Alison Kwong
Knight
EMAC 4372-001
12 December 2011
Ethnic Stereotypes in Viral Media
Ethnic stereotypes and racist rhetoric exist in all forms of media, and viral
objects are not excluded. The nature of viral media means that it can spread
examples of racial stereotypes all over the world, and that may change our ideas of
what is socially acceptable and what constitutes as an example of a culture.
Repeated exposure may cause our society to grow desensitized to issues of race or
ethnicity. However, these statements suggest that viral media creates ethnic
stereotypes; what if they simply reinforce existing stereotypes? Are all viral objects
that use racial humor offensive and demoralizing? A look at ethnic stereotypes in
viral media proves tricky, because not all viral objects are created equal.
To understand how ethnic stereotypes work in viral media, we must
understand what stereotypes are. McGarty, Yzerbyt, and Spears define stereotypes
in three parts: “(a) stereotypes are aids to explanation, (b) stereotypes are energysaving devices, and (c) stereotypes are shared group beliefs” (2). Basically,
stereotypes are widely shared mental shortcuts that help us distinguish one race
from another.
A prime example that illustrates all three principles is the Nyan Cat (aka Pop
Tart Cat) meme. Many parodies of the popular “Nyan Cat [original]” video are
“cultural” versions. These include American, Mexican, Russian, Chinese, and French
Nyan Cats. In the “Americ-NYAN Cat” video, the Nyan Cat’s color scheme replicates
an American flag (a blue body with white “sprinkles” and a red-and-white striped
trail), and it flies through a bright blue sky. The accompanying song is a remix of
“Stars and Stripes Forever.” On the other hand, the Nyan Cat in the “Mexican Nyan
Cat” video looks like a taco, has a mustache, and wears a sombrero, with a trail in the
colors of the Mexican flag. It travels through a desert full of cactus to music that is
reminiscent of Tex-Mex restaurants. Most of the other cultural versions of Nyan Cat
mirror the Mexican version in representation. The Chinese Nyan Cat wears a rice
picker hat, although it does fly to a more authentic Chinese national anthem.
On the most basic level, stereotypes are used to distinguish one ethnicity of
Nyan Cat from the other. McGarty, Yzerbyt, and Spears, in accordance with their
three principles of stereotypes, state, “We cannot have an impression of a group
unless we can tell the difference between that group and some other group” (3).
Viewers might be confused on the significance of uploading a version of the video
titled “Russian Nyan Cat” if there is no difference from the original. The label
wouldn’t make sense, because the audience would have no impression of the Nyan
Cat being remotely Russian. Instead, seeing a Nyan Cat with a nesting doll for a
body, wearing a fur hat and carrying a bottle of vodka, triggers cognitive recognition
of the Nyan Cat’s ethnicity. Even if the audience knows that not all Russians like fur
hats or vodka, they can recognize the designation because they draw from a
common cultural view, and they quickly recognize it without having to ask what the
details mean.
A deeper inspection focuses not on why stereotypes were used, but how they
were used. The American Nyan Cat shares colors with the American flag and flies to
the patriotic “Stars and Stripes Forever,” while the Mexican Nyan Cat is shaped like a
taco and flies to a song decidedly less patriotic to Mexico. The American version
projects only one element of American culture (and patriotism can be attributed to
any culture, so it’s nothing special), while the Mexican version projects several ideas
of stereotyped Mexican culture. Why the lack of depiction? M. Billig posits that
“‘We’ can claim that ‘they’ possess the qualities which ‘we’ deny in ‘ourselves’”
(Pickering 44). The poster of the “Americ-NYAN Cat” video appears to be American
(he/she wishes viewers a “Happy 4th of July!!!” in the video description), and
his/her decision to display patriotism rather than, say, obesity and alcoholism
reflects the idea that America does not have such distinguishing stereotypes as
other countries do. This is called ethnocentricism, or the belief that one’s own
culture is superior to other cultures.
However, this conclusion can only be drawn when the two versions of Nyan
Cat are compared side by side. Without the American version, the Mexican version
stands on its own as a fluffy piece of entertainment. A poll on Huffington Post found
that 57.83% of voters thought the video was “Adorable!” while only 7.89% thought
it was racist (“Mexican Nyan Cat Makes Us Uncomfortable (VIDEO)”).
One look at the YouTube comments for the video tells a different story. The
video has comments such as “At least he [sic] still in Mexico…where he belongs” and
“I think he's running from the boarder [sic] police!!!!!!” and “Come on your [sic]
almost over the border!” (what a testament to YouTube users’ racial humor and
grammar skills!). Some users attack these types of comments, calling the video
funny but the racist comments unfunny. The jokes can be considered offensive
because of the suggestion that Mexicans have a propensity for illegal activity, and
that they are unwanted in the U.S. But those YouTube users already held those
racist beliefs; nowhere in the video does it suggest that Mexicans illegally cross the
U.S. border. This seems to suggest that viral media does not propagate ethnic
stereotypes, but reinforces stereotypes that people already hold.
