"I'm From Michigan"

Tina Fey is my favorite comediean/comedy writer.  I love everything she's done.  Mean Girls, 30 Rock, her work on SNL.  I also love to quote Mean Girls, and my favorite quote that no one knows  is a quote that I like to whip out is, "I'm from Michigan".  Now, why you may ask do I use this frequently?  Well.  Today, I'm going to talk about the "perpetual foreigner" issue (got that term from Wikipedia! you gotta love Wikipedia).   When I found this I was like, this is an excellently phrased, poignent explanation of how I feel and what I have experienced.

There is a widespread perception that Asian Americans are not "American" but are instead "perpetual foreigners".^[115][116] Asian Americans often report being asked the question, "Where are you really from?" by other Americans, regardless of how long they or their ancestors have lived in United States. Many Asian Americans are themselves not immigrants but rather born in the United States. Many are asked if they are Chinese or Japanese, an assumption based on major groups of past immigrants.^[116][117]

This is how the conversation goes...

Nondescript white person: So where are you from?
That Asian Girl: I'm from Michigan.
Nondescript white person: No, where are you like, from, from?
That Asian Girl: Oh, well, my family is from Taiwan, but I was born here.  (here it comes...) I'm from Michigan.


The reason why I love that quote is because its an example of another kind of stereotyping but with an African American student.  The ironic thing about that is those kind of assumptions and questions are really common with Asian Americans.

This is how a conversation with two nondescript white people goes...

Nondescript white person 1: So where are you from?
Nondescript white person 2 : Michigan, what about you?
Nondescript white person 1: Texas.

No questioning.  No asking about family's green cards, country of origin, or immigration history want to know why, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE WEIRD.  People just assume that you're from here and you belong here.  So I have to ask the question, why don't we belong here? Why can't you just see us as being a part of what is America?

I don't dress differently, I don't speak differently (well, only the fact that my English is better than the average American!)

Asian Americans have been in the United States as early as the 18th century.  I can admit that its not half as insulting for me since my parents did come over from Taiwan, but if you're like the 8th or 9th generation Asian American, that's really insulting. HECK, your family has been here longer than a lot of white people.  Before I found the term "perpetual foreigner",  I had been calling it the oh so poignant, "Go back to where you came from" problem because essentially what people are saying by refusing to accept Asian Americans as Americans is that you don't belong here and you should go back to where you came from (true story, some people said that to my parents one time, and they've been living in America longer than any other place in the world).

The thing is, I love America.  I LOVE America.  This is my home.  This is the only place I've ever known.  But this breaks my heart because its the same old same old unrequited love affair.  I love America, I want America, I am devoted and committed to America.  But America, do you love me, do you want me? Do you see me as your own? Well, you have a funny way of expressing that.  And if I'm honest, this really hurts, and it creates this disconnect that I've experienced and I think I can safely say a lot of other Asian Americans have experienced.

I think that the media has been a really important part of shaping this.  Often times, Asian characters are portrayed as foreigners, we can't just be realistically Asian American.  There is nothing in media to reflect the fact that we are just Americans, here to stay like everyone else to us or to the rest of America.  We don't hear it.  They don't hear it.  No one believes it.

And so we're stuck.  We can't "go back to where we came from" because this is our home.  We don't belong in Asia.  We visit our family, blah blah blah, but we all know that we've grown up in a different place with different culture, values, and language.  In Asia, we're Americans.  In America, we're Asians. When is this country going to start believing that we are Americans and that we're here to stay?

The society continues to produce individuals who only seems to look at Asian Americans as these perpetual foreigners (See Alexandra Wallace post) because of the portrayals of Asian Americans in media.  Then those individuals go into the media and create what they know.  It is circular, chickens and eggs.  The only way to break these sorts of cycles is an active attempt at education and change. While I think that the media's attitude to Asian Americans has been a large part of the issue,  I think that there has been progress in media, and I want to start reviewing, commending, and praising those works that are showing what I think are balanced and accurate representations of Asian Americans.

In my other post about the lack of Asian American actors, I said that Jackie Chan didn't count because he was from Hong Kong.  I am going to explain that now.

One of the most frustrating things is that most people will ask, "Whats the difference?" "Why does it matter?"

WELL. There is a big difference between an American actor with an Irish heritage and an Irish actor.  The most obvious is the accent, but there is a whole perspective that comes from a cultural upbringing.  People don't really see that with Asians which is an example of one of the symptoms of the "Perpetual Foreigner Syndrom".  Also, there is a fundamental difference in the way that he achieved success.  Jackie Chan is an example of what is popularly known as "Crossover success".  Because an entertainer is popular in one genre or area (this case Asia), their success carries over into other areas.  Only after becoming a prominent actor in Asia was Jackie Chan able to do his films in America, creating a completely different career base.  This is NOT the answer for Asian Americans.  We can't all just go over to Asia to establish a career and hope that the people back home will then notice us, we should be able to build a career here at home.


Is it so much to ask?

Right now it feels like it is, but it shouldn't be.

