Representation In Media

Asian American actors and actresses are portrayed in Hollywood movies as always being the silent and yielding foreign victims to social injustice and prejudice. Whether or not these depictions are true, they are nonetheless stereotypes that Hollywood producers have come up with. According to the US Census in the year 2000, Asian Americans make up 4.2% of the entire American population, and knowing that most Asian Americans live on the west and east coast of the United States, many Americans living in central parts of this country have not really been exposed to any Asian Americans. Because of this fact, it is highly probable that most Americans get their exposure to the Asian American lifestyle only through television and movies. Even if

Though Asians make up the largest portion of the world’s population, Asian-Americans are one of the least represented minority groups within the United States. Out of an estimated 318 million people living in the U.S., Asians account for 5.2%, or approximately 17 million people. Compared to Hispanics at 54 million and African-Americans at 42 million, Asians and/or Asian-Americans are vastly outnumbered by the two other major minority groups and even more so by the majority, European-Americans. Even though Asians are typically considered the “model minority”, they are faced with the same issues that plague many other minority groups within the U.S. today to include stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination and ethnocentrism. There has been a history of discriminatory national policies directed at the immigration of Asians to the U.S. and in times of duress, the labeling and targeted institutional discrimination of specific ethnicities of Asian-Americans as traitors based solely on country of origin and not on the deeds and actions of said U.S. citizens (Japanese internment camps of World War II).

Although Asian Americans comprise only about 5% of the U.S. population, this group is the fastest growing segment of American society. Despite such rapid expansion, Asian Americans are widely underrepresented throughout media, whether in television, cinema, or literature. Moreover, there are different stereotypes associated with Asian Americans. One of the most pervasive stereotypes details how Asian Americans are a “model minority”. In essence, this myth describes how anyone who is Asian American will become a successful individual able to achieve the “American dream”.

Throughout history, the media has been known to be influential towards how individuals of society perceive the world and their environment. This influence can lead to people creating prejudices towards those who are highlighted by the media. It also has the ability to change the attitude of one person towards another class of people and stereotype them in positive, but mostly negative ways. One population that has played victim to the repercussions of the mass media is Asian Americans, who have been oppressed and deemed a minority by Americans. The media’s portrayal of Asian Americans has had detrimental effects on one’s opportunities, performance, and their perception of the world.

For 20 years, Asian Americans have been portrayed by the press and the media as a successful minority. Asian Americans are believed to benefit from astounding achievements in education, rising occupational statuses, increasing income, and are problem-fee in mental health and crime. The idea of Asian Americans as a model minority has become the central theme in media portrayal of Asian Americans since the middle 1960s. The term model minority is given to a minority group that exhibits middle class characteristics, and attains some measure of success on its own without special programs or welfare. Asian Americans are seen as a model minority because even though they have faced prejudice and

As society continues to advance, it is evident that technology is vital to the facilitation of everyday living. In today’s media, minorities are constantly being represented in a negative light. Those who fall victim to this tend to be Latinos and African Americans. In the news, there are many aired reports of acts of violence that are portrayed as being committed either by an African American or a Latino. Entertainment media also does its part in showing minorities through negative stereotypes and are underrepresented in important leading roles. Both tend to be seen as antagonist characters or minor characters, while others, such as Anglos usually play leading protagonist roles. Mass media has an influence on how society sees Latinos and African Americans because these perceptions of minorities are constantly shown. Sociological studies on the content analysis of mass media have confirmed that negative portrayal of minorities helps to perpetuate radical prejudices and sustain their low status. Furthermore, it is important for Latinos and African Americans to be given equal opportunities to be positively portrayed.

As the conference chair for the Asian American Student Union, I spearheaded a school wide conference on Asian American issues and advocacy. This conference brought in speakers from across the United States, including members of the U.S. government, and had over 100 participants. In addition, I led a group of twenty students to the East Coast Asian American Student Union conference at Columbia University. I developed preparatory pre-departure workshops, handled scholarship distribution, and outlined travel logistics. As a member of the AASU board, I had the opportunity to develop my own general body meeting on the topic of Asian American portrayal in the media.

Research Paper: You will choose a specific group in American society (gender, race, etc.). You will then explore how that group is represented in a variety of media (television, film, music, video games, etc.) and what affect that has on our society and on members of

THESIS STATEMENT: The Asian Americans have been socially constructed

I agree completely with Monika’s claim that lack of representation, whitewashing, and stereotypes are the issues in American media. I think the media don’t understand the importance of diversity and how it positively impact society. In fact the author’s stated that absence of minorities in shows where set in cities that have high present of minorities population which means that there are a race better than others and that’s what is going in the media displaying white race as more intelligent, affection and other races can’t survive without the white race .In the article the one the issues with whitewashing was replacing minority roles to white actors. However, The media argues that representing the minorities as mine characters may lead to

I have chosen the issue of “miss/underrepresentation of minorities in American television and film.” As America has changed over the years to become much more accepting and inclusive, American media seems to be a bit behind. There are countless instances in which characters from a book or graphic novel has been white-washed once they make it to the big screen. Some may argue these choices are made because the actor is very strong at their craft or they are a star and will bring in the big bucks in theaters. While this may be true, it completely discredits not only the original art and meaning of the work but also the community of talented non-white artist in America. I want to delve deep into the reason this can be happening in a generally

In his article “A Long Way to Go: Minorities and the Media”, Carlos Cort discusses the misrepresentation of minorities in the media. Carlos goes on to state that Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians are all represented with false stereotypes within the media. Carlos brings up an example about how East L.A is negatively identified with gangs and blames the mass media for the popular stereotype that has resonated with the public. Cort also adds that part of the problem with misrepresentation is that minorities have had marginal influence within the mainstream media. Since the beginning of television many roles such as news broadcaster, actor, or sports commentator, have been predominately performed by white individuals, with little influence

“Hegemonic ideology in media emerges from the way power relations have been historically constructed before seeing how alternative media responds to hegemony” (Pham, 2014). Thus, “Media’s “imagery and themes are polarized around fixed relations of subordination and domination”” (Pham, 2014). The concept of hegemonic ideology influences another concept, which is White gaze. White gaze refers to the way media represents Asian American from the white people’s perspective (Pham, 2014).

The initial issue is that there is not enough representation of Asian Americans in the media. News media, TV shows, movies consists of predominantly white broadcasters and actors. University of California, Los Angeles, reported that Asian characters made up of “3%-4% of roles in scripted broadcast and cable shows in the 2014-15

As a cisgendered white person, I’ve been lucky enough to have those aspects of my identity represented in the popular media thus far. Therefore, I’m going to focus more on the lack of representation for queer people in the media, as it may not be my place to speak about the other issues, however many opinions I may have on those subjects.