Reading Note

The chapter, Gangsters, gooks, geisha’s and geeks in “Asian American Dreams” by Helen Zia, demonstrates the ongoing issue of how Asian American identity is being portrayed in contemporary American society. First off it describes the ways in which Asian stereotypes have penetrated into American society. With many of the stereotypes being played through some kind of entertainment (film, TV, Broadway) the ideas of what it is to be Asian was constructed by these stereotypes, rather than real life situations. The cultures of these individuals were bought by the public through these portrayals on film and television, which had real life consequences for Asian American individuals themselves as they had to live with these portrayals. The author had to deal with name calling and other forms of abuse growing up as a child and it felt as if they were never comfortable with accepting their culture. It affects all aspects of societies, in giving wrong information about people and then using it as stereotypes in judging other Asian communities. Not only that but it creates a struggle with an Asian American not able to accept their culture because of the negativity associated with it. As with the chapter showed, the Broadway musical, “Miss Saigon”, was one of these forms of entertainment that helped expand these stereotypes. Generalizing Asians by giving Caucasian actors features that made them look more “Asian” and also the contents of the play was completely racist. This brings up another issue of how Asian American in society does not get equal opportunities that maybe other races (Caucasian) do.

A majority of the chapter looked into the conflict over Caucasians getting to play Asian roles over Asian people themselves. As with the case of the engineer, this dives into a big issue. Is there any place in America for an Asian image? Even in television and film today, there isn’t one big Asian American actor or actress, or someone who would be considered an...