, only one of them — half-Thai actor Chai Hansen — is of Asian appearance at all.

Like many in the Asian community, I am wary about getting into rage-based identity politics.

I was fine with Matt Damon’s casting as a lead in The Great Wall, since he wasn’t playing an Asian character, and the rest of the cast and director were Chinese. I even shrugged at Scarlett Johansson being cast in The Ghost in the Shell, though I was more of a Voltron guy so don’t know how inherently “Japanese” ScarJo’s character and storyline are. The castings haven’t caused much upset in China and Japan, where locals are more excited by the casting of such global megastars.

Yet in an age where Asians are increasingly featuring on TV shows other than Border Security, The Legend of Monkey casting doesn’t sit right.

Even most Australian Born Chinese (ABCs) who haven’t read the novel itself (in our defence, it’s one of the oldest and the longest in the world) know Journey to the West as an inherently and significantly Chinese story.

One friend of Australia-Asian heritage said given the level of cultural significance, it’s akin to a movie about the Dreamtime being cast with no Indigenous Australians, and it’s not a terrible comparison.

Most Chinese Australians love this country, and are eager to learn about this country’s history and embrace its values of a fair go for all. Yet a fair go should also include the favour being returned, including a vaguely accurate portrayal of characters from one of the Four Great Classic Novels in Chinese literature, so audiences will realise Chinese have more to offer Australia than yum cha, Jackie Chan and higher apartment prices.

The casting of The Legend of Monkey is not only a missed opportunity to improve multicultural ties, but sends the message to aspiring Asian actors that producers won’t hire them even for roles playing Asians.

More Chinese faces in mainstream media makes both moral and commercial sense. Chinese are the largest non-Western ethnic group in Australia, and as a glance around Westfield will tell you, a pretty lucrative one.

As for other Australians, if they loved Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka back in the 1980s when they were all portrayed by Asians, why wouldn’t they today?

Ky Chow is a freelance journalist and media consultant who has worked at the ABC, Fairfax, Sky News and SBS. A founding member of Media Diversity Australia, he’s fairly sure he is the first Chinese guy to be an Australian TV news reporter, and wishes he had more successors. Follow him on Twitter @kybusiness.