Construction of Asian American Women in Television and Film Through the Careers of Lucy Liu
and Kelly Hu
Vivian Hoa
Professor Ted Gournelos
CMC 200
March 22, 2013
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Literature Review
Asian American Stereotypes
There are a number of stereotypes that define Asian Americans but perhaps the
longest-standing stereotypical depiction of Asians is that of “yellow peril.” Yellow peril is the
representation of Asians and Asian Americans as threatening to take over, invade, or negatively
“Asianize” the US, including its society and culture. Thus constructing an Asian-white dialectic
highlighting the powerful and threatening capability of Asians and Asian Americans, while at the
same time showing white Americans as vulnerable, threatened, or otherwise in danger (Ono
and Pham 2009, 25). This results in the fear of Asians and Asian Americans because they are
looked at as foreigners and usually depicted as the greedy villains, opportunistic hustlers,
predators, criminals, or otherwise enemies or threats to the US and thereby stamped as
dangerous (Ramasubramanian 2011). Even the use of broken English, a type of speech many
actors embody to give an “authentic” portrayal of Asians, is a social marker of their alien status
(Larson 2006, 69-70).
Similar to the yellow peril discourse, yellowface is greatly dependent on the historical
treatment of Asians and Asian Americans. It is the practice, mainly in the early twentiethcentury Hollywood but still done today, of white actors playing Asian and Asian American
characters; a convention that denied Asian and Asian American characters genuine characters
and ensuring that they were played by “whites” (Ono and Pham 2009, 45), thereby giving a
biased perception of Asians on screen and furthering the support of white dominance. It was
also suggested that audiences were more familiar and comfortable with seeing a white person
playing the stereotype (50). “Yellowface is a practice of cultural appropriation; taking what is
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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thought to be Asian or Asian American and making it into something that sells to audiences”
(46), and in this case it is from the perspective of non-Asians. It is also a form of mockery,
subjugating Asians and Asian Americans into a level of inferiority and the bud of the joke (61),
especially with the use of heavy yellow cream make-up, exaggerated accents, and heavy wigs to
complete an “authentic” Asian look (Larson 2006, 68).
All of this contributes to the concept of Orientalism. A European invention of what white
Europeans deemed true about Asians. Looking at it from a Western framework, “it helped put
the East in its place and defined more clearly what was East and what was West” (Ono and
Pham 2009, 43), further alienating Asians and Asian Americans. During which in the 1930s
Hollywood glamour focused on the image of the exotic Oriental that corresponded with the
launch of the cosmetic industry. Women were able to wear Oriental make-up and clothing,
emulating the exoticism of Asia while still maintaining their white virtue (Prasso 2005, 83).
Much has changed since the 1930s, but Asian and Asian American stereotypes still
persist. The media stereotypes Asians as shy, quiet, hardworking, great at math however bad
with English, and the academically achieving but lacking a social life. They are the “Model
Minority.” A seemingly positive stereotype of Asians and Asian Americans as intelligent,
hardworking, and technologically savvy; high achievers who work in number-crunching
professions with limited communication and language skills required such as, engineering and
sciences (Zhang 2010, 32).
Social Acceptance of Asian American Stereotypes
Like the practice of yellowface, stereotypes help white viewers feel at ease with what
they understand to be Asian, but when people encounter Asians and Asian Americans in real
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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life there is a sense of lacking in “Asianness” (Ono and Pham 2009, 60). The Asian in person
didn’t match up to the Asian on screen, which leads to an understanding of how large an
influence television and film have on the viewers.
Both the cultivation and social cognitive theories connect media content to the
acquisition of stereotypes. It was proposed that as individuals are exposed to stereotypical
portrayals of racial groups through the media, specifically through TV, individuals acquire
stereotypes that are congruent to the ways the groups are portrayed (Zhang 2010, 22; Dalisay
and Tan 2009, 8). It was suggested that repeated exposure to media stereotypes could lead to
social acceptance of stereotypes as reality (Zhang 2010, 22), even if the stereotypes held no
truth to the race they depicted.
