When one is asked to think of well-known American actors, names such as Johnny Depp, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, and Angelina Jolie would be acceptable answers; however, they are not the only plausible responses. If that list were to go on, there would be one common characteristic between much of those actors: they are mostly Caucasian. If that individual were asked again to name an actor of color, the answer would likely be Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Jet Li or Jackie Chan. This response would be much more difficult to vary, as there is a limited amount of people of color placed in important roles within film and television. Another fact that might be forgotten or dismissed by the individual is that within the second list, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, although they are influential Asian actors in Hollywood, neither are Asian American. Although Asian Americans have resided in the United States for an extensive amount of time, they are the most underrepresented group in Hollywood films and television series. Often, Asian Americans are only given acting opportunities for supporting roles or background characters that are not dynamic. Usually these characters are heavily stereotyped, or rely strictly on their culture to interest the audience rather than their unique, individual traits. Along with that, Asian Americans are also limited in the roles they play because casting directors have a habit of recasting main characters that are meant to be Asian with acclaimed Caucasian actors to attract a broader audience. This underrepresentation gives non-Asian audiences misconceptions about the personalities, traits, and cultures of Asian Americans because the roles are generalized and essentially portray all Asian people as an alienated group. The limited representation of Asian Americans in modern Hollywood films and television series have negatively impacted Asian Americans by simplifying their culture and instilling stereotypes in society.

The characters that Asian Americans regularly obtain lack depth because they only have one distinctive trait or purpose. These roles are often demeaning and vary depending on the character’s gender. Natalie Tran, an Asian-Australian online personality, states in her speech at Brown University, Generally speaking, I would say if you’re a female Asian you are gonna be pretty much casted as either a sex object, or a really stern woman who is really career driven and has no feelings. I mean, how do they know that we don’t have feelings? I don’t know but the other option we can have a pink streak of hair and wear a really tight skirt because we’re really rebellious and arty because we hate our parents. The roles for Asian men, you could be a villain; I find this interesting, Asian men are rarely in relationships in shows. They are rarely the love interest. It’s as if Asian men aren’t appealing or something like that. (Tran 00:09:38-00:10:18)

These typecasts in Hollywood do not portray Asian Americans as valuable individuals. Instead, they reflect misconceptions of Asian culture, and suggest that Asian people are of less value than white people. 

One of the roles that Tran lists for female Asians is the “sex object”. This is demeaning simply because it exists to fulfill the fantasies of heterosexual males and reduces the character into a possession and not a human being. Additionally, the Asian sex object typecast has a dark history that relates to western colonialism. Frances Choe concludes that, “American imperialism and sexism created the “hyper-sexualized Asian woman, who catered to a flattering and self-serving image of White males and enjoyed sexual submission” (Choe 1). Thus, the “sex object” typecast in media is an example of Asian people being reduced into one-dimensional beings. In this case, they are serving the purpose of sexually satisfying white males. The “stern woman” typecast directly opposes the “sex object” because it is more dominant than submissive. It is suggested to be less desirable and unapproachable because the character does not submit to white males. This character also reflects the misconception that all Asian people are raised to be hardworking, which results in their lack of personality or enjoyment for life. In film and television, the attractiveness of female Asians is determined by how submissive or catering they are towards white males. These people are treated like objects instead of human beings. 

While female Asians are overly sexualized in film and television, their male counterparts are emasculated and made unappealing to glorify white male leads. In Darrell Yamamoto’s novel, there is an example where, “Asian Americans cast as the butlers of white families take care of womanless households and dispense sagacious advice to the male leads” (Or). The butler typecast is specifically emasculating and demeaning because the Asian male only serves to support the white lead with wisdom, while being separated entirely from a female presence. The act of removing the female creates the suggestion that the Asian male is not allowed to be with or attract a female character. While the butler character is outdated, there are still remnants of the trope in male, Asian characters that befriend someone Caucasian. Emasculation is also evident in the on-screen portrayal of miscegenation or the mixing of different racial groups. Victor Or concludes that, “whenever miscegenation is depicted on television; the male is never Asian” (Or).  Although there are depictions of white and Asian relationships in television, the male in the relationship is rarely Asian; another act in television that suggests that Asian males are not appealing and unworthy to be portrayed in relationships with white females.

