Asian American Stereotypes In Pop Culture

Today, when society talks about diversity, often times, Asian-Americans are brought into the conversation and are talked about as highly looked up to individuals, but they haven’t always been this way. On television, many times, Asian-Americans are represented as “nerdy” and “socially incapable/awkward”, Asian-American males are mostly shown as being weak and stereotypically awkward, while Asian-American females are either shown as “exotic” or also stereotypically awkward and nerdy, as stated by Takaki in his book Strangers from a Different Shore on page 479,

Whether it is on TV or movie screens, the faces of white actors and actresses have always been prevalent in the media. For generations, many teenagers have been exposed to countless movies with white people in major roles. Moreover, the few roles that are cast to minorities feature the characters in their stereotypical personas (Bonilla-Silva 179). Even in advertising, Asians are placed in business settings, upholding the hard-working Asian stereotype (Taylor and Stern 50). As Taylor and Stern mention in their paper, the “model minority” has made the issue of stereotyping seem less important for Asians. The majority of these actors that are examined, regardless of race, are typically middle-age and well established in their acting careers. However, there is a lack of research behind Asian youth acting and their perceived roles. To account for this knowledge deficit, I examine how whiteness influences the media to portray youth actors as individuals that stray from their stereotypes in an attempt to achieve whiteness. My research site centres around Fresh Off the Boat (FOB), a comedic television series featuring a Taiwanese family. The title of the show Fresh Off the Boat or “FOB” is also a term used to describe a person that is considered too ethnic and as a term of denigration. I utilize Pyke and Dang’s categorization of “FOB” and “whitewashed” to analyze the narrator, Eddie Huang. I chose to limit my research primarily to the first “pilot” episode where the audience is

Despite the fact that Asian Americans have been in Hollywood for decades, there are very few positive representations of them in film. More often than not, they’ve been depicted as stereotypical caricatures, and more specifically, as foreigners who can’t speak grammatically correct English. Moreover, the negative representations of Asian Americans in film has perpetuated certain misconceptions about their culture. Chan is Missing (1982) calls for more genuine representations of Asian American identities through its cast of complex characters and defiance of Asian stereotypes. The film also urges its viewers to critically think about their own notions of identity through the use of several recurring themes and filmmaking techniques.

By definition, Media Literacy is defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. The power of the media should not be underestimated. Millions of teens and adults spend hours watching television and surfing the web on a daily basis. With the use of media literacy, these individuals that utilize hours of their daily lives can be protected from pressures of media disinformation that also pushes them to become the idealistic human model it wishes them to be. By teaching majority of our communities about media literacy, we can free them from the standardized pressures of society itself. These free beings will no longer feel the needs to live up to the expectations of the media as they will discover the falsified truth when analyzed deeply. Educating the population will not only free their minds mentally, but it will strengthen their capability of thinking also. Media Literacy provides opportunities for anyone to build communication skills, boost his or her confidents to interpret multiple media sources at the same time, and as well as realistically designating the portrayal of his or her position along with others’ in a perspective view. One can take advantage of media literacy to improve his or her media use habits, such as constant television viewing behaviors. With the impact of educating the life of an individual with Media Literacy, we can advance the habitual uses of media of that human being’s family and develop more intellectual

Some may ask what exactly define an Asian American. The awareness of this controversies of the indefinite identity was during the emergence of the second generations of Asian Americans who were once known as “oriental” in the period between the 1900 to 1940s. They had shaped and constructed the idea of an Asian Americans by forging their own paths socially, politically, and economically through their experiences of being percepted as “oriental” regardless of their nativity and citizenship. In consequence, tensions among the first generations immigrant parents and second generation began to rise as changes began to transpire.

Over the weekend, as I was skimming through an online news publication, trying to reacquaint myself with the habit of news reading by clicking random headlines that bore a semblance of interest to me, a particular, and enticing, write-up on Huffington Post piqued my curiosity. In big, bold fonts, with cleverly capitalized letters at the start of every new word, the article’s heading happened to be titled “ ‘Ho Chi Chin’ Signs Targeting Asian Candidate Disrupt Maine Mayoral Race”. Intriguing, isn’t it? At the very least, it is from my perspective, taking into account not only the infrequent presence of the Asian-American community in the news media, but also the fact that that an Asian-American has managed to engage himself within the realm of American politics. The Huffington Post feature, in my opinion, accentuates certain salient points, for instance, highlighting how swiftly Dunne was to equate Ben Chin with Communism and Ho Chi Minh solely on the account that Chin is of Asian descent and “that his name rhymes with Chin”, despite the fact that Maine’s mayoral candidate Ben Chin is Chinese-, not Vietnamese-, American.

