Lets Switch Roles..

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo drift, has always been one of my favorite movies to watch. But recently as I was watching the movie, I realized that this film, has some relation to the Yellow peril stereotype. Haven't you found it interesting, that the main character is a caucasian male, and the so called evil character is asian? relating to the yellow peril in the way where asians are the ones who look bad or are the undesired characters in films. It kind of makes sense to me, On why the characters roles were set up that way. Its just that audiences would rather see the asian as the bad guy and the Caucasian as the hero, then for it to be the other way around. Think about it, how many movies have you seen were the asian character is antogonist and the most likely white character is the the one to save the day....... ALOT! Now how many movies have you seen that introduce the white character as the antagonist and the asian as the hero? Yeah, i couldn't think of a film either. I did find it interesting however with the fact that this movie was directed by famous Asian-American director Justin Lin, and that he would actually choose to have the Asian as the bad guy and the white as the good guy, knowing that he is one of the Asian-American directors who have been trying to burry Asian stereotypes to the ground with movies such as "Better Luck Tomorrow" 

"The Myth Will Never End"

The action pact thriller Red Dawn took a toll in the box office released in 2012. Starting Chris Hemsworth is a military experienced personnel who wakes up to a horrifying war invasion. The story of the film is America under siege of the Korean Military. The cast of the film are young group of people trying to take back their hometown from the Korean soldiers. The group call themselves “Wolverines”, and set multiple ambushes against the Korean to gain their weapons and ammunition. In a desperate measure to regain Americas freedom the Wolverines are successful in every mission they set forth, yet their success comes to a great loss where the starting role Jed (Hemsworth) losses his life to a Korean military ambush in the apartment building the Wolverines made as their hide out.

 Fu Manchu, the Korean take the place as the evil Asian bad guys trying to take over America. In the film the main bad guy is played by Will Yun Lee (Captain Cho), who leads his base in the small town of Spokane, Washington. Captain Cho does not show remorse for the young men that escaped from being captured in the film so he leaves them with the death of their father, who encourages the guys to pursuit the Koreans and kill Cho. As for the Korean Captain he faces death later on in the film by Jed (Hemsworth). The film overall received a rating of “5.2/10” (IMDB). All though the rating of the film was not as high ranked is actually quite interesting and would personally recommend anyone to watch.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234719

 

 

 

 



 

Why Do Americans See Asians As A Real Threat?

America’s nation fears and questions if North Korea will ever attack with a war of nuclear power. This is the reason why many Americans can relate the military conflict with the stereotype of Fu Manchu. For a long time North Korea has made multiple threats that not only put fear in the American Nation yet for many all over the world. Yet American Secretary of Defense stated that “The United States of America and our allies are prepared to deal with any threat." (North Korea vows end to nonaggression pacts after U.N. vote) As opposed to the Korean’s intentions, our Secretary of defense informs that we should not fear any form of attack because we are ready as a nation.

This cartoon shows the intensions of what North Korea using nuclear power. The Korean soldier displays an action that would bring harm to the capitol of the United States.

 

By Jethro Mullen, CNN

updated 9:49 PM EST, Fri March 8, 2013

Why does the media or film industries never imply the real challenges that Asian or Asian Americans face?

  People that are Asian or Asian American heritage are just like any other.  It would be better if the media tried to help out Asians instead of portraying things that are racial. China provides a big labor force. Yet that is not the big picture China right now is suffering with its people for the economical stand. “While China has raised hundreds of millions of people out of desperate poverty in the last 60 years, there are still 128 million people living on less that $1 per day (World Bank defines poverty as less than $1.25/day)” (Poor Economics and China’s 128 million people living in poverty).
Although this is a big problem China’s nation is facing, media does not release this to the public. Leads people to believe that China may not be the only country with this problem yet nothing is done to better the situation. The people of China believe that there should not be any more poverty campaigns but more sufficient system that would get a majority of the population out of that category.

