Never mind the actual presence (lack thereof) of resemblance. This isn’t to say people (the media? America culture? its hard to pinpoint one entity of blame) aren’t responsible but the comparison it partially due to the *lack* of people to make comparisons to in the first place!

And one thing that caught my eye was the comment before me by Steph:

>> “Americans forget to remember she is Asian.”<<

Doesn't that say something? She's acceptable because whatever is considered ethnic about her, "Asian" is forgotten! Even if I'm accused of looking into this comment too much (especially from a racial perspective), its almost as if ethnicity is a dominant part of identity and for it to be overlooked is the best thing possible. It's a colorblind mentality. It's like she's race neutral, the norm, just plain "American"…but is "American"* really race neutral or does it imply the majority of America's racial population (White/Caucasian) is the norm? please tell me why people are identified as "African-American", "Asian-America" etc yet I rarely (except maybe for academic papers) have heard the phrase "Caucasian/ White-American"? Even if its an insignificant observation it does make one wonder. The term used to talk about this idea- of the seemingly race neutrally of Whites- is called the "invisibility of whiteness" and I think that's part of what's going on.

PS. I also agree with the comment about minority people having higher positions in the media, etc. Because that really seems to the only way to permanently change these things.
PPS. @ Belleza: totally agree. Especially w/ HanaDang (to be honest it sent me through the roof, especially the derogatory portrayal of Blacks)

I don’t mind certain stereotypes like, Asians are smart (eheh boosts the ego), but it’s like…eh…American ninjas sound even more lame (and weird). If it conveys the message that Asans are kick ass…I don’t really mind. Can’t really help the stereotype. Strangely, a lot of the Koreans in my school kinda keep to each other, and I’m one of the few who are in high classes. The image of a smart Asian is disappating (especially with a wave of annoying Korean freshmen girls hitting the halls.). I think I’ve been confused for a Japanese visiting student. These Japanese students were visiting our school and a random lady (dunno if she was a teacher) smiled at me and said hi (only at me). But, I WAS wearing a Washington DC sweater. I must’ve looked like a tourist instead of a student.

Maybe the GI Joe movie will be so lame that it’ll be good. Like watching your old cartoons/kid’s movies that are bad, but sooo good at the same time.

I think to Hollywood producers, Asians are the “other white meat” (Not a bad thing BTW. We need more stoner comedies centered around Ivy League wannabes!) Even when African Americans are cast into racial neutral roles, they’re still often directed to assert their “difference” in subtle ways. Not so much when an Asian American is cast.

That said, uhhhh I think Lost set back the image of Korean men . . .

I mentioned it because I do see a lot of Asian Christian-affiliated promotion for local artists and filmmakers around here, and church was a big social aspect for a lot of Asian Americans (mostly Korean, Taiwanese, and Fillipino) that I knew. That channel has proven to be an effective grassroots network for African Americans and Hispanics artists, and it may be less alienating than an alpha “Got Rice?” cartoon identity.

Don’t you know that in hollywood, yellow is the new black? Used to be you’d see a single black person in a show/movie so that they could say they were progressive, racially sensitive, well rounded etc. Now you have asians. Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, ER, House (if you count Indian as asian), and token appearances in many other shows. It’s the “in” thing in hollywood to cast asians now to give shows more credibility in reality. Also you’ll notice this applies more toward asian women than men. Asian women are sexy and men aren’t stereotypes abound.

I think one thing that separate African Americans from other minorities is that other minorities preferably seek out the pop culture from “homeland” before their own. This phenomena has been observed frequently among heavily Hispanic areas. Although there’s more programming like Ugly Betty and George Lopez Show out there, in those same time slots, still a huge portion of that audience switches over to Telemundo to watch the latest telanovela.

That said, the Tyler Perry comparison is really apt because one unifying force within the Asian American community — not just Korean, but pretty much across the board — is Christian faith. So, for example, there is a demographic and market where if you’re a young Asian American filmmaker, you can find resources to get your movie made and seen if the film is compatible within that market.

There’s a good Soulmate-ish comedy to be made about social networking within your local church!