The Hangover Asian Americans

When was the last time you seen an Asian American play a main role in a movie? Today in society you do not see many Asian Americans playing the main roles in movies, and or television shows. Most Asian Americans do not play main roles because they are not seen as the typical dream guy, and is not what American are used to seeing. This might be why directors do not choose to put an Asian American in the main role. The Asian Americans usually just play the role of the model minority stereotype such as a goofy person,a wealthy,and or karate kid.
In the movie “The Hangover” there is an Asian American named Ken Jeong that plays the role of a shady Asian gangster named Mr. Chow. In the movie he is the goofy,rude,crazy and loves to screw people over.
In one of the memorable scene Mr. Chow accuses the trio that he was kidnapped by them, and that they stole $80,000 from him. Mr. Chow being the goofy character steals one of the trios friends named Doug and accuses to kill him unless Mr. Chow gets his $80,000 they stole from him. This is significant because it is showing that the role of this Asian American is seen to be as a rude person, that likes to screw people over. Which is what some Americans believe the way Asian Americans act towards them.
The next movie that I examined was the movie “Fast and the Furious:Tokyo Drift” there is an Asian American named Brian Tee that plays the role of Takashi that is know as the “Drift King” due to the fact that he is one of the best drifters of Tokyo.
In a action scene Takashi finds Sean and Takashi girlfriend named Neela who is Peruvian talking. Takashi gets mad and challenges Sean to a race for the girl, but in order to race Takashi he has to race all of Takashi’s friends. This illustrates that the Asian American in this movie is seen as a person who has the best racing cars, the best looking girlfriend, and is really good at racing. This is important because it is showing the model minority of Asian American, of how they can race, owns the best cars, and have the money to pay for the expenses of the
cars.
Another movie I watch was the movie “Karate Kid” that had Jackie Chan who played as Mr.
Han which was Jaden Smith also known as Dre karate trainer. In one of the scenes Dre was protecting an Asian girl named Meiying that he liked that was getting bullied by an Asian boy. Dre got beat up by this boy for hanging out with Meiying. During this scene Mr. Han was around when they came down chasing Dre and protected him by fighting the Asian American boys that were bullying Dre. This proves that Asian Americans are mostly wanted for these karate movies, and or karate parts either playing the master or an extra karate person. This is significant because most people in America believe that all Asian Americans know karate or are involved with karate, which may not always be true.
In a popular show called “Wild N’ Out” that is shown on MTV there is only one Asian American named Tim Chantarangsu who is known as Timothy DeLaGhetto that take part of the Wild N’ Out cast. Timothy plays himself on the shows, he is known as a comedian and a youtube
sensation.
In one episode in Season 5, they are having their usual rap battles at the end which is where the black team and the platinum team rap about each other and get points if it was funny. It was Nick Cannon against Timothy, Timothy was making fun of Nick saying that Nick isnt even a rapper. As a come back Nick sarcastically tells Timothy, “Go back to your old job, and I want some compound chicken”.This is significant because although he was messing around he was making a stereotypical comment about Asians Americans that they make the Asian food. Many americans believe that all Asian Americans know how to make Asian food or own an Asian restaurant, when they may not. Lastly, in a comedy show named “Family Guy” which a show that for me builds up themes around what people actually think in todays society. For example in one of the episodes Peter Griffin refers that from now on he will be will be “untouchable like turn signal in an Asian ladies drivers car”. This explains that this episode is expressing the stereotypes that are being made about Asians that drive. Basically saying that Asians can not drive because they can not see, especially Asian women. This is important because many Americans will go around spreading this stereotypical comments that might not even be true, and start believing them because its been going around for along time and never actually experienced it themselves.
In result to all these movies, many of them portray Asian Americans. They portray them be putting them in roles that Americans are used to seeing. They will not put an Asian American in a main role because it is not something that Americans want to see or are used to seeing. In a variety of movies I have analyzed, most Asian Americans are either not in the movie or playing a stereotypical character. These stereotypical views of Asian Americans should change and Asian Americans should be able to play in main roles of movies.