In the past, Chinese families placed great importance on children because there was no social safety net; for China’s poor, this is still the case (the one child policy is not as strictly enforced in the countryside, only a handful of my 300 rural students were only children). Instead of treating each child as an equal opportunity to be supported in the future, each one is seen as a lottery ticket, and all of the family’s resource are pooled behind the most promising child.” (Poor Economics and China’s 128 million people living in poverty)

 

     The media should rather show the public the horrific struggles that Asians face like China for example. As Chinese struggle to have a quality life for there loved ones they seek opportunities elsewhere. Chinese that migrate to new places and America being one of them; is where many Americans may see the Asians as a threat. As for the problem this shows that many of the young children in China are not getting the education they should be. As the issue is more to be on the government level, it remains that these children will be in the labor fields at a very young age. Not only does it affect the Chinese population, but it makes more people turn into migrant workers. Some children are left behind with other family members and their parents leave to another place for a better way of life. Yet that scenario might lead to portraying in that image in a negative way. This would be a negative connotation that Asians might be invading other territories.

http://seeingredinchina.com/2012/03/29/poor-economics-and-chinas-128-million-people-living-in-poverty/

Fu Manchu and the Yellow Peril are very negative stereotypes which should not be portrayed in media. Let China be the example that shows these stereo types have ascended to racial slurs. For Asian and Asian Americans there are true struggles, and the media has done well keeping them from the public. Media has a need to have these stereotypes because it makes people worry more about name calling for individuals, rather than showing a true negative issue. These two stereotypes are nearly small vessels compared to the many terms that are used to depict Asians and Asian Americans. Although these stereo types have made a negative impact on Asians, they have surpassed the false slurs. The media may continue to portray these certain aspects of Asian Americans, but the people will not stay behind. The Asian American culture has stood out from the rest in many ways, and in reality positive ways more than negative. Media might have to find some other way to stereotype Asians and Asian Americans because they are by passing as little men.

Fearing the “Yellow Peril”

The Yellow Peril was a belief that arose in the 19^th century, it represented the Japanese and Chinese workers that were migrating to the United States. The term yellow at the time was used to describe the color of East Asians, which later on became to be very derogatory.
For many years there was a belief that sought out to hunt many people and it was known as the “Yellow Peril”. It was the idea that the Orientals from Asia would expand their walls by conquering every other territory.


Yellow Peril as much anymore, regardless “The threat of Oriental hordes swarming west and engulfing 'civilized' societies was a widely held fear in the late 19th/early 20th centuries” (www.ThePhraseFinder.com). Yet nowadays the term and the stereotype have seemingly faded but not forgotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Yellow Peril cartoon above Shows

a man conquering a place and the people running from fear;

it was a picture

magazine made specifically to show the intensions

of what the Yellow Peril would be with Asians.

  

 



http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/yellow-peril.html

Many decades ago there was an undesirable event the lead into the right direction just when the Yellow Peril was born. The event known as the Yellow Fever which at one point was recognized as the American plague. This was " An outbreak of the disease was reported in October 1878" (www.ThePhraseFinder.com). On the other hand this was only a small issue that grew into more terror the Americans

The Yellow Fever came to an end but nearly a few years later “THE YELLOW TERROR OF ORIENTAL WARS - GEN. YEH OF THE IMPERIAL CHINESE ARMY.
He Is the Wellington of the Flowery Kingdom - His Field Tactics, However, Resemble Those of the Corsican Conqueror of Europe, and Ought To Be Successful" (www.ThePhraseFinder.com)

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/yellow-peril.html

 

The wars were very brutal a lot of blood was shed and many men lost their lives in battle. Out the Asian nations China became victorious.

Yet after the Yellow Terror and the rise of the Chinese army, many Americans feared they would come to the Americas and so they used the term Yellow in a derogatory way.

 The yellow simply applied to the color of the Asian skin.
The cartoon shows Asian men that display a negative association with war.

 

 

 

"You Must Defeat me"

When it comes to the whole "Fu Manchu" stereotype shown in the media, there is one other Asian American stereotype that is commonly used together in many films/television shows. When it comes to having a asian based villain or criminal, there is a very low probability that the character itself doesn't know how to do Kung Fu, Karate, or any other fighting style, if anything the character would be a master at it! this gives the perception of asian americans in the media a much stronger image of trying to be the "superior beings", always trying to take over the world in some way, not only with there intelegence but also with there physical skill. And I couldn't even tell you how many times different people and friends would ask me if I knew how to do karate, or kung fu, just because of the simple fact that I am asian, (little did they know that i was taking classes in Tae Kwon Do). But just by me experiencing questions such as that often, it really does prove to me how influential the representation of Asian Americans can be and how it affects the lives of a lot of other Asian Americans also. Not only do these types of reoccurring characters put these assumptions of asians being extraordinayly skilled villains, but the time around when these types of roles where introduced didn't help give Asian-Americans a good look either. character like these where introduced around the time when the Chinese where seen to "take over the U.S" by a large flow of immigrants would come to the United States, and steal the jobs from the U.S citizens, therefor giving asian a more negative image.

