Asian American Entertainment Now

by Genessee Kagy

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odels like Jarah Mariano, with her ad-ideal blend of long legs, large breasts and ambiguously Eurasian features--actually a soulful Hawaiian, Chinese and Korean blend, keep Asian Americans in the public eye. She has appeared in MAC, Armani Exchange, and AF campaigns as well as cameo-ing in Jay-Z's “Show Me What You Got” music video. But Mariano, though smokin' is just a more politically correct throwback to Sayonara (1957) dragon lady or Geisha girl chic, and Abercrombie uses a quaint coupling of Mariano embraced by a shirtless Matthew McConaughey-type as evidence of their “Diversity and Inclusion” policy — a representation decried by Facebookers across the country.

     Mariano may be the hottest Asian American cultural craze since the embarrassing popularity of William Hung, but her high visibility translates less to progressive media representation of Asian Americans, than to simply a nod to male adolescents demanding pinup diversity.

     But Asian Americans are gaining prominence elsewhere. They are mainstream (Justin Lin) and independent film directors (Eric Byler), and reliable small-screen recurrences. The most recent visibility-triumph though, is over the airwaves.

     Singers like Paul Kim of American Idol fame, That Guy Alex aka Alex Shen, one-hit-wonder Ver5e, pop eclectic Vienna Teng, and the girlies One Vo1ce, get their play time and props from northern California radio stations.

     Some, like NBC's Fame (2003) winner Harlemm Lee and cycle six American Idol contestant Paul Kim, are given the bum's rush into obscurity. While others like newcomer Chinese-Burmese American Natalise, get to choose between a variety of vying labels.

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     Kim's Don Juan timbre garnered anonymous confessions of admiration from label execs who still wouldn't sign him, and he was one of the first four contestants voted off.

     “I was told over and over again by countless label execs that if it weren't for me being Asian, I would've been signed yesterday,” relates Kim.

     Natalise on the other hand, a Stanford alum, gained local fame as a student in 2002 with her single “Love Goes On.” But with guts of steel, turned down contracts for a homegrown production:

     “What's great about doing it on my own is that I'm able to embrace all aspects of my personality and write or co-write all my own material,” she proclaims.

     Her sexually charged “Get Me Off” is Dodge's nationwide Charger promotion anthem — a fusion of the all-American commodity with Asian American star appeal.

     The sudden popularity of all things Korean in China and Japan in the late 1990's was called Hal-su aka The Korean Wave. The emergence of Asian Americans as not only a pack of pretty, profitable faces, but also bankable artists promises a new wave of Asian American talent on the United States' entertainment horizon.

Paul Kim of American Idol fame strikes a pensive pose. (Myspace/officialpaulkim)

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