This paper examines how Asian women are misrepresented in the American media, notably in the film business. This specific demographic is frequently underrepresented and misrepresented in popular media and movies in the United States. Most of the time, they are portrayed in a one-dimensional manner, which includes stereotyping and racial discrimination. Asian women are frequently stereotyped in the American media as submissive sexual objects, aggressive characters, or geeks. These molds could have evolved throughout time. Instead of the sexual submissive, we may now witness over-sexualized characters who are free to seek sexual encounters with their masculine counterparts. The bellicose personality is transformed into depictions of aggressive Asian mothering or nerds determined to defeat their opponents by any means necessary. In most American movies, Asia ladies do not play leading roles. The whites deny them this opportunity, and if they happen to get parts in these films, they end up portrayed as offensive tropes.
Literature Review
The Asian women are generally referred as Oriental because they originate from the East. The Oriental ladies possess the following characteristics: they are submissive and obedient, tolerant, and they can be domesticated. These traits signify femininity. Studies also show that the American media depict an oriental woman as exotic and sexy. They further describe Asian woman as either the soft doll or the diabolic dragon. Therefore, most American media present Asian ladies as sexually available compared to their American counterparts and thus associating them with prostitution and corruption (Uchida 162).
The oriental woman's origin dates back to 1870-1900 during the anti-Chinese period. During this time the negative image of an oriental woman emerged where she was seen as alluring and sinister. Studies have shown that the negative image of Asian ladies is associated with prostitution common among Chinese women in the mid-19th century. Over this period, young Chinese ladies were exploited by their fellow Chinese men and white men (Uchida 163). According to Uchida, due to the prostitution and corruption, Chinese women were restricted from immigrating to the USA. This restriction extended to other Asian communities such as the Japanese and Korean. Despite the restriction, they were smuggled into the USA due to the loopholes in the immigration laws. The anti-prostitution rhetoric therefore led to the rationale for restraint and the creation of laws that led to the discrimination of the Asian immigrants and denied Asian ladies American citizenship. From this discourse originated the stereotyping of Asian women being exotic, submissive and cunning. This negative pattern was later copied and promoted in the media. According to Uchida, the newspapers cartoons and Hollywood movies combined both Japanese and Chinese Asia women images into oriental types. The portraits depicted these women as sexy and exotic and had an intention of corrupting the morals of the white Americans (Uchida 165).
Following the entry of various Asian and Arab groups into America, the American Media and its audiences cannot distinguish the Arab culture from the Asian culture. Such inability to distinguish the two customs often leads the misrepresentation and the construction of racial hierarchies, a process that is often gendered. Due to the distortion, the American media stereotype Asian women as subservient, traditional, mysterious, exotic, dangerous, and veiled (Rajgopal 146). According to the studies, such stereotypes were created by the media in the mid-nineteenth century when the first group of Asian immigrants arrived in America, and it continued after the enactment of the racist act. Following the passage of the racist act, the American media depicted Asians in unfavorable light starting from poems, short stories, and later films as indicated in the Gee's documentary. The studies further show that the American media like Gee's movie show presents changing Asian faces from bad to decent and back to bad (Rajgopal 146).
Asian women are also represented in the Western media in two aspects, as either cold and dangerous villain or mindless and simpering dolls. Studies suggest that Asian women are shown in cinemas as pretty dolls that are eager to please their white lords and masters as represented in the scenes of the film of the Year of the Dragon. Such a misrepresentation has formed today’s common perceptions of Asian American women which contributes to the risk of them being sexually assaulted (Rajgopal 149). The mainstream American cinema also discriminates against Asian actresses. For instance, in the film of Shanghai Express, Anna May Wong, a great Asian American actress characterizes an evil Asian Vamp but she is denied a chance to play a decent Chinese woman in The Good Earth film. The character missed this opportunity despite her being the most famous Asian American actress at the time (Rajgopal 148).
Hollywood films and the American media often present Asian women in film as dragon ladies and submissive prostitutes who perform sexualized roles in the American cinemas. For example, Valerie Soe’s film of the Picturing Oriental Girls shows how Asian women are used as sexual objects in Hollywood movies. Such a misrepresentation is also corroborated in other media like men’s magazines and mail-order bride catalogs. That distorted misrepresentation has a significant impact on the American Asian female audience since it forms the basis of how Asian women see themselves and how others see them. Therefore, Asian American women are often demonized, injured, and oppressed by Hollywood movies that show them as sexual caricatures (Shimizu and Helen Lee 1388).
According to Shimizu and Helen Lee, Asian women are often depicted in various forms of slavery such as sexual slavery. The American media usually stereotypes Asian ladies as sexual servants. The media often presents hypersexualized and highly charged images of them implying that they have sexual secrets and skills that other women are not privileged to possess (Shimizu and Helen Lee 1388). For instance, the hypersexuality of Asian ladies is depicted in the films such as Madama Butterfly, Miss Saigon and the movie Anna May Wong, Nancy Kwan, and Lucy Liu are featured. However, some filmmakers such as Helen Lee are critical to these molds. They present unique Asian female characters whose sexuality is not affected by such matters and whose lineage has accepted the stereotypes of the dragon lady without believing in them. These Film directors focus on refiguring the image of the sexualized Asian woman and making them the whole, human and emotionally involved. They also strive to bring out the specific and unique sexuality of Asian women that is unique and specific to them and their background. In spite of people ending up in bed in Lee’s films, it is not that the film and the narrative are designed to end there but she often uses sex to imply something else like a turning point or to express a particular moment (Shimizu and Helen Lee 1389).
