“Family Guy” and its Asian Stereotypes
“Family Guy” is well known to be a cartoon of disgrace and ill-mannered portrayals of real life events. Asian Stereotype was no exception portrayals in “Family Guy”. In many of the Asian stereotypical scenes in “Family Guy”, one of the episodes shows a scene about an Asian woman driver causing wreckage on the freeway as she exits out of the freeway itself. The following is a dialogue of the scene:
ASIAN FEMALE DRIVER. How much signals do I need to cut across a lane?
ASIAN FEMALE DRIVER. None?
ASIAN FEMALE DRIVER. I turn now, good luck everybody else. (Season 5 Episode 6, Family Guy)
Throughout the decades, Asian and women have been stereotyped as the worst drivers of all. With the combination of both, “Family Guy” portrays the Asian Stereotype by running this scene about the ultimate failure of an Asian woman driver to safely exit a freeway.
Aware of Asian Stereotypes
Just like any other racial stereotypes, Asian Stereotypes have been and always will be around in our society. The fact that Asians are allowed to be portrayed stereotypically in Media shows the lack of voices of this minority group. Asian stereotypes are taken lightly by others, and yet heavily by the Asian population. Whether one likes it or not, Asian stereotype does not disappear eternally. As individuals of intellectual specie, we have to acknowledge the power of a racial stereotype and the possibilities of it remaining to be an eternal issue. To allocate such problem to another perspective, we must aim to become aware of them, by viewing these Asian Stereotypical films of what your average American watches on TV or at the movies. Although when Asian characters seem harmless (Jackie Chan in “Rush Hour” series) or humorous...
... middle of paper ...
...Your Ears. Dir. James Purdum and Peter Shin. Perf. Seth MacFarlane. 20th Century Fox Television, 2006. Television Program.
"Jackie Chan Biography." Bio.com. Ed. Leanne French, Eudie Pak, and Laura Grimm. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
"Jeremy Lin Biography." Bio.com. Ed. Leanne French, Laura Grimm, and Eudie Pak. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
Linsanity. Dir. Evan Leong. Perf. Jeremy Lin. Independent Film, 2013. Film.
Rush Hour 2. Dir. Brett Ratner. Perf. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. New Line Cinema, 2001. Film.
Rush Hour 3. Dir. Brett Ratner. Perf. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. New Line Cinema, 2007. Film.
Rush Hour. Dir. Brett Ratner. Perf. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. New Line Cinema, 1998. Film.
"Yao Ming Biography." Bio.com. Ed. Leanne French, Laura Grimm, and Eudie Pak. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
Pulp Fiction. Dir. Tarantino Quentin. Perf. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth
American Psycho. Dir. Mary Harron. Perf. Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, and Josh Lucas. Lions Gate Films, 2000. Film.
Rebel Without a Cause. Dir. Nicholas Ray. Perf. James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Jim
Into the Wild. Dir. Sean Penn. Perf. Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn. IMDb. 15 Nov. 2013. 18 Nov. 2013
O Brother, Where Art Thou. Dir. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Perf. George Clooney, John
Natural Born Killers. Dir. Oliver Stone. With Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Robert Downy Jr. Warner Bros., 1994.
"Sir Elton John Biography." Sir Elton John. The Biography Channel, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft. Perf. Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, and Bradley Darryl Wong. Walt Disney, 1998. Film.
For many years, racial and ethnic stereotypes have been portrayed on multiple television programs. These stereotypes are still illustrated on a day-to-day basis even though times have changed. Racial or ethnic stereotypes should not be perpetuated on certain television programs. These stereotypes provide false information about groups, do not account for every person, allow older generations to influence younger generations, create tension between groups, and affect people in many ways.
"Donald Trump Biography - Family, Childhood, Children, Parents, Story, Wife, School, Information, Born, College, Contract." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 09 Dec. 2011.
Abstract My research focused on the coverage of Asian Americans in contemporary mass media. The following types of media were researched. Music Television Films Magazines I gave several examples where Asian Americans used to play very simple characters. These roles were defined by stereotypes that exist in America.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Dir. Michel Gondry. Perf. Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet. Focus Features, 2004. DVD.
More About the Film “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life. Joe DiMaggio. PBS., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
Bowling for Columbine. Dir. Michael Moore. Perf. Michael Moore, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Manson, Matt Stone, and Dick Clark. DVD. MGM, 2003
The Pianist. Dir. Roman Polanski. Perf. Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Fox. 2001. DVD. Universal Studios, 2003.