The video below has been produced by a very well know Asian American Youtube channel by the name of Wong Fu Productions, showing their understanding of the way asian americans are seen in todays media and how Asian are assumed to know some form of martial arts in a more comical way.

Fu Manchu

 Dr. Fu Manchu was a man who believed the rest of the world should be enlightened and be like the Eastern. He set out to dominate the west and destroy whatever is in his path. Manchu has followers that praise him and help him every step of the way which are known as Si-Fan. Manchu has a lethal weapon which is his daughter Fah Lo Suee. Not only did he have great allies but had the most terrorizing will. In a tale good versus evil the man by Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith, who is an agent from Britain. “Time and again over several decades they clash, with Smith’s ingenuity always inevitably thwarting the Devil Doctor’s plan at the last possible moment.” (International Superheroes). Smith always makes sure to interrupt whatever Manchu ever plans.
  Fu Manchu was a term that was used strongly on Asian males. The name usually described a man that was tall and lean with traits like the devil that made him a treacherous man. Usually Caucasian men profoundly used the term towards Asian Americans. Fu Manchu “(usually alongside Charlie Chan as the two polar examples of white racism against Asians)” (www.braineater.com). Is an intriguing belief that is mislead by the film industries  and the media. In many of the roles Asians and Asian Americans have are with a certain image the audience is used to seeing and makes society perceive this image as reality. 

http://www.braineater.com/fu.html

Yet the issue goes far beyond just stereotypes. The media now a days also has portrayed this image on Asian, and Asian American males. The media has made the image of these men as men who cannot close a deal with woman, martial arts savvy, and mostly used for laughter relief.  Like in the comic thriller of the Hang Over Dr. Ken Jeong (Mr. Chow) plays the role of a man of many duties, but his expressions and emotions are simply silly. Alongside the hilarious voices with foreign accent. In most of the films and commercials he has taken part of, are mostly funny.

Dr. Ken Jeong

 Jackie Chan is a prime example as for his most famous movies that form an epic trio. The Rush Hour series Jackie was an agent of the American FBI force, and was usually called in for special operations. Jackie was not only a character who was able to defeat the enemy with his martial arts talent, in fact he has the funniest expressions in the three movies. As for his enthusiastic role in the major trio he is always perceived in movies with a heavy Asian accent that many find as a sense of laughter and silliness. In the film Jackie fits in the Fu Manchu stereotype given that in the movie Rush Hour 3 he clearly tells his partner (Chris Tucker) who happens to his best friend, “You are not my brother”(Rush Hour 3).

As Chan astonishingly refuses his partner it shows a for a person who suddenly turned on his ally. Regarding that his partner had been with him for such a long time, and had saved each others lives multiple times. As for the media trying to show a small fit in the stereotype for Jackie Chan in the film, the duo reluctantly can not simply stay apart and reunite to finish the mission they had set of to accomplish.

No More "Yellows" in the Media?

In an article from the Sundial of CSUN, "The Yellow Peril." The author Hansook Oh mentioned about the Yellow Peril and Fu Man Chu stereotypes created another strange representation of Asians in the media called "Yellow Face." This yellow face means the media replace Asian roles with White actors. This term is very close-related to Fu Man Chu and Charlie Chan. "This stereotype was the basis for the television show “Fu Manchu,” which was about an insidious, evil Asian man who wanted nothing but destruction for the white race" (Oh).The opposite of of Fu Man Chu which is the "nice guy" Asian is Charlie Chan who is also acted by a white actor. In fact, both characters Fu Man Chu and Yellow Peril are acted by the same actor Warner Oland.

By replacing Asian actors by white actors to play Asian characters limits the appearance of Asian Americans in the media. “Not only do Asian-American actors find this a displacement of their ability to work as laborers, as performers in these sort of roles – they also find this an affront to their identity, to their work to overcome racism and be seen as legitimate actors" (Ono). It is important to keep the ethic of the characters because Asians are not allowed to present their identity.

One of the recent example of this whitewashing Asian Americans actors is The Last Airbender. This movie is a parody for more favorable television cartoon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The actors for each of the lead roles are replaced by white actors, except for one. The only "important" Asian actor in this film is the villain--Prince Zuko (Dev Patel). Here comes another Fu Man Chu, in this modern society.

