We’ve come a long way from stereotyping Asians as Long Duk Dongs, Manchu Fus or yellow-faced Mickey Rooneys. Vast strides have been made in the portrayal and representation of Asians in the media. But, as the upcoming Asian Excellence Awards reveal, there still exists misrepresentation and non-representation of Asians in the media. As the only annual, nationally televised event that celebrates the achievements of Asians and Asian Americans in film, television, music and the performing arts, the third Asian Excellence Awards are taking place at our very own Royce Hall on April 23.
As an Asian American myself, I love the idea of an Asian American awards show. It honors creative individuals who not only strive for excellence in their work and uphold the Asian community but also contribute toward American culture. It’s wonderful that such an event that celebrates the achievements of the Asian American community even exists, and that the average American household can name at least one nominee in any respective category. Like other groups, Asians working in the media also deserve formal recognition and an exclusive chance to pat each other on the back in the form of this glamorous, celebrity-filled and nationally televised party.
The awards show describes itself as a “star-studded” affair in which the likes of Lucy Liu, Quentin Tarantino, Daniel Dae Kim and Margaret Cho have presented and been honored. But when did celebrity take the place of talent and deserved excellence itself? In former years, recognized works and individuals rightly included Kal Penn as Outstanding Actor for “The Namesake” and Rinko Kikuchi as Outstanding Actress for “Babel.” But this year, there was little rationality in choosing certain nominees in the Television and Film categories.
For example, both Vanessa Hudgens of “High School Musical 2″ and Maggie Q of “Balls of Fury” are nominated for Outstanding Film Actress. It is unfortunate indeed that the Asian American community is so forced to ride on the commercial success of “High School Musical” and depend on the extremely limited pool of Asian leading ladies as to nominate Hudgens, who is part Filipino, to represent Asian American women in that category. Maggie Q’s role in “Balls of Fury” strikingly furthers the “China doll” stereotype of Asian women as sexualized experts in martial arts who are unfailingly susceptible to the wiles and charms of Caucasian men. Reflected within the nominees of the Asian Excellence Awards, the quality and cultural sensitivity of the roles Asian Americans are limited to has improved only gradually throughout the years.
The most memorable Asian character of earlier American film is Audrey Hepburn’s buck-toothed, neurotic Japanese neighbor in the 1961 classic, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Mr. Yunioshi, portrayed by Mickey Rooney in yellowface, was hot-tempered, constantly yelling in broken English and a much weaker character compared to Hepburn’s Holly Golightly.
Then there’s Long Duk Dong, the foreign-exchange student played by Gedde Watanabe, who mortifies Molly Ringwald’s character with his cultural differences and strange behavior in “Sixteen Candles.” The “Donger” is accompanied by the sound of a gong when he appears on screen and finds himself a more dominating, masculine jock of a girlfriend. Even his name is an unkind parody of Chinese.
Incidentally, “Sixteen Candles” still crops up on ABC Family as a coming-of-age classic. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” still garners an incredibly large fan base and is almost universally adored nearly 50 years after its creation. Granted, these Asian characters play minor roles in each film’s respective plots ““ they are both ethnic caricatures who serve as comic relief. But the current popularity of these movies proves that the underlying current of misunderstanding and cultural falsification still exists.
Today, Asian Americans, who constitute 5 percent of the entire population of the United States, are connected to negative associations because of the continued lack of positive, humanized portrayals of Asians in the general American culture and media.
The newly released movie “21” shows the difficulty in circumventing the already biased casting process toward Asians. The movie is based on a true story that revolves around an Asian American team of MIT students who were highly successful in a counting gambling scam ““ and yet, British-born Jim Sturgess was cast to play Jeff Ma, the leader of the group. Thus, Asian Americans are not only negatively portrayed but denied the opportunity to play more positive, leading roles.
Yes, American media is making progress. Asians are proud to be represented by Jet Li, John Cho, Kal Penn, JabbaWockeeZ and even the courageous William Hung. But, as the Asian Excellence Awards demonstrate, our portrayal in American culture can definitely be improved with increased visibility of Asians in the media as well as the creation of more profound, leading, non-stereotypical roles for Asian Americans.
E-mail Do at ndo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.