Asian Media

     Turn on the television for twenty minutes, pop a disc of your favorite movie and sit back and try to reminiscence on what you have just seen. Racism on media is not hard to ignore, and very noticeable throughout modern society norms and roles played in particular shows or movies. The idea of stereotypical positions are quite consistent especially in Comedic sitcoms, and re-occurring ethnicity playing the same particular role is highly relevant. I have always tried to wrap my head around the reasons on why media portrays such a high tolerance for socially accepted racism, but it's not a surprise to say that it's just the way it is now.

     The simple idea of modern society norms on Asians and Asian-Americans in general is not as extreme as other minority groups. The belief of the 4.0 overall GPA Valedictorians, anti-social, and naturally gifted academic "kinds" isn't as bad as you may think. But why is one particular group, such as Asian-Americans, held up on a peddle stool as if they are held to a higher standard in our community? In fact, not all Asian-Americans perform as highly as what society may label them as. And in many studies, Asians are in fact one of the main ethnicity groups that need attention for help. Relating back to media, the roles Asian-Americans play in modernized movies and shows act very similar and accordingly to different the different stereotypes that was created. Nevertheless, film industries seem to never disappoint when it comes to media racism at it's finest.

   For example, in Harold & Kumar: Go to White Castle, Harold (played as John Cho), has a middle wage income job as an investment banker who smokes weed with his best friend Kumar and decide to have a magical journey to eat at White Castle. In this comedic movie, Harold plays an important role as one of the main characters. In the movie The Hangover and The Hangover Part II, Mr. Chow (played as Ken Jeong), is an international criminal who does extensive amounts of drugs and illegal activities. In my opinion, Mr. Chow's role plays as one of the most entertaining, hilarious, and racist roles in comedy movie history.
                                              

     As a first generation Asian-American, I can solely connect with these roles in media as a topic that can be taken lightly, but to never forget the bigger concept of what racism and freedom really means in America in a newer, more modernized way of socialized inequality by the fragments of your skin or how you look. We as a nation come a far way from naturalized racism throughout history, yet racism can be found in anywhere and anything. So next time when your'e glued onto the couch, take a look back and reflect on what you just saw, it can be relatively surprising.
   

The Myth Of the Model Minority

Asians. The intelligent people. The people who graduate with honors, and over 5.0 G.P.A.’s. Those whom belong in Ivy League schools. The individuals that are taking our jobs away from us. Many people believe these myths about Asian Americans. However, none of these stereotypes are true. Many Asian Americans are just as smart as a white blonde, however Asian Americans are held to a higher standard. This would be the myth of the model minority. The myth of the model minority renders Asian Americans as exceptional. This myth can be very damaging to Asian Americans, as well as other social groups.

The myth of the model minority makes the oppression of Asian Americans invisible. Society believes Asian Americans to be successful, and therefore they have no social needs that require help. For example, they lack the need for socially security, school grants or scholarships, and many loans. This could not be further from the truth. Many measure social success through median household income. However, this is misleading for Asian Americans. Asian American households are more likely to house more generations, than non Asian Americans. This means that there are more earning adults per household, thus increasing their median household income.

Educational successes as well as degree attainment are also used as measures of social success. Because Asian Americans are known to have higher degree attainment, ignorant individuals expect Asian Americans to hold the highest-level positions. However, this is a false assumption and referred to as the bamboo ceiling. The bamboo ceiling refers to Asian Americans being passed over for managerial positions, despite their higher degree attainment. There is a limit to the promotion of Asian Americans through the company. This is a racism that has existed for centuries, and shows no signs of leaving anytime soon due to the invisibleness of it.

The myth of the model minority is extremely dangerous to the mental health of Asian Americans. It puts unneeded stress on them, causing mental illness. Asian Americans have both higher suicide attempts, as well as, suicide rates than any other social group. This is due to the stereotype of Asian Americans being superior being so engraved into their minds. An Asian American feels that they are not able to “fail” due to the standing stereotypes around their race. However, many due not “fail,” they simply do not meet others unrealistic expectations.

The myth of the model minority also affects other minorities. When other groups “fail” they are often asked “why can’t you be like Asian Americans?” This puts stress on other minorities, because they too feel they can never be good enough. When a White American does not do as well as expected, they are told Asian Americans will always be better. This causes other minorities mental harm, by hurting their self-esteem. Other minorities are held to a standard that does not even exist, besides in unrealistic stereotypes.

