(Let's Talk About Sex Baby)-Let's talk 'bout Asians on Glee! Pt. 1

This is my first real review of a TV show or film.  There is so much to talk about with Glee, that I am going to do two parts.  Today, I am going to just talk about Tina and Mike, but in the second post I am going to focus on Charice/Sunshine's presence on the show and her return this week (finally!)  I am pretty FREAKING excited to get down to business! Especially since I get to talk about

Glee.                Glee.              Glee. 

There are SO MANY THING I COULD SAY ABOUT GLEE!  I can say that I love watching the musical numbers.  I can say that I love the jokes and the humor and Brittany's one liners.  But I am really excited tonight because I am going to talk about Glee's portrayal of Asians.  I can also say that I'm pretty excited to do this review tonight, especially after an episode last night that actually featured three (non related) Asians!  THREE ASIANS!! PUT THAT ON YOUR LIST/HAND (to understand this strange reference read this post).  There are also some criticisms I can make about Glee, not limited to the garbled plot lines that the haters like to consistently point to (they just don't understand the magic)  Soooooooo there are two regular, reoccurring Asian characters on Glee:

 

 Tina Cohen-Chang                                 Mike Chang

Tina is kind of a goth girl who used to have a fake stutter (sometimes she's referred to as "Asian").  Mike Chang was a football player who loves dancing (and has beautiful abs) (sometimes referred to as "other Asian").  The actors that portray them are Jenna Ushkowitz and Harry Shum Jr. Jenna is Korean American actress who was adopted when she was a small child (thus the non Asian last name) and raised in New York.  Harry is a Chinese American actor who was originally born in Costa Rica, but moved to California around 5 years old.  He speaks not only English, but also Cantonese and Spanish!

When Kurt was trying to find his African American friend Mercedes a date/boyfriend he pointed to a black guy, Mercedes' response was, "Why him? Oh, I guess it has nothing to do with the fact that he's one of the five black guys in our school?" (The Substitute).  African American characters often have to deal with being paired up together romantically.  Asian women and Asian men have another problem.  TVTropes.com called it the "Me Love You Long Time" Trope

When a story features a Western guy and an Asian girl, the guy gets the girl. It's that simple. Even — especially — if he's the only white guy and everyone else is Asian, possibly as a side effect of the Mighty Whitey [those . And if the multiethnic cast features one or several Asian guys, forget about them, they aren't even competition. The title refers to the (in)famous pick-up line used by the Vietnamese prostitute on Sergeant Joker in Full Metal Jacket - TVTropes.com

This is a sad sad thing, especially what it ultimately says about the desirability of Asian men in comparison to the desirability of white men.  The white men are perceived as attractive because of their whiteness.  I am more concerned and disturbed by the fallout that Asian guys have had to deal with as a consequence.  I am also guilty of falling into this horrible projection of media.  I have to admit that for the greater part of my adolescence (okay, in reality up until like a month ago when I realized this was part of a stereotype) being always attracted to white guys and not to Asian guys.  I just never saw them in that way, and I can point to the fact that all the movies and tv shows I ever saw only painted white guys as attractive boyfriends or husbands.  Dear Asian men, I am sorry for not giving you the chance you deserved.  You have my full attention now-please prove yourselves.  

Anyway, getting back on topic-

 "Asian male sexuality is often portrayed negatively or as non existent. Although Asian women are frequently portrayed as positive romantic partners for white men ("Sayonara," "The World of Suzie Wong," ad infinitum), Asian men are almost never positively paired with women of any race. Western society still seems to view Asian male sexuality as a problem. Consequently, Asian men are usually presented either as threatening corrupters of white women or as eunuchs lacking any romantic feelings. For example, in the action movie "Showdown in Little Tokyo," the Asian villain forces himself upon a white woman and murders her before threatening the Asian female love interest. Predictably, the white hero kills the Asian villain and "wins" the Asian woman--while the hero's Amerasian sidekick is given no love life at all."- MANAA

All this talk about harmful Asian stereotypes is working up to a discussion of Tina and Mike's relationship.  Their characters confront all of these issues.  Tina was dating Artie (a white guy in a wheelchair) in season one.  He treated her horribly, so she dumped him and started to go out with Mike Chang.  The story is that they both worked at at "Asian Camp" over the summer and that Tina fell in love with his abs.  

