Posted on 01/22/2018 1:52:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
There are not only a lack of Asians featured in popular culture, but the ones there are, are usually racist stereotypes like Long Duk Dong in 16 Candles and Apu from The Simpsons.
Popular culture plays a huge role in shaping not only how we see ourselves but in how others see us. It’s a really big deal for people of colour. If people who look like you are represented on TV and in the movies in a certain way, for the rest of society you look like that character, you are that character.H
That’s one Asian and one oriental for the examples.
My wife is an American citizen of Vietnamese ancestry and she is not a happy camper if I mistakenly call her Asian instead of Oriental.
16 Candles was released in 1984. That’s 34 years ago. You can’t come up with a more timely example to support your stupidity?
Stereotypes don’t make themselves up, and most times are generalizations, rather than meanness. If people are offended by them, they shouldn’t act like them. Actually, people should just get over themselves and learn to laugh again. I don’t care if you stereotype me because of my race and sex, but when it turns to demonization it crosses the line.
One of the big reason that Asian actors get short shrift is because they are expected to play any person from any ethnic group that can be lumped together as Asian.
If Hollywood could just produce something, anything, that had a group of Chinese actors, a different group of Japanese actors, Indian actors, Vietnamese actors, Korean actors, etc., who looked enough like those in their group, but not like those in other groups, it would help them all out.
So, casting calls would be specifically for say, Vietnamese actors, and audiences would recognize them as “Vietnamese looking”.
I understand your point but the movie is still shown on TV quite often.
It is a popular movie so that a large portion of readers will recognize the characters he mentions.
Some movie from this year is not going to be recognized nearly as well.
But on the other hand Hollyweird goes so far out of their way to be PC these days that they are a caricature of themselves.
“What’s happening, hot stuff?”
L
Oh, Boo-freakin’-hoo!
Of course not.
But would I be correct in saying that Indians are not disproportionately represented in the ranks of convenience store clerks? No, I would not.
Why not let the truth speak for itself?
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