“Trump has been beating up on China; how does that make you feel?” Jesse Watters asks, pushing a microphone under the nose of an elderly Asian American woman. She amiably nods her head, then does not respond for two seconds. Perhaps because any amount of reflective silence would cause Watters existential panic, the O’Reilly Factor instantly played a clip from Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein: “Speak, speak, why don’t you speak!?”
Out of an almost five-minute segment of the O’Reilly Factor, that small clip is indicative of the anachronistic exoticism Watters presented his Asian American subjects with throughout the segment. However, basing one’s humor on lazy stereotypes is not a tried-and-true method only for Watters. The O’Reilly Factor’s Chinatown segment reminds us some would still approve blatant racism to be on television. Rather than viewing this as a symptom of a single, diseased network, however, we should consider this as an effect of a more pervasive issue unconstrained to one political party or the other.
To be clear, this is not a defense of the O’Reilly Factor. It’s unabashedly a show without a much-needed filter. From bizarre quips at President Obama for allowing his “emotional attachment to Islam hurt the United States,” to claims slaves “had it good” building the White House, Bill O’Reilly invites controversy with every taping. While other publications rightly deplored the segment, this backlash is only adequate in showing off their own social consciousness in comparison to the O’Reilly Factor’s relative tone-deafness. Attacking a racist, rightist show is an easy way to curry favor with their audiences, especially when the racism is as overt as Watters’. Watters, however, is not alone in the status of Asian Americans — many other media outlets have historically, and currently, discouraged and questioned the status of Asian Americans.
Where the O’Reilly Factor hamfistedly shoved stereotypes of Asian Americans into our faces, other networks, shows and films attempted quietly to erase the presence of Asian Americans. Take Emma Stone, a white woman, who played Allison Ng, a quarter-Chinese, quarter-Native American and half-Swedish character in “Aloha.” If Marvel is more your speed, consider how the studio casted for the film “Doctor Strange” Tilda Swinton, a white Scottish woman, to play a character who was portrayed in the original comics as a Tibetan monk. DreamWorks produced “Ghost in the Shell,” a film based on a Japanese comic set in Japan, and casted Scarlett Johansson to play the originally Japanese main character, Motoko Kusanagi.
Beyond modern-day whitewashing (the practice of casting white actors and actresses for roles originally imagined for people of color), our society also tacitly condones beloved films that use ugly stereotypes of Asian characters. Audrey Hepburn quietly singing “Moon River” in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is such an iconic, stirring scene — it seems like such a shame to color our rosy recollections by acknowledging I. Y. Yunioshi, Hepburn’s hackneyed Asian landlord (who was played by Mickey Rooney in yellowface). “Sixteen Candles” offers a cute coming-of-age story, but uses Long Duk Dong, an awkward and emasculated Chinese character, as the butt of many jokes.
Media representations of Asian Americans greatly influence how they are perceived. “Model minority” and “forever foreigner” are stereotypes Asian Americans endure from childhood onwards, and are only entrenched by how the media has portrayed, and continues to portray, Asian Americans.
While networks and studios erase roles for Asian Americans, we lionize past media depicting problematic portrayals of Asian Americans. “Fresh Off the Boat,” “Master of None,” “Selfie” and other shows with Asian American main characters proliferate modern perspectives of the Asian American experience, which is a step in the right direction for tearing down the stereotypes that Watters illuminated. Pointing a finger at Fox or the O’Reilly Factor and crying “Racist!” isn’t enough — we must acknowledge the discrete perpetrators of these stereotypes and fight for more positive Asian American media representation.
Tsering Say is a Viewpoint writer.
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