An American crime drama has drawn criticism from some Singapore viewers for its scenes portraying Singaporean characters.
In the 11th episode of TV series Countdown, which aired on Prime Video on Aug 20, investigators played by American actors Jensen Ackles and Jessica Camacho interview a Singaporean businessman named Kieran Teo (portrayed by American actor Brian Yang).
The show follows a Los Angeles Police Department detective (Ackles), who is drawn into a covert task force. In the episode’s storyline, the businessman owns the cabin where a suspicious death has taken place.
However, he is depicted as speaking only Malay and requiring an interpreter (played by Singaporean actress Valerie Loo) to communicate with the English-speaking investigators.
The episode also presents the businessman’s fictional company, Beruang Holdings, as being “owned by the People’s Action Party of Singapore”, leading to a representative of the Singapore Government intervening to halt the investigation.
On online platform Reddit, user TendTheAshenOnes posted on Aug 27 that they felt Singapore was “badly misrepresented” and called Countdown out over its “tone deafness to socio-geopolitical circumstances”, suggesting the show “for global audiences and on a global platform” did superficial research.
“Clearly, someone on the team searched ‘What is the national language of Singapore’, saw that it was Malay, and based their entire assumptions on that one text line, not going a minute further to understand that Singaporeans are well educated, speak English natively, would not need a translator in a professional and diplomatic setting, and are not, in fact, a part of Malaysia,” the user wrote.
They also lambasted the show’s depiction of Singapore as a “dodgy country that was seeking to mask crimes” and for its negative depiction of the PAP’s governance.
“Should they apologise or do we simply let it go because ‘it’s just a TV show’?”
Another user commented: “Hollywood misrepresenting a (insert anything here) is a tale as old as time.”
One user responded by poking fun. “My ideal representation of Singapore is a pirate island ruled by Sao Feng”, referring to a similarly criticised representation of historical Singapore in Hollywood action-adventure blockbuster Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) ruled by pirate lord Sao Feng (played by Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fat).
Such backlash pertaining to Singapore’s portrayal in foreign productions is not new.
The most high-profile example, rom-com film Crazy Rich Asians (2018), was dragged by local audiences for failing to represent the Republic’s multiracial diversity.
Similarly, netizens were critical of video game Overwatch (2016) for its “cringeworthy” introduction of a Singaporean robot character who spoke Singlish in a stilted tone.
More recently, Marvel Cinematic Universe’s depiction of Madripoor, an island-state inspired by Singapore that appeared in Disney+ series The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021), was blasted by one critic as “serving a ‘chop suey’ of tropes about South-East Asia”. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