Regardless of the scholarly accusation of the model minority as an inaccurate,
overgeneralized, and distorting stereotype, and more of a myth than reality, the general public
seems to accept the stereotype as a social reality. In which Asians are perceived as most likely
to accomplish academic success” (Zhang 2010, 32). The nerd image repeatedly seen on screen
provokes laughter rather than questions of authenticity. Laughing seems to diffuse the
competitive threat that whites feel from high-achieving Asian Americans and a way to contest
academic and economic success, but it also invites a sense of superiority over Asian Americans
(Larson 2006, 72).
In another aspect, positive stereotyping was promoted when individuals had positive
contact experiences with Asians and Asian Americans, while negative contact experiences
resulted in negative stereotyping. But if direct contact was lacking then media was used as tools
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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for formation and reinforcement of racial stereotypes (Dalisay and Tan 2009, 8). In both cases,
the acceptance or promotion of a stereotype is shown without questioning.
Negative Effects of Asian American Stereotypes
As a result of being stereotyped as outcasts who are different, shy, quiet, boring, and
lacking communication skills, people might be reluctant to initiate friendship with Asians during
their initial encounters, because people are more willing to initiate friendship with those who
seem similar, good at self-disclosure, and have good social and communication skills (Zhang
2010, 33).
The nerd stereotype could have very damaging effects on the socialization process of
Asian Americans because peer exclusion from social networks could easily happen to those who
are perceived as lacking adequate language, communication, and social skills (Zhang 2010, 32).
It turns the model minority stereotype into a joke because nerds are depicted as academic
overachievers who lack social skills or scholarship winners with no romantic interests (Larson
2006, 72). Also, the poor communicator stereotype could limit Asian Americans’ career
prospects (Zhang 2010, 32). In an study conducted by Francis Dalisay and Alexis Tan (2009),
experimental evidence presented that positive television portrayals of Asian Americans can
invoke negative perceptions of African Americans. Yet if Asian Americans are shown negatively,
this could foster positive perception of African Americans. Therefore it was not recommended
that minority groups, in particular Asian Americans, be portrayed in an entirely positive manner
(18).
From another perspective, rather than evoking admiration the seemingly positive model
minority stereotype reinforces beliefs that racial discrimination does not exist in modern
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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America and that race-targeted policies such as affirmative action are no longer needed for
racial minorities. Essentially, portrayals of Asian Americans, even the so-called positive model
minority stereotypes, can promote racial hierarchies, such as white dominance, and uphold
boundaries between various racial groups (Ramasubramanian 2011). Positive stereotyping is
basically a way for seemingly inoffensive discriminatory biases to gain broad acceptance.
Whether it is based on race, gender, sexual orientation or some other social divide, positive
stereotyping is thinly veiled prejudice; a furtive gateway to across-the-board discrimination
(Bridgeman 2013).
Because Asian American women and men are depicted as mystics, nerds, and victims, it
is important to realize that each of these stereotypes ‘otherizes’ Asian Americans by making
them look like they do not fit into contemporary American society. These images are often onedimensional, conducing the person to a single attribute” (Larson 2006, 72). The consequences
of racial marginalization can lead to the shunning or mistreatment of Asians (Moore 2003).
Hollywood Film Industry
The Hollywood film industry plays a large part in perpetuating Asian stereotypes
through manipulative outdated practices and its focus on capital. Hollywood films are not as
popular as they once were before due to the popularity of television, and now in competition
with video games and the Internet, but it still has a very powerful global influence (Benshoff
and Griffin 2009, 23). Ironically, within the US, Hollywood films are so dominate in theaters and
attainable through home media that Americans have little access to other types of films (22).
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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Another limiting, but key feature of Hollywood is it’s beloved star system, created in the
1910s and 1920s when Hollywood realized that people formed an attachment to their favorite
actors and would pay to see any of their films. It is essentially a caste system in which certain
people, movie stars, are elevated above others and set as the ideal construction of beauty,
appropriate gender behavior, skin color, class, sexuality, and so forth (Benshoff and Griffin
2009, 33-34). Applying this concept to Asian American actors and actresses, it could be said that
however Hollywood chooses to project Asian Americans on screen would be the ideal standard
of being Asian.
