The representation of Asian women in the media

Or lack thereof…

When I was growing up, I was always the ‘token Asian friend’. If you take a step back and look at the groups of people who hang together at school — you’ll think back to that scene from Mean Girls where Cady is introduced to all the different groups sitting in the cafeteria. Goths, jocks, geeks, and Asians — all stuck together. Then I asked myself why the term ‘token Asian friend’ is even a thing? I guess because in the media — especially movies — we never really saw any of these groups mixing together.

As a person of Asian descent, it made me question why we are so underrepresented in the media yet hold one of the biggest populations in the world. To this day, I could only name a handful of movies with Asian leads. Asian women possess less power in the media industries and only recently has this begun to change. Does this mean that Hollywood has learnt that Asian actresses are worthy, or is this just a phase? Examining trends in recent multimedia developments, I think it’s evident that society is progressing and being more accepting of Asian culture in Western media.

Racist comments

While casual racism is nothing new, it wasn’t until I turned 18 that I realised how prevalent it was. I was constantly bombarded with questions and statements about my race such as “Oh you’re Asian, you must be good at maths?”, “‘Say something in Chinese for me?” and, “You’re pretty for an Asian”. Although these may seem harmless on the surface, there’s a racist undertone to those remarks. It’s like saying Asians can’t be pretty or are rated on a different standard to Western ideals. However, the person making the remarks are not always at fault. I believe that if Asian culture was represented more in the media, people would be less ignorant and better understand our culture.

History of Asians in media

Hollywood is no stranger to yellowface or white washing their films to suit the supposed needs of their audience. In 1961, Mickey Rooney played Mr. I.Y. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and in 2015, Emma Stone starred in Aloha as a character with Chinese and Hawaiian descent. Both examples were controversial and negatively criticised as having a Caucasian play a character who is meant to be of Asian descent, further fuelled the notion that Asians are underrepresented in an already Western-dominated industry.

In saying that, yes Asian women do feature in films, but they are often side characters to a lead (white) character. This is illogical considering China has the largest population in the world, yet only 10% of all female characters were represented by Asians in 2018. Although this is an increase of 3% since 2017, this is mainly due to the cast in Crazy Rich Asians.

Asians in the media today

Fast forward to today and times are (FINALLY!) changing. The film Crazy Rich Asians was the start of a historic moment for Asian Americans in the industry. Not only does the film have an Asian actress as the lead, but it also has an all-Asian cast. It allowed Asian characters to be fleshed out and have more than 2 minutes in the limelight. The film also raked in $238 million at the box office and fortified the idea that diversity and Asians mean business in a Western-dominated industry.

The movie was the start of a movement where Asians, especially women in media were heard. This is evident due to a surge in Asian American content created in Hollywood. Constance Wu who starred in Crazy Rich Asians was also cast in the recent film Hustlers alongside JLo and Cardi B. Another example is Marie Kondo who is a successful woman with a whole show dedicated to her helping people clean and tidy up. This is in accordance with post feminism that she is taking control of her passion and making a career out of it.

The future of Asians in the media

Asians have fought long and hard for a seat at the table and now they are here to stay. I hope there are more films that break the stereotypes that society has created. Whether that be race, gender or age, everyone deserves to be recognised for their talents because diversity is bankable. The media plays a huge role in not just how others see us but how we see ourselves. I think the media embracing diversity, specifically women of Asian descent, is here to stay. Hollywood is now realising that diversity is means business, and the public is becoming more actively aware that they have the opportunity to shape the future.