I can relate to this stereotype, but in a rather opposite way. Many assume blondes are dumb, and cannot be both smart in academia as well as on the streets. Being a natural blonde all my life, many assume I am just as dumb as the next. I have worked all my life to prove this stereotype wrong, however it follows me everywhere. I took advanced classes in high school, graduated with over a 4.0, took college classes simultaneously with my high school classes, and yet no one truly believed I was capable of being so intellectually smart. I got into all the right colleges, and even received the Dean’s Scholarship, and yet I still was not good enough. It was baffling to me, how something as insignificant as my hair color automatically made me dumb. While many still look at me in shock when I say I am a first time freshman, with sophomore status and on the Dean’s list, I have learned to accept the stereotype and still continuously prove the ignorant people wrong.

Racethnicity

     The way we personally acquire our own group identities are very complex and difficult. The way that we assign a group identity to others besides are ourselves is also very difficult. Race and ethnic group labels often vary with different opinions. Not everyone will agree, understand, and use this criteria.  Because not everyone will agree with each other someone may label you in a way that you don’t consider correct and might even take an offense to it. In order to really comprehend the diversity in the world you have to understand the criteria that’s commonly used to make group distinctions. Race and Ethnicity are the most common criteria’s.

       Ethnicity is the term for the culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs. To be a member of an ethnic group is to conform to some or all of those practices. The term race refers to groups of people who have differences and similarities in biological traits deemed by society to be socially significant, meaning that people treat other people differently because of them. Race and ethnicity can obviously overlap, but they are yet quite different. A girl that is considered Asian, Japanese-American to be exact, could can consider herself Japanese or East Asian race, but, if she doesn't really participate in their traditions or practices she can identify herself as an American.

    Today the theory of race has been utterly transformed. The socially constructed status of the concept of race, which we have labeled the racial formation process, is widely recognized. (Omi and Winant 1986) Racial formation is "the process by which social, economic and political forces determine the content and importance of racial categories, and by which they are in turn shaped by racial meanings." It's a sociological theory and it's a bit complicated. It looks at race as a socially constructed identity, where the content and importance of racial categories is determined by social, economic and political forces. Unlike traditional race theories, in Michael Omi and Howard Winant's view, "racial meanings pervade US society, extending from the shaping of individual racial identities to the structuring of collective political action on the terrain of the state." Race was seen as a static and unchanging concept based purely on physical criteria like biology and upbringing. Omi and Winant suggest that race is somewhat fluid where "the racial order is organized and enforced by the continuity and reciprocity between micro-level (personal interactions with other people) and macro-level (social structures and common ideologies of a society like business, media, government, cultural and stereotypical beliefs on race, class, sexuality and gender) of social relations." 

Teen Wolf Teaches Its Teen Viewers

For those who are as big of fans of the MTV series Teen Wolf as I am, you might have noticed that the episode aired on March 3, 2014 gave a brief history lesson. In this episode, one of the main character’s mothers tells a story about her experience in a Japanese Internment camp in 1943. Her mother essentially called on an evil trickster fox spirit to help save her life in the relocation center called Oak Creek. Now this spirit is wreaking havoc on everyone in the town of Beacon Hills. In essence, Teen Wolf was trying to connect factual American history with Japanese folklore. (CLICK HERE to watch part 1 of the episode)

            It is understandable that certain details about actual Japanese Internment were not divulged in this episode because of filming aspects such as running time, editing and of course plot. In reality, what was portrayed during this episode was quite inaccurate. In the scenes that flashed back to life in the camps, all of the characters were highly done up with traditional 1940’s hair and makeup, glam and very nice clothes. It was also depicted that the living conditions in internment camps were adequate enough for the internees such that they lived in spacious bungalows, organized living quarters and comfortable arrangements. Once again, it is logical for MTV production teams to do this for the purpose of aesthetic value; however, the conditions within the internment camps were far from this glamorous and satisfactory.

            Typically, WRA camps were poorly structured in which circumstances were cramped to say the least, with thousands of Japanese-American citizens in one camp and too many assigned to one barrack. Necessities were also scarce; detainees only brought with them what was necessary or what they could personally carry at one time. The barracks were military style wooden establishments with no plumbing and poor insulation. As a result of absent plumbing, the ground would often fill up with septic fluid and water causing muddy terrain. Due to extensive supply rationing of all of the camps, food shortages became routine, thus along with these meager environments, internees were also not getting the proper nutrition. Although Teen Wolf did show some of the scarcity of supplies, it did not show to what extent the internees were actually suffering. 

