Power Relations & Privilege
We’ve been over this many times in class. The people with privilege in our society are people who are white, male, and straight, which leaves everyone else at a disadvantage. This applies to people who are a different gender, race, or sexuality, marginalizing all of those who don’t fit into this little box.
This description of privileged people reflects itself in our history and the foundations of Canada as a country. But what does this mean for East Asians?
For one, look at films. The majority of the cast are white, are they not? This is because the person who wrote the script and did the casting call, and directed the movie, they’re probably white too. Just by looking at statistics, only 0.034% of all directors in Hollywood are Asian. And even those who are, they’re not always looking to tell a story never told before; more often than not, they want to make money. And the thing that sells? Story people can relate to, with characters they can relate to.
Because the majority of our public is white, this means that directors tend to lean towards casting white stars in films. They want the people watching to see the white lead, and relate to them. This, in result, leads to more of the big stars being white, because they’re the ones getting lead roles, while minorities fall into the background.
But why is it just Asians, that seem to be nonexistent in pop culture? We have multiple African American stars, such as Idris Elba, Samuel L. Jackson, and Morgan Freeman. And there isn’t any shortage of Latino movie stars, Jennifer Lopez and Andy Garcia to name a few. But why is the highest grossing Asian American actor John Cho, a man, who when I told my mom, she said “who?”
Due to the preconceived stereotypes, people often don’t see Asians as sexy or attractive, which is why a lot of them aren’t seen in the main character role. Men are often portrayed as the tech geek, while women, ironically, as either shown as a quiet, fragile character, or the masseuse os sex worker - sexy enough for that, but not enough for the main character, it seems.
Because all these white actors and actresses are getting first priority, this leaves Asians in the background, to fill in minor roles, all of which are mostly stereotyped. Directors ensure they have their ‘token Asian’ and move on.
That’s another big problem - tokenism of Asian characters. Tokenism is the addition of one specific minority to give a false sense of inclusiveness. For example, adding in a woman into a board of a business to avoid questions about sexism. In this case, we have adding in a singular Asian character to avoid people asking questions about racism.
These characters are Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy, Minho in the Maze Runner, and Storm Shadow in G.I Joe (who, in fact, was played by Lee Byunghun, arguably the BIGGEST movie star in Korea, yet he was reduced to a non speaking role in Hollywood). The side characters, the comedic relief, the non-important characters.
Another example of privilege at work in the media is the pay gap. It might surprise to you to find out, but Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, two of the strong independent Asian characters on the show Hawaii Five-0, left the show because of the unfair pay. They were being paid 10-15% less than their white co-stars, resulting in the two, who were both positive representations of Asians in the media, leaving the show.
Why should they be paid less than their white co-stars? The only difference is their race, which is another problem for a lot of Asians trying to get into the film industry. White actors and actresses would never have to worry about this, which is another privilege that White people have over all over people of colour.
This description of privileged people reflects itself in our history and the foundations of Canada as a country. But what does this mean for East Asians?
For one, look at films. The majority of the cast are white, are they not? This is because the person who wrote the script and did the casting call, and directed the movie, they’re probably white too. Just by looking at statistics, only 0.034% of all directors in Hollywood are Asian. And even those who are, they’re not always looking to tell a story never told before; more often than not, they want to make money. And the thing that sells? Story people can relate to, with characters they can relate to.
Because the majority of our public is white, this means that directors tend to lean towards casting white stars in films. They want the people watching to see the white lead, and relate to them. This, in result, leads to more of the big stars being white, because they’re the ones getting lead roles, while minorities fall into the background.
But why is it just Asians, that seem to be nonexistent in pop culture? We have multiple African American stars, such as Idris Elba, Samuel L. Jackson, and Morgan Freeman. And there isn’t any shortage of Latino movie stars, Jennifer Lopez and Andy Garcia to name a few. But why is the highest grossing Asian American actor John Cho, a man, who when I told my mom, she said “who?”
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| John Cho in Star Trek: Beyond as Captain Sulu |
Due to the preconceived stereotypes, people often don’t see Asians as sexy or attractive, which is why a lot of them aren’t seen in the main character role. Men are often portrayed as the tech geek, while women, ironically, as either shown as a quiet, fragile character, or the masseuse os sex worker - sexy enough for that, but not enough for the main character, it seems.
Because all these white actors and actresses are getting first priority, this leaves Asians in the background, to fill in minor roles, all of which are mostly stereotyped. Directors ensure they have their ‘token Asian’ and move on.
That’s another big problem - tokenism of Asian characters. Tokenism is the addition of one specific minority to give a false sense of inclusiveness. For example, adding in a woman into a board of a business to avoid questions about sexism. In this case, we have adding in a singular Asian character to avoid people asking questions about racism.
These characters are Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy, Minho in the Maze Runner, and Storm Shadow in G.I Joe (who, in fact, was played by Lee Byunghun, arguably the BIGGEST movie star in Korea, yet he was reduced to a non speaking role in Hollywood). The side characters, the comedic relief, the non-important characters.
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| (From left to right) Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (played by Pom Klementieff, who is half Korean and half French), Minho in The Maze Runner (played by Kihong Lee, who is Korean) and Storm Shadow in G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra (played by Lee Byunghun, who is also Korean) |
Another example of privilege at work in the media is the pay gap. It might surprise to you to find out, but Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, two of the strong independent Asian characters on the show Hawaii Five-0, left the show because of the unfair pay. They were being paid 10-15% less than their white co-stars, resulting in the two, who were both positive representations of Asians in the media, leaving the show.
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| Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly and Grace Park as Kono Kalakuaua in Hawaii Five-0 |
Why should they be paid less than their white co-stars? The only difference is their race, which is another problem for a lot of Asians trying to get into the film industry. White actors and actresses would never have to worry about this, which is another privilege that White people have over all over people of colour.
WTF Hawaii Five-O???
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