Construction of Asian American Women in Television and Film Through the Careers of Lucy

Hoa 13

Construction of Asian American Women in Television and Film Through the Careers of Lucy Liu and Kelly Hu

Vivian Hoa

Professor Ted Gournelos

CMC 200

March 22, 2013

Literature Review

Asian American Stereotypes

There are a number of stereotypes that define Asian Americans but perhaps the longest-standing stereotypical depiction of Asians is that of “yellow peril.” Yellow peril is the representation of Asians and Asian Americans as threatening to take over, invade, or negatively “Asianize” the US, including its society and culture. Thus constructing an Asian-white dialectic highlighting the powerful and threatening capability of Asians and Asian Americans, while at the same time showing white Americans as vulnerable, threatened, or otherwise in danger (Ono and Pham 2009, 25). This results in the fear of Asians and Asian Americans because they are looked at as foreigners and usually depicted as the greedy villains, opportunistic hustlers, predators, criminals, or otherwise enemies or threats to the US and thereby stamped as dangerous (Ramasubramanian 2011). Even the use of broken English, a type of speech many actors embody to give an “authentic” portrayal of Asians, is a social marker of their alien status (Larson 2006, 69-70).

Similar to the yellow peril discourse, yellowface is greatly dependent on the historical treatment of Asians and Asian Americans. It is the practice, mainly in the early twentieth-century Hollywood but still done today, of white actors playing Asian and Asian American characters; a convention that denied Asian and Asian American characters genuine characters and ensuring that they were played by “whites” (Ono and Pham 2009, 45), thereby giving a biased perception of Asians on screen and furthering the support of white dominance. It was also suggested that audiences were more familiar and comfortable with seeing a white person playing the stereotype (50). “Yellowface is a practice of cultural appropriation; taking what is thought to be Asian or Asian American and making it into something that sells to audiences” (46), and in this case it is from the perspective of non-Asians. It is also a form of mockery, subjugating Asians and Asian Americans into a level of inferiority and the bud of the joke (61), especially with the use of heavy yellow cream make-up, exaggerated accents, and heavy wigs to complete an “authentic” Asian look (Larson 2006, 68).

All of this contributes to the concept of Orientalism. A European invention of what white Europeans deemed true about Asians. Looking at it from a Western framework, “it helped put the East in its place and defined more clearly what was East and what was West” (Ono and Pham 2009, 43), further alienating Asians and Asian Americans. During which in the 1930s Hollywood glamour focused on the image of the exotic Oriental that corresponded with the launch of the cosmetic industry. Women were able to wear Oriental make-up and clothing, emulating the exoticism of Asia while still maintaining their white virtue (Prasso 2005, 83).

Much has changed since the 1930s, but Asian and Asian American stereotypes still persist. The media stereotypes Asians as shy, quiet, hardworking, great at math however bad with English, and the academically achieving but lacking a social life. They are the “Model Minority.” A seemingly positive stereotype of Asians and Asian Americans as intelligent, hardworking, and technologically savvy; high achievers who work in number-crunching professions with limited communication and language skills required such as, engineering and sciences (Zhang 2010, 32).

Social Acceptance of Asian American Stereotypes

Like the practice of yellowface, stereotypes help white viewers feel at ease with what they understand to be Asian, but when people encounter Asians and Asian Americans in real life there is a sense of lacking in “Asianness” (Ono and Pham 2009, 60). The Asian in person didn’t match up to the Asian on screen, which leads to an understanding of how large an influence television and film have on the viewers.

Both the cultivation and social cognitive theories connect media content to the acquisition of stereotypes. It was proposed that as individuals are exposed to stereotypical portrayals of racial groups through the media, specifically through TV, individuals acquire stereotypes that are congruent to the ways the groups are portrayed (Zhang 2010, 22; Dalisay and Tan 2009, 8). It was suggested that repeated exposure to media stereotypes could lead to social acceptance of stereotypes as reality (Zhang 2010, 22), even if the stereotypes held no truth to the race they depicted.

Regardless of the scholarly accusation of the model minority as an inaccurate, overgeneralized, and distorting stereotype, and more of a myth than reality, the general public seems to accept the stereotype as a social reality. In which Asians are perceived as most likely to accomplish academic success” (Zhang 2010, 32). The nerd image repeatedly seen on screen provokes laughter rather than questions of authenticity. Laughing seems to diffuse the competitive threat that whites feel from high-achieving Asian Americans and a way to contest academic and economic success, but it also invites a sense of superiority over Asian Americans (Larson 2006, 72).

