Lisa ko grew up in a small town with small minded white people leaving her one of the only brown kids in class. Therefore, leading her to be heavily impacted by those small minded people resulting in being ashamed of her culture at a point and also making her main protagonists in her novels and short stories only white folk. Ko was only 5 years old when she wrote her first book called, Magenta Goes to College, peaking her writing interests. She wrote all through middle and high school. Her high school teachers really inspired her to write. Later in her career, she realized all her protagonists were white and wanted to change that. Why she made her protagonists white is simply because of the lack of representation for Asian americans in the …show more content…
In just recent years it’s become a”trend” , more like a movement, to appreciate WHO you are and WHERE you come from. When I was younger, I was taught that kinky, curly, frizzy hair is “ugly” and that if you were dark-skinned, you were “ugly” and flat noses with big nostrils were “ugly” and big lips looked like “clown lips”. There’s plenty of people I know that their parents/elders bleached their skin because it was “too dark” and “not pretty”. This is why people are ashamed of their culture. Ignorance stated of Asians are: saying they’re Chinese when they’re not, or they eat dog and cats, Asian women are “cold-hearted” or “easy”. These are just some of the stereotypes of Asians, Blacks, and people of color in general, that society has made for us. Because of these stereotypes we are ashamed of our culture and we’re anxious to share our culture with those outside of our culture because we’re anxious that they’ll make fun or stereotype the culture. This is how our protagonist in “The Leavers” feels. He seems embarrassed to share his culture and speak his mother tongue. There’s an incident in the novel that a Chinese woman came up to Daniel trying to speak to him in Mandarin, but he just froze and said “I don’t speak Chinese.” This made Daniel feel bad because he knew exactly how she felt but he was too ashamed to say something to her because he was with his friends (who are white) and …show more content…
If POC had greater representation is the media we wouldn’t be ashamed of our culture. And I’m not just talking about having a Black person in a show full of white people. We NEED people who don’t stereotype their own culture. We don’t need someone who doesn’t accept their own culture out there on a show that’s suppose to be representing us, but they stereotype their own people. We see this too often in media with our beautiful people of color. The stereotypical “diverse”, show is there’s the “ghetto” Black person, “nerdy” Asian, and the “sassy” Latina. These people who plays these roles are honestly not someone to support. How the stereotypes of POC in the media affected our author, Lisa Ko, is she decided to make her protagonist someone that looks like her going through a relatable misfortune. POC never are protagonists and have good storylines, Ko totally broke that with “The Leavers” with Deming Guo as the protagonist with a completely relatable and interesting situation. Ms. Lisa grew up making almost all her protagonist white because-especially at that time- there was little to no good representation for POC. But, she made a whole vow to start making her protagonists Asian/POC BECAUSE she saw other colored authors making their protagonists people of color. One author that inspired Lisa Ko to create these characters with such personalities was Bette Bao Lord, the author of “In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson”. Ms. Bette
“Indeed, Kogawa has multiple struggles as a Canadian, a woman, and a minority, and although some believe that language is inadequate to express the truth of the past, her perspective helps to unveil and include minority positions in order to rectify the discrimination that conceals them,” (Shoenut 478). Through Naomi’s past, Kogawa allows readers to explore the flaws of human nature. Shoenut explains how Naomi was in all of the categories of being a minority, by stating that she is a women, and of Japanese descent. Even though Naomi struggled a lot in her life, she was able to unveil the hidden truths of
Under Sue’s theme of “Pathologizing cultural values/communication styles” (76), a form of microaggression develops. Asians are typically taught to listen rather than speak. The school system typically emphasizes participation to speak in class which may be more intimidating for Asians due to their background and important of silence. Participants of Sue’s study “felt forced to conform to Western norms and values (‘talking more’) when such behaviour violated their cultural upbringing” (77). In other words, Asians participants felt uncomfortable trying to fit the White standard of talking and participating in
Whiteness was the first main subject she approached. She explains that Whiteness is usually expressed by “illuminating the invisible,” but most consider it normal rather than a marker of white culture. Whiteness is something perceived by Whites and usually considered the “normal”. The norm for one person is obviously different from the next and Whiteness is almost like an advantage without even knowing. The woman then described all things that were normal to her growing up like her neighborhood, country club, or teams she was a member of. It’s considered so normal because how under looked it is to White people who don’t realize this advantage they have. The white culture isn’t an entity, but more so a combination of different individuals that have little else in common but skin color. The more Marx interviewed these women the more she realized they had racial backlash.
