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Implications of Asian American History and Film Characters on the Asian American Experience

Abstract:

The Asian American experience is typically depicted narrowly, focusing on those from an East Asian background, and those in larger cities, rarely does it acknowledge the history that helped develop the Asian American experience. This leaves Asian Americans from areas such as the midwest and the south, as well as Asians from other backgrounds, such as South Asian, out of the discussion. The research will use semi-structured interviews to explore the historical context and films from the 1960s to 2020 that have helped develop the Asian American experience for those of a variety of ethnic Asian backgrounds in the United States midwest and south.

Lexie Burns

Major: Civic Communication and Media; Environmental Science

Implications of Asian American History and Film Characters on the Asian American Experience

CCM 496: Senior Seminar; Dr. Cindy Richards

Completed December 2024

Introduction

The Asian American experience has been formed through a number of things, from legislation to popular media, though even with the advances that have been made in regards to increasing and improving representations, they still fall flat. When looking at discussions surrounding the Asian American experience, there is no shortage of conversation. Yet those discussions are narrow and often exclude and forget Asian Americans from backgrounds that aren’t typically represented–East Asian backgrounds from big cities along the East and West coasts. This has impacts outside of just representations in the media, and can lead to a number of other negative feelings among those who aren’t a part of the mainstream conversation.

This research aims to explore the implications of Asian American history and film characters on the Asian American experience for those outside of the status quo, focusing on Asian Americans in the United States midwest and south. This will allow us to have a better understanding of how broad the Asian American experience is and how to more accurately represent the nuances of being Asian American. To begin, this research will start with a literature review highlighting a few things that have helped shape the white Americans views of what an Asian American should look like, and how that ultimately impacts the Asian American experience. This will mainly focus on big pieces of legislation that focuses on Asian Americans from the late 1800s to the 1950s, then it will explore films from the 1960s to 2020 and their depictions of Asian characters. These two aspects will provide context to the Asian American experience more broadly and set us up for the conversation of the Asian American experience for those in the United States midwest and south.

Literature Review

History of Anti-Asian Sentiment in United States Legislation from 1880s to the 1950s

Beginning in the 1850’s larger numbers of Chinese workers began to migrate to the United States for work in gold mines, building railroads, and eventually to do factory work and agricultural work. As the number of Chinese workers increased, so did their success, and this was a factor that led to the anti-Asian sentiment among other American workers (Office of the Historian). Americans, while they initially looked down on Chinese migrants, over time their negative views continued to develop into something much worse. Media helped to perpetuate these negative stereotypes by focusing on aspects of Chinese culture that felt exotic and sinister to Americans; this included following a religion different from Christianity, their use of opium, their different gambling games such as fan tan, the differences in language, clothing and styles, food, holidays they celebrate, and for living a bachelor lifestyle instead of becoming a family man. By the 1880s Chinese migrants were considered a threat to American culture, the American government, and the White Europeans of America, especially the women and children. Novels focusing on Yellow Peril helped to perpetuate the idea that Chinese migrants were a threat, were sinister, and even wanted to take over the government to replace American culture with Chinese culture. The growing distrust in Chinese migrants led to White Americans wanting to keep Chinese migrants and their culture away from the mainstream American society and culture. Thus, paving the way for exclusion, segregation, and deportations. One of the ways this was accomplished was the introduction of and passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, as well as other additions and iterations that followed (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006). The Chinese Exclusion Acts were legislation passed with a goal of making it more difficult for many Chinese to enter the country. However, this led some Chinese migrants to purchase false documentation claiming that they were children of Chinese fathers that were already in the United States; the individuals that did this became known as a “paper son,” (Asian American Experiences in the United States, page 5, Joann Faung Jean Lee, 1991).

By the early 1900’s other Asian identities were also facing immigration restrictions. For example, the United States government passed an act–The Immigration Act of 1917, also known as the Barred Zone Act. This restricted individuals immigrating from the “Asiatic Barred Zone,” which included all of the Indian subcontinent and parts of the Middle East, through the implementation of literacy tests. The Immigration Act of 1917 also solidified who was considered part of the excludable class of immigrants. Following that, in a 1923 case, United States V. Bhagat Singh Thind, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that South Asians were ineligible for naturalization. This prevented South Asians from becoming citizens, but it also stripped citizenship from those who already had it granted to them (South Asian American Digital Archive). This stood for two decades before it was overturned, allowing South Asians and Fillipinos to be given naturalization rights, however the United States government still maintained a limit on the number of migrants that could enter the country. The immigration Act of 1917 paved the way for the Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, which solidified the literacy test requirements, increased the taxes immigrants had to pay upon arrival to the United States, and it gave immigration officers more power when deciding who was to be excluded from the United States (Office of the Historian). A decade later, in 1935, the Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed, this put an annual quota on Filipino migration, and even excluded many from entering the United States (Asia Society).