Some viral objects actually go viral because they are outrageously racist, like
the “Asians in the Library” video. A UCLA student name Alexandra Wallace made a
rant about Asians on campus (stereotyping them as one group), particularly
complaining about their cell phone habits in the library. A majority of viewers
vehemently cried out against Wallace. The incident made national news, and
Wallace had to drop out of UCLA. Controversial videos like this show that although
people think some ethnic stereotypes are funny, they also recognize when a
message is overtly racist and unacceptable. They incite public discourse, which
helps set standards of what views are acceptable and what views are not. Ironically,
Wallace’s video also reinforced the stereotype of an ethnocentric, dumb blonde
American girl.
Many viewers posted angry response videos to “Asians in the Library,” but
the two most popular ones employed humor. And not just any type of humor, but
racial humor, “parodying the…offensive video and its use of dubious Asian
stereotypes and slurs” (Lee). Viewers enjoyed “Ching Chong! Asians in the Library
Song (Response to UCLA's Alexandra Wallace),” in which the singer introduces
himself in a mock Japanese accent. They approved of “Vlog #4: Asians in the Library
- UCLA Girl (Alexandra Wallace) going wild on Asians,” which addressed all of
Wallace’s stereotyped views of Asians and made some stereotype jokes of its own.
Why was this lauded instead of condemned? Both of the video creators are of Asian
descent, so the racial humor was self-deprecating. As Dundes notes, “Sometimes the
negative import is determined by who utters the item to whom in the presence of
whom else! A joking self-deprecation told in the intimacy of the in-group becomes a
serious insult if articulated by an outsider or stranger” (102).
Logically, something can only be considered offensive if the party that is
meant to be offended is actually offended. David So, the creator of “Vlog #4,” was
offended by Wallace’s words, but since he poked fun at his own culture to make fun
of her, viewers knew that he was just putting up a comedy act. So countered
Wallace’s stereotypical accusations by articulating them in a positive light, showing
that the Asian way of doing things is superior to Wallace’s “White” ways, yet still
using stereotypes. Wallace complains that elderly Asian parents flock to the
apartment complexes to take care of their children instead of teaching them “how to
fend for themselves.”
So responds,
Whassat? We don’t know how to fend for ourselves? Are you kidding me
right now? Apparently you’ve never been to Asia. Whatchu think you think
you grown up because you go to a grocery store and you get some groceries?
B****, we grow our food! Those aren’t groceries. That’s food from our
backyard! We don’t know how to fend for ourselves… Do you know how to
kill, slaughter a cow in ten seconds, and put it back on a plate, huh? You don’t
know how to do anything? There’s a reason why you outsource your jobs to
people in Asia. That’s why we counterfeit all your s***.
Obviously, not all Asians are farmers, butchers, or counterfeiters. Yet the
way these stereotypes are used, along with the comedic timing, makes So’s video
humorous instead of offensive. Before the meat of his video, however, So makes a
confession, saying, “You know what? I’m not mad, I’m not mad. Because some of
that s*** is true. But the problem was, she said it out loud. And that’s why we got
problem.”
Sometimes objects go viral because they hold an amusing truth. In the vein
of Asian-based humor, the “High Expectations Asian Father” meme is an image
macro that features the head of a stern-looking elderly Asian man and includes text
that makes fun of Asian parents with high expectations (usually school or career
related) of their children. The “Tiger Mom” image macro serves much the same
function, but with the image of a stern Asian woman. Examples are “Your blood type
is B? …You should get blood type A” and “Son you can be anything you want…Doctor
or engineer.” Generally, Asian parents do have higher standards for their children
than American parents have for their children, because academics and hard work
are heavily ingrained in the Asian culture. While these image macros do use great
exaggeration, most people do not find them offensive, especially since they are
aimed at the children of Asian parents (to elicit a knowing laugh) and not the
parents themselves. In fact, two young Asian males created the “High Expectations
Asian Father” meme – another instance of self-deprecating humor.
Whether or not a viral object that uses ethnic stereotypes is considered
offensive depends on intent as well as content, for “what gives offense usually does
so in virtue of its motivational origins” (Morreall 231). The intent of “Asians in the
Library” appears to be a serious complaint about Asians and their activities since
there are no traces of humor (although Wallace tried to claim otherwise), and
people generally don’t like to be called an annoyance. While the racist comments on
the “Mexican Nyan Cat” video were intended to be jokes, they offended people
because they painted Mexicans in a negative light, implying that Mexicans often
illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border and that they aren’t wanted in the U.S.