Rebecca Walker is a Jewish African American young women, who experience a heart breaking childhood. Growing up she was shuffled from one side of the country to the other, switching form one world to the other. In Rebecca Walker’s famous book, Black, White, and Jewish, she struggled to choice what race she wanted to be acquainted with, struggled to build lasting relationships, and continued to fight for the love and attention she wanted.
I gave several examples where Asian Americans were used to play very simple characters. These roles were defined by stereotypes that exist in America. I also researched instances on counter actions taken by Asian Americans to protest against these negative images. My research also has examples of Asians that have succeeded in breaking through the racial barriers in the media.
In addition, 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. There is a dominant white preference over the effects certain stereotypes may have on Asians and Asian Americans (Park, 2005).
The world of television can either completely hit or miss the mark when it comes to providing its audience a diverse cast/actors. "Girls" is a new HBO show about young, prosperous, and white New Yorkers in their twenties struggling to find their footing in the post-collegiate world. It is a poor example of representation of race, but the show in itself cannot be held responsible for the whole problem of racial diversity of media and popular culture. There has been a lot of controversy about the show's diversity since the first episode, seeing how it is set in the melting pot of NYC and Brooklyn, yet it is prominently white. The shocking part is that despite its meting pot nature, it is very easy to live a segregated social life in New York City, especially if you are a rich white person. The fact that the show is so white should not come off as unusual, yet it does because this generation is more willing to see that change happen in pop culture. Not everyone sees it that way and pop culture still does not represent races equally or at times even accurately. For example, when show do add in minorities they often make them extremely stereotypical to their race. The recurrence in the lack of realistic representation in the show highlights the “whiteness” of stereotypical roles that overshadows real life representation.
... It is apparent that Asian Americans are able to create representations that refute lingering stereotypes in alternative and independent venues, but can that continue into mainstream media? In order for this to happen Asian Americans need to be involved at the center of telling their own stories. Both of the venues that Cho and Lee participate in allow them to tell their stories the way they want them to be told. No one else is getting in between what they have to say and what is seen. This freedom of self-expression is what allows for a wealth of counter hegemonic images that act to subvert and renegotiate previous stereotypes. Asian Americans need to be present in the production of mainstream media, telling their own stories the way they should be told. This will allow for new representations of Asian Americans to emerge and be present for a much grander audience.
The early 1900s was a very challenging time for Negroes especially young women who developed issues in regards to their identities. Their concerns stemmed from their skin colors. Either they were fair skinned due mixed heritage or just dark skinned. Young African American women experienced issues with racial identity which caused them to be in a constant struggle that prohibits them from loving themselves and the skin they are in. The purpose of this paper is to examine those issues in the context of selected creative literature. I will be discussing the various aspects of them and to aid in my analysis, I will be utilizing the works of Nella Larsen from The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Jessie Bennett Redmond Fauset, and Wallace Brown.
Two authors that had shared there struggles with dealing with the concept of being transcultural and how trying to fit in made it very difficult, Amy (Tan) and David (Suzuki).Wrote About how being born as one culture and growing up in a different doesn’t mean you have to fit in letting yourself be who you can let you grow not only in your culture but you genetic one. For example, Amy Tan’s Fish Cheek helps understand a deeper meaning about trying to fit in with being an average; “American Girl.” The article is about a real story about how she wanted to change herself genetically so that she could look average and the person she was trying to impress would like her. As a child she didn't understand the importance of being unique and happy with your culture, her mother explained to her that; "But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame." Most people might find it easy by not trying to fit in but in reality we all want to fit in and be like everyone else. Furthermore, David Suzuki is another person who had struggled with accepting the idea of never fitting in he writes that; “I was born a Canadian.” He writes that he is proud that he is different through the struggles of dealing with not fitting in with either cultures he accepted that
At the end of the NPR article they discuss the problem between keeping television shows diverse, “without amplifying the problems of stereotyping and prejudice” (Feld). Television shows feel that in order to a successful show with diversity, the people need to be cast-typed or take on every stereotype that is associated with that particular race or gender. The Erigha article discusses how, “many of actors were type-casted, or put in racialized roles, that fit their ethnicity” and some of these people do not necessarily fit that type, “they used Asian Actors as an example, many of the actors that were born in America, were asked to speak in a Chinese accent.”