One of the bigger pieces of legislation that impacted Asian and Asian Americans came in the two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In February 1942 Executive Order 9066 was issued, this was what authorized Japanese internment camps, though it wasn’t until a month later when Public Proclamation No. 4 was passed. This was what led to the forced evacuation and detention of Japanese American residents on the west coast. This evacuation had to happen within 48 hours, and violation of this was punishable by a year in prison and a $5,000 fine. If Japanese Americans weren’t able to dispose of or make arrangements for the care of their property within that time frame, their businesses and private property would be lost forever. There weren’t any charges of disloyalty against any of the Japanese American citizens, and despite that, there wasn’t any way for them to appeal their loss of property and personal liberty (National Archives and Records Administration). In addition to that, Japanese Americans were imprisoned in “military zones,” most of which were in desolate areas, without due process for the duration of World War II.

While there is still a number of other legislation that were passed due to perceptions of Asains and Asian Americans–such as the Geary Act of 1892 and Alien Land Act of 1913 in California–these pieces of legislation helped to perpetuate the idea among White Americans that Asian and Asian Americans were different, lesser than, and even dangerous. We can see this through a number of events impacting the Asian American community. In 1871 there was a mob of about 500 people who stormed into Los Angeles’s Chinatown. While there, they stabbed, shot, and even hanged Chinese immigrants. By the end of their terror, there were nineteen dead Chinese immigrants laying in the Los Angeles Chinatown streets (White, 2021). Though this anti-Asian hate wasn’t limited to East Asians. In 1907 the Asiatic Exclusion League spread and perpetuated inflammatory rhetoric that helped lead to the Bellingham Riots in Bellingham, Washington. Hundreds of White workers went looking for Indian immigrants, most of whom were laborers in lumber mills. The White workers pulled the Indian workers from their bunks, beat them, set their bunk houses on fire, and stole their possessions. Some Indian workers were beaten so badly that they had to be hospitalized. For the Indian workers who escaped the violence, the local police rounded them up and held them in Bellingham’s City Hall and jail, instead of providing help (Waxman, Cachero, 2021).

It took until 1952 for anti-Asian exclusion laws to be nullified, which finally allowed Asians to gain naturalization rights (The American Civil War Museum, Ito, 2021), 1954 with Brown vs. the Board of Education overturned the idea of “separate but equal,” and the Civil Rights Act of 1966 brought the end of institutional racial segregation (Ignacio, 2024). However, despite this movement in the right direction, the Asian American community still is fighting for equality and better treatment to this day.

Portrayals of Asian Characters in Films 1960s to 2020

While legislation began to change to reflect the needs of Asian Americans, media portrayals of Asian Americans moved much slower. Many films that have Asian American characters rely on stereotypes that were formed through past views white Americans had regarding Asians and Asian Americans, as well as legislation dealing with the presence of Asians in America. Many of these stereotypes present in film and other media have permeated our everyday lives. In 2016 Asian Americans made up about 5.7% of the United States population and the largest populations of Asian Americans are concentrated in bigger cities along the east and west coasts and Hawaii (Lim). This leaves large swaths of the United States with few interactions with Asian Americans, meaning most of their exposure is through the stereotypes and one dimensional Asian and Asian American characters in film. Cultivation theory hypothesizes that the more you consume similar images and messages through the media, the more you subconsciously adopt those ideas as your own. This is a way that stereotypes of Asian and Asian American characters are able to so easily permeate peoples views of everyday Asian Americans, especially in areas with smaller Asian American populations. There is a large number of tropes and stereotypes that Asian American characters are portrayed as, yet some are more widely used than others. Some of these widely used include the model minority myth, perpetual foreigners, the dragon lady, and the lotus blossom.

