"How is the Other Presented in the Media?" How Asians are Presented in the Media

Asians make up about 4.2% of America's population and are gaining more and more representation in every form of media. Yet, it seems that they are presented in extremely similar ways each time they are presented. The prominent Asian stereotypes that come to mind are the "genius", the Jackie Chan-like kung fu fighter, the dangerous and ruthless killer, and the seductive Asian woman.

In the popular TV series, Dexter, one of the main characters (Masuka) is an Asian lab analyst. He is portrayed as being an incredibly smart man with no social skills because of this fact. I think that the show almost overplays this stereotype and it could be considered offensive considering he is the only Asian American on the show. He is even made fun of on the show for being a "typical Asian genius"

Often Asians are presented as ruthless killers in the media. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, this stereotype became extremely prominent in American mass media. For example, in the movie Lethal Weapon 4 (see video), Jet Li is an Asian character involved in illegal labor smuggling, drug dealing, assigned killings, and other crimes. This type of character is presented everywhere in the media, often to increase the sensationalism and entertainment value of the film. This is something Americans have been so used to seeing that someone would think twice if the Asian character in the media were presented as the hero of the plot.

The final major way Asians are presented in the media is the seductive Asian woman. We saw an example in class of the two Siamese cats in the movie Lady and the Tramp with thick accents and who were seductively prancing around and singing. This is just in children's media. The issue gets much worse in other media outlets. This "China Doll" stereotype of Asian women has no point, yet often for some reason Asian women are often shown as prostitutes who are eager to please rich white males. This is shown in the movie "Year of the Dragon" in which the Asian female character has sexual relations with someone who was initially racist and spoke to her about his hatred of the Chinese. 

The majority of Asian Americans, who only make up a small percentage of the American population, live near the coasts, therefore most American's view of Asians are from what they see in the media. Asians are completely misrepresented, as are many minorities, and this was possibly a product of the attack on Pearl Harbor. While not all of these stereotypes are negative, it is still wrong to completely generalize Asians into these stereotypes.