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GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
A New Image for Asian Men?
he original flavor stereotype of Asian men may have its inspiration in Hollywood mockery of the first wave of Chinese immigrants in the Old West. Bonanza's gimpy Hop Sing was the only recurring image of Asian men for most of TV's formative decades. For variety's sake, Hollywood racked its brain and added the coolie, the waiter and the bucktoothed enemy soldier.
Corean soccer star Ahn Jung-hwan
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Fortunately, Hollywood is no longer a one-stop outlet for depictions of Asian men.
Pro sports's $30 billion estimated annual U.S. rake rivals the $35 billion pocketed by Hollywood. Driven by athletic excellence, pro sports allow no room for image jiggering to satisfy racial biases. The exploits of dashing Ahn Jung-hwan in the World Cup wasn't scripted for white American mass audiences. The straight-sets drubbing that a tall young Thai named Paradorn Srichaphan gave Andre Agassi at Wimbledon can't be left on the cutting-room floor. Ichiro's leadoff-hitting and base-stealing can't be imitated with wires and special effects.
Hi-tech and bio-tech -- whose estimated $400 billion annual revenues dwarf the media -- have spawned another set of images that clash with Hollywood's. How do Americans reconcile premiere AIDS researcher David Ho or Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang with Hollywood's Hop Sings and Long Duck Dongs?
Questions arise. Doubts are engendered.
Even modern culture -- commonly tarred by association -- isn't entirely subject to Hollywood's reflexive Asian-male undercutting. Classical music lovers are nourished by Yo-Yo Ma's gourmet cello notes and thrill to the daring rifts of Japan's iron chefs. Younger Americans surrender racial identities to a no-holds-barred universe created by manga artists. Linguists and speed readers frequently abandon Hollywood's relentless quest for the lowest common denominator in favor of films made for Asian sensibilities.
To the extent sports, culture and business enjoy a tighter relationship with reality than does Hollywood, they offer Asian men a fairer, more compelling stage. And these spheres too pack big audiences that take note of the yawning abyss that separates Hollywood's "original flavor" Asian men from the crispier, spicier variety in the real world.
Is America seeing the emergence of a new, improved Asian male image? If so, is it making life easier for Asian American men? Or just stimulating a more determined effort at undercutting?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:58:14 PM)
STRAIGHT UP RATS,
You do have a good point, and I realize your frustration, but I'm trying to show that AMs can be involved in IR relationships, AND be pro-AF and pro-Asian at the same time. And I'm trying to show that AMs can love non-Asian women becuase of love, not revenge or hatred against AFs.
Besides, as AM's IR rates approach AF's IR rates, there should be no more excuse to call AF's sellouts, whores, golddiggers, etc... It's for the benefit of everyone.
B. Lee
Thursday, September 05, 2002 at 20:13:22 (PDT)
[207.172.11.148]
Lee,
Whoever an AF chooses, it's a reflection of myself and other AM, regardless if we like it, hate it, or even care.
Again, I do not remember knocking Dat in anyway.
huu76
Thursday, September 05, 2002 at 20:11:48 (PDT)
[64.231.96.20]
B. Lee,
Have you ever considered that Asians in this country will be a dying breed? With only 4% of the population and an almost nonexistent immigration flow from other Asian countries and both sexes obsession with the "fairer" white race, give fifty years and the Asian race will never have existed. Kind of like how the Native Americans died out. For better or worse, I don't know. In an ideal world, race should not matter. But in this world race and culture matter. And Lee, sweetheart, what will you do, when you're seventy and hobbling around and remininscing about your childhood days and you can't find a little Asian boy who reminded you of you when you were that age - because all the Asians died out.
AA female
Thursday, September 05, 2002 at 17:04:36 (PDT)
[205.186.66.15]
AA female,
Disappointment? It's a blessing that he didn't sellout to his Asian roots, and shows that IR marriages, especially with AM/non-AF couples, do work. Read my email about Dat's accomplishments. That a real role model.
B. Lee
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 20:04:34 (PDT)
[207.172.11.148]
huu76,
I'm not trying to pick a personal fight with you, but if you're going to bash on every Asian female, and proclaim it to the whole world for everyone to view, you better be prepared for a rebuttal.
It just that, alot of your reasoning is idiotic. One time, you wrote that you saw an AF riding in a luxury car, and then a non-AF riding a regular car. Then you declared that all Asian women are greedy and materialistic.
BTW, why do you get so uptight seeing WM/AF couples? If you're only considering dating non-Asian women, then WM/AF couples should help you, because those AFs are taking away the WMs, thus leaving another WF available to the likes of you.
You initially complained that some AM/WF couples were too wussy, so that's why I mentioined Dat. Also, this is a forum about Asian males' improving image.
B. Lee
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 19:53:47 (PDT)
[207.172.11.148]
It's amazing how AMs are jumping on AA Female's "What A Disappointment" comment about Dat's White wife. I guess it's alright when an Asian man bitches about WM/AF, but not when a woman says something about a AM/WF couple. Dat loves his culture while being married to a White chick, yet when an AF marries a White man she's a sell out? Don't tell me that nobody has said that on here. It has been said many times, in many ways, on many different polls.
Y'ALL SOME STRAIGHT UP RATS
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 18:50:53 (PDT)
[64.216.219.139]
If Dat Nguyen is happy with Becky, then "Dat's" okay with me.
Hank Lewis
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 13:22:10 (PDT)
[161.159.4.20]
AA female,
you wrote
"Dat Nguyen's wife is white? What a disappointment."
I think it would be a disappointment if she tried to extract all his asian culture and influence and tried to make him "white". If he wants to marry a white woman that's his business.
Political Observer
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 09:45:03 (PDT)
[167.230.38.7]
Geoff DB and AB Taiwanese College Guy,
College Guy,
you make a very strong and believable statement. That is precisely what I was looking for.
Geoff wrote
"When people react they do so in personal and professional settings and with their pocket books."
Well said too.
Now all we have to do is try to convince the mainstream to accept both your arguments and hope there will not be a backlash. My fingers are crossed.
Political Observer
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 08:58:56 (PDT)
[167.230.38.7]
"Dat Nguyen's wife is white? What a disappointment."
AA female
And why is this a disappointment? You don't know him, you don't know her, for all you know she could be a wonderful, beautiful, loving wife. So it's disappointing just because he married outside of his race??
curious girl
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 at 05:59:57 (PDT)
[206.34.216.7]
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