Asian Stereotypes in Media
The stereotypes can be extremely harmful to the images of the whole nations because these stereotypes are often spread with little understanding and knowledge of a phenomenon they present. Although it is possible that it is not done intentionally, nevertheless, the effect is powerful and poisoning. American entertainment media and its leader Hollywood usually portray Asian Americans in a certain humiliating and belittling way.
The organization called Media Action Network for Asian Americans in its memo to Hollywood "Restrictive Portrayals of Asians in the Media and How to Balance Them" lists the most dangerous stereotypes to Asian American society and also presents solutions to counter these negative images. The first of them presents "Asian Americans as foreigners who cannot be assimilated" ("Restrictive Portrayals of Asians in the Media and How to Balance Them"). Because of the differences in the cultures, Asians are often shown in the movies as acculturated persons who speak English with a distinct foreign accent. The countermeasure to it would be a portrayal of Asian Americans as an integral part of American society who speak fluently and without any accent.
Min Huh in his work “Media Representation of Asian Americans and Asian Native New Yorkers' Hybrid Persona” gives another example of stereotyping of Asian Americans. According to him, Asians are presented in popular media with ethnic classification thus separating and distinguishing them from other American people, and they are usually not introduced as just Americans. Huh gives an example that two popular celebrities Sung Kang
and Steven Yeun from Fast & Furious series are usually introduced as Korean Americans in the press, although they are citizens of the US, and it is quite possible to simply call them Americans without stressing their ethnic
background.
The third powerful stereotype concerning portraying Asians in American media is that they are all martial artists. In her article "Why These 5 Asian American Stereotypes in TV and Film Need to Die", Nadra Nittle assumes that this happened due to an extreme popularity of Bruce Lee and his kung-fu action movies in the 1970s. Lee was not portrayed as a stupid person, as it was customary to present Asians in the preceding movies, instead, he was strong and dignified (Nittle). Soon, most Asians became martial artists in the American cinema, and now it is implied without fail that an Asian American actor knows kung-fu or karate. Another dangerous stereotype of the media is a presentation of Asians as timid and socially awkward persons, especially men. Kwan Booth, in the
article “Kulture Media calls out Asian stereotypes in media” claims that it is a manifestation of Hollywood's attempts to belittle Asians and to assert the superiority of white population of the USA. A bright example of this
stereotype …