The model minority myth is one of the most prominent stereotypes both in and outside of film, perpetuating the idea that Asian Americans are hard working, compliant, successful, well-adjusted, and docile (The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, CAPE, and Gold House, 2021). Some film characters that put a spotlight on these traits include Charlie Chan, Data from The Goonies (Donner, 1985), Toshiro Takashi from Revenge of the Nerds (Kanew, 1984), Cho Chang from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Newell, 2005), and Lane Kim from Gilmore Girls (Graham, Polone, Long, Stephens, 2000-2007). This may seem like a positive stereotype with little to no consequences for Asian Americans, however it paints the Asian American community as a monolith, when in reality there are forty-eight countries and three territories that make up the continent of Asia, meaning who is considered Asian American is incredibly broad. However, people with an East Asian or South Asian background are more likely than other Asian backgrounds to be portrayed as a model minority, leading to assumptions that specific ethnic groups are considered ‘better’ than others. This idea of the model minority myth first came about from a 1966 New York Times article by William Petersen. Petersen introduced this term during the rise of social movements–such as the Civil Rights Movement and protests of the Vietnam War–to celebrate Japanese Americans ability to overcome the residual discrimination from internment. One of the side effects of this was the rift between Asian Americans and other minority groups, like Black Americans, that were still facing blatantly obvious systemic racism. This divide between minority groups can be seen in films like Mississippi Masala (Nair, 1992), where the two main characters, who are Indian and Black, fall in love yet there are tensions between their families and communities due to their racial differences. In addition, by continued use of the model minority stereotype it contributes to the assumption that Asian Americans don’t face racism because they are seen as “successful.” This aids to the erasure of our experiences as well as plants more seeds promoting violence against Asian Americans.

The model minority myth and the idea of being a perpetual foreigner are considered two sides of the same coin, considering they are some of the most common and longest standing stereotypes about Asian Americans. The perpetual foreigner stereotype postulates that Asian Americans aren’t considered fully American, that they don’t belong in America, and even suggests that they hold allegiance to their ancestral countries (The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, CAPE, and Gold House, 2021). In some cases this stereotype can be taken to the extreme and be considered as Yellow Peril, the villainization of Asian Americans, where they are disloyal to America and the American way of life and are seen as foreign enemies. Oftentimes these characters have thick accents and look like caricatures of Asian people (Lim). Some examples of the perpetual foreigner are Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles (Hughes, 1984) and Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Edwards, 1961). Characters that are examples of Yellow peril perpetual foreigners are Dr. Fu Manchu, The Siamese Cats, Si and Am, from Lady and the Tramp (Jackson, Geronimo, Luske, 1955), and Mrs. Meers and her henchmen from Thoroughly Modern Millie (Hill, 1967). It should be noted many of the listed characters that fall under this category of perpetual foreigner are played by white actors, and therefore are participating in Yellowface. This idea that Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners stems from many of the earlier pieces of legislation, such as the Chinese Exclusion Acts, Executive Order 9066, Public Proclamation No. 4, the Immigration Act of 1917, and even supreme court cases like United States V. Bhagat Singh Thind. Implications of this stereotype now aren’t as exclusive as they once were, as seen through legislation barring Asians from entering the United States and becoming naturalized. However, it still manifests in ways white Americans may feel isn’t offensive. This perpetual foreigner stereotype now is embodied by questions many Asian Americans are asked, including “Do you speak English?” “How is your English so good?” and "Where are you actually from?” These questions perpetuate the denial of the American identity for Asian Americans during our everyday lives.

The dragon lady and the lotus blossom are much like the model minority and perpetual foreigner, but they add a layer of fetishization to them, leading to the dragon lady and the lotus blossom to be more focused on Asian American women. Each of these stereotypes objectifies the Asian American woman, either portraying them as sexy, menacing, and willing to do anything to achieve their goals–the dragon lady– or as passive, meek, and having a childlike innocence–the lotus blossom. While these each portray Asian American women in opposite ways, they both participate in the racial-sexual fetishization of Asian women, positioning her as an object to satisfy western desires (Aoki, 2001). Characters that illustrate the dragon lady trope include O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill: Volume One (Tarantino, 2003) and Princess Ling Moy from Daughter of the Dragon (Corrigan, 1931). Examples of the lotus blossom are Hatsue from Snow Falling on Cedars (Hicks, 1999) and Fook Mǐ and Fook Yǔ from Austin Powers in Goldmember (Roach, 2002). This sexualization and fetishization of Asian American women wasn’t always so blatant, it wasn’t until after the US-led wars in Asia, such as the Korean War or the Vietnam War, did these really become embedded as common stereotypes in western media (Ramirez, 2021). Not only does sexualization and fetishization put Asian American women into small, unrealistic, objectified cages, taking away their humanity and reducing them to sexual objects, it also poses a very real and tangible threat. We can look to the 2021 Atlanta Spa Shooting as a manifestation of that danger. The gunman indicated that he had an “issue with porn” and that going to a spa, “ he sees them as an outlet for him, something he shouldn’t be doing,” the gunman was “attempting to take out that temptation,” (Fieldstadt, 2021). This tragedy highlighted the intersections between racism, misogyny, and racial fetishization, both through the gunman's actions and the public's reaction, which was partially formed through the continuance of the dragon lady and lotus blossom stereotypes.

