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| Image: theactionelite.com |
Hemant Shah in “Asian
Culture” and Asian American Identities in the Television and Film Industries of
the United States (2003) claims that “mass media, as important sites for the
production and distribution of cultural symbols, can be understood as central
not only to the policing of symbolic boundaries of difference between, for
instance, acceptable and unacceptable people and human characteristics, but
also as complicit in policies to segregate and degrade those deemed different”
(2) She refers to Asian characters in early 20th century cinema, as being
depicted as different from the white norm” (3) with four common stereotypes
discussed.
The Yellow Peril stereotype depicts Asian men as “menacing,
predatory and lusting after white women”. The Dragon Lady stereotype depicts
Asian women as “diabolical, sneaky, and mean, but with the added
characteristics of being sexually alluring and sophisticated and determined to
seduce and corrupt white men” (3). The Charlie Chan stereotype created in 1936
depicted Chinese men as non-threatening, wise, quiet and unassertive, and the Japanese
were represented by cruel Japanese soldiers. Post WWII, the roles changed as
China was viewed as a threat and Japan as non-threatening. So-called positive
images of Japan portrayed Asian women as “submissive, meek, and ready to serve
a man’s every need”. The Lotus Blossom stereotype was born of this image(4). China,
now the apparently “evil” communist nation, led to the Chinese in cinema to
once again be depicted in the Yellow Peril stereotype as “deceitful, cruel,
addicted to drugs, and hateful of Westerners”(4).
These stereotypes of Asians in American film and television
persist today. Asian men are represented by characters involved in drugs,
theft, and gang activity, while Asian women are still depicted as attractive
and manipulative (3-4).Images of Asians represented as the Yellow Peril and
Dragon lady stereotypes “dangerous and threatening…can be used to justify
racism, discrimination, policing, segregation, and form of degradation.” The
Charlie Chan and Lotus Blossom stereotypes as non-threatening and produce an
image that suggest that this is how “Asians and Asian Americans must behave if
they are to ‘fit in’”. At best these stereotypes are not good or beneficial
role models for Asians or Asian Americans. At worst, they are dangerous in the
sense that they enable and justify a population’s racism and exclusionism.
References
Shah, Hemant. “Asian
Culture” and Asian American Identities in the Television and Film Industries of
the United States. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2003.
