Media, literature need more accurate portrayals of Asian-Americans

As a half Chinese, half White kid living in South Carolina where there aren’t more than maybe 5 or less other Asian kids in my school at a time, I’ve felt the burdens of being a minority among minorities. And by that I don’t mean that I suffer more somehow, or that my experience with racism is worse than anyone else’s--I mean that Asian kids in the schools I’ve attended don’t even account for a full percentage point. Because of this, people in the past (and in the current day, sometimes) tend to treat me different from how I perceive myself. I’ve dealt with all the Asian jokes and racist taunts: peers who ask me what race I am 50 times, people who joke that I’m a ninja or that I know karate (no), people who degrade my academic achievements by saying “it’s because she’s Asian” (not a compliment), people who ask me if I’ve eaten dog/cat/whatever (no, but even if I did, is it any weirder than you eating squirrel or deer meat? Just asking). While these taunts may seem small, it gets exhausting to listen to almost constantly, and it’s downright hurtful to hear from a friend who should know better. And it doesn’t help that I don’t remember a single instance in my life where a friend or classmate has stood up for me. I’m just asking a question, it’s not like you’ve heard these same borderline or blatantly racist questions a thousand times before, don’t get offended.

After fighting a battle of a hundred people vs. one at school everyday, I guess that’s why that fiction novels were a staple of my late childhood. When you’re reading a book by yourself, you shouldn’t have to worry that people will shove their gross misinterpretations of what it’s like to be you--in my case, a biracial Asian kid--in your face, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Asian people in fictional media are constantly misrepresented; whether they are portrayed as effeminate, nerdy Asian men, stern and foreign martial arts masters, cherubic China dolls, Tiger Moms, or any other unholy concoction of racist tropes. As writers are becoming more and more concerned with diversity, the more I see time and time again my identity get butchered and misrepresented. Every time this happens, I observe that a half of me will never be understood, and that anyone who is reading or watching this inaccurate portrayal will accept without questioning that this is how Asian people think, feel, and act in real life, and that it’s okay to treat marginalize us. Inaccurate representation of minorities in fictional media is dangerous not just because of how minorities might feel about it, but also because it can be used as hateful propaganda, affirm pre-existing racial stereotypes or biases, and disrespect the history of ethnic minorities, which can all lead to the continued marginalization and oppression of people of color.

Firstly, in order to understand the how inaccurate media portrayals lead to oppression, you’ll need to understand the history of propaganda. Using propaganda to criminalize and dehumanize a race is not a new American tradition. Everyone who has studied the Reconstruction Era should know how racist caricatures of black people supported the pre-existing white supremacist attitudes of White people. Latino people have also struggled because of how media has represented them. Political figures like President Trump help spread propaganda by inaccurate and hateful claims that deem Latino people as inherently bad by insisting that they have a propensity for violence and crime. “Yellow peril” propaganda of Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s helped fuel support of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first ever ban on an entire ethnicity. Anti-Japanese propaganda that dehumanized Japanese people fueled support of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Japanese internment camps, where thousands of Japanese Americans were displaced and confined against their will. This is what makes racist propaganda evil: by portraying minorities in this country as second-class citizens at best and immoral animals at the worst, propaganda supports public action against these groups. By deliberately portraying ethnic minorities inaccurately and viciously, the media continues the insidious decline of their public status.

Secondly, inaccurate representation can affirm pre-existing racial stereotypes and biases, even on accident. For example, Korean culture has become increasingly popular among Westerners, especially Korean pop music. This phenomenon has a Korean name called hallyu. While it a sign of Korea’s growing economy that they have an increasing amount of influence on cultures outside of their own, this also results in non-Korean people who attempt to tell the stories of Korean immigrants. A famous YA novel named Eleanor and Park by the non-Korean author Rainbow Rowell. Many Asian Americans have already spoken against the glaring inaccuracies about Koreans and the Asian American experience. For one, the name “Park” is a Korean family name, not a given name, yet in the novel it is treated like it is a typical given name. Second of all, Rowell proves her limited knowledge of the racism that Asians in America face. She objectifies Park’s Korean mother who she is described as a dainty China doll that was smuggled into America (Rowell, 234), and Park himself complains that nobody wants to date an Asian male and that Asian women have it easier because they’re “exotic”, as if being fetishized and objectified is something to be envied or something that makes life easier for Asian women (Rowell, 501). Not only this, but the novel uses the words Kung fu and taekwondo interchangeably even though the former is Chinese and the latter is Korean (Rowell, 23). The problem with this is that not only is the author claiming to be educated enough on these issues to write a book where anti-Asian racism is an important element; she is spreading this information to impressionable fans who will not question the book’s content because they see no problems. These fans, who may have pre-existing biases and stereotypes, will have their beliefs affirmed by Rowell’s inaccurate representation of an Asian American.

Lastly, inaccurate representation can lead to disrespect to a culture, whether the creator had the intention or not. Another YA writer, Marissa Meyer, wrote a fairy tale-inspired series named The Lunar Chronicles, which includes a novel set in East Asia that is run by a monarchy. The monarchy of this vast region is of Japanese descent. Anyone who knows about Japanese imperialism and colonization of Asia would know that it is extremely disrespectful to all nations that suffered from Japanese colonization to write that a Japanese family is in charge of Asian continent. Meyer may not have done this intentionally, but the regardless, that is the effect. By not doing enough research and not collaborating with Asian American activists and educators, Meyer misrepresented and disrespected her Asian readers.

Some people may say that any representation is good representation. Oppressed groups in society already struggle with just getting the role or characters they relate to. We should just be happy with what we have, correct? I disagree with this sentiment. LGBT activists have been pushing for more representation like people of color have for a long time. No LGBT activist, however, want LGBT people portrayed as evil, pedophilic, or any other harmful stereotypes that can be used to hurt LGBT people. Mentally ill and disabled activist abhor movies like Split (2016) that portrays their disorders inaccurately and turns them into monsters instead of people. Representation is important, but no representation is better than bad representation that can be used to oppress marginalized people.

Inaccurate media representation can be used as propaganda, used to support racism, and to disrespect a marginalized group of people. This misrepresentation can lead to damage to these marginalized groups and to worsen their status. We should always be critical of our media and ask ourselves if the representation aids the oppressor or the oppressed by analyzing the context and how both the group being represented and others interpret the character. Media matters; and we must be able to hold creators accountable and properly analyze media to prevent racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.