The Media 's Portrayal Of Asian Americans

Imagine a distant post-apocalyptic future in which a group of researchers discovers a stack of DVDs of 20th and 21st century Hollywood movies of Asian American actresses. After watching those movies, what might the researchers conclude about the characteristics of Asian American women in the movies? Certainly, they will view Asian American women as sexual and erotic objects of the society that white men can score with ease. Why do I assume they will think that way? The answer is a simple, yet controversial one: mostly, the media, as the history proves, portrays Asian American women either as erotic sex slaves of white men or as insidious personalities who lure their prey into a trap with their sex appeal. If we look into the history,

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,

Asian American actors and actresses are portrayed in Hollywood movies as always being the silent and yielding foreign victims to social injustice and prejudice. Whether or not these depictions are true, they are nonetheless stereotypes that Hollywood producers have come up with. According to the US Census in the year 2000, Asian Americans make up 4.2% of the entire American population, and knowing that most Asian Americans live on the west and east coast of the United States, many Americans living in central parts of this country have not really been exposed to any Asian Americans. Because of this fact, it is highly probable that most Americans get their exposure to the Asian American lifestyle only through television and movies. Even if

However, the media also plays a major role in promoting some negative effects and stereotypes in our society. A good example of stereotypes is the way African American males are described. The media normally depicts them negatively as violent, cruel, criminals as well as having other antisocial behavior that the causations don’t have. These negative representations of dark guys are promptly obvious and passed on to general society through the news bulletin, films, music features, realty TV and other programming and manifestations of media (Abraham & Appiah, 2006). As a result, the media has created a crooked and damaging perception of black African Americans in the public’s eye thus promoting hatred and racism which all affect the lives of the blacks (Holt, 2013). This

In today’s world, the exchange of information between individuals is largely based on the media alone. Conversations are held through social media sites, the news channels become the deliverers of new waves of specifically chosen stories, and the rest of the media effects the subconscious of the society. Movies, television shows, and “general” knowledge contribute to the rest of the mass media that affects the minds of people. The subconscious of the people can form the characteristics of the young and solidify ideas within the older population. The problem of the current society is that the subconscious ideas transferred to the media is particularly in the favor of Caucasians. This excludes people of African descent, Latinos, Asians, and other recognizably new minorities such as transgender. The overall effect of this subconscious problem is not very measurably but it can have disastrous consequences within each respective culture. Among all the minorities listed, African Americans and people of African descent have a tendency to be the most often misrepresented.

The media in our lives has the strongest impact on our everyday conversations, actions, judgments and perception on society as a whole. Without our modern day technology the world would result to judgments based on their own personal beliefs, not being so easily persuaded by others. The contemporary media portrays Black and Hispanic Americans in numerous positive ways, but more so in a negative light. The stereotypes that these minorities have been given not only affect the community as a whole, but the personal lives of each individual. Although the media can be used for good, the captivating movies, news stories, and documentaries seem to have a negative outcome. The medias focus on Black and Hispanic Americans has not always been bad, but the stereotypes that have developed over the decades shed a negative light on these two racial and ethnic groups.

The way entertainment in the media portrays us has greatly affected how others identify us. Movies and shows like; Madea’s family Reunion, Bringing down the House, Love and Hip Hop, and Basketball Wives all portray us in a degrading way. People sometimes find it comical of course, but the fact that it is comical does not justify it being debasing. This image of us has evolved from things in the media, and its’ power to shape people’s idea of us. We as a race must stop living up to our stereotypes. As soon as we take action in not succumbing to our own stereotype, people will not think we are “Ghetto” or any other undignified term they think of us; therefore in the media we won’t be perceived in that way. As Colin Powell once said, “Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.” Although African American stereotyping is prevalent in the media now because of its’ entertaining quality; it perpetuates a cycle of harmful stereotypes. As long as this cycle continues, our culture will always be illustrated negatively.

