Yeung, Wai Sik (Wilson)

Asian American Studies 20B

May 18th, 2009
Confronting Adversity: Racism in Popular Culture
Asian Americans are vastly underrepresented in American media. In particular, their
acting roles often consist of stereotypical characters that serve to perpetuate the already
trivializing beliefs in the status quo. With close examination of American popular culture, it is
not hard to find Asian American males that are depicted as nerds, villains, undesirable partners,
and even kung-fu masters. A more recent portrayal of Asian American males as foreign and
unfriendly individuals can be observed in American television shows such as Lost. In ABCs hit
television show Lost, Daniel Dae Kim plays Jin Kwon, who never speaks the English language
nor attempts to mingle with others in the first season plot of the show. While it is great to see
Asian males becoming one of the main stars of prime-time shows, they are often presented as
foreign characters, cast into traditional and stereotypical roles. Meanwhile, we can observe that
American media chooses to present Asian American females differently. While they are often
rendered as sexually active, exotic, and seductive in American media, there is a new trend in
American television shows. Asian American females are often depicted as highly educated
professionals. This portrayal is evident in Sandra Ohs cast as a medical intern in ABCs Grey
Anatomy and Ming-Nas role as a medical doctor in NBCs ER.
This discussion of media portrayal of Asian Americans as professionals is furthered by
the article Without a Trace, where the authors, Chin, Milman, Deo, Lee, and Yuen, provide an
extensive report on Asian American acting roles played in American television programs. They
note that in both the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the majority of AAPI-identified characters on
prime time television had high-status occupations. Of such roles, at least half of them held
advanced degrees (often in the medical science industry). Such fictional roles include

businessman, medical examiner, doctor, attorney, forensic psychiatrist, and etc. Indeed, it is not
hard to notice how active Asian Americans are in professional roles that the media presents.
In addition, the report provided statistics that illustrate the progress that Asian Americans
have made in the media. The authors write, AAPIs have made some significant strides in the
2005 prime time season, as compared to the year before, especially in regards to character depth
and complexity. According to the study, Asian Americans are now integrated into a wide
variety of television genres, such as medical science, that has not been observed before. Yet,
despite this trend, Asian Americans continue to be under-represented in popular culture when
compared to non-Asians. According to the report, significant percentages of African American
(25%), white (23%) and Latino (20%) characters appeared in opening credits roles, yet just one
in ten Asian / Pacific Islander characters (11%) played a starring role. From such observations,
it is evident that Asian Americans are not only outnumbered by their non-Asian counterparts in
terms of the number of acting roles, but are also limited to playing supporting roles. This trend
of under-representation is likely to persist in the near future.
The persistence of under-representation and negative stereotypes can be attributed to
three factors the logic of supply and demand, an economic drive for sales, and the indifference
that Asian Americans demonstrate.

First, film-makers often argue that there are no Asian

American actors in supply for American media. While this might be true, many Asian American
actors and actresses express that the limited opportunities in the media industry are responsible
for the low supply. Second, many film-makers also argue that only derogatory portrayals of
Asian Americans can make a movie sale, and the general public wishes to see Asian Americans
presented in a certain manner. Regardless of the validity of this statement, this economic motive
for movie sales, along with the debate of supply and demand, definitely has a profound effect of
negative impressions. Third, many Asian Americans remain indifferent about the negative

stereotypes in the status quo. Unless Asian Americans take on an active role in pursuing change
in current trends, they will remain under-represented and targeted for stereotypes in American
media.
Despite all the good intentions that mainstream media possess, the Asian American
community often finds the collective representations more damaging than helpful.

First,

inaccurate representations of Asian Americans in the media reinforce real-life stereotypes such as
the model minority myth. In his book, Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics,
author Schultz notes that popular media portrayals encourage Americans to believe that anyone
can succeed through determination and a good work ethic (like Asian Americans). As a result,
other minority groups who appear to be less successful than Asian Americans are constantly
blamed for their failure in this open society. This unfair assessment of success creates antiAsian sentiments among other minority communities, where violent acts toward Asian
Americans are constantly found. In fact, the murder of Vincent Chin and the LA Riots of 1992
are prime examples of how violence can erupt toward Asian Americans.
Second, numerous ethnic groups such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, etc. are
subsumed under the Asian American label. Popular media images imply that Asian Americans
share identical experiences in the American way of life. This interpretation is troublesome
because it does not describe many Asian Americans that do not fit into the portrayed images
nerds, exotic women, or even highly educated professionals.

Moreover, Asian American

depictions trap many individuals in specific career fields as a form of self-fulfilling prophecy.
For example, portrayals of Asian professionals place expectations on members of the group that
they must also pursue a professional career that reflects the presented images. While underrepresentation is deemed a problem, inaccurate depictions of Asian Americans that perpetuate
negative stereotypes are more problematic when we evaluate the implications that it bears.