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.
I really like how personal you were with this. Learning these things in class is different from reading your post—it’s relatable and interesting because you made it so personal to you and how you feel in terms of how Asian Americans are portrayed in the media. With that being said, you could have gone more in depth with the stereotypes and how they pertained to you. Yes, you did explain the effect they have on you but what about the feminization or lack of Asian American male faces we don’t see in Hollywood films, or the kinds of roles they are still getting. How does that affect you specifically? Also, what did you mean by “ Nevertheless, film industries seem to never disappoint when it comes to media racism at its finest”? I’m not sure what you mean by that in relation to the previous 2 sentences
ReplyDeleteJanel Adraneda (AAS100)
ReplyDeleteI feel that being personal in writings truly catch the reader's eyes because no one wants to read about straight facts. People want to hear why you are writing and how it pertains to you. I found it really inspiring that you were not only able to relate to this, but also write about it on a public site. I know that sometimes it is hard to talk about personal things in public but you surely succeeded in this post! Great post!
I truly found this post engaging. It was much more interesting to hear how you relate to the portrayals rather than learning how they are underrepresented and stereotyped in the media. With that being said however, I think it would have added to your post if you had incorporated the fact that Asian Americans are in-fact underrepresented. I feel it would have added to your point. In turn, then going into detail about how the few times Asian Americans are represented in the media, they are stereotyped and not accurate at all. I also think it is important to note that representations of Asian Americans is changing through the use of new media.
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