Asian Representation In Hollywood Sitcoms
Some of the first evidence of Asian representation on film were through the portrayal of them by white actors in prosthetics. The practice of prosthetics is also known as “yellowface” which is used to visually mimic and manipulate oriental Asian features like the slanted eyes, or the unnatural mustard yellow skin tone on non-Asian bodies. As early as 1932, “The Mask of Fu Manchu" saw actor Boris Karloff mimicking exaggerated oriental slanted eyes to play the monster-like Asian antagonist Dr. Fu Manchu. In 1944, actress Katharine Hepburn transformed herself into a headstrong Chinese woman using the art of cosmetology, making her skin unnaturally yellow and the then-popularized signature small eyes look attached to the Asian race. What’s more disheartening is not just the use of makeup to alter the visual representation of Asians by non-Asian bodies but the fact that real ethnic Asians participated in the same movie but were only given parts as extras and sidekicks. Asian characters have always been visible, it is just that real Asian actors never had a chance to play them. As the media grew to become an educational source to gain common knowledge of culture and other aspects worldwide, the use of prosthetics and cosmetology to mimic a race whether it’s blackface or yellow peril was deemed as offensive and there was less of that visible on screen. Hollywood claims to embrace diversity, yet films often reflect selective color-blindness, especially when it comes to casting Asian-Americans.
Another problematic solution to prosthetics arose from this which is replacing and eliminating Asian representation fully in the media. Scarlett Johansson's controversy in “Ghost in the Shell" is not the first time this twisted phenomenon has happened but it helped fuel the current whitewashing boycott movement in Hollywood. Another racial scandal was the casting of the movie “21" in 2008. The movie itself was based on the real life story of MIT student Jeff Ma, an Asian American, and his journey of making it big in the casino world by using his critical thinking and superb math skills. The character Jeff Ma was not only portrayed by a white male but the actor was in fact not even American. If British actor Jim Sturgess being casted was not shocking enough, the script writers altered “Ben Campbell” as the replacement for “Jeff Ma” to fit the actor's Caucasian ethnicity. Even when having a clear image to replicate from, Asian people are prone to be altered to fit the norm of Hollywood. This not only speaks volume about how easy it is the interchange identity from Asian to Caucasian but it also shows the discriminatory casting system in Hollywood that even Asians aren't given the spotlight to tell their own story. The problem of Asians in American media is not because of who the actor or actress is but rather the implied message about Asians and their cultures being represented in a limited scope. It is one thing to be misrepresented but it is another to be completely neglected from being represented. A study conducted by the University of Southern California in 2017 shows that only about 6% of Asians are hired and seen in the top grossing films of that year.
Criticized for its questionable casting is the recent live-action remake of the famous manga “Ghost in The Shell” with the main Japanese character Motoko Kusanagi being played by white actress Scarlett Johansson. The 2017 movie adaption not only upset loyal anime fans but furthermore raise the question of why out of an overwhelmingly large population of Asians, couldn’t there be someone who fit this role and more importantly represents the character’s race. By putting a Caucasian in a jet black wig to make and create the “Asian illusion” shows a lot about how Hollywood still has certain conventional images about the Asian race visually when adapting them into movies. It is concerning not only because this is happening right now but rather the tendency to let non-Asians play the roles of this race dates back to as early as the 1920's and that it has been happening without an apparent revolution for change.
From being actors racially replaced to being written as the bad guys, old Hollywood saw many Asian roles being given to white actors and the way these roles were molded put Asian people to be hard-to-swallow characters from the get-go. Overall, the art of prosthetics visually present Asians in a “copy and paste” mould, neglecting the diversity they have in color tones and hues and generalize too much of what is now the anchoring image people think about Asians. Furthermore, the new movement of replacing and putting the Asian racial profile on the backburner sets back the industry on the path to globalization.
