Asian Americans: Representation in U.S. Media and Its Impact - Essay Sample

Introduction

Today, Asian Americans represent approximately 4 percent of the population of the United States and are considered to be one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the US (Tung, 2006). According to Healey et al. (2018), the contemporary immigration of Asians into the US has spiked in the recent past, adding to the Asian-American population. However, despite this, the portrayal of Asian Americana in the U.S. media is still fraught with racial and ethnic stereotypes. Many Asian American viewers, filmmakers, and actors still grapple with many stereotypes that characterize American media (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87QkjfUEbz4). There is also serious underrepresentation of Asian Americans in the media in terms of uptake of media roles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRvWwrQWsVk). The hashtag "OscarSoWhite" which featured sometime in 2015 and 2016 served to cement this concern after prominent Asian American media personalities such as Spike Lee, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett complained about the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations.

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Notable Stereotypes

Some of the notable stereotypes which represent the media portrayal of Asian Americans in the US include the "Undesirables," "Nerdy and Left Out," and "Model Minority" stereotypes. Moreover, the increasing immigration of Asians into the US has led to a spike in racial slurs, jokes, and stereotypes about Asian Americans and actors in the media as evidenced by the widespread use of terms such as "Yellowface" and "Yellow Peril" to refer to Asian American actors playing various roles in films. Moreover, according to Tung (2006), the under-representation of Asians in American television stations and programs also points to the media portrayal of the roles that Asians can and should play in the American media industry.

Additionally, as Ono and Pham (2009) observe, in a post-racist America, there are still several instances of offensive communication that directly target Asian Americans and Asians on the airwaves. For instance, racist terms such as "gook" have been used in the American media to malign Asians. These authors argue that "historical representations of Asians and Asian Americans have residual effects that continue to this day" (p. 2). Further, the contributions of Asian Americans in the production of mainstream media, film, and TV images have historically remained limited up to today.

Stereotyping of Asian Americans

The stereotyping of Asian Americans is damaging to many Asians living in the US in various ways. First, it makes people develop a negative attitude towards people from Asian countries. Further, the stereotypes make Asians targets for damaging ethnic and racial jokes and slurs, hence making some of them to be stressed and traumatized. Their underrepresentation and stereotyping also adversely affects their friends and families besides limiting their abilities to grow and develop their talents. However, as Ono (2017) observes, in the recent past there has been a dramatic shift in the representation of Asian Americans in the US film and media. Hence, there is a ray of hope for more media representation of Asians and the suppression of stereotypes.

References

Healey, J.F. Stepnick, A., & O'Brien, E. (2018). Race, ethnicity, gender, and class: The sociology of group conflict and change. New Jersey, NJ: SAGE Publications.

Ono, K.A. (2017). The shifting landscape of Asian Americans in the media. Japanese Journal ofCommunication Studies, 45 2), 105-113.

Ono, K.A., & Pham, V.N. (2009). Asian Americans and the media. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Tung, L.L. (2006). Images of Asians and Asian-Americans: The under-representation and misrepresentation of Asians and Asian Americans on American television. Intercultural Communication Studies, 15 (1), 87-92.