Our Changing World: Major Hollywood Movie Features Prominent Japanese Hero That Isn't Complete Stereotype

In a shocking and unprecedented development in the history of Hollywood moving pictures, the new film Sunshine from Fox Searchlight, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later), features a Japanese actor/character in a very prominent role who isn't an almalgamation of outdated stereotypes. In the film, Japanese dreamboat Hiroyuki Sanada, the brooding and fiercely handsome star of Twilight Samurai, The Promise, and Ringu, plays Kaneda, the captain (the captain!) of the deep space ship Icarus II, which is tasked with transporting a thermonuclear bomb with a massive payload to the dying sun in the year 2057 in order to reignite it and save all mankind or something.

Shockingly, Kaneda is not a wise and mysterious karate master, a kamikaze pilot, a short salaryman on an elevator, or a samurai. He is the stoic and heroic captain of a spaceship, a role usually reserved for famous white actors.

"This really signifies a change in perceptions of what Asian actors can bring to the Hollywood system," said New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis. "Be they Chinese, Japanese, or.....you know, Chinese or Japanese."

Professional contrarian Richard Roeper begs to differ on the tipping point suggested by some of his colleagues. "Oh, please. You know what Sanada's next movie is? Rush Hour 3. I don't khow about you, but I'm expecting at least a hundred karate chops in the that one. And he'll probably say the word "erection" when he means "election."