From Tropes to Victories: A Closer Look into the Evolution of Asian Representation in Hollywood

Are the days of Chinaman and yellow peril over?

The 93rd Academy Awards saw Asians and Asian Americans nominated and even winning in prominent categories, such as Best Picture and Best Actor — a step up from the conventional annual set of nominees. This level of Asian visibility in an industry typically dominated by White actors and film workers characterizes a promising acceptance of diversity in Hollywood, especially given the rampant racism of recent events.

Universal stories and themes with Asian leads have begun to emerge, slowly bridging the long-standing gap between proper Asian representation and Hollywood films. At the helm of this shifting landscape are Asian producers, directors, and writers giving a voice to stories once neglected and misrepresented.

Recently, the Hollywood movie industry produced films like Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Always Be My Maybe (2018), and Minari (2020), to name a few. These films portrayed Asians in a different light and helped them rise above being typecast as nerds, dragon ladies, or Kung Fu masters.

But while the modern entertainment industry is making strides toward diversity, it does not negate the challenges being faced by Asians and Asian Americans in their struggle for better representation.

Casting Light on Asian Stereotypes in Hollywood over the Years

Historically, Hollywood has irresponsibly shed a harmful light toward Asians, which has largely contributed to their misrepresentation in society at large. According to a 2010 study, the easiest way to portray characters from the East was to “build fictional characters to an extreme.”

The extremities of this portrayal can be seen in the 1984 John Hughes film Sixteen Candles, with the character of Long Duk Dong portrayed by Gedde Watanabe. The character, who soon became an Asian American cliché, was caricatured as a mix of various Asian ethnicities and was commonly referred to as Chinaman — an ethnic slur marginalizing Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. From the get-go, it’s clear that Watanabe’s character was designed as the film’s punching bag, with a chiming gong introducing his presence on screen.

Another common practice in Hollywood is “yellowface.” This occurs when an actor who isn’t Asian plays an Asian character, and involves wearing stereotypical makeup and costumes, as well as speaking in an exaggerated accent to appear Asian. The character of Mr. Yunioshi, portrayed by Mickey Rooney, from the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a popular example. In the film, Rooney plays a buck-toothed, slant-eyed, and satirized Japanese character whose broken English is played for laughs. A more recent instance is the controversial casting of Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi, the lead character in the 2017 live-action remake of the popular Japanese manga series Ghost in the Shell. Actress Constance Wu publicly spoke out about this saying, “It reduces our race and ethnicity to mere physical appearance, when our race and culture are so much deeper than how we look.”

When Asians weren’t the laughingstock, they were painted as the evil villain. Called the yellow peril, the phenomenon is a racist stereotype that dehumanizes Asians, depicting them as a danger to the Western world. The serial figure Fu Manchu is considered to have emblematized this phenomenon from 1913–1970. A power-hungry manic villain whose ultimate goal was to wipe out the White race, Fu Manchu appeared in various film adaptations, such as The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) and The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), which went on to become box office successes.

Media Action Network on Asian Americans (MANAA) president Phil Lee notes that it was easier to name Asian villains than heroes, citing Ming the Merciless as an example. The character was a menacing serial villain in the Flash Gordon comic strip (in the 1980s also having its own television and film adaptations), where — surprise, surprise — he was the Asian who plotted to take over the world.

The Trickle-Down Effect

For decades, these portrayals have spread throughout Hollywood and perpetuated real-life negative implications within the Asian and Asian American communities. During the late ’80s, Long Duk Dong was weaponized by high school bullies. Asian Americans were called Donkers and were taunted with the character’s infamous lines.

At the time, Asians and Asian Americans silently endured being ostracized. However, the stereotyping soon sparked widespread protests in the ‘90s.

Because of the uproar, Paramount, the studio behind Breakfast at Tiffany’s (and the problematic portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi), released a companion documentary, Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective, alongside the DVD rerelease of the film. Asian American actress and MANAA member Marilyn Tokuda shared, “I was young so I couldn’t really articulate it, but all I knew was that I felt something very wrong.” The actress admitted that early on, Hollywood had conditioned her to automatically go on interviews doing an accent. “I was so utterly embarrassed and upset at myself.”

According to sociologist Nancy Yuen, the continued lack of visibility and improper representation on screen damage self-esteem and affect aspirations among young Asian audience members. This then can make Asian audiences develop feelings of alienation and false perceptions of their role in society.