Asian American histories have helped to develop the stereotypes and portrayals of Asian Americans in the media, and those portrayals have informed the Asian American experience as a whole. While some conclusions have been made about how these factors have impacted the Asian American experience, much of it discusses a ‘broad’ Asian American experience that ignores and excludes some of the more nuanced experiences that Asian Americans from non-typical locations or are from backgrounds other than East Asian. However, by understanding some more broad implications of early legislation affecting Asian Americans and how Asian Americans are portrayed in the media can provide a good basis for exploring more nuanced experiences.

Methodology

The primary artifacts of this analysis are semi-structured interviews conducted with ten interviewees about their experiences being Asian American in the United States Midwest and South, focusing on their experiences learning Asian American history and seeing Asian Americans in popular media. The goal of this analysis is to identify if and how popular interpretations and representations of Asians in America and Asian Americans have impacted the contemporary Asian American experience, specifically focusing on the United States midwest and south. This analysis will take what we learned from the literature review—the broader implications of anti-Asian legislation from the 1880s to the 1950s and how Asian and Asian American characters are depicted in films from the 1960s to 2020—and use that to help inform the coding process after completing ten semi-structured interviews with Asian Americans from the United States midwest and south, including the states ranging from Arkansas to Wisconsin, and two interviewees moving from a country in Asia to the United States. Some quotes from these interviews will be edited for clarity. This would include taking out filler words such as “like,” and “um,” however I will not remove any other words other than filler words in order to maintain academic integrity. Each interview will be conducted either in person or through Zoom, lasting approximately between twenty-five to thirty-five minutes each, with one outlier, lasting about one hour. Most of the interviews are conducted through Zoom because many of the interviewees are located out of state. Three of the ten interviews completed were done in person, while the other seven were done via Zoom. Each interview will be recorded and then transcribed through REV.

The sample interview questions were made to help guide the interview, however, they also provided a great starting point to ask interviewees more specific questions about their experiences. Questions one and two were asked to get to know the interviewee specifically. Though these questions often spurred the interviewee to get more in depth about their family’s background, such as the interviewee’s family immigration stories or even giving suggestions of other people to interview.

If you are comfortable, what region of the United States are you from? (You may be as general or specific as you would like).

If you are comfortable, what Asian ethnic background do you come from? (You may be as general or specific as you would like).

Those questions and their responses helped lead into questions three and four. These questions were asked to get the interviewee to think more about their experiences in the United States midwest or south. The responses of these questions helped inform questions more specific to the interviewee, such as asking about local communities they were a part of or what their experiences talking to Asian Americans who are from areas with higher Asian American and Pacific Islander populations.

What does being Asian American mean to you? What do you think has influenced that?

How has being from [insert region] impacted your experience being Asian American? Has it been a positive, negative, or neutral experience?

Questions five and six are asked to get the interviewee to think about portrayals of Asians and Asian Americans in their life, both in school through history and in media that they have consumed. These questions often led to asking the interviewee about how they perceived their specific Asian background to have been portrayed in their life.

When you were growing up, were you taught Asian American history? If so, did it impact your view of Asian Americans? Did it change your peers' views of Asian Americans?

Growing up, were there any notable films/movies that had Asian and/or Asian American characters? How were they portrayed? Did that impact your experience being Asian American?

The final question is meant to wrap up the interview, getting the interviewee to think about current and past portrayals of Asian Americans and how those portrayals have impacted their overall experience being in the United States midwest or south.

Do you feel accurately represented in the current media in regards to your Asian background and the region of the U.S. you are from?

Initially, interviewees were people that I am close to, such as friends and family. At the end of each interview I would ask interviewees, if they were comfortable, to share the goal of my research with other Asain Americans from the United States midwest and south they know. If the interviewee found someone that was interested, they would refer me to someone and I would reach out. They were also given the option to share my contact information with potential interviewees if that would be more convenient and comfortable for people who may be involved. Below are how I identify the interviewees and their backgrounds:

Analysis

Asian American History in Schools

Just recently has Asian American history become a topic that is being taught in some schools. The COVID-19 pandemic helped to highlight the importance of teaching Asian American and Pacific Islander history in schools, with Illinois in 2021 becoming the first state to have an independent law that requires public schools to teach Asian American history (Belsha, 2024). Prior to this, and even currently in many states, Asian American history is rarely taught and glossed over in schools. Despite Illinois passing a law requiring public schools to teach Asian American history, many other states in the United States Midwest and South haven’t mandated that Asian American history is taught in schools. This lack of Asian American history in schools is only exacerbated for those who graduated from their high schools before or around 2021.

