Ken Jeong, left, in a scene from The Goods.
Recent protests over the Pearl Harbor scene in The Goods (in which Ken Jeong’s character gets attacked by fellow car salesmen for looking Japanese) succeeded in getting the offensive bit removed from trailers. But did it really change the attitudes that screenwriters or directors have about race or stereotyping? Did it show that Asian Americans have influence over how Hollywood portrays us? Read more…
This subject gets rehashed every few months, and this article in Marie Claire magazine by Ying Chu doesn’t add much to the discussion.
The article just seems to point out that a number of rich and powerful white men are married to Asian women, so therefore, they are trophy wives. Woody Allen and Soon Yi-Previn have been together forever, so there’s nothing new to report here.
There’s been some chatter about this on Twitter and at 8Asians, The Frisky and YouOffendMeYouOffendMyFamily, but no comments on the Marie Claire site, surprisingly.
I didn’t really see the point of this article. But maybe my eyes just glaze over now when this subject is raised.
What’s your reaction?
This post is also on Hyphen magazine’s blog.
President Obama has nominated two Asian Americans to be federal judges in California. If confirmed, Edward Chen would be the first Asian American federal judge for the Northern District. Dolly Gee and Jacqueline Nguyen would be the first Asian American females judges for the Central District. Read more…
Interesting tidbit from a New York Times story about a study of interracial college roommates: Those who roomed with Asian Americans became more prejudiced.
The Times article focused mostly on black-white relationships but this paragraph caught my eye:
Several studies have shown that living with a roommate of a different race changes students’ attitudes. One, from the University of California at Los Angeles, generally found decreased prejudice among students with different-race roommates — but those who roomed with Asian-Americans, the group that scored the highest on measures of prejudice, became more prejudiced themselves
Read the full post and join the discussion on Hyphen magazine’s blog.
In his latest piece at SFGate, Asian Pop columnist Jeff Yang wonders if the term Asian American has relevance in today’s world. Activists began using “Asian American” during 1960s civil rights movement as a way to forge their own identity in a society that considered them orientals and outsiders.Â
What does Asian American mean now? It’s a question we grapple with at Hyphen all the time. We’ve made a conscious decision to avoid topics such as anime and other pop culture from Asia, to keep the American provenance clear. But is the line between Asian and Asian American less crucial or meaningful to watch, now?
See my full post at Hyphen magazine’s blog.
Very sad news about the passing of Ronald Takaki and Him Mark Lai. Both were great scholars, historians and human beings.
I was going to see the “Star Trek” reboot tonight, but my in into the advance screening bailed on me, so I’ll wait till this weekend.
We brought back a couple of “Star Trek” related articles on Hyphenmagazine.com to mark the movie’s opening. One is a Q&A with John Cho, who plays Sulu in the movie, and the other is one I wrote that examines racial stereotypes in the “Star Trek” universe.
Read more…
This may not come as a great shock, but a new comprehensive study of Chinese Americans finds that they face “glass ceiling” obstacles in the workplace. Read more…
Feeling the heat from criticism, the LPGA today backed off its new policy of suspending international players who do not learn to speak English.
Read more…
The LPGA is forcing its players to learn English or risk suspension from the women’s pro golf tour. The new rule looks to be aimed at players from South Korea, who make up the largest international contingent. Read more…
