Asian Stereotypes

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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 20^th 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.