Representation of Asian Americans in Cinema

Representation of Asian Americans in Cinema

Advocating to transform the anglo-heteronormative status of film and television, critically acclaimed asian american actress, Constance Wu, asked the audience to envision a scenario during her Time magazine interview with journalist Nolan Feeney. According to Feeney, she asked the audience to imagine a producer saying ““Guy and girl meet-cute at an ice skating rink. They fall in love, but then she has to move away” (Feeney, 2015). The audience’s vision of the couple being caucasian is a depiction on how the american entertainment industry standardized white society. Not only does the world of american cinema, Hollywood, equates whiteness as the norm, but it serves an agent to perpetuate recusant, oversimplified notions of minority community.  The Asian American Community faces the issues of either being portrayed as tokenistic accessories or being invisible subjects in the Hollywood society.

The film and television industries serve as vehicles for eternizing the superficial and negative stereotypes of the asian american american community. Deriving from concepts such as the model minority image and the association of asian americans to orientalism, asian american actors are often portrayed as compliant, socially awkward “dweeb,” who lacks masculinity, or they are portrayed as misogynistic individuals and imbecile who carry colonial mentality. When given access to the limited roles, Asian american actresses are often characterized  as meek and conforming, or they are exocitized as “China Dolls, Giesha Girls” Article critic, Izadi Elahe, covers The Washington Post report on an NBC television show “endorsing the concept "Asian fetishism" and playing on Asian stereotypes...as it encourages the stereotypes of the subservient, docile, and exotic Asian women who are unaware of feminism" (Elahe, 2016). Asian american actresses are also often constrained to roles that depict them as being inclined to demoralization for the objective of caucasian men. Hollywood confines the asian american community into a box, placing generalized expectations on their language, behaviors, demeanor,etc. Setting forth an overall one dimensional characterization. By establishing their voice, or lack thereof, the cinema society not only indicates that asian americans individuals are interchangeable, but also perpetuates the cycle of undesirable stereotypes..

Hollywood places barriers that enforces the rejection of substantial visibility of the Asian American community. A study of University of California reported within Emily Wo’ dissertation states,“Only 1 out of 20 speaking roles go to asians...and 1% of lead roles go to asians" (Wo, 2014)  In addition to the rejection of representations, Hollywood institutes obstacles even when roles are designated to display the asian american community, itself. There are limited roles written to portray an asian setting or character in mind and these limited roles that hardly exist are being appropriated by caucasian actors and actress, though the practice of Whitewashing. Whitewashing is the application of white actors and actresses portraying non-white roles, appropriating the foundation of the asian american origin, culture, tradition,  identity and regarding these treasured components as merely costumes.  Hollywood also has a track record of indulging in the racially derogative practice of “yellowface.” A step further from whitewashing, yellowface is the convention of  applying makeup and prosthetics to paint a non asian performer of possession the physical features of asian traits.  The process of whitewashing and yellowface not only dehumanizes the asian american community, but also dispenses the idea that they are outsiders, forsaking their affiliation to the american society.  Virtually, the deliberation of lack of inclusion becomes exclusion as mainstream media, film and television industries, constantly follows the trend of asian americans not belonging or only belong is stereotypical roles. Alongside this is the carried notion that asian americans lack substances, with loves that lack yearnings and passions. Deliberate display of asian americans as aromantic nerds, kung fu warriors, sexy-submissive school girls to society would consumes and eventually crossover to the daily lives by individuals’ subconscious perceptions and implicit biases. Emily Woo’s dissertation”Beyond the Color Line: Asian American Representations in the Media," also presents a University of California Santa Barbara Study that reported an american spending more than five hours of their day in front of a television and stated “audience members may not even come to the realization that prolonged media exposure influences their perception of reality”  (Wo, 2014). The content created by the Hollywood industry impinges society by influencing individuals experience and perception of diverse groups, thus the predicament placed on to asian americans by hollywood is undeniably substantial.