Search

The article discusses what Asian American cinema is and how it is typically defined. The internet meme campaign #StarringJohnCho in which popular film stars are replaced with the Asian American actor is considered. Topics include an overview of the history of Asian American civil rights movement, how a film can be considered Asian American based solely on having an Asian American director, writer, or star, and replacing Asian roles with white actors.

The article considers Asian Americans in mass media by focusing on comparing the Netflix series "Master of None" and the Fox Network/Hulu series "The Mindy Project" with the network television sitcoms "Fresh Off the Boat" and "Dr. Ken." It considers audience reaction to the series, critical responses, originality, and racial politics. Also considered is the book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua.

The article discusses cinema studies of Asian Americans in motion pictures and other related ethnic and minority fields of study. Topics include the history of film stereotypes, racism, xenophobia, and Asian American civil rights movements. Notable people include director Justin Lin, actress Sandra Oh, and documentary maker Ramona Diaz.

An introduction is presented to this special focus section dealing with topics related to Asian Americans in motion pictures and mass media.

This study examines the multifaceted images of Asian-Americans illustrated in popular print magazines, i.e., Life, New York Times, and Saturday Evening Post in 1945 to 1966. Specifically, the study asks, what were the characteristics of the "model minority" group that render them the "model" of other ethnic groups? Who created these images, from what sources, and for what purposes? More importantly, how can educators better understand issues facing Asian-American students, given a historicized concept of "model minority"? Through a detailed analysis of the traits, values, and beliefs of Chinese- and Japanese-Americans portrayed by popular print magazines, this study argues such traits serve the war of ideology between the United States and the Soviet block in postwar era. In other words, the model minority discourse includes Asian- Americans in the post war America citizenry landscape due to their apparent embrace of values such as democracy and freedom, while at the same time, excludes Asian- Americans through the emphasis on values associated with Asian cultures. As such, attributing the "model minority" image to Asian-Americans in contemporary America denies us critical lens through which to examine, analyze, and interpret the dilemmas and issues Asian-Americans face today. The study then concludes with suggestions for educators to demystify the "model minority" images in a globalized era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented in which the author discusses Asian American comedian Margaret Cho in terms of the history of Asian Americans in theater culture and Asian identity, focusing on her 1999 touring one-woman show and memoir "I'm the One That I Want." Cho's sitcom "All-American Girl," sexism and racism in the entertainment industry, and the social aspects of immigration are discussed, as well as Cho's performance of characters and phenomenology.

This study attempts to determine whether 4 decades after the Kerner Commission, newspapers report more accurately on an increasingly diverse population. Specifically, it studied whether the size of the Asian American population covered by a newspaper influences the coverage of Asian Americans in newspaper articles. It appears that although newspapers situated within larger Asian American communities report more frequently, at more depth, and with more prominence on Asian Americans, the quality of that coverage is not influenced by the size of the Asian American community. In cities with larger Asian American populations, newspapers have responded with increased stories and length but not with increased quality of coverage. This is likely because of newspaper fears of alienating European American readers, leading to a “White flight” in circulation and because of news practices that lead to distorted reports of Asian Americans. These findings renew calls for the newspaper industry to more fairly represent the diverse range of its readership and not just its most favored demographic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the racial ideologies attributed to Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans in prime-time television programs, focusing on how they are stereotyped and marginalized. A history of anti-Asian racism in the United States is presented. Efforts to instill an anti-racism ideology during the Post-Civil Rights era are discussed. Methods used by mass media to frame racist ideologies are reviewed. Various Asian American and Pacific Islander American characters on network television programs are mentioned.

This article examines through a cultural studies perspective the motion pictures included in the Charlie Chan series and contrasted it with the experimental 1982 motion picture Chan Is Missing, a text which reverses the Asian stereotypes perpetuated by the Chan character. An examination of these texts should help reveal the cultural logics that have historically structured the voyeur's work in society. This analysis will bring race and ethnic relationships more directly into an interactionist-based cultural studies project. While the Oriental sleuth was virtually ignored in silent film the Chan movie Behind That Curtain became a staple of the Hollywood screen. To study this figure is to study Asian people for through his persona are filtered all the arguments Westerners give for looking and gazing upon others. These Oriental sleuths neutralized previous negative images of the Asian-American and offered to Asian-Americans a particular Americanized version of who they were and who they should be. In this, Hollywood cinema worked, that is, an institutional apparatus which described, taught and authorized particular view of Asian culture, Asian men and women and Asian family life. It created a system of discourse which constituted the Orient and the Asian as imaginary others who were simultaneously categorized, exterirized, excluded and included within the Western framework.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including a multi-dimensional teaching environment for college English as foreign language (EFL) teaching in China, the possibilities of interdisciplinary teaching to connect the arts to other academic subjects, and the multifaceted images of Asian Americans illustrated in print magazines.

The article presents information on a roundtable discussion conducted by filmmakers concerning the ways in which their work reflects and interprets the concerns of the changing Chinese American community. Among the films screened by the filmmakers were "China: Land of My Father," "El Barrio Chino" and "Kung Fu Mort Amour."

"Asian" culture has long been fodder for films and television shows produced in the United States. Four main stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans emerged from the imagination of primarily white cultural producers in Hollywood: "Yellow Peril," "Dragon Lady," "Charlie Chan," and "Lotus Blossom." These images can be understood as "controlling images" in the sense that negative stereotypes provide justifications for social control and positive stereotypes provide normative models for Asian thought and behavior. Resistance to these images became substantial in the 1960s when Asian American filmmakers developed "triangular cinema," a strategy for Asian American community building, political mobilization, and the creation of an Asian American film aesthetic. The films of triangular cinema are "liberating images" that stake out a position for independence and autonomy for Asian American communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]