Research has noted that the most likely solution to strengthening Asian visibility on-screen is through active engagement within the Asian American community. Recently, more are starting to speak up against the stereotypes and the lack of proper representation.

For instance, it was in 2016 that #StarringJohnCho trended on Twitter. The hashtag created by 25-year-old William Yu showed how Hollywood blockbusters would look like with Asian American leads. It was shortly followed by another trending hashtag, #StarringConstanceWu, continuing the conversation on the much needed diversity on mainstream media. This was launched by 17-year-old Bonnie Tang, who was inspired by the hashtag it succeeded that arguably started it all. In the years that followed, more hashtags speaking up on the issue of misrepresentation started to spring up, from #whitewashedOUT, to #MyYellowFaceStory, to #MyBrownFaceStory.

The Road to Breaking Stereotypes

In more recent years, movies like Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Life of Pi (2012), both critically acclaimed, offered emotionally rewarding looks into South Asian cultures.

The film adaptation of the award-winning Life of Pi depicted spirituality and Indian culture through its titular character. On the surface, it narrates his adventures from childhood to his being stranded at sea as a teenager. Between the lines, however, the film provides an intimate look into the character’s philosophies and faiths — such as what draws him to Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam despite his father’s desire to secularize him.

Over the years, the industry saw the release of more stereotype-breaking films like Searching (2018), Always Be My Maybe (2019), The Farewell (2019), Yellow Rose (2019), and The Half of It (2020). Alice Wu’s The Half of It, for instance, is a coming-of-age comedy-drama brilliantly touching on the intersectionality of a queer first-generation Chinese American in high school. Starring Leah Lewis as the lead, the film tells a high school love story while effectively establishing the realities Asian Americans face, such as the difficulty in navigating language barriers. Lewis’s character is untethered to any harmful stereotypes, with the film exploring the different layers to her personality.

Likewise, Diana Paragas’ Yellow Rose follows the story of Rose (portrayed by Asian American Eva Noblezada), a 17-year-old undocumented Filipino immigrant with dreams of becoming a country singer — arguably the Whitest music genre. The film accomplishes effective Asian portrayal not only through its cast of characters but also with its story. Through the bond between Rose and her mother, the film openly relates to the Filipino identity of strengthening traditions and family relations.

The film directed attention to Asians as multidimensional characters that are fit to lead romantic comedies, dramas, and thrillers — genres typically starring White characters. Searching by Aneesh Chaganty took it a step further and showed that Hollywood was capable of casting Asians as the lead in movies with narratives not centered around their ethnicities.

In an interview with Variety, Chaganty shares, “We just told a good story, and these characters happen[ed] to be Asian American — they happen[ed] to be Korean American — and in doing so, I think we are hopefully moving the conversation forward in a way that says, ‘You don’t have to justify anyone’s skin color to be in a thriller, to be in an action movie, to be in a mystery.’ Let the story tell itself, and the people in it should hopefully just reflect everybody who lives in this country.”

And the victories have kept coming.

In 2018, the movie adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel “Crazy Rich Asians” was released, featuring a predominantly Asian cast and crew. It went on to become a critically acclaimed box-office hit, raking in USD 34 million in its first five days. Actress Awkwafina, who played the protagonist’s best friend, Goh Peik Lin, shares that prior to the film, the roles she auditioned for primarily leaned toward stereotypes that had her speak with an exaggerated accent. Following the film’s success, she has received offers to star in blockbusters and critically acclaimed films, such as Lulu Wang’s The Farewell in 2019 — a comedy-drama that eventually won her the Best Actress award at the 77th Golden Globes.

Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club in 1993 was the last movie with a predominantly Asian American cast before Crazy Rich Asians, which meant that producing the latter was a gamble in an industry accustomed to casting White leads and stereotyping minorities. Thus, it comes as no surprise to learn that during the early talks of the book’s film adaptation, a prominent producer approached author Kevin Kwan about turning the protagonist, Rachel Chu into a White character — a move that would have missed the point of the film altogether.

Quite notably in 2019, the film Parasite won one of the most coveted recognitions in the film industry when it was announced the Best Picture in the 92nd Academy Awards. This feat surprised both the Asian community and the Hollywood industry. The win was a cultural breakthrough, marking it the first foreign-language film to receive the award.