All women are too sensitive! All Mexicans are illegal immigrants! If you’re from the South, then you are ignorant! Most people have heard at least one of these stereotypes pertaining to a certain group. Some people believe them whilst others do not. American Born Chinese illustrates three stories depicting the custom of stereotypes surrounding society: “The Monkey King”, the story of Monkey King’s thirst for infinite power, and his quest for atonement; “Jin Wang”, the story an awkward boy who tries to “fit in” the community around from but constantly fails; and “Danny”, the story about a high schooler who feels uncomfortable by his stereotypically negative Chinese cousin Chin-Kee. In this day-and-age, stereotypes are what bring people together, and stereotypes are what set people apart. To be ignorant of stereotypes would be a disastrous event as one would consequentially be ignorant to the prejudices engulfing them daily. Even though this causes problems throughout different communities, the way some individuals choose to address stereotypes is through laughter. From start to finish the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang purposefully satirizes Asian stereotypes in hopes that the reader opens up to the fact that stereotypes are indeed existent in today’s society.
Unlike hooks and Frankenberg who give detailed views on the idea of whiteness that consistently criticize it as a way of thinking that influences our lives, instead McIntosh gives the readers a perspective of whiteness from a privileged white woman. McIntosh 's admittance and understanding to her class and racial advantage allows her to be able to view the problems surrounding whiteness and by doing so, allows her to make the changes needed to make a difference. Even with the different class viewpoint, McIntosh acknowledges the idea that "whites are taught to think their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average.." (McIntosh 98) and that this way of thinking creates a situation where whites view non white individuals to be abnormal and under average. This prescribed way of thinking produces the idea that if a white individual volunteers or works to help others, this helpfulness is a way of assisting non-whites to be more like whites. This form of education that the people, who have access to education, receive can then be understood as being obviously problematic. The perspective of class is an important viewpoint from McIntosh because as a privileged white woman, she is provided with more access to education and varying resources than many people. Again, the subject of education is brought forward. This access to the different educational institutions that she has had and her acknowledgement to her uneducated ideas on race show how the educational system had failed her. "As a white feminist, I knew that I had not previously known I was 'being racist ' and that I had never set out to 'be racist '" ( Frankenberg 3). Although Frankenberg had begun with the goal of working for the rights of feminism, her lack of knowledge on race, hindered her from understanding more aspects of
In her letter, Woo references the time she saw her father humiliated by two white cops. At the time of writing the letter she feels anger towards the racist police officers, but at the time of the event she was a victim of learned behavior and also becomes a part of her father’s abuse. Learning to be ashamed of your father when he is not able to fit the “masculine” schema you have made for him is a socially taught and reinforced belief, which in this case manifests as a behavior when Woo says “I was so ashamed after that experience when I was only six years old that I never held his hand again” (Woo, 164). In this flashback to her childhood Woo and her father are not the only ones expressing learned behaviors. The two white cops who mock the Asian immigrant do so because in some way, whether from prompting by society, teachings from their upbringing, or any other way, these officers were taught to be racist. Her father’s learned helplessness is what gave him a chance to survive in America, the cop’s learned racism helped them get ahead in a society that values “whiteness”. Just like with racism the ignorance of sexism is also taught and is not coded into our genes. Woo is disheartened that some of her Asian brother’s do not support her fight for the Third World women and against sexism. She points out that they are trading vices when “these men of color, with clear vision, fight the racism in white society, but have bought the white male definition of ‘masculinity’” (Woo,
An unexpected twist, that Pecola’s bright, blue eyes would be the source of her blindness. Nothing pummeled at her mind more than her inexorable yearning for a physical trait exclusive to white culture. The porcelain-skinned children of storybooks taught her that beautiful, sparkling blue eyes were the golden key to beauty, and she retained this information well. She wasn’t the only one. Girls of colored skin have been pressured for years to strip themselves of their culture—mentally, emotionally, even physically—and not much has changed. Toni Morrison forces us to confront the formidable oppression pressed onto people of color by people void of it in her novel, The Bluest Eye.