APHAM: Whitewashing Asian Americans in Mainstream Culture
Asian American representation exploded during the 2010s: between Netflix movies like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Always Be My Maybe to television shows like Kim’s Convenience and Master of None and big-screen phenomenons like Crazy Rich Asians, The Big Sick, and The Farewell, we were able to see ourselves in the media more than ever. As we enter a new decade, we can expect our first Asian Marvel superhero, more independent films such as Tigertail and The Half of It, and new TV shows from the minds of Mindy Kaling and Nahnatchka Khan. I’m especially excited to see representation for South Asian and Southeast Asian people, but one critical issue needs to be addressed first. We still view Asian culture and people through a Eurocentric lens and “whitewash” characters to make them more relatable to white audiences.
Believe it or not, most of the examples I listed above are guilty of this, no matter how groundbreaking they are. I first recognized this trend of toning down characters’ Asianness when I watched the movie Yesterday last summer. The movie stars a British man of Indian descent, Himesh Patel, without making a big fuss about his race. That’s great, but one thing stuck out: his name was Jack Malik. Malik is a common Indian surname but Jack stands out. Yes, plenty of Asian people have European names and that does not take away from their Asianness. But why only go halfway on this character?
It’s part of a long pattern of giving Asian (especially South Asian) characters Anglicized names: Kelly Kapoor, Mindy Lahiri, Alex Parrish, Jess Bhamra, Sloan Sabbith, Eve Polastri, Sonny Kamala, Rooni Schulman, Tom Haverford. Even when South Asian characters do get South Asian names, they tend to be the generic “Dev Shah”. There are no long, hard-to-pronounce names like Vawaharlal in Hollywood. And when there are, those characters are usually jokes. This shows up in real life too: politicians Piyush “Bobby” Jindal and Namrita“Nikki” Haley have both taken on nicknames to fit the white conservative mold they aspire to.
It may seem insignificant but changing people’s names is a way for white audiences to feel more comfortable with the characters. The tactic gives in to the common notion that ethnic-sounding names are too difficult for white Americans to learn to pronounce, taking away the humanity of the people who possess them. That has real-life implications; our names are rooted in our family histories and cultures so normalizing their pronunciation is a sign of respect. Looking to the future, if these names are seen as baggage, rather than a source of pride, more and more people will start shortening their names, coming up with “easier” nicknames or naming their children something more Anglicized.
Another example of this white-washing can be found in two of the biggest Asian American hits of 2018: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians. In TATBILB, the main character lives with her white father after her Korean mother passes away before the events of the story. Although the character is Asian, none of her friends or potential love interests are, and due to her family situation, she is rarely around Asian culture. The decision to have an Asian protagonist who lives in a completely white world is an attempt to keep her as mainstream as possible and pander to white audiences. It resembles The Big Sick’s focus on the white family of the Asian lead’s love interest while shoving his own off to the side or Master of None’s exclusive casting of white romantic leads.
In contrast, the cast of Crazy Rich Asians has an almost exclusively Asian cast but still suffers from pandering to the white gaze. Lines about how children should eat their dinner because “there’s a lot of children starving in America” and the focus on the characters’ wealth and privilege buy into respectability politics. The goal of the movie seems to be to demonstrate that Asians are as good as white people, not that Asian culture can be celebrated on its own. That is harmful for low-income Asian people, typically those from darker-skinned populations which have faced recent colonial violence. Instead of striving towards whiteness, Asians should construct their own independent identities- the kind that make for interesting and unique art.
Strategic naming and the focus on traditionally white settings and culture are tools to make audiences feel more at ease when they watch media with Asian faces. The hard truth is that non-Asian people aren’t comfortable around Asian traditions and people. The United States has a long history of othering Asians, calling them “mysterious,” “shifty” or “strange.” Maybe hiring lighter-skinned and mixed-race actors, or writing most Asian characters as adoptees with Christian names are critical steps we need to take before Hollywood will actually accept more authentic Asian American narratives that lift our communities up. There are plenty of positive examples already and creators are shining especially in independent films. Hopefully, the incoming decade will bring a new approach to representation that can actually respect our cultures and families.
Addendum: A few hours after I wrote this article, I found this trailer which helps illustrate my point. Looks like we are heading into a more self-aware 2020!
by RIA BHANDARKAR