Interviewee, T.N. moved to the United States from Thailand during middle school, and when asked if they learned any Asian American history in schools in the United States, they explained, “I felt like I learned a little bit about some Asian cultures in a world history class, but it wasn’t in depth or anything.” Other interviewees in this similar age range – I.B., and J.P., – also echoed this. I.B, a Korean American from Arkansas, explained, “I think the most we’ve talked about Asian American history, well, Asian American, no, not Asian American History.” They then clarified, “we’ve talked about Asians coming to America as immigrants. I think it’s like the Chinese, mainly, were working on the Transcontinental railroad. And then that’s also why they ended up, most of the Asians ended up in bigger cities, because that's where the hubs for the railroads were…That’s basically it though.” J.P., a Malay American from Missouri, said, “I would say there was not really any discussion of Asian or Asian American history, or outside of the only examples we hand were like Chinese dynasties and then like Japanese internment camps during World War 2 and like the atomic bombing.” They also explained that most of what was taught in school focused on East Asian American history, leaving out the history and experiences of many other Asian backgrounds. D.S., an Indian American from Kansas, also had a similar experience, however students were assigned a project on a topic of their choosing relating to World War II. They chose to focus on Japanese internment camps, “It wasn’t like me getting taught it. That was me like going out and doing research on it.”

One of the interviewees who saw direct impacts of Asian American history being taught in schools was I.K., a Japanese American who mostly grew up and went to school in Arkansas. They explained, “If we’re talking about, aside from the bigger events in history, like the different world wars, we covered that… the attack on Pearl Harbor, that was a big one that I think we covered, but generally it was more American history and even European. However, there was not a lot of Asian history.” I.K. 's experience there wasn’t so different from many of the previous interviewees, although they explained that at their elementary school, International Studies, each grade focuses on a different continent, in their third grade they focused on Asia. “There was a lot when it came to World War II and the Pearl Harbor events. I think when we covered those in even sixth grade, you could feel how other people were viewing you as a person after we covered those events. You feel a little separated from everyone else.” I.K. continued to explain how that feeling of othering impacted their experience in school, “I’ve had experiences where I was a little cast out, I was bullied a couple of times because I was Japanese and because of the events during World War II. Because we covered those, it was almost like they’re trying to, I don’t know, trying to get revenge or something.” Like many of the other interviewees, I.K. explained that if more care had gone into the teaching of Asian and Asian American histories, the view others have of Asians and Asian Americans would have been different. Due to the gliding over and lack of depth and care of these topics, it can take away the space to properly learn and explore those histories for both Asian American students and non-Asian American students. J.P. summed up the lack of teaching Asain American history in schools and the impact it can have on Asian American individuals, “This is a part of my identity, and a part of who I am as a person that I kind of just turned off or ignored while at school, and don’t really think about… this is a thing I haven’t thought about before because I just didn’t have the space to at my high school.”

In contrast, some interviewees said they didn’t get any exposure to Asian American history in schools. When asked if they learned any Asian American history in elementary, middle, or high school, V.P., a Vietnamese American from Illinois, responded “Oh, God No!” However, they explained they learned some Asian American history in college, although it wasn’t a required general education class, “the only reason I learned it there was because I took a class that met all my requirements that I needed to graduate.” A.W, a Chinese American also from Missouri explained most of their exposure to Asian Americans outside of their family and friends came from sports and sports media. “Not really, I don’t think I've really been taught it in college really either. I watch a lot of sports. I’m a big baseball fan… But, I mean, I guess that’s cool to see, like, Asian people, some Asian Americans as well, like playing a sport that I really enjoy. But I don't really think anyone’s really taught me any of that, other than Linsanity and watching baseball.” Linsanity is a combination of a basketball player's last name, Jeremy Lin, and the word insanity, as a way to highlight the underdog story and success of Lin’s career (Sweeney, 2012). Much like A.W.’s experience, P.K., who moved from Korea to Minnesota when they were a child, also didn’t formally learn Asian and Asian American history in schools. Instead they learned a lot of Korean history from their parents and parents-in-law, as well as through historical dramas. P.K. explained, “Even though I didn’t learn formally, my parents and actually your grandparents, they really taught a lot of Korean history. They would always tell us about the Japanese occupation of Korea,” then continued to say, “But you still get a sense of who you are. So you get a sense of who you are as a Korean by at least knowing some of the Korean history.” This helps to highlight the importance of knowing some history, whether it be Asian American history taught in schools, or learning family history.