The lack of Asian Americans actors in this popular media is already an issue to the accurate representations of Asians, but now film producers and directors are eliminating Asian actors to play the "their" role (Asian characters). Movie roles for Asian American actors are limited, only roles such as martial artist or professionals are offered to them. There is a "bamboo ceiling" for Asian actors and the rest of the Asian community. The term "bamboo ceiling" refers to "an invisible barrier that maintains a pyramidal racial structure throughout corporate America, with lots of Asians at junior levels, quite a few in middle management, and virtually none in the higher reaches of leadership" (Paper Tigers). John Cho and Kal Penn in the Harold & Kumar series is a significant example of Asian Actors breaking the ceiling. After the debut of the first Harold & Kumar movie, both actors' acting career got a big boost, especially John Cho who plays an American role named, Daniel Casey, in a recent high budget Hollywood film, Identity Thief. 

The Transition of Asian American Stereotypes

Although, there are no more wars between Asia countries and the west. The "dangerous" name-tag does no longer exist among Asians. There are all sorts of myth, or stereotypes, against Asian Americans in any part of the history timeline. Stereotypes like "Yellow Peril" or "Fu Manchu" is no longer popular. Asians are no longer a political threat for the U.S. government, instead, Asians are now a model image to follow.


The image of model minority for Asian Americans is one the reason the "yellow peril" stereotype is fading. Although the Asian immigration rate is still rising, Americans has learned from the past that discrimination should not exist. I found this very interesting and funny because I realized the Yellow Peril stereotype began as  Asian immigrant grew and took over American's wages, but today PewResearch has a studied that the median household income of Asian Americans is higher than other ethic groups. Asians are no longer a threat, but they are now the model.

This article can be very misleading. The article only mentioned about a few sub-ethic groups to present the entire Asian population. They only mentioned about ""Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans and Japanese Americans" (The Rise of Asian Americans). There are many more sub-ethic group in Asia, such as Laotian, Cambodian, Thai, Burmese and more. The origin of these Asian Americans are from less developed countries. In these less developed countries in Asia, people there are less connected with the first-world. Parents who have low or no education will lack the parenting skills to help their American born  children. According to a graph provided by Census, Cambodian, Hmong and Laotian have the lowest median income in the Asian families, as a matter of fact, these groups earn as much as the nation's poorer ethic such as African Americans and Hispanics at the $30,000 to $35,000 range (Census).

Asian is a very diverse ethic group, it is the biggest race in the world. This means stereotypes that targeted Asians are misleading. These "good" stereotypes refer to Asians are good at math and Asians are musicians don't describe the whole Asian population. It is true that some Asian culture tend to focus more in the academic field, because it is one of the way they can succeed in life. I have a traditional Chinese dad who does not believe his son is creative or athletic. I was told throughout my life by my father that because I am Chinese, I must do something practical, something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. He told me not to dream about being involve in the politics because Chinese people have historical background associated with communism, therefore they are always dangerous to Westerns. Math and science are practical, developed country like the U.S. or China requires many people in that field. Let's get back to the point of this entry on why stereotypes are false and true. This Model minority stereotype is true for advance culture such as Japanese, Chinese and Korean, but for parents who are originated from southern Asia. They focus more in the agriculture field, they began to work in the farms and barns at a very young age, which explains school is not as important there. These less educated parents cannot help their kids with school works in the U.S.

Although Yellow Peril only targets Eastern Asians (mostly Chinese, but Eastern Asians shares similar physical traits), this stereotype has drifted. Today, model minority is the more popular topic. From the middle east to the very south of Asia, this continent contains peoples who act differently, look differently and better at certain things. The model minority stereotypes rose the bar for ALL Asian Americans in the U.S., which causes the society to force every Asian American to live up to that standards.

"You mad bro?"

"Is it just me, or do all asians look the same?" its not the first time i heard it, and im sure it wont be the last. Todays media seems to believe that if there is an asian character then they must all have this similar look. One of the most common asian character style that I believe exists is the classic mad looking asian for examples;

       






   "What would a classic fighting game be without your token old asian man, who's a master kung fu artist?" This is Heihachi, he is featured in the Teken video game series, and probably the first face the comes to my mind when I think of old Asian video game character.

