Asian Perspectives During COVID: American Media Portrayal
In April to June 2021, in collaboration with the UCSF Asian Health Institute and Asian Health Caucus, we sent out a survey to the Asian community. This is the second part of our results! You can read our introduction post here, and our first post on anti-Asian violence.
In our survey, we asked respondents on how they felt American media portrayal of Asians affect how others perceive Asians, and in a follow up question asked about their thoughts on media portrayal of Asians in America.
Most respondents feel that American media portrayal causes a negative perception of Asians in America. There is a conflict between wanting representation and discomfort with how Asians are currently represented. Many Asian-Americans feel silenced or unheard by American media, however when they see Asians portrayed the portrayal is misrepresented or negative.
The most prominent themes expressed of the way Asians are portrayed are that they are shown as weak or as comic relief, stereotypical and one dimensional, or lack diversity and realism. Respondents thought that men are shown as desexualized and women as oversexualized. Following the themes found in our anti-Asian violence results, people also believe the media plays a role in normalizing blatant racism and dehumanizations of Asians. Many people express hope in improvement of recent portrayals of Asians, especially in movies such as “Minari”, “The Farewell”, although some movies can still be improved in portrayal such as the live-action “Mulan”.
How do you think American media portrayal of Asians affect how others perceive Asians?
Themes on the Media Portrayal of Asians
From the 98 respondents that answered the question on media portrayal of Asians, we extracted a total of 7 common themes. We list some of the top themes below and in bold fonts connected themes mentioned.
Negative portrayal of Asians - 73 (74.4%) - View portrayal as generally negative. Specifically they point to lack of diversity or realism (51, 52%), e.g. only one type of Asian race and wholeful lack of character development, and stereotypical portrayal (58, 59%). The fact that the media continues to have negative portrayal feeds into normalizing blatant racism and dehumanizations of Asians (41, 42%).
Stereotypical Portrayal - 58 (59%) - To differentiate from the negative portrayal of Asians above, stereotypical portrayal is the overused tropes for Asian characters for example, weak asexual nerdy and weird men, or “model minorities”. Some people specifically called out the oversexualization portrayal of Asian women (10, 10%) as particularly harmful to their safety.
Lack of Diversity or Realism - 51 (52%), some people decry the lack of variety of Asian American experience. The “model minority” is particularly prominent but the media fails to portray the working class Asian immigrants struggling to make it in America, which makes them feel silenced and underrepresented (40, 41%), or feel that their struggles are invalidated.
Improvement in recent portrayals of Asian - (24, 24%) In one hopeful theme, some people are seeing improvements in media portrayal recently. They credit Asian Americans in media roles such as creators of Minari and The Farewell which gives authentic and complex views of the Asian American experience. Despite this, they acknowledge we are still far from having great media representation as more work still needs to be done.
Select Quotes (click to expand)
+ Theme: Negative portrayal of Asians
" The media portraits Asian either as model minority or poor individuals who don’t speak English well "
"Long history of demeaning roles as concubines; sorcerers; gangsters/martial artists. Exploitive characterizations and the exoticization of Asians contributes to the “othering” and subsequent marginalization of Asians."
"As an Asian-American man, I am furious and frustrated with the fact that Asian Men on media are portrayed as nerdy, passive, asexual losers. We need more positive roles, more starring roles, instead of just sidekicks, villains, and losers. "
"American media has a history of horrid stereotypes for Asians, whether it's the "yellow peril" or Mickey Rooney's offensive role in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The Chinese character in 16 Candles solidified American perceptions leading to who knows how many years of bullying."
"Extreme hard to asian males, they are portrayed as weird, perverted, undesirable and desexualized. Extreme harm to asian females, they are portrayed solely as exotic sexual beings and oversexualized. Two very very different experiences for males and females here, both harmful."
+ Theme: Stereotyped Portrayal
" Still a lot of stereotyping "
" Here is a TV trope page full of asian tropes. Asians can be depicted in a negative light, like being 'communist', 'unrefined', or unable to speak English well. [...] Older media may also depict Asians as poor (due to early immigrants in America) with stereotypical small eyes and buck teeth. Another trope is similar to the 'model minority' trope, stereotyping Asians - such as Crazy Rich Asians, or the trope that Asians are exotic and know kung fu, or reinforce the 'good at math' stereotype. These stereotypes ultimately paint Asians in a bad light similar to the harmful effects of model minority - that they give unrealistic impressions of Asians and treat them as 'exotic'. "
" I see it improving in film and TV (with still a LOT of room for improvement), but not so much improvement on the internet or news. Overall, we are still often viewed as one big Asian race. And mostly either one of two things: the model minority or weak/nerdy."
" I think there have been some steps made to erase harmful stereotypes that have been around for decades (e.g., submissive women, quiet men) but there is still much to be done. "
" Media mainly portrays Asians in extremes, goofy and clueless or super nerdy, or overly sexualized (women) and sexless (men). "
" The media and Hollywood have perpetuated stereotypes which are harmful and inaccurate. "
+ Theme: Lack Diversity and Realism
"It bothers how invisible we are in the media, and even when we are present, we're treated so one-dimensionally. The representation of Asians in media is almost always restricted to our ethnicity, as if that's the only characteristic that makes a person who they are. My identity doesn't stop at being Asian--even just calling myself "Asian" is an enormous simplification."
"one-dimensional"
"Mostly poor and not inclusive or diversify enough of the various life style or experiences of many different APIs."
" [The Media] portrays Asians as smart, successful, and competitive. This, however, is not true for many immigrants, who are still struggling to "make it" in this country. Lacking adequate language skills and having few opportunities, they are often found in dead-end jobs paying very little."
"The media portrayed Asians in extremes and failed to see that Asians are just like any other human being. We are citizens who work, pay taxes, and contribute to this society but we never get the credit we deserve..."
+ Theme: Normalization of blatant racism, dehumanization, and xenophobia.
"That Asian American identity is that of visitor and being someone that has to eternally fit in. "
"America media has a huge impact of the image of Asians during a deadly virus that originated from China whether it's negative or positive. Painting a picture that asians are to blame for a virus that affected the entire world has costly and detrimental effects of the treatment of asian-americans."
"The media portrays Asians as meek and timid but when we voice our opinions, we are ignored and considered a nuisance. "
+ Theme: Invisible and Under-represented
"traditional media has ignored Asians and when they do cast them, they are in minor roles or play stereotypical roles."
"We're portrayed accurately... just as society sees us. We're minor characters, nerds, invisible, on the outside. We can be present, we can support, but never the main character."
"The media tends to ignore Asians, give no credit or positive portrayals of Asians. News outlets, TV shows, movies do not have enough Asian representation particularly in significant roles. At most, Asians are given minor roles"
"American media report significantly less on incidents related to Asian, wether it is Asian achievements or attacks. "
+ Theme: Recent Improvement in Portrayal
"I do think representation is getting better as more Asian-Americans and international Asians producers/directors are working to share their story that reflect their authentic experiences. For example, "Minari" is a film that may resonate with Asian Americans who grew up around immigrant parents and brought in themes such as intergenerational gaps, microaggressions, etc. "
+ Theme: Sexualization of Asians
"Sexualization of Asian women have made it hard for Asian women to feel safe and comfortable with themselves. we are made to feel like we have to be a certain type of asian that people see in hollywood movies. there is no room for being unique and to just fit in."