H.K., a Korean American from Wisconsin explained that they didn’t receive any education on Asian American history, “Well, so, I mean, growing up, there was really no talk of it other than, you know, in my home. So I don’t, I didn’t even expect it.” K.B. – H.K. 's older sibling – also noted that they didn’t learn about Asian American history, but also further expanded on that thought, “When I was in nursery school, when I was like three, I spoke some Korean words and some English words. And the teachers told my mom and dad that I was getting confused, and that I should stop. They should stop speaking Korean to me, so after that, there was nothing really.” Similarly, P.K. had a comparable experience after moving to the United States, “It was actually not good because when we came, there wasn’t that many Koreans there. So my mom and dad wanted me to learn English as fast as possible. So they literally stopped speaking Korean to me…so it was almost like a reaction to being in a place where there wasn’t that many Koreans. It was almost like they wanted me to adopt so fast that they stopped emphasizing Korean culture. But that kind of still made me want to, you know, still have Kroean friends and so on.” Overall, Asian American history isn’t taught, and when it is taught, it isn’t comprehensive, only covering blips of East Asian American history, leaving out large portions of historical context for people of all Asian backgrounds.

Asian Americans in Popular Media

Asian Americans have been gaining more exposure in popular media within the last ten years, with Jon M. Chu’s movie adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians (Chu, 2018), being the first mainstream film to have a complete main cast of actors from Asian backgrounds since The Joy Luck Club (Wang, 1993). Yet despite this, Asian Americans may feel as though representation is still limited. How interviewees interpreted Asian Americans in popular media was diverse, however they fell along generational lines. Younger interviewees, such as T.N., J.P., I.B., and A.W., held onto the sentiment that to better represent the broad Asian diaspora and their experiences, media should explore other Asian ethnic backgrounds and situations.

Popular media, specifically films, have been slowly increasing Asian representation, however since it is a more recent development, representation is still lacking. T.N. explained, “I feel like in a lot of like, western movies, there’s very limited, or there’s not a lot of Asian representations in a lot of the films. And even though, if they try to put some in, they’re very stereotypical Asian American. Like, wow. It was not very like, it was not a good representation of Asians.” This was echoed by J.P., “I can’t really think of like TV shows or especially like American TV shows or movies that I’m like, oh yes! Great representation for Asian Americans in 2017 doesn’t really exist. To be honest, Crazy Rich Asians was the first big one, and it was, a massive deal.” This limited representation of Asian backgrounds, especially in regards to what has become part of popular culture in the United States, has put constraints on the types of people and experiences portrayed. In regards to feeling represented by the media that is portraying Koreans, I.B. responded, “Oh, my God, the media, all the media that relates to Koreans is K-pop… I don’t feel like an idol.” T.N. also highlighted the lack of diverse representations of Asian people and cultures, “I feel like whenever I watch like films or any media, there’s not really a Thai representation in any films. So I don’t relate to a lot of things. Like, obviously I related to because I feel like a lot of Asian cultures are similar enough that I could feel like I relate. But I don’t see Southeast Asian representation. And I just feel like they need more.” A.W. matched that sentiment and asked for more diversity in the stories told about Asians and Asian Americans in film, “Movies about Asian people deal with a lot of family drama and like that sort of thing. I would like it if they kind of geared away from that sort of thing.”

Older interviewees, K.B., and H.K. also agreed that representations from when they were growing up were lacking. K.B. explained how Asian and Asian American characters were portrayed in films, “I think the only thing that I saw were like either kind of making fun of Asians, and they were all whitewashed, so it was always white people playing Asians. Jerry Lewis played some stupid Asian character. It was totally making fun of them, of Asians. And then there was Kung Fu, which was not one that was making fun of them, but it was a white dude playing this Kung Fu guy.” H.K. brought up a character actually played by an Asian actor, “I mean, there are those so, but they’re the stereotypical Asian, like, there was Happy Days where that guy that was in the Karate Kid, the older guy, you know, the teacher. He was the only Asian guy in Happy Days” However, they did continue to say, “ I think back then they would have Caucasian people play Asian people a lot.” In response to being asked about if they saw Asian representation in the media while growing up in the United States, P.K. said, “No, not when I was growing up. Yeah, I can’t think of any. It’s not like now where there’s a lot of K dramas that are really popular, you know, and a lot of Korean movies are popular.” D.S. also has noted an improvement in media representations, “When people say Asian, they don’t think, me. A lot of people forget that India is a part of Asia, and it’s like a big part of Asia, but I think that was one thing, especially in Kansas, that when they would say Asian people, they would always forget that I was also technically Asian. So I’ve never truly resonated with being Asian American, especially since a lot of Asian American media representations has never really been mainstream.” When focusing on South Asian representation, they mentioned how the portrayal of Ravi in Jessie was negative, ‘Even though he doesn't have an accent, they made him do that accent, and they had a Bollywood episode, and he was fully wearing a Jafar costume.” However, it was noted that portrayals are getting better, with D.S. mentioning season two of Bridgerton and Karen in Mean Girls the musical, “Especially with Avantika playing Karen, like no one ever thinks of Indians because we’re never treated as attractive in media. And so having her play Karen was a really big deal.”