If you agree, if you DISAGREE, if you have any thoughts, ideas, feelings, leave a comment. it'll be much appreciated.

That Asian Girl

Understanding the Problem

In my first post, I wrote a little bit about what I believe and what I hope to do in this blog.  Before I get started with the reviews and such, I think that its important to understand what I will be evaluating these movies and tv shows with.  There are a lot of issues that Asian Americans have in regards to the media, and I will be addressing them, but today the most obvious problem that I think I can address is the lack of Asian Americans in the entertainment industry. 

To be completely honest.

They are Missing In Action. [Did they forget about us? It's not like we don't live here too!]

I remember the first time I realized that the entertainment industry lacked Asian Americans.  It was in elementary school.  My friend Jackie and I were discussing actors and actresses that we could admire (or unknowingly identify with).  But we could only think of one Asian American actress.  Up until a few months ago, I hadn't really returned to this thought to ponder.

Let’s do a little research.  The CIA World Factbook says that the United States population is about 4.5% Asian.  If we round that up to about 5%, that means that 1 out of 20 people is Asian in the United States.  Anyone who knows anything about popular culture can attest to the fact that 1 out of 20 actors, actresses, and musicians are not Asian.  I know there's a lot of things we can say about why there's this lack of Asians.  Well, I think we all know that the issue certainly isn't a lack of Asians.  I mean, hello, Hollywood is in California, and there are probably more Asians in California than the rest of the United States (there is no statistical evidence to support this off the cuff claim of mine).  It's not as if Hollywood really puts out stuff that accurately reflects the ethnic populations of America (because if it did, we would eat a WHOLE lot less bacon).  Its no question that certain ethnic groups dominate Hollywood, but why oh why can't we just get a couple more actors in movies and television?!?!

 I remember when J-Lo was talking about how amazing it was for her, a Latina, to get roles in film and television.  I am so happy to see progressive portrayals of Latino characters because they are the fastest growing minority group in America ( I think, I heard that somewhere, don't cite me as a source).  I LOVE seeing more Hispanic (okay, if there are any Latino or Hispanic readers out there, can someone please school me on the best and least offensive way to refer to this really large and diverse ethnic group that in a similar way to Asian Americans includes individuals from a plethora of places that kind of get lumped in this giant ethnic group) characters portrayed in television and film (one of my favorites being the TV show Ugly Betty!).  Seriously! There are some great Latino actors and actresses out there.  

There's this little experiment that I like to play with a lot of my friends to illustrate the true scarcity of Asian American actors.  Before reading the next paragraph, I want you to try.  I bet you that if you're not Asian, you can count all the Asian American actors you know on one hand.  If you're Asian, I give you two hands.  But out of the hundreds of actors, actresses, and celebrities ( I understand that this experiment was focused only on actors and actresses, but to be honest, good luck trying to find any pop (not classical) musicians that are Asian American) you can only think of around 5, at the most.

alright. completed?

Sometimes, I even let people name individuals by their roles, not their actual names, even then its still less than a handful.  Most people's answers will include two or three of the following:

Lucy Liu

Brenda Song (Disney Channel)

Harry Shum (Glee, LXD)

John Cho (Harold and kumar go to White Castle)

and that guy from Community/The Hangover ). 

Of course this is a comprehensive list, including all of the names that I've been able to gather.  To be fair, most people will say Jackie Chan, but he's not Asian American, he's from Hong Kong (but of course no one knows the difference, because apparently, we're all foreigners, sorry. i will get to that complaint later).  If they like Grey's Anatomy, they'll name Sandra Oh, but sorry, thanks for playing she's Canadian.  (not that I hate Canada)

 I can name enough for two hands, but that’s because I pay special attention to Asian American actors and actresses. Hundreds of actors and actresses pass through our televisions and films every year.  If we expand to the general entertainment industry, how many Asian American musicians or singers can you think of?  So we have a problem. The lack of portrayal of Asian Americans on television and film, but many may ask so what?

This is part of a larger tapestry of problems that continue to plague Asian American entertainers.  The truth is that even when we are portrayed in media, our characters are riddled with stereotypes.  After engaging in a lengthy discussion with one of my friends about this issue two months ago, she informed me yesterday that since then, she's been really paying attention to Asian Americans and their portrayals in television and film now.  She's started to notice a lot of the things that I've been talking about.

I am going to talk about many more of the issues that I may have touched on in my next few posts, but if you are hungry and cannot wait, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans or ( MANAA) has a great comprehensive piece on their website. 

MANAA is a great organization that I discovered last week while doing some more research for this blog.  If anyone is actually reading this, I would love it if you would post a comment or something about how you feel after reading this.  Whether or not this is a problem that you realized long ago or something that you just realized after reading this article, I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Plus, if you know people in your life (friends, family, coworkers) that you feel would understand or identify with this, please pass it on.  One of the greatest things that I've seen about the Asian American community is the amount of Internet mobility and fluidity.

Also, please expect a special post within the next week concerning the whole "Racist rant by UCLA student" situation.  I will be posting my opinion and analysis of the situation.  Thanks for reading.

That Asian Girl