The media is the biggest tool of circuit of culture, and yet there are very few representations of minorities in media. Fresh Off the Boat is a cultural artifact for Asian Americans. “Artifacts are charged with meaning, but many of those meanings speak for our identification with groups” (Brummett p.55). The show represents what the group is like as a whole. This is problematic as the show represents Asian Americans as chinkified, “ching-chong” caricatures. The methods used for methodological perspective are the nodal points of the Circuit of Culture. The Circuit of Culture is representation, regulation, identity, consumption, and production. Out of these five, identity relates to the show the most. The show represents Asian Americans and reminds or shows the audience the experience of immigrants. Many Asian Americans tune into Fresh Off the Boat because it is one of the few times Asian Americans are able to identify themselves and their families with the characters as they experience similar experiences. It reminds Asian Americans the struggles and difficulties of balancing two different worlds and experiencing extreme prejudice. The writer for “Saucy Dishes”, Gish Jen writes, “And all for the distancing of the

I played piano and violin in middle school. I had a 4.0 GPA in high school. My childhood job dream, is to be a doctor. My favorite subject is Calculus. It probably did not take long for you to assume that I have described most of the Asian stereotypes known to man. However, Asian stereotypes show that Asians are hardworking, smart, and successful. With all these being such positive feature why do Asians care to be stereotyped as the model minorities? It’s because even these positive stereotypes have negative connotations that strip people of their individuality and alienate them for not being able reach the standards set for them.

Asian American are face some types of stereotypes in today’s society, and it may produce by media or historical propaganda. For example, from the economic views, the Asian American should be successful than other race. From the education view, the Asian American kids should be smart, good at the math or engineer etc. particularly, the stereotype of the Asian women we can easy discover in the media, such as the Hollywood movies. the Asian American actresses are viewed as sexual and erotic objects of the society. From the history, most the Asian American actresses limit in the roles, such as "Dragon Lady", and "China Doll", in addition, both two role's characteristics represent sexual and erotic nature of Asian women. Even in today, these stereotypical

Who’s next? It seems that the issue about race in American history never reaches an endpoint. The intersection of race, gender, contradiction has been continually crucial to shape the identity of minority American. As early as the first wave of Asian immigrants, Chinese immigrants, arrived in west coast, Asian Americans was haunted by anti-Asian movement and intense hostility. Foreign Miners’ Tax passed in 1852 was a representative of racial campaign between whites and nonwhites. The requirement of monthly three dollars’ tax intentionally crashed the earliest American Dream of Chinese immigrants who expected to lead a better life in the US. Such Anti-Asian movement was eventually ushered into legalized level. California Supreme Court declared in People v. Hall in 1854 that Chinese migrants were not entitled to testify against the white citizens in US court based on the fact that people, other than whites, could never enjoy the same rights as white Americans. Since then, Asian immigrants were subjected to numerous social and legislative initiatives that specifically targeted them on a racial basis. In David Henry Huang’s semiautobiographical play Yellow Face, he mixed his own memory and fiction to depicting an image of Asian American racial identity. In 1990, Hwang led a group of Asian-Americans to protest the casting of a white British actor as a Eurasian character in the musical Miss Saigon. However, later in his own play Face Value, he mistakenly casted a white actor,

People of non-Aryan decent are often times the ones we see get unjustly persecuted by society. The demographic we often see get this type of unfair treatment includes but is not limited to Asian Americans. Asian Americans have been the butt of jokes revolving around ignorant stereotypes for years and it taints how society views them due to these preconceived notions. This paper will further delve into the world of stereotypes regarding this ethnicity and how Asian Americans combat and deal with these biases especially when living in the United States.

Although they are the “fastest growing ethnic group” in America, Asian Americans are still not prominent in mainstream media (Zhang 20). Just like every other racial group, they have their own stereotypes. Unfortunately, due to this underrepresentation, there are few instances where people openly speak against these racial stereotypes. In the article “Why Is It Still Okay to Make Fun of Asians?,” Elaine Teng mentioned Chris Rock’s performance at the Oscars. He joked about three common Asian stereotypes, something that people still find socially acceptable to make fun of. American Born Chinese brings up many common Asian American stereotypes and shows how the characters respond to these “jokes.”

What do you think of when I say Asians: They all have small eyes, are mathematical geniuses, Kung Fu masters and no matter how good you are at something, there’s an Asian kid somewhere who’s most likely better. They all look alike and are probably Chinese. They suck at driving, are camera happy, all have small… you know Hondas or some other type of small Asian car. And finally remember the last time you went to your Asian friend’s house and noticed their dog was missing, then later that night hade a strange and questionable meat for dinner.

According to Helen Zia, the author of “Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People,” she had stated, “The ‘Asians’ produced for mass consumption. Their faces filled me with shame whenever I saw them on TV or in the movies...they weren’t even played by real Asian actors. They were white actors in hideous ‘yellowface’ makeup, playing cartoon characters created by non-Asian writers” (110). The discrimination of the Asian American community has influenced the image of these people, as even younger individuals notice the drastic difference of representation displayed within mainstream culture. Helen Zia stated that these ‘Asians’ were created for the mass media, attributing to the ‘yellowface’ makeup and exaggerated cartoon characters. The model minority of Asians in mainstream culture and media have impacted the roles available for these growing actors. Additionally, the lack of representation within media develops a lack of role models for young

Pop culture is a broad perspective of how society is perceived today. It plays a major role in society, especially on our youth. It paints an image of how one should look, act, and perceive the world and their surroundings; also persuading a group of individuals into accepting and pursuing a financial way of living. The pop culture is involved in our everyday life whether we are aware or not. From watching television, listening to the radio, or even surfing the internet, it’s always here. The internet is one of the most used technology to keep up with the pop culture, from finding the newest sneakers releasing out, the most popular cellular devices used, and trying to live a lavish lifestyle. We tend to minimize what really the effect of pop has on us negatively.