Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Bias

When East Asian groups are seen in media, why is it that they aren’t ever the main characters? I mean, try to think of a SINGLE movie or film that has an East Asian lead (that isn’t Crazy Rich Asians, because that’s the only film everyone thinks of) that doesn’t get killed off by the end of the movie/TV series. And when I say lead, I don’t mean “oh, but they’re an important side character,” but as in one of the main characters.

Honestly, as an Asian myself, it’s depressing that when you ask this question to a lot of people, you either get no response, or these obscure, never heard of before titles? Why is it that Asians are so notably absent in the media yet there’s nothing being done about this?

If we take a look at movies and shows that do show Asians in them, you can tell almost off the bat they all are their are a ‘token Asian’ character. Just so the director can say “we have a diverse cast!” but of course, the Asian character always fits into one of the stereotypes below:

1) The science/math nerd
Take, for example, the doctor in Avengers 2. Yeah, remember her? (Her name is Dr. Helen Cho, played by Claudia Kim, and actual Korean woman, which is pretty cool) I remember going to the theatres and being so excited that there was actually a Korean woman in an Avengers movie, but I was only let down after she was practically booted off after not even 15 minutes of screentime.

2) The comic relief
Spiderman homecoming was an amazing movie, and being a huge superhero geek, I loved it. But this would be a prime example of using an Asian as the comic relief - look no further than Peter Parker’s best friend, Ned. He was the only making all the jokes, while cool, white Peter was off saving the world and being Spiderman.

3) The sidekick
As a huge Star Wars fan, I was excited to see Rose in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (let’s ignore the plot line of that movie for now). But why is it that Finn and Rose were hardly shown throughout the movie? Yeah, it’s great that two minority characters get their own side plot line, but it’s just that. A side plot line. In fact, Rose in this case is the sidekick of the sidekick, which is just a bit depressing at this point.

(Left to Right) Dr Helen Cho in Avenger 2: Age of Ultron, Ned in Spiderman Homecoming and Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi 

Even in the music scene, have you ever noticed the lack of Asians in the Western music world? The biggest scene of Asian influence throughout music is currently through K-pop. And while I am a HUGE fan, this is problematic. Asian Americans have such a hard time breaking into the Western music scene because companies claim they don’t know how to market them. But why is it so hard, when you can market them the same way you can market anyone else of another race?

There aren’t a lot of mainstream singers that are Asian. The only one that you can really say have “made it” is Bruno Mars, and the reason why he’s gotten so much attention is because he doesn’t look Asian (he’s half Filipino and half Puerto Rican). He’s able to look ambiguous, and therefore, marketable by the standards of music companies.

But even within K-pop there are SO many stereotypes that are associated with this genre. I know from personal experience, I always get asked the questions “are they Chinese?” or “they all look the same” or “They’re guys? They look like girls. Are they gay?” My friends who aren’t Asian are even scared to tell people they like K-pop because they’re always met with weird looks and suddenly people think they’re Koreaboos. Because “why do you listen to the music when you can’t understand it?” 

SEVENTEEN, a 13 membered K-pop boy-group

But that’s not all. The common thought that K-pop music videos never make sense (when in fact there are multiple with amazing and impactful storylines, from showing the struggles of growing up in BTS’s The Most Beautiful Moments in Life series, to the short story of two lesbian girls fighting to be together in Tenny’s music video 159 cm)

BTS's Young Forever

Tenny's 159cm

Also, as a side note, us in the K-pop community don’t agree with the fact that Gangnam Style is K-pop. In a sense, it is, but it’s not a proper representation of what K-pop really is. And because this is what most people see outside of what REAL K-pop is, the genre as a whole gains a bad reputation. What PSY did was an over-exaggerated goofy parody of what K-pop. The problem is that this got so big, so the most exposure people have had of K-pop is Gangnam Style.

Anyways, the effect this has on Asians in both music and film, is not letting people tell their stories. This oppresses thoses who wish their voices to be heard, to tell the general public their side of the story.