The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same… Or Do They?

That’s Not Who I am: Calling Out and Challenging Stereotypes of Asian Americans (edited summary)

Whitney Pow, queer Chinese-American feminist, breaks down the three stereotypes of Asian-American portrayals as: 1) “non-assimilated foreigners”, 2) “inherently predatory”, and 3) those reduced to “cliched occupations.”

Simi Liu (soon to be the lead in Marvel’s all-Asian superhero epic Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings), Jean Yoon, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Andrea Bang and Andrew Phung headline Netflix’s award-winning hit Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience, which launched on CBC in 2016, and have not looked back since.

In further categorical detail, she essays the lament of these portrayals as negatively symbolised in popular media: how her heritage has long been appropriated as the ‘Other’ who knows kung-fu and is smart in maths; pushed out to the margins of society as those not adhering to American customs and speech patterns; and as immigrants stealing jobs and livelihoods particularly in hospitality and service. Pow paints a widespread attitude tinged with misunderstanding, resentment and frustration that can be at once passive-aggressive and sometimes violently overt. In the prisms of entertainment, the Asian-American character’s simply to be tolerated, retooled, invisible and/or unrealistically satirised. In writing for representations of race and gender, Pow examines majority racism as erroneously systemic, culturally acceptable and patronising, revealing a lack of awareness for the nuances and complexities beyond skin colour. While casual racism is insidious, cyclically reinforced and upheld to preconceived expectations, she proudly counteracts her own narratives with family history in the context of war contributions, and a ‘kinship’ with those who truly represent her story—comparatively as few as they are in the mainstream, most notably the queer Asian American web series That’s What She Said.

Lastly, Pow wraps up the inverse link between American patriotism and an insecure, anxious imagination of an antagonistic China, and captures the point that white-led stereotypes can be sensitively demoralising and “painful.” That said, can she hope to spark an open-minded, constructive, mindful discussion and a permanently hierarchal shift towards those of colour leading the charge behind the scenes and taking back control of nationalistic identity from 2012 at the time of writing to present?

https://www.autostraddle.com/thats-not-who-i-am-calling-out-and-challenging-stereotypes-of-asian-americans-136205/ (original article, April 9 2012)