Portrayal of Asian Americans in American Media
...ul in the music industry in America. Just embarrass yourself. This is not the right message to be sending to other aspiring Asian American artists. There are many talented musicians that live in the United States, and the industry needs to give these people a fair shot, and stop prolonging this bad joke of an artist. It has come to a point where America is not just glorifying the bad, but now it is border lining on a joke driven by racism (Guillermo, 2004). In trying to decipher the possible explanations for the stunning success of William Hung, racism takes precedence. Hung is carrying on the “stigmatic torch of the verbally-accented Chinese forever-foreigner” (Thoughts, 2004). Asian Americans have been in the United States since the 1800s, and yet their portrayal on film has continued to be presented as more foreign and less American. Certain movies during 1940’s to 1970’s had “scotch tape Asian characters” (Fong, 1998, p.142), meaning white actors played the role of Asian characters. Through time, more Asian talents were recognized, such as the classic icon Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Hong Kong director John Woo (Zia, 2000). This opened the door for Asians to make it big in Hollywood, but Asian Americans were still stuck with limited roles. “Hollywood typically restricts its portrayals of Asians to a limited range of clichéd stock characters” (Restrictive Portrayals [RP], 2004). Examples of the common roles that Asian Americans play in movies are martial artists, Indian cab drivers, television anchorwomen and prostitutes (RP, 2004). Even if most Americans do not buy into these images because they interact with many Asian Americans who do not fit the stereotype, the areas of concern are those parts in the United States where there isn’t a sufficient Asian population (Wu, 2002). Since many Asian people do not surround these Americans on an everyday environment, it is a safe assumption that they will draw their judgment of Asian Americans from how they are portrayed on film and television. In many American films, Asian men are portrayed as passive, old, and speak broken English. The Karate Kid was a popular movie that depicted the Asian actor as such a man. In The Karate Kid, Pat Morita plays Mr. Miyagi, an old Japanese American World War II veteran who calmly trains an enthusiastic white teenage male the Japanese martial arts of karate. Despite the fact that Mr. Miyagi was an American World War II veteran, he was still portrayed speaking English with a foreign accent. The myth that all Asian men know some form of martial arts was also stressed in this movie when Mr. Miyagi surprises Daniel (the white male leading actor) with his karate moves after appearing passive and bashful during the first portions of the film. It reminds people to be aware of Asian men in general because passivity may not appear to be what it seems. This type of stereotype gives Asians a “dehumanizing identity” (Mississippi, 1992). Another film that portrays Asians in a negative manner is The Joy Luck Club, which was based on a book written by Amy Tan. Amy Tan, a gifted writer, had the chance to change stereotypical Asian images, to “dispel the public's misconceptions and to forge a new Asian American identity” (Wu, 2002, p.211). Instead, she copped out on her obligations, reinforcing every conceivable stereotype (Wu, 2002). It depicts four Chinese women in which, three of them marry a white partner, and one marries an Asian man. The woman who married an Asian male is the one that is most unhappy. Asian males are shown as stingy, irresponsible and have a lack of respect for their female partners while the white males are shown completely opposite of that. Even though Amy Tan is a much-respected Asian American author, her story should not be regarded as being true for other Asian households. Television has also fallen victim on its portrayal of Asian Americans. In a popular late night show called, “The Tonight Show”, the host Jay Leno made a very offensive comment about Korean Olympic skater Kim Dong-Sung. He made a joke that when popular American skater Apollo Ohno eliminated Kim Dong-Sung, he went home, kicked the dog and ate it (NBC, 2002). Although this may not seem offensive to Americans, it gives off the wrong message that all Koreans like to eat dogs. This is one of the most inaccurate stereotypes, because majority of Korean people find it just as repulsive as Americans to be eating dogs. Just because a couple restaurants in Korea serve dog meat, does that mean all Koreans like to feast on dog meat? As a respected entertainer in the television industry, Jay Leno should have had more decency to know that there is a line that is crossed when you tie in a joke with foreign cultures. Just because Jay Leno didn’t seem to think it was offensive, that does not mean he did not offend majority of Asians living in America, as well as, those who reside in South Korea. Another problem on American television is the lack of Asian representation. On a CBS drama, “Joan of Arcadia”, there are no Asian characters on the show. However, the actual city Arcadia, California has a heavy Asian population (Diversity, 2003). The FOX network’s show, “The OC”, which is set on an ethnically diverse Orange County in California, had no Asian Americans on its cast (Diversity, 2003). Although the networks make the ultimate decision on what kind of show they wish to broadcast, Esteban Torres, who is a chairman of the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition, believes it is “good business to incorporate people of color into their corporation” (Diversity, 2003). Magazines also had instances where Asians were displayed in a negative fashion. In a recent article by Details magazine, they printed a meticulously dressed Asian man, and in the article, they scrutinize both him and his outfit. They talk about the Asian man’s “delicate features” and “lady boy fingers” and are basically comparing a gay man with that of an Asian man and sending out the message that these two groups are synonymous. This article “pulls out every offensive, stereotypical Asian pop culture reference imaginable, objectifying Asian men into a sexual stereotype” (Pierson, 2004). In my opinion, the lack of respect for the Asian nationality led to this article being published. “In a nation where we are composed of so many different types of people, we should work on being inclusive rather than exclusive” (Xu, 2004). The article incited hundreds of Asian Americans to protest in New York City for a public apology from Details magazine (LaVallee, 2004). A group called Asian American Journalist Association wrote a letter to Details magazine stating, “there's no disguising the fact that it combines leering sexual innuendo and a litany of the most tired clichés about both Asian and gay culture with no goal other than to ridicule both groups” (AAJA, 2004). Through protests and hundreds of letters, Details finally issued an apology to AAJA and the rest of the Asian and gay community. The apology was published in the following month’s edition of the magazine. Although stereotyped images of Asian Americans are still prevalent, there are signs that show more talented Asians are breaking through the boundaries that have haunted them in American media. In 2002, a Chinese American hip-hop artist named Jin had signed with a very popular record label, Ruff Ryder Records. Through his hard work, Jin broke through the racial boundaries of the hip-hop scene, mostly dominated by African Americans. Jin was quoted as saying “I would be lying if I said I didn't want all the press coverage, but at the same time it does get frustrating 'cause I haven't done one interview in the last three years where my race wasn't brought up” (Wartofsky, 2004). Jin’s title song “Learn Chinese”, attempts to “skewer Asian stereotypes with lyrics” (Wartofsky, 2004). In 2003, an independent film titled “Better Luck Tomorrow” had drawn much praise at the Sundance film festival and had its release rights picked up by MTV Films. “Better Luck Tomorrow”, directed by Justin Lin, is a film about four overachieving Asian Americans living in California, and the troubles they go through in high school. Although the film included an all-Asian cast, there were not any references to the Asian nationality. John Cho, an actor starring in “Better Luck Tomorrow” was quoted on saying, "What is interesting about this movie is, it doesn't say, 'This is an Asian-American movie,' it just presents Asian-American characters.” (Downey, 2003). After a private screening to film critics, one person asked Justin Lin on why he would make such a film that would degrade his nationality. A well-known film critic, Robert Ebert, then stood up and said “You wouldn't say that to a white filmmaker”, which is very true (Downey, 2003). Although Asian Americans have a long way to go until they receive ...