Why Are All Korean Actors Ninjas?

CF stalwart Jeon Ji Hyun has been reborn as film actor Jeon Ji Hyun with the release of “Blood”. Not only is her foreign debut, as vampire hunter “Saya”, she has English lines in the script as well as various action sequences. But already, the nationalist sections of the Korean public has been moaning about how she is being perceived as Japanese.
So what’s their problem? There’s been a recent wave of Korean actors being casted into foreign film projects: Rain’s doing “Ninja Assassin” in November, Lee Byung Hyun is in “G.I. JOE” in August and even Jang Dong Gun will be in “Laundry Warrior”.
What do they all have in common? They’re strong, silent character, eyes like daggers, they are Eastern warriors wielding gleaming blades. Koreans are being told by the film PR companies that they are “Asian Warrior” or “Oriental Fighter” but as we all know, they’re enacting the part of the Japanese ninja. Damn it, one of the movies is called “NINJA Assassin”.
Then again, “Eastern Warrior” isn’t entirely false. I guess Japan is part of the East. I guess the samurai and ninja are the most instantly recognisable fighters from the region. So even though nationalism is strong in Korea, our actors who want to make it in Hollywood find the need to just put their heads down and get on with it.
But now let’s ponder for a bit. Why are they all ninja? The reason is simple if somewhat brutal. Those parts were the only ones accessible for the actors branching out to the West.

In “Queen Seon Deok” we have a character called Hwarang. He trains young, talented fighters to achieve glory for the Shilla Kingdom. He is a strong and charismatic individual and yet clearly, a character like Hwoarang is unknown abroad except the dedicated K-Drama fans.
According to Tim Kang, from American series “The Mentalist”, Korean actors “face a huge hurdle when crossing over into Hollywood. It’s definitely not racism, there just are not enough opportunities for Koreans. It’s like back at home; there aren’t many roles for Americans in Korean films either.”
In other words, in the foreign market, there are obviously no roles that are exclusive to Koreans. In a place where there are no Korean roles (unless it’s David Park in Fast and Furious), asking Korean actors to be “patriotic” and choose Korean roles is pretty stupid. Like asking someone to swim in an empty pool. Now, nationalist Koreans, think straight for a while; instead of moaning about how our nationality is being obscured, help fill up that pool by supporting whatever they’re managing to snag for now.
Maybe then Shilla’s Hwoarang will become more iconic than the Japanese ninja in the movies. We’ve seen K-Dramas and K-Pop overtaking their Japanese counterparts and for films and actors to do the same, they’re going to need a LOT of support from the Korean public. I consider myself a patriot so I think fellow patriots should wise up and help them out, not be damned xenophobic about it.
credit: Soul Beat