1. This is a thoughtful critique about how Da 5 Bloods represents the Vietnamese but I want to take issue with one point, which might illuminate some larger cultural issues. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/movies/da-5-bloods-vietnam.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

2. In the movie a Black soldier uses an ethnic slur against the Vietnamese. Viet Thanh Nguyen comments "But we don’t get to call Black people a racial slur, and they don’t get to call us one either." But that's premised on a rule that Lee (and many artists) don't follow.

3. In the film, some Vietnamese characters do in fact use the equivalent of the n-word (if subtitles are to be believed). And in many earlier film Lee has had non-Black characters use the n-word.

4. In fact, it's a recurring feature of Lee's films to have characters of various races deliver slur-filled rants, a kind of stream-of-consciousness invective session (see Do the Right Thing & 25th Hour). Lee does this because to contrast hidden racism with overt decorum

5. In Da 5 Bloods, the Black character who uses the slur is clearly a troubled individual and other characters immediately call him on it. It's a piece of characterization, not endorsed by movie.

6. You can articulate an ideal that ethnic slurs can't be expressed in art even if that limits the ability to depict racism. I'd disagree, but that's a consistent standard. But it's not true to say Lee is saying slur against Vietnamese can be depicted by n-word not.