TOPIC: PORTRAYAL OF ASIAN AMERICANS IN US TELEVISION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1

2. Portrayal of Asian Americans in US Television Shows 1

3. Comparison and contrast between case study and ethnography 4

4. Conclusion 6

References 7

Introduction

Today, there are approximately 12 million Asian Americas living in the United States (Census 2000), making up 4.8 per cent of the population in US. New generations of Asian Americans strive to take important roles in US society, including politics, economics, academics and media industry. However, US mainstream media, particularly television exists a visible lack of Asian American representation. They are only portrayed in a simplistic manner way and their roles often maintain the stereotypical ideology, which has been dominant for decades. These stereotypes result in the raising awareness of the under-representation of Asian Americans that they need to stand up to address the issue. I will outline three case studies of the contemporary television shows, including All-American girl (ABC, 1994), Gilmore Girls (The WB and The CW, 2000-2007) and Glee (FOX, 2009-present) in order to show a lack of observed progression in treatment of Asian American characters.

Margaret Cho on the red carpet at the Emmys 9/11/9...

Back row: Lane, Michel, Paris, Emily, Richard, Soo...

Percent of households with six figure incomes and ...

I employ two specific research methods known as case studies and ethnography.

Portrayal of Asian Americans in US Television Shows

Stereotypes of the Immigrant family in All-American Girl

All-American Girl was a sitcom based on the stand-up comedy of Margaret Cho- a Korean American comedian, which depicted stereotypical situations of Asian American families. The Kim family was the center of the whole movie with characters as paternal grandmother, two parents, Margaret Kim- the main protagonist, her older brother Stuart and her younger brother Eric. The show emphasizes on strict values and many cultural and historical Korean references. In an episode, Margaret's mother warned her not to date her new boyfriend Kyle. When...