            The Teen Wolf series on MTV predominantly has a demographic of teenagers who are in junior high or high school. In general, exposure to Japanese Internment seen in this episode was probably the first time its viewers had ever heard of Japanese Internment during World War II; there is little taught in schools about Asian American history as well as racism experienced by other ethnic or racial groups other than African Americans. Nevertheless, African American history in schools is not comprehensively explained.   It is not until students arrive to college or university and learn about the actual marginalization of Asian Americans, or another race for that matter. As a result, it is difficult for American society to develop any racial consciousness.

             People continue to be unaware and somewhat ignorant about racial consciousness because of the lack of education in schools; therefore, even the present-day conditions of Asian Americans are not recognized by the general public. Asian Americans are now seen as extremely smart, successful and self-reliant; however, this notion only promotes their exploitation and oppression. There is a sense of denial of the Asian American experience within American society. In addition, the lack of education on the history of Asian Americans furthers this misperception among different racial groups. It is no surprise that a television show made for teenagers will be one of the only opportunities for the truth to emerge. And even so, the information given during this episode of Teen Wolf is not that accurate, which does not aid in the hope for eradication of the racist views about Asian Americans.

 Teen Wolf fell a bit short last week by combining the tragedy of the Japanese-American experience of internment with Japanese mythology. While it made for good TV and an epic episode, the harsh reality still remains: Japanese Internment was not at all an isolated incident. It was a continuation of ostracism occurring throughout history and Asian Americans continue to be marginalized, exploited and dismissed.  

Freedom in a Cage

"A day which will live in infamy"

-President Franklin D. Roosevelt

            

            I'm sure that we have all heard those words at some point or another in our lives. They of course refer to the 7th of December, 1941; the day on which the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbour Naval base, ending American isolationism from conflicts abroad, and ultimately pitting us in a bloody 4 year war against the Axis powers of Europe, Italy and Japan. The world indeed changed in that span of time, affecting people's lives both home and abroad. However, for some of those at home, the effects were felt a bit more strongly than others.

             In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbour, President Roosevelt signed into action an order unthinkable by today's standards: Executive Order 9066. Signed in early 1942, the overall purpose of the act was to take all persons of Japanese descent in America and place them in internment camps for the duration of the war; an incredibly unjust act, but one in which Japanese Americans were without choice to follow. Forced from their established homes and livelihoods, they soon found themselves transported to various wired off compounds across the nation, made to live in 20'x25' so-called 'apartments' where both space and privacy were all but non-existent. What followed as a result of these new living arrangements were strained family lives where traditional practices and customs slowly disappeared, bringing a sort of freedom to some, and a loss of control to others.

             Those who gained freedoms in the camp were the women and children, with those who found themselves losing power to be the camp men. For Issei women, traditional family structure meant staying inside the house and tending to family needs such as cooking and cleaning. Camp life, however, meant a bit of an escape from those duties. With communal meals and barracks without running water or kitchen spaces, Issei women found themselves able to step outside the realm of home maker, and engage in a social life amongst other women. Additionally, Issei women could find work in the camp work corps or take day classes -activities and pursuits 'unavailable' to them back before the war. For Nisei children, freedoms manifested themselves in detachment from parents. Where tradition was such that families would share a meal together, in many instances Nisei children would eat with friends instead. Furthermore, being with friends and socialising more often entailed that Nisei women were free to find love with whomever they wished –a departure from traditional arranged marriages.  But while women and children found themselves freer to do things, this meant a loss of control for Issei men. Effectively stripped of their titles as the family breadwinner, feelings of uselessness and despair took over for many men as they struggled to cope with their family’s loss of dependency.

             It should be noted that none of the above is intended to justify the actions of the US government. Rather, it is to inform of changes that occurred in the dynamics of many Japanese families as a result of internment camps. Indeed, despite certain improvements –or shall we simply say ‘changes’- to family structure, the years of internment took their toll on the worse as they also did the better. For Issei women, independence came at the cost of their positions as ‘household queens’, for which many missed being, and struggled to regain postwar. Issei men sometimes turned violent and abusive after the war in trying to reestablish their own roles as household kings. Lastly, with Nisei sons and daughters being able to vote due to their citizenship and US education, parental authority saw erosion stemming from children being able to earn more than their folks; the higher incomes creating views of inferiority placed upon Issei men and women.

Overall, internment camps saw a change in the structure of Japanese families. It is debatable whether or not such changes were all positive –some certainly weren’t- but nevertheless such changes occurred as a result of World War Two homeland internment, and are truly worth noting in our understanding of Asian American history.