Asian-American sitcom 'Fresh Off The Boat" and more new racially themed ABC shows

rocketsjudoka · May 15, 2014

krnxsnoopy said: ↑

This is interesting. When I say "normal asians", I mean normal freaking people, who also happen to have asian facial features and skin tone. You know, people who aren't martial artists, or speak with broken english. Asexual asian men who have no charisma and the personality of a drywall. Very little character development, aside from token attributes such as martial arts, the foreigner, or the unattractive short/fat funny guy (think Ken Jeong or Bobby Lee). Rarely will you see asian male roles that are flattering.

On the flipside, how are asian women portrayed? Sexual, exotic, submissive, unwithering loyalty (stereotypical asian core values), to their (white) boyfriend/husband.

“It seems to be okay if the man is white and the woman is Asian. The community thinks it typecasts Asian women as exotic or as playthings.”

At the same time, Imada says, “Asian males are just not viewed as being lovers, as being manly enough, or sexy enough, to carry a story or a commercial. The idea is that they’re not strong enough to woo a white woman. So they don’t get the roles” and are rarely paired with women of any race.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...59bc84-feb1-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story.html

Another thing you touched upon. I agree, the term "Normal asians" is certainly subjective and means different things to different people. In media, there is a strong correlation to them being foreigners, as a tool for comic relief, or as an object of sexuality; with little to no personality. Basically, they're not portrayed like real human beings. Their typical roles are unrelatable, and difficult for the audience to actually become immersed with their characters; either due to their foreignness or lack of humanistic qualities. They're either a kung fu master, a court jester, or sex doll.

It's one thing for Asians to be underrepresented, its another thing when movies like Dragonball are being whitewashed. (was a childhood favorite comic of mine)
Goku is the lead character, so I guess he can't be asian.

More examples:
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/11/29/casting-white-actors-in-asian-roles-1957-to-today/
Click to expand...

This was a lot bigger issue before but the portrayal of Asian males has gotten a lot better in the last 20 years. John Cho, Daniel Dae Kim and Ken Watanabe have all had roles that weren't type cast as Asian. Tim Kang on The Mentalist plays a role that doesn't depend on Asian stereotypes.

I brought this up a while back in a discussion with some Asian American friends of mine who talked about how difficult it was for Asian males to date outside of their race. 20 years ago the idea of an Asian male with a non-Asian was as controversial as Michael Sam's kiss but now it barely raises an eye brow.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zLwbuubtHO0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Rocket River · May 15, 2014

I must say . . . . The last one . . .where the son is arrested
and is crying and screaming for his father . .. . .

seems intense. . . . I cannot imagine it

Rocket River

Precision340 · May 19, 2014

the mom's fob accent is turrible!!

Mr. Clutch · May 19, 2014

They will be making the jokes I made in high school.

Sitcoms are pathetic.

Yonkers · May 19, 2014

krnxsnoopy said: ↑

This is interesting. When I say "normal asians", I mean normal freaking people, who also happen to have asian facial features and skin tone. You know, people who aren't martial artists, or speak with broken english. Asexual asian men who have no charisma and the personality of a drywall. Very little character development, aside from token attributes such as martial arts, the foreigner, or the unattractive short/fat funny guy (think Ken Jeong or Bobby Lee). Rarely will you see asian male roles that are flattering.

On the flipside, how are asian women portrayed? Sexual, exotic, submissive, unwithering loyalty (stereotypical asian core values), to their (white) boyfriend/husband.

“It seems to be okay if the man is white and the woman is Asian. The community thinks it typecasts Asian women as exotic or as playthings.”

At the same time, Imada says, “Asian males are just not viewed as being lovers, as being manly enough, or sexy enough, to carry a story or a commercial. The idea is that they’re not strong enough to woo a white woman. So they don’t get the roles” and are rarely paired with women of any race.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...59bc84-feb1-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story.html

Another thing you touched upon. I agree, the term "Normal asians" is certainly subjective and means different things to different people. In media, there is a strong correlation to them being foreigners, as a tool for comic relief, or as an object of sexuality; with little to no personality. Basically, they're not portrayed like real human beings. Their typical roles are unrelatable, and difficult for the audience to actually become immersed with their characters; either due to their foreignness or lack of humanistic qualities. They're either a kung fu master, a court jester, or sex doll.

It's one thing for Asians to be underrepresented, its another thing when movies like Dragonball are being whitewashed. (was a childhood favorite comic of mine)
Goku is the lead character, so I guess he can't be asian.

More examples:
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/11/29/casting-white-actors-in-asian-roles-1957-to-today/
Click to expand...

Oddly enough the recent Old Spice commercial breaks one Asian stereotype (sexy Asian guy with sexy white girlfriend) and reinforces another (clingy, Asian fob mother).

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FW7Fmi8_kfU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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Asian-American sitcom 'Fresh Off The Boat" and more new racially themed ABC shows

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