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Ralph Te

Professor Lee

AAS 100

16 October 2019

Critical Analysis Paper 1

Today, Asian Pacific Americans face many stereotypes in America. These stereotypes

place Asian Pacific Americans in the model minority in the eyes of americans. Asian Pacific

Americans today face stereotypes such as knowing martial arts or men being feminen through

media portrayal of Asians and racism against Asians, as well as being put in the model minority

group with the generalization of Asians in America.

Asian Pacific Americans face many different kinds of stereotypes. Racism against Asians

has history in America as in the nineteenth century in California, white settlers thought that

Chinese settlers were pollutants and wanted them banned, which got them labelled as a

coolie(Reader 13). Asians were seen as different beings compared to the white settlers in

California at the time. White settlers did not want to assimilate with different ethnic groups and

also feared for their jobs, so they started to use prejudice against asians, saying that they are

unfree and servile, setting the foundation for racism against Asians which will affect future

Asian Pacific Americans. Because of the prejudice against Asians, there were laws passed that

affected Asians directly. Such laws include the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the 1924

National Origins Act, which restricted Asians from immigrating into America(Lee lecture). This

shows that the general population of America did not like Asians, as the government enacted

laws that prevented Asians from coming to America. Presumably, Asian Pacific Americans faced
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some prejudice since people in America do not like Asians. This also meant that relatives of

Asian Pacific Americans could not come to america. This would lead Asians to fight for rights

during the Civil Rights Era in the 60’s(Lee Lecture). Asian groups such as PACE and AAPA

were established in the 60’s and were used to fight for the rights of Asians and serve as a

political outlet for asians in America. Since Asians were not liked in America, media portrayal

of Asians were often unrealistic and antagonistic.

Asians portrayed in the media during the early days of hollywood were impressive.

Sessue Hayakawa was surrounded by white women and portrayed as a stud(Slanted Screen).

However, over time, Hollywood changed the way they portrayed Asians. Asian men were

portrayed as evil and feminen like Fu Man Chu(Lee Lecture). Because men were portrayed as

feminen, people who have not met an asian in real life may believe that all asian men are

feminen. Asian Pacific Americans may face people who assume that they are feminen and it

could be hard for them to find girls to date. The Asian Pacific American community does not

believe in this stereotype, and are actively trying to change it today(Slanted Eyes). By making

movies with masculine asian men, there is hope to change how the population in america view

asian men. Media, most notably Bruce Lee, introduced the stereotype that Asians are associated

with Kung Fu(Slanted Screen). This stereotype could lead to Asian Pacific American men and

boys being teased about knowing Kung Fu when in reality they most likely don’t know any

martial arts. These men could be expected to help those around them. Asian men could be

expected to intervene in something like bullying or a street fight which could make them try to

intervene and get hurt or they don’t intervene and they get scrutinized by the people around

them. Women portrayed in media can usually be categorized into two types: dragon lady and
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Lotus Blossom Lady,(Lee Reader 93). People, especially white men, will go and seek out asian

women because the media tells them that they are feisty and sexy or that they are beautiful and

obedient. Asian Pacific American women may find themselves being expected to be one of the

two types even though these are stereotypes and each individual acts differently. Men are more

likely to hit on Asian Pacific American women because of the stereotype of Asian women being

obedient. This could bother or annoy Asian Pacific American women. Because of how they are

portrayed, Asian Pacific American women’s self esteem could go down if they don’t find

themselves as hot as the Asian women portrayed in media. They could be comparing themselves

to this stereotype which is unrealistic in the real world.

Asians appear to be a model minority in the eyes of Americans since they appear to be

successful and have the highest median income(Lee Lecture). Asian Pacific Americans are

expected to have money and be successful. This could put pressure on Asian Pacific Americans

to achieve more than most people. They can become more exhausted compared to others as their

workload increases relative to those around them as they try to maintain this image of being

successful. In reality, many Asians are poor and unsuccessful. There is a diverse population of

Asians that vary from being highly successful to being a failure(Lee Reader 86). Asians being a

model minority is not true. Many Asians are poor, in poverty, and are unsuccessful in life. Living

in the ghetto, having terrible grades, family problems, and betting on games for money is an

example of life of an asian who is not successful(Don Bonus). Asian Pacific Americans can be

living a hard life while others expect them to be fine. People expect Asians to be smart and have

good grades, so people are more likely to copy off of them. However, Don Bonus has terrible

grades which goes against this stereotype. A person who copies off of an asian student like Don
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Bonus may get bad grades on the test he copied. This could lead to a confrontation, where the

person who copied is saying the to the asian kid that he is supposed to be smart. The asian kid

could be threatened to do better the next time or he will get beat up. Being expected to be smart

and failing in classes is discouraging. Asian Pacific Americans can say that they aren’t like the

other asians and could give up entirely. Being able to show that lots of asians are in situations

like Don Bonus is good in preventing the notion that Asians are the model minority. Depicting

asians in the media as not highly successful is another way to get the message across that asians

are not the model minority. Knowing people personally could also help erase the image in

america that Asians are the model minority.

Asian Pacific Americans today face stereotypes and prejudice. Stereotypes and prejudice

stem from the early history of racism against asians in america and the portrayal of Asians in the

media. Asian Pacific Americans are expected to be smart and successful today, which adds

pressure for them to do well in society. Asian Pacific Americans are not a model minority, as

there are many Asians in America today who are not successful and live in poverty. The growing

population of Asians and the growing portrayal of Asians today is actively trying to get rid of the

stereotypes that Asians face today in America.