Yuen, Leanne. “Fighting Asian American Stereotypes.” Women’s Media Center, 27 Nov 2016. Print
My research topic is about “Lack of Asian American representation on Media mainly in Hollywood”. I would like to focus mainly on whitewashing roles of Asian Americans and the stereotypical Asian characters portrayed in Hollywood.
Yuen Leanne is a high school student but from her post “Fighting Asian American Stereotypes” she seems as she has had enough of the stereotypes that are put on Asians. Yuen discusses a couple of important points. She first lists a couple of known stereotypes put on Asians such as ‘Asians are fond of rice, proficient in the maths and sciences (and have parents who force them to enter those fields professionally), and prone to being quiet and submissive”. Then she goes on to talk about how these stereotypes that don’t seem harmful are actually negatively affecting Asians all over the world. As of any stereotypes, this category or box that Asians are put under is erasing the complexity of individual identities. What I found interesting that not a lot of people talk about is that not only do these stereotypes erase unique individuals identity but also forces Asian Americans into the workforce/lifestyle of as Yuen says it “homogeneous artificial identity”.
As for the Media, Yuen brings up an interesting point. Last February, there was a whole issue regarding lack of diversity in Hollywood/oscar that led many people of color to boycott the ceremony. In return, the ceremony platform was used to discuss the importance of diversity with an opening monologue from Chris Rock. For a while, when Chris Rock, an actor and a minority was talking about the importance of diversity and inclusion, it seemed as if there was going to be progress made. It was not until towards the end that Chris Rock “bought the Asian American Children on stage with business attire, and making the jokes of “Asians are good at math and hardworking stereotypes”. That night what seemed like a progress for all diversity in the media or in the spotlight of Hollywood was really a night where Asians were pushed to the side and made fun of”. The worst part about the monologue was that the three Asian boys had no speaking line but their only job was to be on the stage and be trolled by Chris Rock. I personally think that a lot of Asian Americans were upset with Chris Rock’s open monologue not only for stereotyping Asians but giving these Children’s no other important role than to silently sit on the stage. That action seems far to familiar, especially in Hollywood. Often times, there are very few lead roles for Asian Americans a lot of times the only available roles for Asians are the stereotypical Asians such as kungfu fighter, dorky or evil.