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Volume 16, Spring 2004 |
Opinions
Asian MISrepresentation
Staff Writer
I am so sick of the fact that one-dimensional, simplistic, imported, clichéd characters are the only roles available to Asian actors and actresses. If this incredibly one-sided, pre-packaged image is the only one constantly portrayed, society will start to internalize certain stereotypes which misrepresent the Asian community. Here are just a few examples.
Movies
When I go to the movies, I try to picture myself in the roles played by Asians.
When I go to the movies, I try to picture myself in the roles played by Asians. Frankly, I find it hard picturing myself in a kimono armed with a giant samurai sword ("Kill Bill"), being the weird foreign exchange student with the accent ("Sixteen Candles"), delivering Chinese food ("The Fifth Element"), using my martial arts skills to defeat an entire group of evil enemies ("Kung Pow: Enter the Fist"), flying through the air ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), being the old man spitting fortune-cookie-talk ("The Karate Kid"), being the Fu-Manchu evil, barbaric Asian commander ("The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "The Manchurian Candidate").
I cannot imagine being the dehumanized, foreign, gang member ("Lethal Weapon 4"), playing second to the white man ("The Last Samurai"), or being defeated by a white martial artist who supposedly mastered the ancient Chinese art of kung-fu better than any other Chinese person ever could, as in any Jean-Claude van Damme movie. I cannot picture myself as the quiet one, the model minority, or being the quintessential geek/loser or any of the powerless, sexless, exaggerated roles that Asian males seem to be pigeonholed in the history of American media.
I guess the only way to sell Asians in the media is to have him kicking some sort of ass or being passed off as the model minority.
Television
Over the summer, I watched a show on FOX called "Banzai." This show was supposed to be a parody of Japanese-American game shows, but just came across as campy, overdone and overtly racist. It angered me because this 'blatantly-stereotypical-martial-arts-master-geeky-businessman-shrill accented' image of Asian Americans is the one that gets prime time airing.
Where are the 3-dimensional Asian characters?
Where are the 3-dimensional Asian characters? Scratch that. Where are the 3-dimensional characters that happen to be Asian? Why is it that every single time an Asian actor or actress is in the movies or on television, their "Asianness" comes before their "humanness??"
In short, Asians in romantic, comic or normal roles do not sell. What sells is the now prevalent image of the martial-arts, ancient Confucius-quoting, dragon lady, exotic lotus blossom Asian.
Final Thoughts
This image is damaging and dehumanizing for Asian-Americans.
It's time for a change. This media representation is just a shallow way of trying to compartmentalize Asian culture and sell it in a pretty package to a media hungry public. What the public does not realize is that this image is damaging and dehumanizing for Asian-Americans who do not conform to these stereotypes. True Asian-"Americanness" is complex and diverse, and creates so many experiences worthy of movie drama or comedy. It is about time that these experiences are tapped and used to empower our community.
Dennis Chin is a sophomore Biology major and Music Minor at TCNJ. He spends his free time performing with All College Theater and various music ensembles on campus.