Due to negative feelings about Asian Americans prevalent in American culture,
Hollywood’s attempt to expand its target audiences is constrained, and despite the increasing
market values of Asian Americans, Hollywood is possibly unwilling to portray successful Asian
characters for fear of provoking its mainstream audiences who hold prejudice against Asians
(Park 2005, 20). Thus, upholding a dominant white preference over the effects certain
stereotypes may have on the minority Asians and Asian Americans.
Even so, it seems that Hollywood isn’t picky about who plays the part, “Hollywood casts
Chinese playing Korean, or Japanese playing Chinese, because it's all the same to the studios”
(Stokes as cited in Moore 2003). Take for example, Mako Iwamatsu, a Japanese-American actor
who has been casted to play Chinese, Tibetan, and Vietnamese characters throughout his
career (Moore 2003). Although films produced by Hollywood are at times considered art, it is
important to note that Hollywood is first and foremost a business; one that sticks to what it
knows because it knows it will sell.
Typecasting
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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Typecasting is an essential, yet unspoken, practice in the Hollywood film industry. It is
when an actor is strongly identified with a particular character. Typecasting puts a restraint on
an actor’s career and limits them to only certain roles. Both the infamous Anna May Wong and
Lucy Liu have spoken out about their racially limiting roles, and expressed that they did not
have a choice in the matter (Liu as cited in Shimizu 2007, 59; Prasso 2005, 81). Typecasting in
film is, for the most part, inescapable because the business of film acting, especially the star
system, relies on recognizability, marketability, and the necessity for known commodities
(Wojcik 2003, 224).
Different categories of types can formulate from a number of reasons such as, defined
by the actors lines, appearance, personality, to represent a social type, stock character, or
associated with certain stereotypes (Wojcik 234, 244). Although typing goes against most
theories of naturalism, it has become an integral part of the casting process in Hollywood (241),
and stereotypes have become a preference because they contribute a sense of authenticity in
compliance to popular notions of social categories (Park 2005, 9).
Casting is consciously guided by prevalent racial “common sense” means, in which
Hollywood methodically discourages racial minority actors and actors from playing roles that
are not related with racial stereotypes (Park 2005, 10). Asian Americans are thus subjected to
typical and “proper” Asian roles, often times used as “background color” in minor roles such as
waiters, cooks, servants, laundry workers, peasants, or gardeners. Even when they are cast for
more prominent roles, they are lacking in depth and portray Asians as villains, warmongers,
geishas, karate experts, dragon ladies, or prostitutes (Mok 1998, 186).
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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Oddly enough, “the more Asians look and act Asian, the less acceptable they are and the
more likely they will be portrayed as villains,” whereas, “the more ‘White’ Asians look and act,
the more acceptable they are and the more positive their portrayal” (Mok 1998, 194). This can
be a contribution to the limiting factors for Asian and Asian American actors and their inevitable
stereotypical roles.
Media Representation
The light in which media depicts a certain group is crucial to how they are perceived by
the mainstream public. Numerous forms of popular culture help create and bring about the
racialized divisions and stereotypes by disseminating symbols and images in which racist ideas
and beliefs are inscribed in both explicit and implicit ways (Park 2005, 4). Visual media is
inadvertently used to sustain common sense assumptions and specific knowledge about racial
minorities by defining racial characteristics (5).
Although the number of Asian Americans are growing in the US they are underrepresented, marginalized, and misrepresented in mainstream media. For instance,
Asian/Pacific Islanders are rarely cast for central roles and form only 3% of all prime-time
characters (Ramasubramanian 2011). The media representations of Asian Americans have
changed from being blatantly negative (yellow peril, coolie, gook, and deviant stereotypes) to
the seemingly positive model minority stereotype to accompany the changing political, social,
cultural, and economic circumstances (Zhang 2010, 21). The media has and continues to fail in
properly representing Asian Americans by racially lumping all Asian subgroups under one
umbrella and ignoring the interracial differences. Thereby indicating that there are no
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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distinctions between these diverse subgroups, even though in reality they differ largely in terms
of language, culture, religion, ethnicity, and nationality (Mok 1998, 186; Park 2005, 5).