As the conference chair for the Asian American Student Union, I spearheaded a school wide conference on Asian American issues and advocacy. This conference brought in speakers from across the United States, including members of the U.S. government, and had over 100 participants. In addition, I led a group of twenty students to the East Coast Asian American Student Union conference at Columbia University. I developed preparatory pre-departure workshops, handled scholarship distribution, and outlined travel logistics. As a member of the AASU board, I had the opportunity to develop my own general body meeting on the topic of Asian American portrayal in the media.

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.

Adolescence is a time where an individual’s sense of identity starts to emerge and a majority of their social norms are perceived. In this day and age, adolescents live in a world heavily submerged around media, which plays an important and habitual part of an adolescents' life. In a national survey conducted in 2009, adolescents on average spend more than 7.5 hours using some sort of media a day (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, 2010). With this unprecedented access to the world, individuals are learning and connecting with many different people and ideas through the media (Brown & Bobkowsi, 2011). With different forms of media playing an influential part in an adolescents’ life, their perceived social norms may be seriously influenced.

The agents of socialization discussed above (family, school, and peer group) are all involved in interactive and personal contact. Mass media on the other had are various impersonal modes of communication intended for large audiences (e.g., radio, television, motion pictures, newspapers). Mass media can have an enormous effect on our attitudes and behavior. The media influence socialization by providing additional and alternative role models as well as social norms and values. It appears that most influential mass medium today is television. A positive view of television is that it provides an excellent medium of instruction and an entertaining way of expanding the horizons of children by exposing them to places and events they may not be able to experience first hand. The negative view of television is that it makes children more passive and less likely to use their imagination; it stresses the unrealistic nature of many

Media influence is the force by which ideas are injected into people’s lives shaping the very culture of society. This influence is masqueraded through hidden media message, resulting in a change in its audience which can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short term or long term. Although mass media’s influential effect can reach a wide ranged audience as an agent of socialization the responsibility to contain what it releases has not been of importance. “The media’s socially significant obligations are formally ignored.” (A.S. Zapesotskii, 2011, p 9). Media messages can be exerted through many different outlets such as TV shows, music, movies, commercials, news, magazines, games which are all gravitated to entertain audiences ultimately offering personal gratification that can sometimes blur the lines between reality and

In today’s society, there are a number of factors that affect a child’s ability to learn. The media, for good and for bad, is the primary teacher of American youth. This environment reflects life itself, sometimes in a corrupt way, including the positive and heinous parts, along with the beautiful and hideous parts, as well as the charitable and violent parts. It is almost impossible to protect American youth from experiences reflecting the adult world when the media invades homes and becomes so much a part of everyday living. “American teenagers spend 31 hours a week watching television, 10 hours a week online, 4 hours a week reading magazines, and 17 hours a week listening to music” (Miss). Even though mass media is a huge part of a

In today's world, mass media is one of the important agents of socialization. People are influenced by the social norms portrayed by the mass media. Even as a child, the media had an influence on how I thought of myself and others. When I would watch TV or read a magazine, I began to pick up on certain messages that translated as: “If you are pretty, people will like you”, “You will make a lot of money if you’re smart”, or “If you are a certain gender, then you have a certain role”. I think

The media is a humungous influencer of how knowledge sharing is processed. Appropriately, I included questions about the media in to receive a more detailed idea on society views the media as an agent of socialisation. My research reveals that despite the media’s overwhelming power of influence, 80% of those who participated in the questionnaire believes that the media does not create a false portrayal of our current society’s youth. I believe that this could be a unwanted response since the media does tend to portray youth in a negative and stereotypical way based from my own personal experience. However, a staggering 90% believes that the media creates a hindrance to socialisation between generation x and z. This fact is accredited to the media’s different production of trends that is based on specific age cohorts. Furthermore, when asked whether or not the media has a negative impact on adolescents and young adults all participants responded in a neutral manner. A clear image is represented through this result by demonstrating that a majority of people from different ages and society are well aware that the media is both beneficial and negative