Breaking Asian American Stereotypes
It’s time for these caricatures to commit seppuku
With the advent of Crazy Rich Asians, the subject of Asian American representation has moved to the forefront. Whether you support it or have qualms with it, the movie has entered the zeitgeist, and it's making us reevaluate things.
Asian representation in Hollywood has come a long way, let's make that clear. The days of Long Duck Dong in Sixteen Candles and the caroling Chinese waiters in A Christmas Story are, fortunately, behind us. But replacing these awful, lowbrow mockeries is covert Orientalism, a holdover from the model minority fallacy.
In case you aren't familiar with it, the model minority label comes from a New York Times story written in 1966.
The article is a classic example of driving a wedge between underprivileged groups to distract them from the big picture. Author William Petersen painted Japanese Americans as a phoenix rising from the ashes of war, praising them as rule-abiding and hard-working. By contrast, he wonders why African Americans still struggled with poverty, bigotry, and challenges. (Hint: It's because the U.S. had a vested interest in propping up post-war Japan against the Soviet Union, and had no such motivation to help black people. But that's another story.)
The model minority fallacy persists to this day. And when productions like Crazy Rich Asians or Eddie Huang's Fresh Off the Boat buck the trend, they're often met with criticism for daring to portray Asian Americans in an "unbecoming light."
But this is consistent with Hollywood's very specified roles for Asians, let alone Asian Americans. We're seeing African and Latin Americans break old stereotypes and diversify, and that's wonderful. But we're not seeing that same representation with Asian Americans. Their parts are still largely relegated to doctors, academics, or token inclusions at best. At worst, we still see the Kung-Fu Master, the Honorable Samurai, or the Mystic Oriental.
Even if it isn't malicious, ignorance still plagues this situation.
For example, in The Iron Fist, why does Colleen Wing use a katana when she was an unarmed combat specialist?
Before loremasters interject, I understand that her character is Japanese and the sword in question is her family's heirloom. I get that. What I don't get is why she uses a katana when it requires a fighting discipline completely different from what we are shown Wing has mastered. An Okinawan weapon such as the tonfa or a Filipino rattan are far more logical choices, but instead they went with the katana because it's more easily identifiable to a non-Asian audience.
A bit smarter yet still disappointing is the Honorable Samurai
Ready Player One was a fun movie, and I won't spoil the amazing fanservice it gives. But I will discuss how disappointing its Asian characters were. While the disconnect between the Gunters and their avatars was interesting — a self-conscious boy and girl in gorgeous personas, a black woman masquerading as a hulking ogre who is a gizmo wiz— the two Asian American characters fell flat. When cyber samurai Daito is unmasked, the katana-wielding, austere, honorable Asian is revealed to be … an Asian kid, politely speaking in a thick accent, and swinging a baseball bat like a katana. I sighed. It was a missed opportunity, and really stood out next to the other Gunters.
Which brings me to the Mystic Oriental, and a surprise offender in the History Channel
In the fourth season of the otherwise outstanding show Vikings, the show introduces Yidu, a Chinese slave. Right off the bat, suspension of disbelief is tested: a Chinese slave winding up in 8th century France is really stretching it (as opposed to a Persian or Moorish slave from Spain). Whatever, maybe she's a Central Asian nomad who was labeled Chinese and will challenge that trope. Nope. She turns out to be the long-lost princess of the Chinese emperor. Worst yet, she speaks in idioms and is the concubine of the lead character — who is initially attracted to her for her exotic looks, but stays after she hooks him on drugs. Yidu is an apothecary, you see. It's unexplained how the princess became a master herbalist, nor how she obtains her obscure medicinal components. But then again, Asians have a natural knack for STEM, right?
"Okay, okay," you're saying, "these are three bad examples. You're really going to knock all of media for it?"
Yes, I am.
A lot of people defend these tropes of martial arts proficiency, mystic powers, or super-high intellect as "cool," or that it's a compliment to be considered a super race.
But it's not a compliment. In fact, it's an insult. It's insulting to insinuate that an Asian (American or not) can only be cool if they adhere to outdated archetypes.
Moreover, it's objectively wrong.
Han Lue is consistently lauded as the best character in the Fast and the Furious franchise. In an over-the-top cinematic universe with Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Statham, Han is beloved by fans because he's simply cool. Stoic, suave, and snacking, he's a guy you wanna be regardless if you're Asian or not. His nickname is a Korean pun on "Han Solo," for crying out loud.
And then there's Glenn from The Walking Dead. Glenn — played by Steven Yeun — is just an all-around lovable guy who can kick ass, who wants to love his woman, and who wants to live in peace. You can relate to him. Artist David Choe quipped that Yeun massively helped the Asian American cause by being the first Asian man to sleep with a white woman on TV. Jokes aside, Yeun is a huge advocate for better Asian representation, saying the onus is on his own community to change the status quo.
“I would say that with our generation, you talk to a dude and sometimes they do the version of the Asian that they think America is telling them they’re supposed to be, and they don’t even know it. That’s where we have to be realistic: At what point are you circulating and fulfilling the cycle of our underrepresentation? Because what I will say is that they’re waiting for us … Look at casting directors, projects, and how things are. They are literally waiting for Asian people, and they want to cast them. I think we’re at that precipice where they’re catching up on how to do it in the right way, but I see it happening.”
If the buzz for Crazy Rich Asians is any indicator, it is happening.
Still, it needs to keep happening. I would love to see more representation from Southeast Asian peoples, since Asian representation is skewed towards Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. And the fact we’re so excited over an all-Asian American cast means we don’t see it nearly enough.
But with people like Steven Yeun, Randall Park, Constance Wu, Eddie Huang, and countless others fighting the good fight, there's definitely a turning of the tide. And along the way, maybe they can put the model minority to the sword.