Although there are differences between roles for Asian females and males, most roles emphasize that being Asian is separate from being American. Movies and television create Asian characters that are exaggerated or highly invested in their culture, which results in the alienation of Asian people in western society. One example of this is the 1994 sitcom, All-American Girl, which follows Margaret Kim’s struggle of balancing Asian culture with American culture. This sitcom is the first to portray a typical Asian American family, however, “stereotyping overcrowds the representation of the Asian American family and ultimately, gives the Asian and non-Asian audience minimal substance to relate to” (Cassinelli 2-3). The characters and comedy in this sitcom rely on race for substance, such as when Margaret uses a fan dance to attract a traditional Korean boyfriend or when a ski instructor tells her not to bow into her skis (Cassinelli 6). Due to this, the characters are more like caricatures and lack authenticity. While movies and television do not always reflect real life, many put in the effort to make their characters dynamic and interesting through their personality. However, Margaret and her family are not interesting without the label of being Asian. If that label is removed, then they would only have one significant trait; Margaret is rebellious and her family is traditional. Furthermore, the title for this series has negative implications and essentially make fun of Margaret because she will never be “all-American” (Cassinelli 5). The title and scheme of the television series emphasizes that being Asian is entirely separate and cannot merge with American society. Being the first sitcom to represent Asian Americans, many look at it to understand this group of people. However, the reliance of stereotypes and attention to differences in race results in poor representation. People will look to Asian Americans and assume their lives reflect something similar to All-American Girl, but also their background roles such as the sidekick, the “sex-object,” etc. Negative portrayals do not only affect the views of Asian people in society, they also influence how Asian Americans view themselves. 

Young Asian Americans sometimes look to Asian media for better portrayals of Asian people. Irene Ly, an Asian American college student, admits that she is comfortable with her identity because she, “fell in love with Hong Kong dramas and music. While [she] didn’t realize it then, [her] fondness for Asian entertainment gave [her] a more positive and well-rounded view of Asians in general” (Ly). This is because, in Asian countries, being Asian is not an outlier. These countries are able to create vast amounts of characters for Asian actors because their race is not foreign and normalized. Asian characters in Asian media contrast those of America media by being more intricate and having variety. They do not entirely reflect the Asian American experience but they reflect their heritage elaborately and not mockingly. Asian Americans are attached to Asian media as well because they feel they are better represented in these productions than in American ones. When Asian media is changed to fit western audiences, Asian Americans will be highly critical because they have value in their alternate form of representation.  

Sometimes, Hollywood makes their own rendition of Asian movies, however, they choose to replace the main leads with famous white actors because they believe more people will go to the box office. This type of recasting also occurs with American media that have characters of Asian descent. In particular cases, this action is understandable. Imagine a movie that is set in eighteenth century England. Even if the author’s mind pictured an Asian man in position of the king, it would make little sense to cast an Asian man to be the king of England. However, in other cases, there is no reasonable justification to replace an Asian character with one that is more Caucasian. This act of recasting is also called “whitewashing” and it still occurs today. Recent examples would be Scarlett Johannsson playing a Japanese cyborg in the upcoming movie Ghost in the Shell (2017), Emma Stone as a half Hawaiian, half Chinese woman in Aloha (2015), and Tilda Swinton as a Tibet monk in Doctor Strange (2016) (Hess). While Johannsson and Stone are portraying characters that are of Asian descent, Swinton is not. However, her character that is supposed to be a source of power and wisdom to Doctor Strange and resides in a country that has a majority of Asian people. Monks are associated with Buddhism, a religion originating in Asia. Casting Swinton over an Asian actor, suggests that a white person is better suited to represent a religious aspect of Asian culture. A study by the University of Southern California Annenberg staff found that, “of the top 100 films of 2015, 49 included no Asian or Asian-American characters” (USC Annenberg Staff). Hollywood already makes it difficult for Asian Americans to be actors and, if they are casted, it is not likely to be anything other than the usual background character. This difficulty is increased when Hollywood prefers to cast white actors in roles that are supposed to be Asian. The assumption that many people would go to the box office when a role is replaced is partially true because there are more well-known Caucasian actors. However, there will never be well-known Asian actors if they are not given an opportunity to be in leading roles. In due time, Hollywood will lose non-Caucasian audiences because they are underrepresented. 