When asked to look at how the media has progressed since their youth, both K.B. and H.K. agreed that society has come a long way, but still has room for improvement. “Oh, I don't know. I guess more so because they do have more Asian people that don’t have like a stupid asian accent, and are just American. It still needs a long way to go though, I feel like…I think it’s gotten better since I was a kid,” explained K.B. In a similar vein, H.K. said, “I think that our society’s come a long way, and that’s great. I think it’s great because it shows us as real people, and you know, not that we just eat like, you know, chow mein, and you know, do karate. So I think it shows us as real people and humanizes us more. But honestly, like, we still have a way to go.” For P.K., it adds a sense of pride in their culture to see how media from Asians and Asian Americans, about Asian Americans and their experiences become more mainstream, “It makes you proud of, you know, Asians who, you know, in media and in film, especially Koreans. There’s a lot of Korean films now and Korean music’s really popular.” This was especially present for P.K. in a recent film to come out, Past Lives (Song, 2023), which deals with a woman who immigrated with her family from Korea to New York, much like P.K. who moved from Korea to the United States as well.

How did History and Media Impact The Individual Asian American Experience

These narrow portrayals of Asian Americans in popular media that each of the interviewees touch on help to highlight an unintended impact of those narrow portrayals, the perpetuation of more narrow portrayals. J.P. perfectly summed this up, “And so I think the perception of people in Americans don’t really think about the wide diversity that exists in Asia. They’re kind of like, when you say Asian or Asian American to them, I think they immediately think, like China, Japan, Korea, maybe some other countries, but mainly those ones. And so I don’t think they really clock that there’s as wide of a diaspora as there actually is.” We can take this a step further, and look at specific regions within the United States. A.W. highlights this, “I feel like most times when people make movies and there’s Asian people, it’s like California and maybe New York, or places not really in the midwest…. I like California, I've been there a couple of times. But I don’t really know much else about it. I think it would be cool if there was an Asian person from St. Louis or whatever.” Narrow portrayals of Asian Americans and Asians in popular media is a symptom of the lack of teaching Asian American history in schools. This absence of Asian American history, especially the histories of South and Southeast Asian Americans, in schools helps to lay foundations for ignorance, harmful stereotypes, hate, and even violence. Individuals aren’t equipped with knowledge of Asian American histories, thus they are too inexperienced to identify the impacts of media portrayals and historical sentiments that still prevail. P.K. highlighted how that ignorance and lack of understanding present in the larger American culture can impact Asian Americans, “I mean, you still feel like a minority, you know. You’re still trying to fit into the American culture and you’re trying to assimilate into American culture…You feel like an outsider trying to assimilate.” While the feeling of being a minority is present for east Asian Americans, it can be especially present for South Asian Americans, and more so in the midwest, D.S. explained, “I would say it’s been difficult when I’m around people who are from the Bay Area, or fromJersey or Austin, where there’s these big clumps of South Asian people, so they grew up with a community and in a bubble. I didn’t have that, and even when I did, like yeah, I had a couple people, but they weren’t all from the same area of India as me. So it just feels very othering… it’s just that I feel isolated from other people, even if they’re other Indian Americans, they just had a different experience than me.” However, D.S. also highlighted how stereotypes and a lack of representation have impacted their schooling, “I was in a psych class in high school and it was intro to positive psych. Each person got assigned a country and they had to look up all these things based on the happiness index… the person who got assigned India, very obviously did not do any research because they were like, they’re all smart, but like it’s super overpopulated, but like the food is good, it was just such a bad representation. It really pissed me off and our teacher just didn’t do anything about it.”

In addition to that, having inadequate representations of Asian Americans and the Asian American experience, especially in areas that don’t have larger Asian populations can have other adverse impacts. K.B.’s experience growing up is an example, “ I grew up in a very white, middle class area, didn’t have a lot of, you know, Asian stuff around me, and as a teenager, I hated being Asian. I didn’t like it, I wanted to have blonde hair and blue eyes. That's what I wanted. I just wanted to fit in . I wanted to be like everybody else.” However, not every impact is at this level, V.P. explained that a lack of representation led them to latching onto any representation that wasn’t horrible, “I think at that point in time, I grabbed onto any representation of Asian Americans that I could either reflect off of or move in opposition of. So like Mortal Kombat was a big thing back in that time… I played video games a lot as a kid, and I would go to arcades and because I was Asian people would call me one of the characters from there. And since it wasn’t horrible right, that was cool, that was fine with me.”

