Hello! I am writing about how I believe South Asian Representation needs to change. If someone asked me a ten years ago who are some famous South Asian / Indian actors, the only actor that would come to mind is Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire. This movie wont 8 academy awards, yet I have never another movie like this. Five, if someone asked me name famous South Asian actors, not too many would come to mind. I would think of side characters such as Aziz Ansari from Parks and Rec, Mindy Kaling from the Office, and Kal Penn who appeared in couple of How I Met Your Mother episodes. Now, if someone asked me who are some famous South Asian actors, I can say that Mindy Kaling, Hasan Minhaj, and Priyanka Chopra are stars in a show. As time has progressed, there has been some changes with the South Asian representation, but there definitely room for improvement.
Growing up there were rarely anyone who looked like me in the films and showed I watched, which to an extent, I was okay with. But, what bothered me the most is when I would see South Asian actors forced to reduce themselves to a stereotypical character. Such as the man who drives the taxi cab, the math genius, the 7/11 owner, etc. I remember when I was in elementary school, there was a show on Disney Channel called “Jessie,” where one of the adopted children name was Ravi. His character role had every single possible stereotype. He was supposedly adopted from India, so he had a fake Indian accent and it bothered that he was the only child in the show that had to have an accent. The show was based in New York, so having a character with an accent from India was really not necessary. He was also portrayed as a nerd, socially awkward, bullied at school, and terrible at sports. He would be embarrassed a lot at school and by his brother Luke. This is not the only example of stereotypes Disney had made. In an animated show called Phineas and Ferb, they had an Indian friend named Baljeet who was nerdy and loved math. He also had an accent, was bullied, and talked about math a lot. I remember feeling so awkward watching that as a child because in my mind I would think, is that how the rest of America really views Indians? I rarely watched the shows Phineas and Ferb and Jessie because they would purposely make the Indian character be lame. It irritates me when shows or movies specifically point out that person has brown skin. These are just few examples. There is a stereotypical Indian character on Big Bang Theory named Raj. In Mean Girls, there was a math genius named Kevin G. Etc.
Growing up and even now, it makes my face light up whenever I see someone on TV that looks like me who is addressed as a normal person. I remember I was thrilled to see an Indian character in the movie Pitch Perfect, where he was portrayed as a popular kid and a really good rapper. Originally, the role was meant for Donald Glover, who was a black artist. The actor who played the role in Pitch Perfect, Utkarsh Ambudkar, stated, “I rarely go in and book a role for an Indian character, because Hollywood’s idea of Indian men is very nerdy, emasculated, and safe…When a dude like me comes in with studs and has clearly had sex .. I’m constantly having to prove something different.” Even though many statistics state that Asians will probably make up more of the US population than Whites in the upcoming years, Asians make up only 3.1% of all top film roles. While people are attempting to give more roles to minority groups, especially after the #metoo movement, there is still a lot of troubles due to our political climate. I remember being worried about the minority groups after listening to Trump’s speech, but the fact that Hasan Minhaj spoke at the White House Correspondent dinner was great because it was a time America was very sensitive on race.
While I am assuming most South Asians want to be actors that don’t play the stereotypical role, I think I need to also consider that at the end of they day people need a job. That is why they chose to play that nerdy character, the terrorist, or force themselves to have an accent. I am glad there is some progress in the industry with the Mindy Project and Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King. Priyanka Chopra was the star of ABC’s Quantico, but it ended only after 3 seasons. I personally have never watched Quantico, but I know there has been some controversies that offended some people.
I so happy that Crazy Rich Asians and Fresh Off the Boat is successful, but I would also like to see Asians who have brown skin like myself to have their own show or movie. There has not been a show or movie that I can think of that had an all South Asian cast. I mean it only makes sense to me as India is the second most populated country in the world. I’m still waiting for the day there can be an all Indian cast show that does not include any types of stereotypes. I want to see a show or a movie where I can really see myself, as an American Indian, on screen. Not even just on television or movies, but also in video games and animated shows.
In conclusion, growing up I was usually almost always offended with the stereotypical characters Indians were given. There has been some progress, but I would love to see a lot more.
