One thing I've noticed now that my long spate of ignoring TV is over is how much the medium relies on stereotypes. They're pervasive, filling almost every show from edge to edge. I must admit though, that where I've noticed it most is in Kung Fu based films and TV shows where Chinese and Asian actors are almost always superpowered with martial arts. It makes me think of the song Kung Fu Fighting, which came out in the 1970s when martial arts films became popular in western cinema and playgrounds filled up with kids aping what they'd seen on screen. Since that time, when Bruce Lee was the top name in such things, through Jackie Chan, Jet Lee, Chow Yun Fat and others (Michelle Yeoh, for example), this stereotype of the Asian guy who knows fifty ways to kill a man with his pinky finger has persisted. It clings on like a limpet and I can see that it's cool. I like watching martial arts fights, marvel at Wire Fu and Wuxia but at the same time, it leave me uneasy.
In part that's because amongst all the 'wokeness' of our age, I haven't seen people saying that the Kung Fu martial artist isn't a helpful stereotype - that might be because the Internet is a big place, but it feels as if there's an element of purposeful neglect here. Because its cool we won't mention it. Because it makes the people who do it look tough and vigorous how can it be wrong to assume that all Asian people know how to fight that way? Surely, it's a compliment, just as assuming that all Chinese people are good at Maths or are Doctors is... ?
Right?
But, that isn't the argument we make for other ethnicities, we don't say that Black actors should be happy because they get to star in sports films, or in Jazz biodocumentaries. We acknowledge that those stereotypes are actually harmful and we try to negate them, just as we've started to see Hollywood do with the 'black dude dies first' trope that's dogged so many Science Fiction films.
Female actors have been pushing against typecasting as they grow older for as long as I can recall, but again, I haven't heard the same argument being made for Asian actors (and for the record I'm a white guy in my 40s who would like this whole mess sorted and put away for good).
So, even though we're apparently sanguine about this situation, we have to acknowledge that we're stereotyping everytime an Asian actor steps up to do Mongoose Strike or Drunken Master Style. This is what bothered me so much about the backlash against Ironfist, the fact that in seeking to denounce the idea that a white guy could be the saviour of Asia, the critics were doubling down on the idea that martial arts were only for Asians to use. By trying to undermine one cliche, they propped up another. I'm not sure which was the more harmful trope - all Asians know Kung Fu or the Messianic White Dude.
I suspect, in practice that Marvel simply should have tried to develop an Asian hero who didn't have the cliche attached and simply left Danny Rand on the shelf for another day.
But that's by the by, the fact is that this stereotype is fully in force, it's not going away and if we believe in the the quality of representation on screen, as well as the quantity, we should be protesting against it and pushing for more diverse roles for Asian actors.
And that said, let me leave you with a song....
In part that's because amongst all the 'wokeness' of our age, I haven't seen people saying that the Kung Fu martial artist isn't a helpful stereotype - that might be because the Internet is a big place, but it feels as if there's an element of purposeful neglect here. Because its cool we won't mention it. Because it makes the people who do it look tough and vigorous how can it be wrong to assume that all Asian people know how to fight that way? Surely, it's a compliment, just as assuming that all Chinese people are good at Maths or are Doctors is... ?
Right?
But, that isn't the argument we make for other ethnicities, we don't say that Black actors should be happy because they get to star in sports films, or in Jazz biodocumentaries. We acknowledge that those stereotypes are actually harmful and we try to negate them, just as we've started to see Hollywood do with the 'black dude dies first' trope that's dogged so many Science Fiction films.
Female actors have been pushing against typecasting as they grow older for as long as I can recall, but again, I haven't heard the same argument being made for Asian actors (and for the record I'm a white guy in my 40s who would like this whole mess sorted and put away for good).
So, even though we're apparently sanguine about this situation, we have to acknowledge that we're stereotyping everytime an Asian actor steps up to do Mongoose Strike or Drunken Master Style. This is what bothered me so much about the backlash against Ironfist, the fact that in seeking to denounce the idea that a white guy could be the saviour of Asia, the critics were doubling down on the idea that martial arts were only for Asians to use. By trying to undermine one cliche, they propped up another. I'm not sure which was the more harmful trope - all Asians know Kung Fu or the Messianic White Dude.
I suspect, in practice that Marvel simply should have tried to develop an Asian hero who didn't have the cliche attached and simply left Danny Rand on the shelf for another day.
But that's by the by, the fact is that this stereotype is fully in force, it's not going away and if we believe in the the quality of representation on screen, as well as the quantity, we should be protesting against it and pushing for more diverse roles for Asian actors.
And that said, let me leave you with a song....
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