B*tch I ain't Cho Chang | Asian Women In Western Media

LoL am I right?

I was recently re-watching this little opening from A Very Potter Musical and though the line never fails to make me laugh on each watch, this time I also found myself thinking about the racial stereotyping and the lack of representation Asian* women have in Western media. Because though this line is a throwaway comment, it actually does bring up a thinly veiled problem with the we see Asian women on TV, Film and other forms of media.

Under-representation/Mis-representation of Asian women? But Lucy Liu's one of the biggest movie stars on the planet? And she's in that Sherlock show and was a bad-ass Charlie's Angel too...yeah *rolls eyes* guys, there's more to Asian representation than Lucy Liu I'm afraid.

We know for a fact that this year's Oscars were officially the most 'white washed' ceremony. But did you know the last time an Asian actress was nominated was in 2010 (Hailee Steinfeld (1/4 Filipino) for True Grit) and the last time an actress of Asian descent won Best Actress was in 1935 (Merie Oberon (Indian), The Dark Angel).

Recent studies show the women of the Asian community make up around 4% of leading characters in film. Asian men are doing marginally better in both television and film (think Ken Jeoung, Darren Criss, Jackie Chan or John Cho) but when you specifically look for Asian actresses we're definitely few and far between.

l-r: Lucy Liu, Zhang Ziyi, Katie Leung, Mulan (voiced by Ming Na Wen)

When we do appear on screen, Asian women fall under one of two character tropes:

1. Ass kicking dragon ladies (think House of Flying Daggers or basically any film role played by Lucy Liu)
2. Shy giggling, naive schoolgirls/geishas/nerds...essentially the stereotypical nerdy Asian introvert in female form.

As a working example of how few and far between Asian roles models are, for me, when I was growing up the only 'ethnic' Disney 'princesses' I felt I could dress up as because they looked like me were Esmeralda and Pocahontas (hello cultural appropriation!). It wasn't until Mulan came out in 1998 that I finally had someone on screen who looked kinda similar to who I was - and even then she's white-d out within an inch of her life (Yellow undertones? What are they?). She does also fall victim to both the shy Asian introvert and dragon lady tropes - in fact she goes from one extreme to the other during the course of the film.

Then along came JK Rowling, who wrote Cho Chang into the HP books and I for one rejoiced. She was a genuine love interest of the hero, got to date Cedric (essentially the equivalent of dating the star Quarterback) and was a Ravenclaw (Raven-pride represent!). But as great as she was, I often forget half of the traits I attributed to her (a girl essentially suffering from widowhood after her boyfriend was brutally murdered, a star athlete and seemingly the only girl on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, a brave student who returned to fight Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts) aren't technically canon. Because, as AVPM helpfully called out, going by the the book-lore she's still just an accessory to Harry's story - the giggling Chinese schoolgirl chasing after the most popular white men in the school. 

Lea Salonga in Les Mis as Eponine & Fantine

In fact my first real Asian role model didn't come from books or the silver screen but in the form of an actress named Lea Salonga. Lea was woman who was hand-picked by Cameron Mackintosh, at first in a very stereotypical role as Vietnamese Kim in Miss Saigon, he went on to cast her to play one of the most iconic characters in musical theatre...Eponine in Les Mis (she also later went on to play Fantine too!). Lea was cast on her talent and the fact she was capable of playing an incredible role. She's also paved the way for many Asian actresses to play the role in years to come and has openly spoken out in favour of colourblind casting - she's played Sandy in Grease, The Witch in Into The Woods and Cinderella (in Asia). 

But as much as I like to think the world revolves around Broadway and musical theatre, Asian women are still the underdogs in mass media.

In a way it's the mindset of Hollywood that needs to change first, this whole issue is part of an ingrained problem with white-washing characters in Western media that isn't exclusive to just Asian actresses. Ethnic actors in general don't 'sell' as well apparently *rolls eyes*. 