This article reminds me a lot about the message from yesterday’s class about Apu. As someone who grew up in a majority white and black area, phrases like “Thank You, Come Again” and “Jackie Chan, Ching Chang Chong” were not uncommon. In my class of 500, I can count on one hand how many South Asians were in my class as well as on the other how many East Asian people. This article helps me see the correlation that media has with marginalizing certain subsets of people and I hope that it gets better in time.
I think for a lot of out-of-the-loop individuals they see representation as just excessive or unnecessary. For me being able to see all those South Asian celebrities and entertainers talk about their experiences in the industry and having to deal with the ills of poor representation shows the value of listening to people who undergo a life with bad representation. If more people, like you’re talking about, just got to see Indians as being just as diverse and normal as any other group, racial or otherwise, I doubt there’d be as much laser-focus of everyday people and even comedians, such as the Simpsons, on the apparent hilarity of racial stereotyping.
Hi Sanj!
The misrepresentation and underrepresentation is definitely an issue, and it was delightful to read how personally you are connected with this. I’m really glad your post was the same week we talked about Apu in class, I was better able to understand the meaning and value behind the whole situation. It is true that things have been getting better, but I really do hope the entertainment industry will show us the much deserved representation of many races and cultures in the feature. It will not only benefit our community, but add a little bit more to the stories they tell.
Hi Sanj,
Great article. I totally understand where you are coming from as a person of Filipino descent. You do not see Asian, nonetheless South Asian representation in the media compared to white people. And when there is “representation” it is often a derogatory stereotype of an Asian person. It makes me think of the affects media has on people’s perception on beauty standards as well. I can think of numerous times where non-asians have said to me they think Asians aren’t attractive and even Asians themselves self-hating. I think this in part of the lack of representation and the representation we do have we are shown to be in a bad light. I liked your point about how you wish there weren’t roles taken by Asians that were stereotypical but at the end of the day people need to make money. There has been some more representation in the media, but there is a long way to go.
Sanj,
I really enjoyed reading your article. As a WOC myself, I can completely understand your frustration and desire to see people of color play non-stereotypical roles. I think one of the biggest challenges that content creators need to face is determining what is considered “representation”. Without a doubt there has been a lot of change happening in the industry, but I think that in order for South Asian representation (or representation of any minority group) to be successful there need to be writers/directors/creators who themselves belong to these groups. Without that I think we will always be seeing an amalgamation of a character who is supposed to represent a minority group. Nevertheless, I fully agree with you and am looking forward to seeing more diverse content in American media!
Hello Sanj,
I thought you made a lot of great points about the stereotypes of different Asians in films. Although I see a push to include them in the narrative I also see the discrepancy between the reality and what we see on screen is still very different. I am glad you talked about this in more detail being someone from a smaller town in California I never had much experience with South Asians or knew the differences in culture so I feel much more sympathetic to how harmful these constructions of Apu, or Baljeet truly are. I find it interesting that there really isn’t many actors in the mainstream of western culture as caucasian actors, and it’s almost like painting a full existence or canvas with a limited palette, giving little scope.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Any sort of characterization /stereotype or close-minded depiction of any particular person/race or gender is an ongoing problem in animation. An interesting aspect of Southeast Asian representation in animation is that a lot of the industry is moving there. Most of the recent live-action jungle book was animated overseas by a mostly Indian cast of animators and CGI artists. It’s always interesting to see how the landscape and culture of India and southeast Asia are also represented in films. Versus the weakness of storytelling that holds itself upon stereotypes.
This was a very interesting read! Lately in entertainment, there has been a huge push for diversity and representation in media, however, you make a point that is absolutely correct, in which South positive Asian media representation is still underrepresented. When I think about it, I can’t even think of a lot of roles with South Asian characters that aren’t pandering into stereotypes. It’s disappointing that the representation of South Asians has not been very positive, but like you mentioned, with the push of diversity and representation in media, I hope this will lead to more South Asian representation.
Thanks for sharing this, Sanj! It was such a great read! I’m Southeast Asian, and I totally get where you’re coming from. The Asian representation that exists in Hollywood is mostly for East Asian people, and while I am so happy to see Asian people getting the spotlight, I am still disheartened to know that there is barely any representation for Asians that look like me. I hope to see more representation for South Asian people, because they deserve it! I love the boundaries that are being broken by South Asian people, and I hope it continues so that we may normalize their existence in media.