Representation of Asian Women: American Television Sitcoms and MediaIntroduction
American Asian women exist within a culture that is at times resistant at providing a realistic portrait of what an Oriental woman is and how she expresses herself. This can be seen in personalities like Margaret Cho, whose sitcom, All-American Girl forced her to see the reality of how America perceived Asian American women and Oriental people in general. These negative images, stereotypes of Asian American women as 'demon women', 'hookers', and submissive, are translated not just in television sitcoms, but in movies like Ghost in the Shell and force cultivation of beliefs that stick to the minds of people long-term. It is through these shows and movies that people understand what is an Asian American and unfortunately, how badly they are depicted. This essay will shed some light on the potential origins of these negative stereotypes and why they continue to exist today. Furthermore, a quick look into American beauty standards and the Asian American women that experience it will offer another angle at the bi-cultural identity undertaken by these women.
Literature Review
To begin the literature review is to start with Margaret Cho's All-American Girl. The sitcom was the first to feature an Asian American family prominently. Margaret Cho, a true pioneer in entertainment, had to deal with various obstacles while filming. For example, the image of the slender Asian woman is quite popular and was hard for someone like Cho to contend with due to her full-figure physique. If it was not pressures in maintaining a certain, there was also having to deal with the negative stereotypes that permeated the writing of the show. Still, Cho was able to give some sense of belonging to the millions of Asian Americans that live in the United States. "All-American Girl was the first network sitcom to feature a predominantly Asian American cast—a milestone that brought tempered hope for a group that had for decades been reduced to kung fu fighters, dragon ladies and kooky bucktoothed neighbors in mainstream media portrayals" (Woo, 2016). It was her and others like Lucy Liu, that enabled some progress in reversing the negative images of Asian Americans.
Negative images and stereotypes are what really keep Asian Americans from having more of a presence in media and television sitcoms. Why is that? Why is there such a reluctance to express the Asian American experience and the continued reinforcement of things like 'dragon ladies' and hookers?
Edward Said's book, Orientalism, offers some insight. In his book he details how in the electronic, postmodern world, there is a reinforcement of stereotypes rather than a dispelling of them. "Television, the films, and all the media's resources have forced information into more and more standardized molds. So far as the Orient is concerned, standardization and cultural stereotyping have intensified the hold of the nineteenth-century academic" (Said, 2014, p. 26). If one looks at other shows like Ally McBeal or even new ones like Sherlock, Lucy Liu, who worked in...
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