Essay On Asian Media

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Media is something that is essential in a person 's life today. It can be in forms such as books, film, music, and others. The media can play an important role in where it can show society how they should view certain images and it changes over time. Previously before, the Asian image created by the media had been different from what it is today. Many media scholars had argued that the Asian and Asian American image in popular culture were often negative and demeaning. Ever since the beginning, when Asians first started to migrate to the United States, the mainstream media had symbolically destroyed the image of Asians and Asian Americans. In chapter 15 of Asian Pacific American Experiences: Past, Present, and Future, Timothy P. Fong, Valerie …show more content…

The image of an Asian has been distorted in the media. “For decades Hollywood films have consistently played on the theme of ‘Orientals’ as the ‘other’” (180). As Hollywood is primarily dominated by white Americans, many popular Asian characters were played by white actors who were poorly made to look Asian. If an Asian American were to play a role of an Asian character, it would be for an unpopular film. If the film was to gain traction, the Asian American actors would be quickly replaced with a white actor who dyed their hair black and used taped to make the eyes look Asian. An example of this happening would be with the character of Charlie Chan who was played by a Japanese-American but then soon replaced with white actors. “This practice, commonly known as yellowface, entails non-Asian performers playing Asian characters” …show more content…

A dragon lady is a stereotype where an Asian woman "is sneaky, untrustworthy, and devious" (187). A lotus blossom is the opposite of a dragon lady. A lotus blossom is when an Asian woman is "passive, sexually compliant, and easy to seduce." Lucy Liu portrays the dragon lady stereotype in many of her films. In Kill Bill: Vol.1 Liu plays the villain O-Ren Ishii, head of the Tokyo’s Yakuza an expert assassin skilled with a samurai sword.
Some other stereotypes Asian Americans portrayed as are perpetual foreigners or the model minority. Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners as they will never acculturate with United States society and therefore they have broken English and "backward customs and manners" (188). As the opposite of perpetual foreigners, Asian Americans are often portrayed as the model minority as well. Asian Americans were to have high-paying professions, well-mannered, and part of American society.
However, recently, the Asian American image has seen some progress. Many Asian-American are getting more traditional Hollywood roles that do not follow the stereotypes as they previously have seen. In Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, the two main characters are of Asian descent, one Korean and one Indian, who are doing activities that would counter the model minority

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