Asian American Empowerment - Racist Images Persist in Films

By Andrew Ma
©2004 Ka Leo O Hawaii
February 26, 2004

I love a good movie.

Enough so that I've even joined the University of Hawaii's brand-new, forward-thinking Academy for Creative Media, where crazed action, intense drama, and side-busting comedy have all been part of the fun in our filmmaking. But crossing the line from movie-watcher to movie-maker has also brought something else to the forefront -- my perspectives as an Asian American.

Looking around now at modern movies and TV shows, I'm thinking, "What the hell is going on with Asians in the media?" Something seriously stinks, and that something even has an appropriately nasty name: Racism.

Not like it's a recent phenomenon though. Asian Americans (AAs) have had a long-standing list of grievances with the media since the whole thing began. This is the same media injustice that rode in on the back of 150 years of oppression and discrimination against Asians, and while the consequences of that racism have hardly been confined to media products, we can just start there for now.

There are tons of dialogues available regarding specific media transgressions against AAs, such as those found on the Web site for the "Media Action Network for Asian Americans" (MANAA). However, sifting through these articles to find a comprehensive summary of the issue is a daunting task, to say the least.

So I wrote my own - both for myself and for those confused about what exactly is so problematic with the media portrayals of Asian Americans.

At the dawn of American cinema, Asians, blacks and anyone else of non-European descent were not allowed on-camera. Instead, whites came up with the blatantly offensive practices of "yellow-face" and "black-face", using white actors to play minorities. That wonderful idea continued for over half a century; as you can see in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Or for an even more laughable example, watch John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror."

Gradually, minorities began to be allowed on-screen, provided they strived for no more than the demeaning, narrowly-conceived, stereotypical roles written for them by whites: a servant, maid, houseboy, etc. Ever see "Bonanza?" Your parents' generation did.

Eventually, thanks to the efforts of actors like Sidney Poitier, blacks managed to turn the tables such that in the current political climate, it is not only allowed, but expected that a black character in any given show is fleshed-out as a full human being. To do otherwise risk provoking outrage from not only black America, but the general society at large.

The story has been severely different for many other minorities though, including Asian Americans. AAs have continued getting shafted with condescending and racist distortions right up to the present day. While that tide has slowly begun turning in recent years, this has been the exception far more than the rule, and it's by no means a done deal.

American portrayals of Asians have historically been designed with a very specific agenda in mind: to alienate, ostracize and otherwise paint a picture of Asians as rejects, outsiders and foreigners - in short, as less than human and less than truly American.

In the eyes of mainstream media, Asians have been universally reduced to one-dimensional caricatures whose sole purpose is to serve as an "exotic" backdrop for white America.

Given Hawaii's demographics, this structure is noticeably different in local programming, but a quick glance at movies and mainland television shows is all the reminder anyone needs.

Thanks to the incredibly dynamic success of actor Bruce Lee, AA roles finally broke out of the patronizing houseboy mold but have rarely taken another step forward since. It is vastly telling that the most popular Asian actors in American cinema today, such as Jet Li and Jackie Chan, are not even American. They were marketed here simply because they were already popular and successful in global markets, so Hollywood pounced on the opportunity to cash in. However, it has shown near-total unwillingness to promote any new depictions of Asians, hence the void of high-profile Asian American actors.

Instead, this is today's Asian American, brought to you by Hollywood and the networks.

Asian Men: Mysterious, sneaky, indecipherable, and "exotic." The kung-fu man. The Chinese restaurant waiter or delivery boy. (It doesn't matter if the actor is Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or of another Asian ethnicity. They're all the same right?) The nerd and math whiz. Sexually invisible (unless homosexual) and socially inept. Other favorites are the ghetto liquor store clerk and the evil triad gangster. Above all else, he must nearly always be a foreigner with a heavy accent, i.e. not-American (if the actor is native-born American or otherwise speaks fluent English, he's told to act like he doesn't.) If he's not a chinky-jap kung-fu powerhouse, he's pathetically weak and verbally helpless without his "Great White Savior;" as for example, in "Fight Club."

Asian Women: Also mysterious, sneaky, indecipherable and "exotic." The sinister, cold, money-grubbing, dragon lady *****. Often, per many a white male's personal favorite, she's the cheap Asian whore who exists purely for the gratification of white males. If she's not a psycho-slutty-gook *****, she's also totally weak and helpless without her "Great White Savior." Unless of course, she knows kung-fu. Again, foreign accent a plus. Examples? How about virtually every single American movie with an Asian female in it.

The straight white male fetish for female-Asian-whores has since also transferred to gay white males, who now want male-Asian-whores; example: "Boogie Nights."

Asian Men and Women Together? Forget it. Even if they are paired with a member of the opposite sex, it must be a white person. Portrayals of Asian male/white female unions are not as preferable to Hollywood as white male/Asian female unions, since the latter stays close to the heart of the Asian-whore fetish. But most especially, it's because the first image threatens the white male status quo. Either way, both portrayals will see the light of day long before an Asian man and woman are ever shown together in any meaningful way. The apparent message coming from Hollywood is that unless an Asian man or woman has a white partner, their relationship is insignificant.

Among the number of other ways devised to cut Asian Americans out of the picture, cultural looting seems to be the favorite. Here, you take all the usual symbolic icons of Asian culture (popular terminology, language characters, traditional clothing and designs, Asian geographical settings, martial arts, etc.) but replace leading roles with non-Asians, reducing the Asian-ness to little more than colorful dressing; examples: "Ronin," "The Art of War," "Six-String Samurai."

