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Essay / Vietnamese American Teenagers in Movies/TV Shows
Asian Americans in the United States have faced challenges related to racism or ethnicity. When it comes to the media, Asian Americans have suffered devastating effects from portrayals that view them as members of another world. When a tsunami hit Asia in 2005, killing hundreds of thousands of people, a popular radio show in the United States played the song The Tsunami which called victims faults before spouting humorous insults before the intervention does not put an end to its diffusion (Ono & Pham, 2009). Although the show's hosts have apologized for the misdeed, the harm caused to Asian Americans will long remain in their minds, and many of them have become reluctant to call themselves Asian Americans. The use of offensive communication against the Asian community in the United States has left many Asian Americans wondering if they are living in a post-racist era. Nonetheless, the negative perception of Asians within American society can be attributed to the Yellow Peril. Under Yellow Peril racism, Asians and Asian Americans were seen as intruders, likely to take over, invade, or negatively Asianize the entire American nation and its culture and heritage. society (Ono and Pham, 2009). According to the Yellow Peril, Asians were seen as racial stereotypes that could harm the states in regards to their culture, and they sought to negatively affect society. All fears are based on outsourcing, orientalism and the structural entrenchment granted to Asians in the United States since time immemorial. The media has played a crucial role in propagating fears of the Yellow Peril, whether rooted in truth or falsehood. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Mass media in the United States has been racialized at the expense of Asians. Hollywood film production has used yellow-faced characters to refer to people of Asian descent. Yellowface logics encompass employment discrimination, mocking humor, visual technologies, anxiety about miscegenation, the need for misrecognition, and orientalist cultural imaginaries (Ono and Pham, 2009). The logics of yellow face play a central role in supporting and maintaining unequal relations between Americans and Asians in terms of power. In most cases, transparent masks are used to depict Asian characters, and such presentations lead to suspension of disbelief among Asians. Likewise, murky masks are used as a tool of racial masquerade against Asians. In some cases, haters are used to imitate and mock people of Asian descent, known to Americans. Asians in the United States have been victims of the hyperinformation society that is reluctant to keep pace with ever-changing technologies. American media has been at the forefront of spreading racism in matters of gender and sexuality. Instead of referring to Asians as men or women, the media consistently referred to them as studs, sissies, women, or mouths, respectively (Ono and Pham, 2009). By referring to people of Asian descent with made-up names, the media has created a negative intersectional difference between Americans and their Asian American counterparts. Using different terms to designateAsian Americans, the media has created a kind of new understanding among natives, which lays the foundation for future expectations regarding the naming of Asian Americans. However, the media ignores the fact that race or ethnicity does not constitute personality. It is necessary for the American media to demonstrate neutrality in imposing knowledge and understanding within society in order to avoid negative implications on the side of Asian Americans. One of the main reasons the media has continually denounced Asian Americans as underdogs is due to the threat model approach to minority stereotypes. Americans are presumed to be more educated and civilized than Asian Americans and therefore aware of current trends in all aspects of society (Ono and Pham, 2009). In the view of many Americans, Asian Americans constitute only a small part of society and deserve little to be included in the formation of the greater society of which they are a part. Surprisingly, the model minority stereotype advocates the empowerment of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in matters concerning their social, educational, and economic well-being. Under the provisions of the MMS, AAPIs are considered easy to associate with and their immediate members of society. However, it is important to note that in most cases, AAPIs have been seen as lazy and rebellious dependents. As a result of Americans' misunderstanding of Asian Americans, there has always been a need to avert the situation and bring some order among the people regarding media involvement in questions regarding AAPIs. Through reactive solidarity, whereby all Asian Americans protested the misconceptions given to them, the community had to challenge the negative mistreatment meted out to them by Americans using independent mass media, which would then channeled to mainstream media. In 2012, Asian Americans had much to brag about in the media as The Mindy Project, the first television show starring an Asian, aired, improving the representation of Asian Americans in the media ( López, 2016). Since then, the invasion of mass media by Asian Americans has never receded as other shows like American Girl twenty years before, and Fresh off the Boat entered the airwaves despite being facing mixed reactions from society. Asian Americans' quest for media exposure took off when pioneering broadcasts hit the airwaves to great acceptance among Asian American people. As a result of Asian Americans' efforts to enter mass media, the marketing of their films has encountered difficulties. The existing media gatekeepers were there to ensure that the new development would not be a success. Asian American films faced daily criticism from other existing distributors, but Asian Americans were happy with their films because they challenged existing ceilings of racism that hindered their advancement in their career and their profession (Ono and Pham, 2009). However, Asian American participation in Asian shows has not lived up to expectations. It was necessary to find new approaches tomarket to allow entry of Asian American filmmaking into the market. Asian Americans turned to new media, primarily the Internet and clothing printing, to form identities and representations that were not common in mainstream media (Ono & Pham, 2009). Fortunately, the new approach was winning, and Asian Americans had something to brag about because they were able to respond to dominant representations and institutions that worked to create alternative media. Although Asian Americans welcomed their entry into mass media, mainstream media sought to condemn this new development. Asian American actor Ken Jeong, in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, was filmed being beaten by other American actors and the film's producers had nothing to apologize for (Lopez, 2016). The role of Asian Americans in the film was a true manifestation of how anti-Asian the media was. Following increasing instances of negative portrayal of Asian Americans in the media, alliances of institutions and individuals came together to formulate media policy that would now examine the processes of creation, distribution, and ownership media content. As a result of the many challenges faced by Asian Americans venturing into media, several media movements have emerged to address the issue. There was the Asian reform movement that worked to ensure that Asian Americans assimilated into the American style (Ono and Pham, 2009). After countless offenses against Asian Americans by the American media, anti-Asian protests began and their image within society was restored. The main agenda of the protests was based on hateful language that included offensive references and stereotypes toward Asian Americans. However, there are exceptional cases of assimilation into American culture, as shown by boxing icon Manny Pacquiao (Dave et al., 2016). Later, Asian American media activists called for fair play within the mass media. The entry of Asian Americans into mass media had attracted most of their own and, like other consumers, they would respond to advertisements and products that understood and catered to their culture and individuality (Lopez, 2016) . There was a need to hire more Asian Americans in the mass media industry in order to make mainstream media acceptable to all members of society because they could no longer be ignored. Through consumer activism, Asian Americans have been portrayed as the opposite of their previous counterparts, seen as poor and discriminated against by the American media and society at large. To effectively venture into the market, Asian American mass media have turned to the Internet to reach more people. YouTube was indeed a new platform through which films could be released to the public without the interference of existing mass media influence. Videos posted on YouTube received many views in a very short time, and viewers could share their rating and mark them as favorites (Ono & Pham, 2009). The use of the Internet as a new mass medium proved successful on the side of Asian Americans and their films would be viewed by their members whenever they wanted, and no.