Monday, May 02, 2005

Study: Asian Actors on TV Underrepresented. Represent!

"The King of Queens" is set in a New York City borough where almost one in five residents is Asian American - yet none of the CBS sitcom's regular characters is Asian. And of the dozens of regular characters in CBS' entire prime-time line-up, not one is Asian.

At most other networks, the situation is slightly better.

A study of Asian Americans in prime-time television, released Monday, shows that Asians, who make up 5 percent of the U.S. population, play 2.7 percent of regular characters. It also shows virtually no Asian actors are on situation comedies, and the characters they play in dramas tend to have less depth than most regulars, with minimal on-screen time and few romantic roles.

...

Usually, when Asians are depicted, the study showed, they are placed into roles that reinforce stereotypes, particularly that of Asians as the hyper-intelligent model minority. Though Census 2000 showed that half of Asian adults don't have college degrees, of the prime-time Asian characters whose jobs were identified, 100 percent worked in areas that highlighted their intelligence or required advanced degrees, often in the sciences.

"There is no understanding that Asians have the same hopes and dreams and struggles - that they love their families and have to deal with crazy bosses and co-workers," Narasaki said. "I often tell the networks, I know lots of Asian families that are dysfunctional. They would be funny on a sitcom."

Come to think of it, I DO have hopes, dreams and the occasional struggle. I tell you what, I am getting kind of pissed off at everybody assuming that I work in an area highlighted by my intelligence, which requires and advance degree, often in the sciences. You really should see my cubicle, you'd think it NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab or something--but it's REALLY not!!

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Ha. Found this off Wally's site:



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Speaking of which..Wally and I went to Tha' Rizzack (aka Enchanted Rock) late Saturday. Em could not attend because she was hitting the books for finals, with a quickness. Anyways, on the side of the rock, I'm fiddling w/the Rollei, getting pissed off because the film roll won't take. When I finally get it to work, I look down into the ground glass and get a big taint shot of Wally sitting there on the rock.

"YO MAN!" I yelled, "You're spread eagle in my view!"

Wally scrambles, "Ohhhh sh--, my bad." Yeah dude, your bad.

We drank some beers on the rock after sunset and came stumbling down the mountain, got lost in the campgrounds, the parking lots and finally found my car. Pictures to come.
posted by HZA | 7:27 AM | email | archive