However, Parasite’s actors were snubbed of any recognition, reflecting the industry’s long-standing failure to acknowledge Asian talent. Prior to Parasite, director Bong Joon-ho had garnered acclaim for Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2007), Snowpiercer (2013), and Okja (2017) — popular films that also feature Asians and Asian Americans.

A Win for Asian Representation

During the 93rd Academy Awards, there appeared to be less excitement considering that the films were released when the majority of cinemas were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, it would go down in history as a milestone in Hollywood’s upward trend toward inclusion and diversity.

Minari, a film exploring the universal themes of family and ambition, was nominated for best picture. Without the stereotypical characters and spectacle that surround most Asian narratives, the plot simply presents the reality of Korean immigrants chasing the American Dream in 1980’s Arkansas and the nuances surrounding their struggle.

Director Lee Isaac Chung shares with Yahoo Entertainment, “I think in general, I’m just so supportive of any effort to show that our human experience is much more varied and diverse and particular than we think.” The cast and crew were duly recognized, with Steven Yeun being nominated for Best Actor, Youn Yuh-jung winning Best Supporting Actress, and Chung being nominated for Best Director.

On the same night, Chloe Zhao, a Chinese filmmaker, was also recognized for her work on Nomadland. The film received nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. More notably, it went on to win Best Picture, with Zhao taking home the award for Best Director. Zhao, who has previously directed, written, edited, and produced indie films, immediately became the most awarded filmmaker over the course of a single awards season, reminding the industry of the capabilities of Asian filmmakers.

However, this step forward does not automatically undo the damage of the decades-long irresponsible stereotyping of Western media.

Where Do We Go From Here?

A recent study that reviewed 1,300 top-grossing Hollywood films from 2007–2019 reveals that the representation of Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in Hollywood remains low. Only 44 of the 1,300 films present an Asian lead or co-lead, along with a neglect of intersectional Asian American identities. Among mainstream films, there were only 25 solo API directors and 98 API producers.

Representation matters both on- and off-screen; in essence, films created by Asians are more likely to portray Asian characters more realistically. As written by Thessaly La Force on the New York Times, “Representation is about demanding more: more leading Asian-American actors, more films in which we are allowed the everyday banalities of our existence.”

South Asians in particular have been at constant risk of stereotype threat, or the increased anxiety of conforming to (typically derogatory) stereotypes, at the detriment of their general performance. Specifically in 2018, Pakistanis demanded an apology from Hollywood for years of being the subject of terrorist conspiracies. Twitter users were quick to point out the double standards in Hollywood, some attacking a couple of well-known war or action movies, such as the Rambo franchise (1982, 1985, 1988, 2008, 2019), Munich (2005), and American Sniper (2014).

Recently, Disney released Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and introduced the world to the first ever Southeast Asian Disney princess voiced by Vietnamese American actress Kelly Marie Tran. However, when it comes to proper representation, the film garnered its fair share of backlash. When the cast was announced, people took to Twitter to criticize the casting of a majorly East Asian cast in a film that was supposed to represent Southeast Asians. Film critic Hoai-Tran Bui shares with NPR, “A few have voiced the same criticisms I have towards the film’s melting-pot approach, and even more are unhappy with the casting choices.” The film narrative also appears to lump together different Southeast Asian ethnicities, in effect just adding to possible stereotypes and denying these peoples the heterogeneity and nuance in their cultures.

“It mostly goes into the issue of treating Asians as a monolith, no matter which country they come from. And there is a distinction between East Asian countries and Southeast Asian countries,” Bui continues.

Moreover, because Hollywood films have centered around White actors and overplayed tropes for so long, television and film content have typically failed to reflect the diversity and complexities of non-White peoples in real life. This has effectively othered minorities and people of different ethnicities, sexualities, and beliefs.

Despite Hollywood’s attempts in diversifying its awards circuit, there is still an imbalance of representation in the media we consume. More than ever, it’s become vital to continue calling for active representation.

Finding contentment in the current level of diversity in film would only lead to Hollywood taking one step forward but two steps back. Clearly, there’s still a long way to go, but all things considered, these feats are a step forward in the right direction. Now that the foundations are in place and the momentum has been set, Asian audiences have to play their part in demanding for and patronizing more stories that represent a slice of their lives.

Gab Jopillo is an incoming fourth-year AB Communications student at the University of Santo Tomas. When she isn’t busy with academics or extracurricular activities, she enjoys reading, watching old films, or curating playlists on Spotify.