Although, history that is benign taught and media portrayals should have more intersectionality, D.S highlighted this, “I would say with queer media, I also felt very lost, because it's again, not a big thing that’s talked about with South Asians. Whenever there was queer media, it was always white gays, and good for them. But I was just like, am I alone?” More intersectional representations can aid in breaking down the expectations of “accurate” Asian American portrayals and ways of teaching Asian American history, and focus more on honest portrayals. V.P. expanded on this idea, “I don’t think about things in terms of accuracy, or good or bad. I want it to be complex and interesting. I think that’s because it’s the kind of the function of stereotypes is to simplify and flatten and make legible and easy, and to me I want it to be complex and interesting. In Hollywood speak, they don’t use the term accuracy anymore. They were starting to use the term honest. So thinking about Minari as an honest representation of one’s own experience. It makes it easier and less loaded to say, this is accurate right? Because then accuracy is like about actual representation, which I think it’s really dangerous, right? Because then it’s like, well if it's good or bad, whether or not it's accurate, is something else.” They explained that this can be seen more in documentaries than media that people would watch for entertainment, such as Crazy Rich Asians (Chu, 2018), specifically talking about Vietnamese Americans, “in general, Vietnamese Americans don’t get represented a lot. And secondarily, they and outside of California they’re not generally represented right? It’s like documentary work is doing that work a little bit more.”

Conclusion

Asian American histories have helped to develop the stereotypes and portrayals of Asian Americans in the media, and those portrayals have informed the Asian American experience as a whole. However the Asian American history that is taught and popular media portrayals collapse the views of Asian Americans, their experiences, and their cultures. While some conclusions have been made about how these factors have impacted the Asian American experience, much of it discusses a ‘broad’ Asian American experience that ignores and excludes some of the more nuanced experiences that Asian Americans from non-typical locations or are from backgrounds other than East Asian. However, by understanding some more broad implications of early legislation affecting Asian Americans and how Asian Americans are portrayed in the media can provide a good basis for exploring broader, more nuanced, and honest experiences.

While at the moment, most of the Asian American history taught in schools and the stories told in popular media focuses on East Asians in big cities along the coasts, such as Los Angeles or the Bay Area, this research allows us to see the stories and experiences of Asian Americans of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, not just East Asian, as well as highlighting a geographic region within the United States that is overlooked when telling Asian American stories. Through the use of a literature review, we are given the necessary historical knowledge of the development of anti-Asian sentiment in legislation and how that informed popular film portrayals of Asians and Asian Americans. To better understand the specific ways in which history and media portrayals have impacted the way Asian Americans view their experience in the United States Midwest and south, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviewees highlighted their experience of not having much of, if any, exposure to learning Asian and Asian American history in schools. When they did learn it, the history taught focused on East Asian histories and overall were taught with little care or glossed over. In addition to this, the interviewees explained that diverse, intersectional, and honest representations of Asian Americans and their stories weren’t available for many growing up, across age ranges. However, portrayals are getting closer to highlighting honest Asian American representations and stories. These can make the Asian American experience for those of backgrounds outside of what is normally portrayed–west coast, east Asian–feel othered, as if they need to assimilate, or as if they aren’t Asian. Those feelings can grow when other intersectional identities are involved.

There are limitations present in this research, the largest limitation is the low number of interviews completed. While ten interviewees is a great starting point, this research would benefit from having more interviews or surveys. This would allow for more diversity in the United States midwest and southern states to be represented, different age groups and generations to be represented, highlighting more diverse Asian backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities, and even having more intersectional identities represented. Another limitation, that is present in the literature review, is the lack of South Asian representation in American popular media. Ultimately this may lead researchers to explore more diverse and intersectional Asian and Asian American backgrounds through understanding their history, exploring their portrayals in media, and having conversations with them. This may create new questions that could be explored, such as how historical anti-Asian rhetoric has evolved and how it is reflected in contemporary anti-Asian rhetoric.

Ultimately, this research presents value in academia and in our greater society, but it also has value to me, the author, as well. As an Asian American born and raised in Arkansas to a family from the midwest, I had difficulty relating to other Asian Americans and the media portrayal of Asian Americans in popular media. This feeling of alienation from the larger Asian American community isn’t something that is unique, but that is a realization that has taken me years to come to terms with. In the end, I wanted to help Asian Americans who come from backgrounds that aren't usually taught about in school or have experiences that aren’t typically portrayed in popular media find a community who can better understand the feeling of alienation.

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