Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writer.
Time and time again we have seen movies and television shows with great Asian actors. From “Crazy Rich Asians” to “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” it’s safe to say that we have made great strides in Asian representation in cinema.
While I am thrilled to see Asian representation in cinema and Hollywood in general, I think that there is missing representation when it comes to non-East Asian countries.
The East Asian group of countries, primarily China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam are represented as an all-encompassing group of Asian people in American media. But East Asian ethnicities do not represent all of Asia, and Hollywood needs to stop acting like it does.
While East Asian groups get a lot of attention and representation in the media, other ethnicities remain forgotten and underrepresented on a global scale. You may ask, why is this so important? Isn’t there enough diversity and Asian representation already?
Having only East Asians represent all of Asia means that when a person talks about Asia, they are only thinking of that small subculture of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people. There are so many distinct ethnicities, subcultures and family dynamics in Asia, and narrowing it down to just a few countries is almost insulting.
The lack of representation could make non-East Asians feel invisible to the media that is supposed to support them. It feels as if the East Asian group of countries is a more appealing group in media which feels demeaning. Furthermore, some people have even coined a term used to refer toward the invisible half of Asia: “brown Asian.”
The movie “Crazy Rich Asians“ was touted as a great achievement for Asian representation with the first all-Asian cast in 25 years is quite underwhelming, to say the least.
As someone who is part Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian, I have spent most of my childhood flitting between Singapore and Indonesia, so the lack of diversity in Asian ethnicities in the movie is almost baffling. Singapore’s population is filled with a cultural mix that involves numerous Asian ethnicities. The cultural intermingle is a part of Singapore’s cultural identity and yet none of that is represented in “Crazy Rich Asians.”
A recent film that highlights non-East Asian-centric stories is the Thai movie “How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,” a heartfelt story about family dynamics and a love between a grandparent and grandson. Its palpable rise in popularity as a Southeast Asian-centric film despite Hollywood’s lack of promotion is genuinely heartwarming and shows that it is possible to bring non-East Asian media and stories into the American public consciousness.
Despite the representation in other areas like the music industry (i.e. Ni-ki and Rich Brian), it is still important to represent all of Asia in mainstream media as that is what the majority of the American public consumes when looking for representation of cultures and stories.
It is important for people outside of Asia to understand that it is a continent filled with diverse cultures that shouldn’t be dumbed down to just a small portion. There are a multitude of stories and people in Asia outside of East Asia, so why can’t Hollywood depict them?
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Contact Christy Thien via email: christy.thien@pepperdine.edu or by Instagram: @christy.e.t
