thesis

Not Your Average Ching-Chong Girl:
The Impact of Misrepresentations of Asians on the Screen
 

Let’s think about the last time you went to the theatre to watch a movie or slouched on the couch with nice snacks watching movies on Netflix. Besides the plot, do you remember any significant Asian characters or Asian actors who were not in the role of nerds, geeks, or your middle-aged supermarket worker? I presume that your answer might be ‘no’ to this question.  This is the problem with the Hollywood movie industry. They put Asian actors and actresses in certain stereotypical roles while not giving opportunities for Asian people to be accurately portrayed. Although the media industry is making progress, there are still endless misinterpretations of images for Asians consumed by other non-Asian people. Stereotypes in movies have a real-life impact. Negative representations have implanted hatred towards Asians. There are positive stereotypes but it does not mean it is correct representations since it is positive.

  The portrayal of Asians in the entertainment industry has been problematic for years. Stacy J Lee comments on how Asian people and actors were not even given chances to try for the roles that portray their true selves. “This is especially true for the Asian male doing romantic leads. Men most often are asked to audition for such stereotypical parts as Korean grocers, gangsters, immigrants, computer geeks, kung fu experts, and foreign businessmen” (Lee 179). Even by these shortlists of roles that Asian actors and actresses took overtime, Asians were still framed in certain roles as they were unable to show who they really are.  In addition, Asians were viewed as inferior to white people in films according to an interview with actor Peter Shinkonada. He stated, “My character was quickly arrested by the two white male heroes of the show. The second time was in the science-fiction series ‘Falling Skies,’ in which I portrayed the lead role of Dai” (Shinkonada). Audiences watching these characters of Asians over time have come to think that those are the images of most Asians and think of how all Asians are in the inferior foreigner position and lacking social and English skills. 

The lack of opportunities and exclusion of Asian Americans in the media industry has been problematic. “ Clearly, this shows that while there have been a “few opportunities for Asian roles with depth in Hollywood, casting agents refused to give it to the right actors & actresses and allow actual Asians to play those roles'' (Chang). Joyce Chang postulates that the media’s serious problems have to do with Asian actors lack of opportunities to accurately yet while non-Asian actors are given opportunities to spread stereotypical portrayals of Asians. Chang adds, “Paramount did tests to see if CGI could make white actors appear more Asian.”  This connects to the main problem of how the media industry has been as they were trying to exclude Asian people on screen had. In addition, Chang suggests that “when a person of a certain race is written into the script, the person playing the role should be of that race”, not using yellow faces and non-Asians to spread stereotypes. 

Misunderstandings and stereotypes from the inaccurate portrayals of Asians in the media can mislead people to consume or accept these wrong images as the truth. Kent Ono and Vincent Pham propose their idea of the problematic industry by arguing that “yellowface representations may give us an externalized image to let us know what non-Asian Americans think of Asians and Asian Americans, it is not an Asian American self-representation” (Ono and Pham). Ono adds that “yellow faces” in media it is an inaccurate image that is “the image projected outward for popular consumption” (Ono and Pham). Research shows the seriousness of how these created wrong images of industries towards Asians implants negative and wrong feelings in peoples’ hearts towards Asians in real life too. “Throughout the history of US media, common stereotypes of men and women have emerged. It is worth considering those repetitive and dense representations, or what Patricia Hill Collins and Darrell Hamamoto both call ‘controlling images,’ as they appear so often, even in contemporary media representations of Asian and Asian American men and women” (Ono and Pham). Pointing out to the researched comments, media play an immense, scary role in how the images can smudge wrong thoughts and negativity to peoples’ heads.

Recently, old Asian men walking down the streets in the broad daylight are getting beaten up. Asian families and diligent students are getting spit on by strangers and hearing swear words in public places even though they did nothing wrong. According to ABC News, in March 2021 the worst incident, the Atlanta gunshot, at a spa place that killed eight Asian women, occurred just for the reason that they were Asians. Research suggests that how modern-day hatred, discrimination, and violence towards Asians may have been affected by these controlled and created images by the media. Kao had added her comment supporting her main idea by writing an additional comment, “The racist stereotypes of Asian American men support the racist and misogynistic images of Asian American women. As we grapple with what happened in Atlanta we would be remiss to ignore the impact of these common tropes” (Kao and Shinkonanda). 

However, these misunderstandings of Asians are not viewed as a problem since people consider these “foreigners who are hardworking, diligent people” of the media as “model minority” (Lee) rather than a problem that harms reputations or worsens discriminations of Asians. Isabel Panner had proposed that the stereotypes of Asians in the media may seem not as serious problems to other people as the images are of diligent workers or scientific people but actually cause serious struggles for Asians in the name of “model minority.” Many people might not even know what the model minority exactly means. “The term ‘model minority’ may disguise itself as positive and well-meaning, but it is ultimately meant to maintain white supremacy and divide Asian-Americans from other people of color. This stereotype can undermine the struggles of Asians who do not fit this ‘model minority (Panel 25). Adding on to Pannel’s idea, Stacy J . Lee comments on the problem of how the stereotypes that Asian roles contain are viewed rather in a positive way in the name of the model minority. “The model minority as being a kind, diligent, hard-working nerds and neighborhood of the Asians in media throughout the time has given the feeling of foreigners who are living their life independently on their own in their own separated world to the Americans that people feel Asians are separated from them” (Lee).

Although the movie industry is making the progress, there are still ongoing stereotypes and ignored prejudices and discriminations against Asians all in the name of the model minority. Movies and media should stop using these stereotypes for Asians and expand their opportunities to show each individual instead of grouping Asians into negative stereotypes. The exclusions of Asians in the media industry block the opportunity for Asians to show their true images and the stereotypical roles create wrong images and frame Asians in the name of the model minority. People should bring awareness and try to speak up about the problems Asians and Asian Americans are going through and try to avoid believing all the stereotypes from the media.

Bibliography

Chang, Joyce. “Cringe at these awful Asian roles played by non-Asian 

Roles.” FilmDaily, March 28, 2021, Accessed October 2021.

 

Kao, Grace and Peter Shinkonada. “Media Reinforces Responsibility for Reinforcing 

Stereotypes(Guest Column).” Variety, April 12, 2021, Accessed October, 2021.
 

Lee, Stacy J. Unraveling the “Model Minority” Stereotype. Teachers College Press, 

April 18, 2015.

 

Lenthang, Marlene. “Atlanta shooting and the legacy of misogyny and racism against Asian women.” ABC News, March 21, 2021, Accessed December, 2021.

 

Ono, Kent A. and Vincent N. Pham. Asian Americans and the Media:Media and 

Minorities. Polity Press, 2019.
 

 Paner, Isabel. “The Marginalization and Stereotypes of Asians in American Films.” 

Dominican Scholar, 2018, Accessed October, 2021.