The myth of the dumb Asian
I’m glad I live in a world where Asians get more Hollywood screen time and fat chicks can be ‘It’ girls. Of the latter, Rebel Wilson’s extra-large self-awareness in recent box-office hit Pitch Perfect was so hard to ignore, she ended up out-charming star Anna Kendrick. On the other hand, the two Asian girls in the movie seemed to lack whole selves. There’s Lilly, whose mousiness and muteness was its own gag in a movie about competitiveness in college a cappella. Acting as a prop to establish Anna Kendrick’s inability to fit in at school is Kimmy Jin, an immediately unforthcoming roommate to Kendrick’s Becca. Though the unsavory qualities of both Kimmy Jin and Lilly were exaggerated enough to be amusing, I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Did these two characters represent what Asians usually are onscreen — either inscrutable or unfriendly?
Comedy is, of course, where we see these two stereotypes manifest the most. The character of Long Duk Dong, a Chinese exchange student in Sixteen Candles, was funny precisely because of his outsider status. He’s an asexual nerd until he’s exposed to a kegged-out American high school party, which turns him into a piss-drunk hornball. Given his name, the transformation is both fitting and ironic; the stereotype of Chinamen being ill-equipped reproductively is given the comedic twist of hypersexuality. When Dong ends up in the passionate embrace of a big, butch white girl, it’s hilarious.
Cafeteria table classification in Mean Girls reveals a lot about where Asian kids stand — or are made to sit — more than a quarter-century later. Only three tables among the 13 mentioned are organized by race: Unfriendly Black Hotties, Asian Nerds, and Cool Asians. The fact that the two Asian tables are separate and distinct implies exclusion: that whether or not we’re intelligent or socially conditioned, personality takes a backseat to our glaring minority.
In a Developmental Psychology article published in 2000, psychologist Jill Hamm noted that race banded adolescents together more than socioeconomic status. Where white Americans are often greater in stature and sass, ethnic cliques need to be formed to show strength rather than subordination.
In MTV’s hit teen show Awkward, lead character Jenna shares pariah status with her best friend, Ming Haung, a dykey Chinese-American girl. Ming’s isolation at the lowest rung of the high school hierarchy is more evident when she encounters her school’s Asian mafia, a prickly group known for knowing all the campus goings-on, from test answers to Ming’s cup size. The mafia’s ringleader, Becca, tries to distinguish what kind of Asian Ming is — a School Asian or a Cool Asian. Because Ming neither parties hardy or studies hard, she doesn’t belong in either. “So what am I?” Ming then asks. “White,” Becca says, reinforcing the notion that Asians can only be one of two things: calculating and untrustworthy, or insignificant.
As an Asian in America, I sometimes feel racially fenced off, especially given the frequency I surprise people with my “really good English.” The other day, I introduced a Filipino friend to a white coworker, who paused the story he was recounting to check if my friend knew what a pipe dream was. It’s as if intellect or the humanities are American things we’re not privy to.
Pop culture is, I guess, a good demo reel to show the rest of America how multifaceted we can be. At least there have been a few characters over the years that have exhibited the charisma Americans rarely see in us black-haired folk. There’s the wit in Community’s Señor Chang, for example, and Mindy Kaling’s The Mindy Project. Though juvenile, Harold and Kumar are a good example of us being able to let loose. And with more Dave Changs, Jeremy Lins, and Psys in the zeitgeist, we’re showing that a minority can be a major player.
When Rebel Wilson’s new show, Super Fun Night, premieres, her Filipino-American costar Liza Lapira may even match her outsize personality. Playing one of Wilson’s BFFs on the show, Lapira may even show she’s, yes, fun enough that no one will have to bring up the glaring fact she’s of Asian descent.
