The Suite Life: Asian-American Woman

When The Suite Life introduces London in the first episode of season one (figure 1), she is presented in colorblind perspective as her appearance is nothing nerdy like the Asian or Asian-American that is often portrayed in American media. As the hotel manager approaches her and tells her that her father restricts her social activities due to her poor performance at school, London immediately protests.
London: “When is he [her father] gonna realize that education and me, just don’t mix.”
Maddie: “Education and I”.
London: “Hello? This isn’t about you!”
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London’s grammatical error in her response show that she is intellectually lacking. This scene shows that London offers a different portrayal of Asian-American woman as she

Such representation that, in a way, strips her Asian traits without disregarding her Asian physical appearance that merely serves as the visual diversity The Suite Life tries to portray. It guides the audience to see the character in a ‘colorblind’ frame, where race is present, but it does not affect the way individuals of color are treated in the society (Doane, 2014; Bonilla-Silva 2014; Schofield (1986) in Neville, et al, 2000). Therefore, through this frame, The Suite Life attempts to utilize the racial equality perspective in London’s portrayal in an environment dominated by White people.
Even though London’s Asian-ness seems to be disregarded as she barely has any racial attribution, her colorblind representation, as Bonilla-Silva (2014) argued, further reify the dominant ideology of race in which White is the most superior. Her name itself suggests that her character is a parody of Paris Hilton, the famous Caucasian American celebrity and Hilton’s hotel heiress during the year The Suite Life was broadcasted on Disney Channel (2005-2007). Both women’s names are cities (‘Paris’ and ‘London’) and their surnames rhyme (‘Hilton’ and ‘Tipton’). Additionally, the sixth episode of season two, Forever Plaid, implies that the character