Through the character, Willis Wu, in Interior Chinatown, the author, Charles Yu, brings to light the very prevalent but often unnoticed theme in America of Asians being sidelined. The character, Willis Wu, is an Asian actor that starts off at the beginning of the book playing the role of background oriental male. His dream is ultimately to play the role of Kung Fu Guy, which he considers the epitome of all Asian roles on television. Various generic roles reserved for Asians are presented throughout the book, revealing the limitations set in Hollywood films on Asian-Americans.
Willis Wu mentions the template that is followed in film, through the show Black and White. The line “there’s just something about Asians that makes reality a little too real” (30), stands out as it explains how black and white characters are considered more acceptable in American film but Asian characters mess with the pre-existing template. The “duality” of black and white is a proven and digestible template that the Asian character messes with, the exclusion, therefore, is not to directly exclude Asians with the intent of racism but to maintain the norm.
In the book, the character Willis Wu does not aim to break any specific mold but to rather fit in and achieve the highest point of the structure that already exists. Throughout the book, Willis describes the stereotypes expected of the Asian character, the accent, the broken English, and the emotionless mask. The book does a great job at highlighting the boxes placed on Asians in film and the expectations the audience has for the Asian role without awareness.
As an Asian-American, I have experienced many instances where certain expectations were put on me because of my race. Growing up in a large suburban area and going to a school with over 5,000 students, I found that the Asian-American group of students were often secluded from the rest of the students. The Asian-American group was seen as the smartest and although we would take academics seriously, it always felt weird to me, for it to seem as all we were. Society has only seen Asians one-dimensionally, Asian-Americans no matter how assimilated, are seen as abnormal in our society.
I agree with you that Willis spends most of his life chasing the highest point of structure that exists, but he also chases those higher roles because he fails to realize that there are other possibilities. It is only once Willis reaches his final goal of getting the role of Kung Fu Guy, that he realizes the limits of even that so-called top role. The stereotypes you mentioned follow Willis all the way to the role of Kung Fu Guy, and I think that those expectations of his fictional character contribute to his realizations about Asian roles. Your personal experiences can also easily be compared to the experiences of Willis, and the general ideas stated in the novel. You were secluded and generalized to be smart over any other quality. This is similar to how Willis felt while living in Chinatown. The SRO housed a large number of Asian-Americans, who were generalized to be seen as the same, to make them easily replaceable and transferrable on set. Willis says at the court, “We’re all the same. Aren’t we? Generic Asian man” (Yu 245). The comparison of Willis’s story to yours proves that Yu uses this premise in the novel to show an example of authentic experiences faced by Asian-Americans.
ReplyDeleteYour points about the stereotypical nature of American culture, especially as it pertains to Asians in America, are insightful. The television show and its neat boxes of Black and White, especially, drive home Yu's point that Asian Americans cannot truly assimilate into the culture of the United States, instead always left to be perceived as a foreigner. This Asian exclusion is a central issue to the book and is often presented outright, like when Allen is attacked for being Asian in Mississippi after Pearl Harbor (Yu 147) or when Willis' father is called "Chinaman" in his class (Yu 145). Oftentimes, however, the exclusion is exemplified through invisibility, especially as Willis navigates life as a background character in the film industry. Willis spends the bulk of his career making himself stereotypical, invisible, and conforming for the camera, just as his as his mother, father, and Asian American counterparts do alongside him. Before he achieves narrow success, he does not even perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life, narrating in shock and surprise, "LOVE STORY FOR A GENERIC ASIAN MAN???" (Yu 166) as he begins to date Karen. Just as Willis shares his experiences of being "boxed in" and kept apart, your perspective as an Asian-American also provided insight in today's world. The stereotyping in the film industry from the accounts of Willis presents parallels to the struggles in the academic world - while Willis sees his only option as Kung Fu Man, perhaps some Asian Americans see their only measures of success in professions like medicine, research, or law.
ReplyDeleteThe claim you made about Asian Americans oftentimes getting sidelined was very well articulated. It is also worth adding that not only does being Asian American come with certain stereotypes that add to the feeling of being an outsider in society but within that separation gender roles create an even larger distinction amongst Asian Americans themselves. I liked how you worded the feeling of not fitting in as an Asian American in society as being placed “in a separate box.” In addition, within that separate box, there is a further separation between men and women of Asian descent. At the start of the book, Charles Yu is building the character description of the protagonist, Willie Wu’s, mother. He describes the roles she has portrayed as “pretty oriental flower, Asiatic seductress, young dragon lady, slightly less young dragon lady, restaurant hostess, girl with the almond eyes, beautiful maiden number one, dead beautiful maiden number one, old Asian woman”(8). Each of these descriptors focuses on physical attributes one is born with rather than characteristics attributed to achievements. Later Yu adds “In the world of Black and White, everyone starts out as Generic Asian Man. Everyone who looks like you, anyway. Unless you’re a woman, in which case you start out as Pretty Asian Woman”(10). Through making this claim, it is implied that men have the opportunity to redefine their role in society and have the opportunity to better themselves. Whereas, women simply are applauded for objective qualities rather than being presented with the opportunity for growth in other facets of life. Overall, while both Asian men and women are erased of their individuality, women specifically are boxed into a hypersexualized image that focuses more on looks than anything to do with culture or personality. -- Parul
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ReplyDeleteYour statement about how the exclusion of Asian characters is not a racist attempt, but more of a way to keep the “peace” being that the duality of black and white characters is easily digestible for viewers is something that I never really thought about until reading this book. A sad truth, and a hard pill to swallow, but the truth nonetheless. While it may not be directly trying to be racist, that is what it ends up being portrayed as. Throughout the book, this pairing of black and white main characters is constantly referred to as the “template”. For example, “..the clean elegance of BLACK and WHITE, the proven template..” (Yu 39). While it is true that this template is something that the media works with, and often, it causes me to ask the question, who said this was the only template? Additionally, why is the world so afraid of making people uncomfortable, when no matter what, this so-called “template” is always going to make someone uncomfortable? Why is it only okay when, in this instance, it makes Asians uncomfortable? That is hardly fair. The world today is so adamant on being more diverse and being inclusive to all types of people. However, it is true that this “template” is still dominant today. This country, and even the world, is never truly going to be completely encompassing of all people, until this template no longer exists. The template needs to be that there is no template. I believe that, in the long run, this is what is going to make people the least uncomfortable. When all types of people are adequately represented, no one is going to question why an asian, black, white, latino, and so on is on their television screen. Which is the way it should be.
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