As you all know, Hollywood is run by mostly White males… producers, writers, directors, etc. The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) is composed of 75% males and 25% females. So, naturally, plots and storylines come from the whims of mostly men. Is it any wonder that women on the screen are portrayed with a heightened sense of sex appeal? Actresses like Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), Joan Chen (Last Emperor), and Kelly Hu (Scorpion King) have all had their share of exotic roles with lots of sex appeal.
On a side note, the hugely-popular and successful show, “Sex in the City” is a show about four sexually-liberated White women and their personal lives and tastes and attitudes. However, the show was largely penned by a man. Hmmm… how interesting? To be able to control and affect the minds of millions of women glued to their TV sets by just one man. (wait a minute… isn’t that what I’m trying to do? No! I’m not trying to affect just women, although I am trying to affect just Asians.) But, I digress…
White America seems to have an acquired taste for Asian women as they have only recently (in Hollywood’s film history) jumped out of their former “Dragon Lady” skins and into the ”sexually-liberated“ type eager to be rescued from their Asian heritage of demure conservativism.
Please chime in with your attitudes and opinions on this topic. I ask that you keep your posts as civil and polite as possible.
1 response so far ↓
Jim Chan // December 14, 2007 at 7:50 pm |
Yeah that’s the thing about Hollywood. Whatever doesn’t fit the stereotypes doesn’t get shown. I remember back in Asian American Studies class, this psychology professor outlined 3 assumptions that go along with stereotypes:
1) Asians really are that way
2) Asians are only that way and nothing more
3) if they don’t fit the stereotype, these Asians better damn well be that way
“If an Asian character doesn’t fit a stereotype, then the writers, producers, directors will make an actor fit the stereotype. It’s like racist fantasy role playing for these dudes.”