We’ve established that ethnic stereotypes function differently in different
contexts, but does the fact that we can understand and laugh at them mean we are
all inherently racist? The answer is no. However, that doesn’t mean that we don’t
all hold some sort of stereotype or other. Racism has a negative connotation;
Merriam-Webster defines racism as "a belief that race is the primary determinant of
human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent
superiority of a particular race" or "racial prejudice or discrimination." Racial
stereotypes may be used to support racist beliefs and actions, but stereotypes can
be separate from racism. Stereotypes are simply categorizations, but how someone
approaches these categorizations determines whether or not they are racist. For
example, a vegetarian may believe that all African Americans eat fried chicken, so
he/she refuses to make any African American friends; he/she is racist for
discriminating against African Americans based on that stereotype. If someone does
not to discriminate against a certain group based on a stereotype, then by definition,
they are not racist.
Laughing at a stereotype joke also does not necessarily mean a belief in those
stereotypes, simply that they have knowledge of its use. “Stereotypes…deal with
traditional images of reality rather than reality itself,” states Dundes (103). These
traditional images were established long before the advent of viral media. Dundes
also claims, “Folklore provides the principal means of transmitting and
disseminating national character stereotypes…A proverb or joke told by members of
one national group about another may be more responsible for the first group’s
attitude about the second than any other single factor” (96). Folklore is just that,
“lore” – information that may or may not have been based on truth at one point in
time. Most people realize that not everyone will fit a stereotype.
The “Successful Black Guy” meme plays on our expectations of a stereotypical
statement. The image macro features an African American man in a business suit,
accompanied by text such as “They see me rollin’...Up my sleeves for some volunteer
work at the local shelter” or “I left my wife and kids…At home while I did the
shopping.” African American men are often stereotyped as gangsters, thieves, and
women abusers, but “The Successful Black Guy” never follows that formula. Use of
an anti-joke to produce an unexpected punch line illustrates just how deeply rooted
stereotypes are, even if we don’t believe in them.
Sometimes, people will realize that a joke is a bit crude, but they will laugh
anyway. People should not be judged on their moral standards based on what they
find funny, because “laughter is involuntary…its consequences are trivial, and…its
demands are at best merely aesthetic” (Morreall 228). Holding in laughter to avoid
offense “is a matter of etiquette, not of Ethics” (Morreall 229).
Morreall offers more insight:
More interesting is the criticism of laughter which arises from treating it as a
symptom. There are cases in which we say: ‘If you can laugh at something
like that, you must be insensitive, boorish cruel…’ Such strictures are related
to the Kantian criticism of motives, but they are not the same. For the
Kantian looks at the origin of the act only in the sense of looking at the goal
which it aims at. The ‘naturalness’ of laughter makes it inappropriate for this
kind of criticism. If we can answer the question ‘What did you intend to
achieve by laughing?’ then it was no genuine laughter at all. (232)
Laughter can be used as a sign of hate against different ethnicities, as when
Whites laughed at Black jokes during segregation, but that is not the type of laughter
caused by most ethnic stereotypes in viral media. Instead, stereotypes in viral
media cause us to laugh for a less ulterior motive: we simply can’t help it.
Sometimes we find things funny because others find it funny, too. Laughter
is primarily a social activity, and it “conceals a subconscious thought of community,
one might almost say of complicity, with laughing companions real or imaginary”
(Morreall 242). This is one reason we share viral media, because we want or expect
others to laugh as well. But for the same reason that laughter does not indicate
belief, “we do not have to agree with or like the memes we pass on, but only to
engage with them in some way” (Blackmore 232).
Today, viral media serves as our modern folklore. So in a sense, viral media
doesn’t propagate ethnic stereotypes, but it preserves what already exists. Yet we
are not desensitized to racial issues; as in the case of “Asians in the Library,” viral
media helps regulate our ideas of offensive stereotypes by inciting public discourse.
Unfortunately, sometimes harmless stereotypes also incite public discourse, of the
racist variety. However, stereotypes don’t necessarily lead to racism. Our identities
may be portrayed by what we choose to share, but sharing a piece of viral media
with racial humor doesn’t necessarily mean we are racist, just that it made us laugh.
Much of viral media runs on humor, and in the end, ethnic stereotypes are just a
laughing matter.
Bibliography
Blackmore, Susan. The Meme Machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Print.
Dundes, Alan. Cracking Jokes: Studies of Sick Humor Cycles & Stereotypes. Berkeley:
Ten Speed Press, 1987. Print.
Lee, Edward. “Did UCLA and NYT Overreact to Student’s ‘Asians in the Library’
Video?” HuffingtonPost.com. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 22 Mar. 2011.
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<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-lee/did-ucla-and-nytoverreac_b_838841.html>
McGarty, Craig, Vincent Y. Yzerbyt, and Russell Spears. Stereotypes as Explanations:
The Formation of Meaningful Beliefs about Social Groups. London; New York:
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“Mexican Nyan Cat Makes Us Uncomfortable (VIDEO).” HuffingtonPost.com.
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<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/mexican-nyancat_n_880614.html>
Morreall, John. The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor. Albany: State University of
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Pickering, Michael. Stereotyping: The Politics of Representation. Houndmills,
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