While race is not important for relating to characters on screen, accurate representation is significant because it can cause false ideals towards a group of people. Additionally, it can discourage people of that group to separate themselves from stereotypes because they believe that is how they are supposed to present themselves to others. Irene Ly states, “When every portrayal of an Asian on TV is simplified to one sort of character, Asian American children aren’t taught to be proud of who they are…I would have felt like no one understood my culture” (Ly). In American media, often Asian culture is reduced into specific actions or objects for example, chopsticks, fans, bowing, and martial arts. This simplified version of Asian culture is also commonly used for comedic effect, like in How I Met Your Mother when, “white actors put on yellow face like Fu Man Chu and spoke in exaggerated Chinese accents” (Lam). The actors also wore traditional Chinese garments, used fans for seduction, and imitated old Kung Fu movies (Lam). When Asian culture is the punchline for modern film and television, it is difficult for someone of that race to be proud of who they are. The simplification of culture initially groups all Asian people together and then, when that simplification mocks itself, it makes all Asian people a joke. Thus, many Asian Americans have difficulty of being proud of their culture and feel like they are seen as comedic punchlines. Although Hollywood reduces Asian people into caricatures and favors white faces for mass appeal, some Asian Americans have proven that they can be successful among audiences. 

Asian-American success in other media platforms such as YouTube have indicated that having Asian-American faces in leading roles would likely not effect movie sales at all. This social media platform has given the opportunity for Asian-Americans to normalize their lives and relate to wide ranges of audiences. YouTube is where Asian-American success in media is most prevalent with names such as Sam Tsui, David Choi, and Ryan Higa (Lam). These Asian-Americans have gotten success for a range of different reasons such as their musical, comedic, or artistic ability but most importantly they are all entertainers on a screen. In her research on Asian identity and media, Ju Yon Kim explains how these online personalities develop a large following. First, they connect to the audience by presenting themselves as ordinary and familiar, then they display everyday activities without making it seem like being Asian is different (Kim 233). Those on YouTube do not try to play on their culture to obtain views from people. Instead, they obtain more views by acting as they do on a regular basis. Hollywood does not have to make Asian culture the main aspect of a character for people to find them intriguing. There has also been Asian-American success on reality TV programs such as Project Runway and Top Chef (Lam). Despite general audiences consisting of mostly white Americans, Asian-Americans on YouTube and reality TV are able to gather a large following while simultaneously representing their community in a positive, more authentic fashion. They do not use their culture as a punchline but they are still able to gather the interest of a wide audience. If Hollywood were to represent Asians in a more normalized manner, their movies could actually benefit from it. Recently, there has been success in a television series called Fresh Off the Boat, which premiered in 2015 and is a good representation for Asian-American families (Hess). The accurate representation is most likely due to the script deriving from a novel that was written by an Asian American, Eddie Huang (Hess). Although it is positive progress, it is only one series and the first attempt in twenty years since All-American Girl. Hollywood needs to continue to develop better characters and movies in all genres that will represent Asian people in a more dynamic manner.

There is a continuous problem of Asian-Americans not being accurately represented in Hollywood films or television series because their culture is simplified into a handful of characteristics. This poor representation is keeping stereotypes around in society and is creating misconceptions about Asian people because characters are not dynamic and are generally apart of overused tropes that suggest Asian people are below Caucasian people. These tropes are demeaning because they determine the attractiveness of Asians to other groups. Not only that, but characters that are originally Asian are often rewritten and replaced with famous white actors or actresses because Hollywood believes it will achieve better sales. The lack of Asian American presence in big productions and the reliance of stereotypes for characters damages the identities of young Asian Americans that are watching these films and TV shows. It is difficult for Asian Americans to be proud of their heritage because their culture is portrayed as comedic and they, themselves, are presented as not American enough. Despite the lack of presence in films and television, Asian-Americans are successful on social media platforms which indicate that they do have a place in bigger productions. On YouTube, particularly, Asian-Americans have proven to be relatable to a general audience excluding their race. That being said, Hollywood can change their ways without losing audiences. Asian-Americans are not the tropes that have been established in these movies. They are distinct individuals who have different voices and personalities. It is time to stop pretending that all Asian people are submissive, robotic, sneaky, martial artists and write them like they are: regular people. 