Despite the 'orientalization' of Asian women, the film industry has witnessed the advent of new Chinese films that make efforts in trying to bring out a new image of Chinese for the universal audiences. These efforts have led to shifting from previous films such as Yellow Earth, Red Sorghum, and The Horse Thief that appealed to specific Orientalist discourses about a primitive China to the recent films that focus beyond the construction of Oriental primitivism. Such a paradigm is expressed by the reinvention of the classic white savior tale in a Chinese context in films such as Pavilion of Women and The Flowers of War. In the previous Hollywood films, the white savior narrative had constructed a hierarchical gendered relationship between America and China where white hero ventures into the exotic land and nobly rescues a Chinese woman leading to the stereotyping of Asian women. An example of such a narrative is in the 'The World of Suzie Wong' film where an American actor saves a Chinese prostitute with a marriage proposal. Such a narrative therefore misrepresents Asian women as Submissive, innocent and illiterate. More recent Chinese films, however, depict Chinese ladies as active thus replacing the white savior narrative. Such films include Pavilion of Women and The Flowers of War which attempt to adopt the white savior tale into the discourse of a feminist-nationalist and presenting a complex and different image of China (Yang 249).
The American mainstream media and the Hollywood started broadcasting and presenting Asian films of the martial arts genre late after it had become popular and accepted in other parts of the world. The martial arts genre, popularly known as Kung fu, became popular in the 1970s and was imported from various parts of southern Asia and the West. This genre is distinct from the rest since it presents women characters in a different version compared to other genres. For instance, the sexualization and stereotyping of Asian ladies are limited in the martial arts genre. Asian ladies are depicted in martial arts as strong fighting females. An example of such a film where women are showcased as strong fighting females is in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger film which its three female characters—Yu Xiulian (Yu Shu Lien), Yu Jiaolong (Jen Yu), and Jade. These characters are presented as indomitable, fearless and relentless fighters who can jump, kick and punch in addition to running up walls, gliding across water, and fly over rooftops (Cai 441)
Despite the popularity of kung fu in the 1970s and the development of a cult following of the famous kung fu directors and actors both at home and abroad, in America, the martial arts cinema was limited to the least essential audiences who watched such films in the inner-city theatres. Such marginalized audiences comprised of Africans, Asians the adolescents. However, the studies indicate that the genre of Hong Kong martial arts gained the American media’s interest and respect in the 1980s and Hollywood began showing Hong Kong talent and action in its productions (Cai 442). Therefore, the American media’s interest and respect for the Hong Kong martial arts led to the positive showcasing of Asian women and popularizing of the Chinese woman warrior hence freeing them from traditional femininity which was stereotyped of them (Cai 442).
Conclusion
Asian ladies often referred as oriental women by the people from the West that is from Western Europe and the USA. This specific group has become victims of marginalization, misrepresentation, and discrimination in the American media, especially film. The American media often stereotype Asian ladies as weak compared to other American ladies. The media misfigures Asian women as sexually submissive and erotic. The American media regards Asian women as foreign and sexy prostitutes whose focus is in corrupting the morals of white American men. It can also be seen that the American media presents Asian women as sexual caricatures who perform particular sexual roles in cinemas. Despite the continuous stereotyping of this groups, the American press has however succumbed to pressure and started presenting Asian women as active and fighting ladies. Such a move was attributed to the rise and popularity of the Hong Kong martial arts in the 1970s.Therefore, today’s American media represents the two sides of Asian women. They portray Asian ladies as weak and sexualized. At the same time, they agree that they are strong and fighting women.
This topic of the misrepresentation of Asian ladies in the American media is an important topic to study since it focuses on critical issues such as stereotyping and racism. Exploring this subject will help the audience to understand that whatever is shown in the media about Asian women is not a precise reflection of their character but rather an image of the film-maker. For example, the representation of Asian ladies as exotic sexual objects, prostitutes and sexually submissive is not an accurate reflection of their character in the contemporary world. This misrepresentation is contrary to their religious background and belief that restricts them from sex before marriage. In the modern world, Asian women are respectable, and they strictly adhere to their sacred teachings. The misleading misrepresentation in the American media is the creation of the filmmakers.
It is also important to note that this topic brings out an essential aspect of racial discrimination of Asian women in the Hollywood films. Asian ladies often play evil characters in Hollywood films while white Americans play the decent characters. In most cases, Asian women are denied to play the role of a good Asian lady even if they are best suited to play those roles since they are naturally Asians. Therefore, this subject is an important topic since it will help in bringing to an end the racial discrimination of Asian women in Hollywood filmmaking.
Works Cited
Cai, R. Gender Imaginations in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the Wuxia World. Positions: East Asia cultures critique, vol. 13, no. 2, 2005, pp. 441-471.
Parreñas Shimizu, Celine, and Helen Lee. Sex Acts: Two Meditations on Race and Sexuality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 30, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1385-1402.
Rajgopal. ”The Daughter of Fu Manchu”: The Pedagogy of Deconstructing the Representation of Asian Women in Film and Fiction. Meridians, vol. 10, no. 2, 2010, p. 141.
Uchida, Aki. The Orientalization of Asian women in America. Women's Studies International Forum, vol. 21, no. 2, 1998, pp. 161-174.
Yang, Jing. The Reinvention of Hollywood's Classic White Savior Tale in Contemporary Chinese Cinema: Pavilion of Women and the Flowers of War. Critical Arts, vol. 28, no. 2, 2014, pp. 247-263.