This completely defies the romantic stereotypes.

1) The inattentive white boy gets dumped

2) The Asian girl ends up with the Asian guy

Instead of the reverse happening, Asian girl, Asian guy, and white guy stealing Asian girl, its the other way around!  Yay!!!! Not just that, Mike Chang is shown as a great boyfriend.  So much in fact that Tina has to "cool down" during one of their makeout sessions with the episode's gag featuring fantasty/nightmares of Coach Beiste.  Though its not to say that they don't have their arguments or problems.  One funny and telling moment during the episode "Duets" involved Tina's frustration with the fact that whenever they go out, its always for dim sum with his mom.  She wants to go to a restaurant and get a salad without chicken feet in it.  Mike then says that they should go to Asian couples therapy with Tina replying "Why does the couples therapy have to be Asian?"

Tina is addressing a symptom of their great Asian-Asian relationship- their relationship is all about how their both Asian.  Of course this scene is really funny, but it also directly addresses whats probably going on in most of America's heads which is, "of course! Asians date Asians, they are inaccessible to white people, just like black people".  I do have to say, this is one of the few times when I feel like the minority is dating up, Mike Chang is soooo much hotter than Tina (He was rated 35th on Sexiest TV actors for 2010) and has made himself pretty attractive to many white girls-he dances AND he has beautiful abs!  The writers of Glee have even taken it upon themselves by addressing the problem to possibly help it.  (and in a way that was also very funny. I AM APPLAUDING YOU!)  They also brought to light the way that they're known as "Asian" and "Other-Asian" by using it in the TV show (this is called lampshading).

When Tina and Mike first come back to school after the summer and are asked whether or not they're dating Tina replies, "Cause were both Asian? That's racist!"  They then proceed to hold hands.  FUNNY and also affective! 

It's great to see these regular, reoccurring characters on Glee.  There are so many good things, and I could complain a little about how they rarely receive dialogue or song solos.  Because.  Its sad that there are very few Asian characters who can really be seen as principals in a show.  But if any Glee fans are honest, we can all complain about the fact that Rachel, Finn, and Mr. Schuster pretty much dominate the screen most of the time (especially Rachel).  Tina and Mike receive screen time than even some of the other Glee club members, its like they're third string behind second string Warblers/Kurt/Blaine/Cheerios (because face it, America wants to see more homosexual Brittany/Santana and Kurt/Blaine lovin' than Asians) behind first string Rachel and Finn.  Mercedes can be lumped with Tina and Mike in the fact that they really represent the token minorities.  Token minorities are mostly used in an attempt to appeal to a wider demographic.  Tina, Mike, and Mercedes are practically forgotten most of the time, which is sad.  We're kind of there, just to be your token minorities.  Its hard with Tina because Mike is such a great dancer that its kind of his "thing".  Can an Asian hold the spotlight, can we be more than the backup dancer? Can we be the protagonist of the story?

that is one of the big things that I am disappointed about, but I have to admit that you can't win them all.  Everything in life has its good and its bad.  At least here, the good can be celebrated and the bad addressed.  AND Sunshine/Charice is kind of a subversion to that issue, but that's for the next post!  Glee is a show that prides itself on showcasing the losers of our world.  I can say that I am happy about this, and its probably one of the reasons that this show has a more generally more progressive portrayal of Asian Americans.  I can't help but be sad about the fact that some losers are more losers than others (we're all asking ourselves the question why the whole show is centered around Lea Michele?).

The following is going to my rating system I'm going to use.  The more rice bowls there are the better.  The maximum amount of rice bowls a show can have will be 5.

Glee's overall rating is

Three and a half Rice Bowls for actually having Asians and also addressing/confronting/defying stereotypes

I'll have my second part up about Charice/Sunshine and why her presence on Glee is awesome next!

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