Another popular method is to consistently refer to Asians using only the most derogatory language, under the guise of being historically accurate or realistically raw. Media barons seem to think it's a good idea to reinforce the perspectives of racists by putting their words (chink, jap, gook, nip, slope, etc.) onto the big screen as often as possible.

While there are many things to be said for historical accuracy, the real problem is that this is done without any kind of balance. For every one portrayal of Asians as genuine human beings, there are a thousand portrayals of Asians as dismissible stereotypes.

On the flip side, a white actor can play the most horrible of characters without attaching any stigma to simply being white because for every role of an "evil white guy," there are countless roles for "good white guys." For every Adolph Hitler, you have a George Washington (Wait, didn't they both try to wipe out an entire people?).

And for every redneck-white-trash-cracker character, you have a ton of average, regular-Joe-type, white characters. Hell, white people will even make movies where the redneck cracker is the hero.

And the list goes on... Why showcase Asian/Polynesian talent in "Blue Crush," when you can promote a barely-known white female from the east coast to play the lead role and then feebly pass her off as "local?"

Better yet, do like "Pearl Harbor," and erase Asians/Polynesians entirely from the landscape of Hawai'i.

In more current news, a movie version of the book, "Eddie Would Go," is now being produced by a mainland company. I can't help shuddering. If they'll cast Rob Schneider as a dark-skinned Hawaiian local in "50 First Dates," I don't even want to think about how badly they'll butcher Eddie's story.

Let's look at "The Fast and the Furious," a movie about import-racing which is a sub-cultural phenomenon entirely created by Asian Americans. First drop white leads into the movie, then demote Asian men to flat, bad guy characters whose sisters sleep with white guys.

How about "Wing Commander?" A movie based on an Asian-created video game, where a potentially juicy role for an AA character is handled by killing him before the movie starts, then having two white actors talk about him in the past tense. And of course, his face is never seen.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

In "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," another Asian-video-game-based movie uses white leads, but at least actually uses a real Asian woman's voice (again, playing opposite a white male). However, then her animated character's appearance is designed to be that of a white female, which sounds alarmingly like a technologically upgraded version of "yellow-face." Though to be accurate, that would involve white actors voicing Asian characters. But I'm sure that never happens. Except in "Mulan." And "Lilo & Stitch." And... never mind.

Then there is the dilemma of hapa actors playing full-Asian roles because the movie execs want Asians who "look white" enough. (Half a comeback for "yellow-face?") While there is nothing wrong with hapas choosing to embrace their Asian heritages through acting, this casting process reveals quite a bit about the disturbed mentality still prevalent in Hollywood. A glaring example: "The Last Emperor."

By the same token, some hapa actors who aren't obviously Asian keep their ethnicity under wraps. One of the highest paid actors in the world is a hapa who has never made it generally known that his father is Chinese/Hawaiian. As far as most people know, Keanu Reeves is simply white. Marketing strategy?

None of this would matter if Hollywood didn't exercise an inordinate amount of influence over the entire world. But it does. And in this context, cultural looting means just that. They steal it, co-opt it with a white identity and mass-market it to the rest of the world while we sit back and eat popcorn.

"Lost in Translation," "The Transporter," "Two Days in the Valley," "Sixteen Candles," "Starship Troopers" (based on a book about Filipino characters), etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

It's by no coincidence that these portrayals (or removals) of Asians and Asian Americans have far and away been predominantly conceived, directed and otherwise produced by Caucasian people, who may claim to want to represent Asians and other minorities, but who invariably impose a "white spin" on things. It really is inherently ridiculous for someone to claim they represent a culture when they're not even of that culture. (Anthropology anyone?)

Finally, there is the potentially most dangerous consequence of this type of racism: internalized oppression. Again, the biggest problem with these race-based depictions is that there are simply no other depictions balancing them out. AAs that grow up never seeing well-rounded images of other Asians in the media may impose those limitations on themselves and further help perpetuate them. As comedian Margaret Cho joked, "When I was young, I used to dream that someday I would grow up to play an extra on "MASH."

How often do young AAs today imagine Asians on-screen being capable of more than chop-socky? How many a struggling Asian actor/actress has had to settle for playing grotesque parodies of Asians if they want to find work? Even worse, AAs producing in Hollywood may resign themselves to merely creating projects for white actors because they have been conditioned to feel that creating opportunities for Asian roles is unmarketably futile.

I think I speak for all intelligent Asian Americans when I say that I am completely sick and tired of this racist bullshit. These hollow distortions of Asians are projected across the country and around the world, though they don't even begin to mirror the reality of actual people.

It's way past time things changed, not solely for the benefit of 11 million Asian Americans, but for the benefit of us all. Because in the end, racism of any kind only feeds into more ignorance, hatred and fear, doing a massive disservice to everyone.

Fortunately, Asians have already begun finding their own voices in mainstream media and with the accelerating growth of the AA population, it's not even a question of "if," only "when." But it won't happen by itself. Among other things, it will take the continued efforts of progressively minded media-makers to bring about a permanent cultural shift.

Where better to do it than Hawai'i? And when better to do it than right now, at a time when the University of Hawai'i has finally launched its own state-wide film school?

The Academy for Creative Media challenges you to imagine new worlds and present them for everyone to see. I imagine a world where "American equality" amounts to something more than empty prose tossed thoughtlessly around for the sake of good rhetoric.