The furious face of the character "DK" from Justin Lins movie "Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift" this role is interesting, because guess who his enemy........ yea, a white guy.

The infamous Ricky Tan, the role of the evil backstabbing criminal featured in the movie series "Rush Hour" 





Its characters like these who give that lasting impression, that leads audiences to believe thats asians are always the "bad guys". And unfortunately I don't think that characters like these are going to get out of style anytime soon. I expect to see more characters alike.

It's not funny, Disney

This video is a scene from a Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp, which was released in 1955. This scene featured two mischievous Siamese cats are messing with Lady (the dog) in trouble. Genuine Siamese cats have white body with black legs and tail, but they have yellow body in this film. The characteristics of these cats are similar to the a "Yellow Peril" figure; which contains yellow skin and narrow eyes. The accent in these cats' voice helped the audience to identify them as Asian. Chinese instruments were applied in this clip such as the bo and the gu (drum).

The relationship between this clip and the time Lady and the Tramp was released is the answer to this video's "racist" feel. There is not a specific date the Cold War was declared but it occurred during 1950's.  Before this troublesome Cold War began, the United States fought against the Japanese (Pacific War) and the North Koreans (Korean War). The Cold War did not help to fix the relationship between Americans and Asians too. The Vietnam War in 1955 was the product of The Cold War; 1955 was also the year Lady and the Tramp was released too. The expanding of Communism were a peril for the United States. 

These Siamese cats sang with broken English. This "Chinglish" often appear in the popular media today. For instance, Pat Morita played a Japanese martial master who spoke English with a heavy accent in Karate Kid. Another example is Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) from That 70's Show. Although both Morita and Valderrama were born in the United States, they portrayed as non-English speaker in the media. This concludes that all Asians or Asians Americans are foreigners in films. The term "yellow" creates a line between Asians and the rest of the American population. The result of this problem is that segregation between different ethic group will be form, but people feel natural about it because this is how the media presents Asian Americans.

The Stash.

Oh the classic face of the well know villain Fu Manchu, probably one of the most well know Asian evil masterminds from movies/films today. In the early 1900's there was what people referred to as the yellow peril. A scare that someday Asian where going to come to American and taking over all the jobs, money, and eventually destroying all western civilizations and values..... well obviously that is not the case.

But this thought came to be so popular that still to this day has joined it place in medias Asian American stereotypes

 As a result, it leaves a trace into a viewers minds that if there was an Asian role in a film or movie, its most likely going to be the "bad guy. To give you some examples, take a look at hollywood movies like, Lethal Weapon 4, Rush Hour, andYear of the Dragon, all movies featuring a villain/criminal who must be defeated in the end. This didn't give a good look for the images of Asian-Americans, and that why many found these characters very offensive.

How "dangerous" were the Chinese?

Racist political cartoons that attacked Chinese immigrants











The term "Yellow Peril" is used to describe Chinese-immigrants. "Peril" means dangerous threat; "yellow" refers to the skin color of Asians. Although this term is not commonly used nowadays, but it was used in the media from the early and mid 90's. Chinese migrated to the United States for the California Gold Rush due to the lack opportunity in China. Americans see this large flow of immigrants as a threat to their job opportunities. Below is a graph representing the numbers of Chinese Immigrants in U.S.

The image of the yellow peril figure is a Chinese man wearing old fashion clothes and a long queue. The reason behind how this image shaped up is very close-related to the history of China. Notice the graph shows there was a big wave of Chinese migrating to the U.S. during around 1910. Before the Xinhai revolution in 1912, Qing dynasty was still in power. Although these immigrants are overseas during that time, they still have to wear a queue to represent their loyalty to the Qing emperor.

Chinese immigrants face a similar situation in which they are being discriminated, in South Africa . Quote from a article by The Wall Street Journal. 

"The first significant group of Chinese came to South Africa in the early 20th century, before a formal system of apartheid existed, to work in the gold mines. They were not encouraged to settle permanently and by 1910 almost all the mine workers had been repatriated. Those who remained struggled with racism and lived in separate communities based on language, culture and socio-economic status."

Chinese immigrants took over the jobs of "native" South-Africans, and these natives were not happy with them. Government of South Africa classified Chinese as "colored" people, and force them to live away from the whites.

Today, Chinese Americans are more likely to be classified as the model minority instead of the yellow peril because of their representation in the media. Instead of Asians being dangerous, they are now passive and smart.