In another aspect, positive stereotyping was promoted when individuals had positive contact experiences with Asians and Asian Americans, while negative contact experiences resulted in negative stereotyping. But if direct contact was lacking then media was used as tools for formation and reinforcement of racial stereotypes (Dalisay and Tan 2009, 8). In both cases, the acceptance or promotion of a stereotype is shown without questioning.

Negative Effects of Asian American Stereotypes

As a result of being stereotyped as outcasts who are different, shy, quiet, boring, and lacking communication skills, people might be reluctant to initiate friendship with Asians during their initial encounters, because people are more willing to initiate friendship with those who seem similar, good at self-disclosure, and have good social and communication skills (Zhang 2010, 33).

The nerd stereotype could have very damaging effects on the socialization process of Asian Americans because peer exclusion from social networks could easily happen to those who are perceived as lacking adequate language, communication, and social skills (Zhang 2010, 32). It turns the model minority stereotype into a joke because nerds are depicted as academic overachievers who lack social skills or scholarship winners with no romantic interests (Larson 2006, 72). Also, the poor communicator stereotype could limit Asian Americans’ career prospects (Zhang 2010, 32). In an study conducted by Francis Dalisay and Alexis Tan (2009), experimental evidence presented that positive television portrayals of Asian Americans can invoke negative perceptions of African Americans. Yet if Asian Americans are shown negatively, this could foster positive perception of African Americans. Therefore it was not recommended that minority groups, in particular Asian Americans, be portrayed in an entirely positive manner (18).

From another perspective, rather than evoking admiration the seemingly positive model minority stereotype reinforces beliefs that racial discrimination does not exist in modern America and that race-targeted policies such as affirmative action are no longer needed for racial minorities. Essentially, portrayals of Asian Americans, even the so-called positive model minority stereotypes, can promote racial hierarchies, such as white dominance, and uphold boundaries between various racial groups (Ramasubramanian 2011). Positive stereotyping is basically a way for seemingly inoffensive discriminatory biases to gain broad acceptance. Whether it is based on race, gender, sexual orientation or some other social divide, positive stereotyping is thinly veiled prejudice; a furtive gateway to across-the-board discrimination (Bridgeman 2013).

Because Asian American women and men are depicted as mystics, nerds, and victims, it is important to realize that each of these stereotypes ‘otherizes’ Asian Americans by making them look like they do not fit into contemporary American society. These images are often one-dimensional, conducing the person to a single attribute” (Larson 2006, 72). The consequences of racial marginalization can lead to the shunning or mistreatment of Asians (Moore 2003).

Hollywood Film Industry

The Hollywood film industry plays a large part in perpetuating Asian stereotypes through manipulative outdated practices and its focus on capital. Hollywood films are not as popular as they once were before due to the popularity of television, and now in competition with video games and the Internet, but it still has a very powerful global influence (Benshoff and Griffin 2009, 23). Ironically, within the US, Hollywood films are so dominate in theaters and attainable through home media that Americans have little access to other types of films (22).

Another limiting, but key feature of Hollywood is it’s beloved star system, created in the 1910s and 1920s when Hollywood realized that people formed an attachment to their favorite actors and would pay to see any of their films. It is essentially a caste system in which certain people, movie stars, are elevated above others and set as the ideal construction of beauty, appropriate gender behavior, skin color, class, sexuality, and so forth (Benshoff and Griffin 2009, 33-34). Applying this concept to Asian American actors and actresses, it could be said that however Hollywood chooses to project Asian Americans on screen would be the ideal standard of being Asian.

Due to negative feelings about Asian Americans prevalent in American culture, Hollywood’s attempt to expand its target audiences is constrained, and despite the increasing market values of Asian Americans, Hollywood is possibly unwilling to portray successful Asian characters for fear of provoking its mainstream audiences who hold prejudice against Asians (Park 2005, 20). Thus, upholding a dominant white preference over the effects certain stereotypes may have on the minority Asians and Asian Americans.

