Asian Americans in the Media

Blog posted by Gina Zhang

Araminta Lee (Played by Sonoya Mizuno), walks down the aisle in her wedding dress in Crazy Rich Asians (2018).

The representation of Asian Americans in Asian American media is extremely scarce, and rarely ever represented accurately. Growing up, I barely ever saw someone who looked like me on screen, and when I did see them they would be portrayed with a certain stereotype. This impacted me greatly, as I would see Asian Americans generally depicted with foreign orientalism or as a haughty know-it-all. Personally, as a child viewing Asian American youth displayed in the media, I felt out of place and this feeling decreased my involvement in my culture greatly. Michelle Sugihara is the CEO of CAPE, and Jessica Ju is an Executive Administrator of CAPE. CAPE is a non-profit establishment whose goal is to assist Asian Americans in working towards their personal achievements in the media. According to Sugihara and Ju, “When people see Asian Americans as being “foreign,” it creates an “in-group/out-group” mentality, making it easier to treat Asians in America with hostility and to engage in acts of violence and discrimination against them.” However, as I grew older, I have learned that Asian-American independent media closely follows a realistic picture of the character of an Asian-American. Presentation of Asian Americans varies between different media. However, for the films Saving Face and Crazy Rich Asians, they specifically shed light on Chinese Americans who struggle with family values and their love. According to Ono and Pham, independent media is media that represents “independence from the mainstream, dominant, corporate, and sometimes capitalist influences”. The Asian-American films, Saving Face and Crazy Rich Asians both contain characteristics that represent independent media. 

The films Saving Face and Crazy Rich Asians both are alternatives to mainstream media because they represent many minorities. For example, in Saving Face, there are themes of self identity and sexuality. Saving Face provides a viewpoint through a lesbian protagonist who struggles with deciding if she should introduce her female significant other to her conservative family. She is an Asian-American whose perspective may illuminate many other Asian-Americans grappling with their idea of self-identity and sexuality at the moment. Another example is Crazy Rich Asians, where a major aspect of the movie provides a viewpoint through racial minorities, which in this case, are Asian-Americans. A majority of the cast is entirely made up of Asians and Asian-Americans, making it the first film in 25 years to feature a full Asian and Asian-American cast that takes place in a modern setting, launching it’s major achievement ever since The Joy Luck Club had been released. The Joy Luck Club had previously been the only movie that had predominantly Asian-American character actors before Crazy Rich Asians had been released. Additionally, the film introduces a more female-lead perspective, which is unnatural in cliche Asian-American drama storylines. This is important because Asian American female-lead perspectives are generally extremely rare in Hollywood, and when Asian American female characters are manipulated with stereotypes in the media, it conditions men to fetishize misinterpreted Asian American women. If Hollywood begins producing more mass media that features Asian American female-lead point of views, the stereotypes can be reshaped to a less harmful conventional image. Normally, the male, which in this case is Nick, would have the decision to choose whether or not he should please his mother or stay faithful to his love for his wife. However, in this movie, Rachel, the female protagonist, is given the choice of whether or not she should allow Nick to listen to his mother’s wishes to not engage with her so that his relationship with his mother will remain intact, or if she should allow Nick to marry her because she loves him. 

Saving Face and Crazy Rich Asians both depict scenes from traditional Chinese culture. “Saving face” quite literally means to avoid losing respect, dignity or being disgraced, and is a term that is commonly used in Asian culture and tradition. This provides a closer viewpoint into the lives of Asian Americans. Although Crazy Rich Asians portrays a traditional “evil mother” trope, a common overused stereotype often portrayed in Hollywood movies, the mother is not a one-dimensional character. She purely represents and safeguards Asian culture and principles really well.  Additionally, Crazy Rich Asians contains several scenes of the characters wrapping dumplings, along with scenes challenging one another over mahjong. The reason why the addition of cultural scenes is so important is because Asian Americans want to view someone who reminds them of their traditions, their appearance, their behaviors, and other similar traits. 

Another way in which Saving Face and Crazy Rich Asians contain characteristics that represent independent media is by reshaping misunderstandings of what it means to be Asian American, going against various hackneyed ideas. First of all, Saving Face goes against Asian stereotypes. Normally, people would think of Asians in a different place in time, in a more medieval setting, but this takes place in a modern setting, therefore heavily impacting the idea of this conventional image. These characters are extremely relatable and are depicted thoughtfully with a lot of distinguishing characteristics and personalities, especially to the queer Asian American audience. Secondly, in Crazy Rich Asians, there are many well-rounded characters that portray that they are more than their stereotypes. An example of a stereotype is the evil dragon lady stereotype, which is a stereotype describing a woman who is powerful, seductive, dishonest, and secretive. In Crazy Rich Asians, the evil dragon lady stereotype is countered by a pleasantly balanced and developed personality, which in this case is the mother of Nick Young. The characters that are a part of this storyline are genuine, normal human beings, that accurately reflect the Asian American community as a whole without displaying any derogatory stereotypes. 

The history of Asian Americans in Hollywood has been extremely misleading. From the creation of Broken Blossoms (1919) to Ghost in the Shell (2017), the roles of Asian American characters have been played by White people. Hollywood has done an extremely horrifying job in displaying accurate Asian American representation. Crazy Rich Asians and Saving Face both are separate from mainstream media because of their unique representation of minorities, depiction of scenes from traditional culture, and the reinforcement of going against stereotypes. This topic is important because it shows the rare, authentic representation of Asian Americans on independent media. In conclusion, the representation of Asian Americans is extremely important in the media, especially when there is little to no realistic representation of them in the media. 

Citations:

Ono, K. A., & Pham, V. N. (2010). Asian Americans and the Media. Polity. 

Sugihara, Michelle K., and Jess Ju. “Media Matters: Why Asian American Representation in Media Is a Social Justice Issue – Asian American Policy Review.” Asian American Policy Review – A Harvard Kennedy School Student Publication, Harvard Kennedy School, 16 May 2022, https://aapr.hkspublications.org/2022/05/16/media-matters-why-asian-american-representation-in-media-is-a-social-justice-issue/.