Justin Chon's 'Blue Bayou' faces backlash after accusations of exploiting an adoptee's story
A new film about an adoptee facing deportation is getting pushback from some Asian American adoptee groups and advocates who say it exploits one community member’s trauma, and it has also raised questions over ethical filmmaking.
Many in the adoptee community have spoken out against “Blue Bayou,” a film by director Justin Chon, after Adam Crapser, a Korean adoptee who was deported in 2016, claimed in a statement last week that the movie appropriates his story without his consent. Crapser, perhaps the most high-profile case of adoptee deportation, also told NBC Asian America that he was never involved with the filmmaking process, even though many elements of his own story closely resembled plot points in the film.
Hundreds of advocates have since signed a petition, including members of Adoptees for Justice, a transnational advocacy nonprofit group that Crapser is involved in, calling for a boycott of the film. "Blue Bayou" highlights how many adoptees could face deportation because they have never undergone naturalization. Legislation passed in 2001 ensured that all adopted children and any new adoptees would automatically obtain citizenship. But those older than 18 when the law was enacted weren’t covered.
“People who have experienced difficult things deserve the dignity to tell their story when and if they’re ready," Crapser said in a statement. "When that is taken away — when personal traumas are forcefully misappropriated for other people’s purposes— it is hurtful. I ask Justin and his team to stop using other people’s trauma to support his Hollywood ambitions, and for my friends to speak the truth about this film."
Crapser said that there’s still a way to move forward, adding that he'd like Chon to issue an apology and work with Adoptees for Justice.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/justin-chon-s-blue-bayou-faces-backlash-after-accusations-exploiting-n1280255
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There was some other recent thing like this, which I can't remember details about now. I get tired of people thinking something is about them and them alone, when there are probably many others with the same stories.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I had that experience here on DU with a thread I posted about folks getting booster COVID shots before the CDC had approved boosters.
I made a 'general comment',
yet a man attacked me saying I was specifically talking about him and his wife.
I told him I'd never heard of them, knew nothing about them.
Yet he insisted I was talking about them.