Even so, it seems that Hollywood isn’t picky about who plays the part, “Hollywood casts Chinese playing Korean, or Japanese playing Chinese, because it's all the same to the studios” (Stokes as cited in Moore 2003). Take for example, Mako Iwamatsu, a Japanese-American actor who has been casted to play Chinese, Tibetan, and Vietnamese characters throughout his career (Moore 2003). Although films produced by Hollywood are at times considered art, it is important to note that Hollywood is first and foremost a business; one that sticks to what it knows because it knows it will sell.

Typecasting

Typecasting is an essential, yet unspoken, practice in the Hollywood film industry. It is when an actor is strongly identified with a particular character. Typecasting puts a restraint on an actor’s career and limits them to only certain roles. Both the infamous Anna May Wong and Lucy Liu have spoken out about their racially limiting roles, and expressed that they did not have a choice in the matter (Liu as cited in Shimizu 2007, 59; Prasso 2005, 81). Typecasting in film is, for the most part, inescapable because the business of film acting, especially the star system, relies on recognizability, marketability, and the necessity for known commodities (Wojcik 2003, 224).

Different categories of types can formulate from a number of reasons such as, defined by the actors lines, appearance, personality, to represent a social type, stock character, or associated with certain stereotypes (Wojcik 234, 244). Although typing goes against most theories of naturalism, it has become an integral part of the casting process in Hollywood (241), and stereotypes have become a preference because they contribute a sense of authenticity in compliance to popular notions of social categories (Park 2005, 9).

Casting is consciously guided by prevalent racial “common sense” means, in which Hollywood methodically discourages racial minority actors and actors from playing roles that are not related with racial stereotypes (Park 2005, 10). Asian Americans are thus subjected to typical and “proper” Asian roles, often times used as “background color” in minor roles such as waiters, cooks, servants, laundry workers, peasants, or gardeners. Even when they are cast for more prominent roles, they are lacking in depth and portray Asians as villains, warmongers, geishas, karate experts, dragon ladies, or prostitutes (Mok 1998, 186).

Oddly enough, “the more Asians look and act Asian, the less acceptable they are and the more likely they will be portrayed as villains,” whereas, “the more ‘White’ Asians look and act, the more acceptable they are and the more positive their portrayal” (Mok 1998, 194). This can be a contribution to the limiting factors for Asian and Asian American actors and their inevitable stereotypical roles.

Media Representation

The light in which media depicts a certain group is crucial to how they are perceived by the mainstream public. Numerous forms of popular culture help create and bring about the racialized divisions and stereotypes by disseminating symbols and images in which racist ideas and beliefs are inscribed in both explicit and implicit ways (Park 2005, 4). Visual media is inadvertently used to sustain common sense assumptions and specific knowledge about racial minorities by defining racial characteristics (5).

Although the number of Asian Americans are growing in the US they are under-represented, marginalized, and misrepresented in mainstream media. For instance, Asian/Pacific Islanders are rarely cast for central roles and form only 3% of all prime-time characters (Ramasubramanian 2011). The media representations of Asian Americans have changed from being blatantly negative (yellow peril, coolie, gook, and deviant stereotypes) to the seemingly positive model minority stereotype to accompany the changing political, social, cultural, and economic circumstances (Zhang 2010, 21). The media has and continues to fail in properly representing Asian Americans by racially lumping all Asian subgroups under one umbrella and ignoring the interracial differences. Thereby indicating that there are no distinctions between these diverse subgroups, even though in reality they differ largely in terms of language, culture, religion, ethnicity, and nationality (Mok 1998, 186; Park 2005, 5).

Asian and Asian American Women in Television and Film

It has been argued that the representation of female Asian bodies in film, influenced by the U.S. militarism and neo-colonial domination of Asia, as objects of sexual conquest in American popular culture is a manifestation of white colonial desire known as ‘Asianphilla,’ which means “Euroamerican expressions of fondness and attraction to Asian and Asian American women” (Hamamoto as cited in Park 2005, 6). This is a possible contribution to the way Asian and Asian American women are depicted and over sexualized in modern America.

Looking back to the 1970s, television sitcoms gave us images of Asian women as brides and servants. They were docile, obedient, and portrayed as dignified, but they still needed help and guidance from their husbands or masters (Prasso 2005, 65). Progressing onward to the 1980s. The importance of Asian women on television was scaled back, but TV shows continued to give Asian women small parts in their usual role. It wasn’t until the 1990s that television started to change. Female Asian characters we suddenly empowered, but sexually (71).