I also personally believe it's the responsibility of the acting community themselves to think twice about accepting roles that are actually supposed to be played by ethnic actors (I love you Scarlett Johanssen but I'm looking at you here) and for casting directors, producers and directors in general to stop giving canonically Asian roles to white actors (M. Night Shamalan you are the biggest culprit here *cue A:TLA-induced rage*)

Admittedly we are making small strides. 

l-r: Vanessa Hudgens (Gimme Shelter), Ming Na Wen (Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D)

There are new action heroes with more bite than your average 'martial arts dragon lady' with Maggie Q in the Divergent series and the incredible Ming Na Wen as Agent May in Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. Despite my own personal preferences of her and her talent, Vanessa Hudgens has broken boundaries as a half-Filipina actress taking on roles I've never seen an Asian actress take on before, both on the silver screen and currently on Broadway in Gigi (a part originated by Audrey Hepburn, the role is traditionally played by a white actress). 

There's my own personal fave Jenna Ushkowitz, who's character Tina Cohen-Chang in Glee (despite the awful writing) did manage push her way forward into the already diverse casting on the show - she was hired on talent and Tina the character shaped around her as a person much like Chris Colfer and Kevin McHale's role. Then there's Lucy Liu, who's become a bit of a role model and a perfect example of how much race just doesn't matter when you're freaking talented in her role as Dr Jane Watson in Elementary. 

l-r: Vanessa Hudgens (Gigi), Maggie Q (Divergent), Jenna Ushkowitz (Glee), Lucy Liu (Elementary)

I'm sure there are plenty of other progressive examples, but again in all of these instances we are never the hero. No matter how bad-ass the character we’re usually still the side-kick or an elevated secondary character at best. A background character to an otherwise white narrative. 

And though sure, it's great to be seen as a powerful dragon lady, or get to portray the vulnerability of more introverted characters, but is that all we can play?

Maybe I'm thinking too far into this and maybe it's also the Asian community's responsibility to write roles we want to see portrayed in the media too? If we want to see ourselves on screen we have to share our stories too - much in the same way the African American and Latino communities have been doing over the past few years. Though I still want to see more Asian women in roles that test their abilities to the max, that challenge the stereotypes of Asian females in the media, and that ultimately portray us as complex human beings.

But first and foremost we need to be given the chance to do this. When you think about it the racial prejudice towards Asian actresses and our stories it is much more subtle than that of say Latina or Black or Indian women. We're often overlooked because we're perhaps not as vocal or content with being 'big in Asia' not Hollywood, or for the simple fact that some of us could actually pass for Caucasian or ambiguously ethnic (Vanessa Hudgens is a prime example for this).

Personally, this isn't good enough for me. Because whilst we exclude Asian women from the mainstream media there are thousands of Asian girls growing up - like me - without seeing themselves on screen. 

I don't want to have to LOOK for Asian women in media anymore because Asian ethnicities (this is East/South East Asian AND Middle Eastern/Indian ethnicities by the way) exist we're not magical unicorns and we shouldn't have to look because we're freakin' everywhere. But I want to see us smack bang, forefront and centre on a cinema screen. We deserve to be up there just as much as any other Caucasian actress or any other race for that matter.

So let's start making those historical dramas about Asian women in the Western world in the early 20th Century or contemporary indies testing young Asian actresses just as much as Silver Linings Playbook and A Winter's Bone challenged J Law. 

Let's champion ground-breaking Chinese, Filipino, Malaysian, Japanese etc. comediennes to break the stereotype cycle like Mindy Kaling has done. 

I want to see Asian women as leads in TV dramas like Girls or Orange Is The New Black too. 

Lets get Asian actresses as heading up epic-ly written female comedies like Bridesmaids or the ass-kicking protagonists in the next Utopian adaptation or as the 'wish we were her cause she ends up with Ryan Gosling' character leads in Rom-Coms. 

Where are the Asian families on screen? Is it that hard to cast an Asian mother/daughter/grandmother combo on TV or film? - cause like seriously let's talk about how interesting the traditional Asian family dynamic is guys! 

And finally, let's get a movie/TV show depicting the Asian LGBTQ community [have you noticed most Asian relationships portrayed on screen tend to only be heterosexual involving only cis-gender women?]. 

SO y'know, I'm done with waiting my turn. 

Cause b*tch, I'm not just Cho Chang. 

I'm ready to see my fellow Asian women kickin-ass on screen....are you?

*disclaimer When I'm referring to 'Asian' here I'm looking specifically at statistics regarding Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian, Filipino and other countries in East, South East and Pacific Asia. I am not referring to Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Indian etc. in this post - though their representation in the media is a WHOLE other issue entirely which I'd love to explore (because it makes me super angry too)!!