Asian and Asian American Women in Television and Film
It has been argued that the representation of female Asian bodies in film, influenced by
the U.S. militarism and neo-colonial domination of Asia, as objects of sexual conquest in
American popular culture is a manifestation of white colonial desire known as ‘Asianphilla,’
which means “Euroamerican expressions of fondness and attraction to Asian and Asian
American women” (Hamamoto as cited in Park 2005, 6). This is a possible contribution to the
way Asian and Asian American women are depicted and over sexualized in modern America.
Looking back to the 1970s, television sitcoms gave us images of Asian women as brides
and servants. They were docile, obedient, and portrayed as dignified, but they still needed help
and guidance from their husbands or masters (Prasso 2005, 65). Progressing onward to the
1980s. The importance of Asian women on television was scaled back, but TV shows continued
to give Asian women small parts in their usual role. It wasn’t until the 1990s that television
started to change. Female Asian characters we suddenly empowered, but sexually (71).
Asian and Asian American women’s bodies, like many women of color, are commodified
and made readily available for white male consumption. ” (Chou 2012, 79). The imposed
meanings of Asian sexuality are often times exploitative and coercive. The media, television,
and film socializes Asian and Asian American women by their defined sexuality (98), which has
an effect on and off the screen. But things can be said differently for another subgroup of Asian.
Although East and Southeast Asian women are for the most part constructed as
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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hypersexualized vixens, South Asian women are not shown in the same light. They are
eroticized, but there is this absence of sexuality (90).
Source: Prasso 2005, 87
As shown in the figure 1 above, taken from Hollywood, Burbank, and the Resulting
Imaginings, there are many different roles and stereotypes Asian women are subjected to play
on screen. In many Western films (Hollywood) and literature, Asian women are constructed and
erotized in opposing manners, as the cunning “Dragon Lady” or the sexy and submissive “Lotus
Blossom” (Chou 2012, 21; Park 2005, 2).
The role of the Dragon Lady is one of mysteriousness, with domineering and seductive
powers. The Dragon Lady represents Asian and Asian American women as “inherently
scheming, untrustworthy, and backstabbing” (Larson 2006, 70-71). This sexualized and vampish
character attracts using her “soft, unthreatening, and servile femininity while concealing her
hard, dangerous, and domineering nature” (Shimizu 2007, 61).
The image of Asian women as devoted wives or girlfriends became a big theme in
Hollywood as America tried to grapple with issues of biracial couples and racism in the 1950s.
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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During this time films reflected experiences of soldiers returning home from World War II and
Korea with war brides. They were given several names such as, “China Doll,” “Geisha Girl,” or
“Lotus Blossom” (Prasso 2005, 88). Under these types Asian women were presented as “exotic,
subservient, compliant, industrious, [and] eager to please” (Larson 2006, 70).
This “eager to please” image eventually morphed into a rather dehumanizing picture of
Asian women on screen. Following the Vietnam War in the late 1970s and 1980s, Asian and
Asian American women were depicted as nameless prostitutes and victims of war, seen from
the viewpoint of GIs (Prasso 2005, 98). They were women ready to please white men and
possessed no threat to the dominant order because they were passive in nature and desired or
needed white men’s protection and attention (Larson 2006, 70).
Moving forward to the 1990s, Asian and Asian American women appeared in less
sexualized and more nuanced roles in the film adaptation of the best selling novel by Amy Tan,
The Joy Luck Club (1993) (Prasso 2005, 100). It wasn’t until the early 2000s that Hollywood
movies gave Asian and Asian American women more prominent and equitable roles. They were
able to attain power through martial arts. Although these roles made them fearsome and
showcased their proficient abilities in self-defense, they are also limiting roles (101). It comes to
question then if Asian and Asian American women are able to progress out of stereotypical
roles at all.
“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa
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References
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“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this
work.” – Vivian Hoa