Episode 5: APAs, Mass Media, And Community Based Organizations

Previous episodes provide a picture of factors from media that causes the "Bamboo Ceiling" and several ways to challenge it. In this episode, I will answer the questions that I have when I start working for this project: 

1. How mass media creates inadequate representations of Asian Pacific Islander Americans? 
2. How APAs have been impacted in the workplace by the media discourses? 
3. How difficult for Asian Pacific Islander Americans to be truly recognized and to achieve sufficient positions in society and careers?

Answer for Question 1: 

Before answering my first question, my mind has a flashback of what my nephews, who live in a less diverse community, told me when their classmate asks them "Who are you?" or "Are you Chinese?". My nephews have only one answer: "I am American." Indeed, we are all American, but we have different demographic ancestors. As Maya Lin shares in the document film Maya Lin, she "did not realize" that she is Asian until later in life. 

Source: sandia.gov/about/diversity/_assets/images/flag_diversity.png

However, different background, different idea, different culture, and different demographics represent people differently. Mass media has a strong impact on media constructions and media discourses that create inadequate representations of Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APAs) in society. According to Ono and Pham in Asian Americans and the Media, “yellow peril” is a media discourse of the Asian Pacific Americans which aggressively addresses this group as a risk for the US community. Back in the 1800s, 1900s, and early of 21st century, the media constructs Asian Pacific Americans men as gambling, gangster, or villain, and women are demonstrated as sexy or "dragon ladies" as in Kill Bill or Madam Butterfly. Recent years, besides stereotypes as "kungfu masters", "dragon ladies", or sexy women, media portrays APAs based on the model minority stereotypes that they are geeks, nerd, hardworking persons, or businessmen. Higher education achievers, higher-income earner, and respect the law persons are other images that media portrays APAs. Media also distinguishes APAs based on stereotypical collective representations as shy, quiet, and introvert cultures.  

Answer for Question 2:

These media discourse make APAs become "the forgotten minority group in the glass ceiling conversation" (Gee and Peck). Quiet, shy, and introvert cultures stereotype collectively represent APAs as a  lack of social and leadership skills group. The article Asian Americans Are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management  shows:

• "Over 20% of the associates in many of the larger accounting firms were Asian American, very few were being promoted to the partner level." 
  
  
• "Asian Americans are the least likely racial group to be promoted into Silicon Valley’s management and executive levels, even though they are the most likely to be hired into high-tech jobs". 

(Gee and Peck).

Another media discourse that affects APAs is "foreigner forever" that is proved by Scarlett Johansson as a Japanese policewoman in Ghost in the Shell or Matt Damon in The Great Wall. The Asian-face rarely achieve stardom even they are talent. Harlem Lee is another great example of it. Although Lee won two singing competitions of national TV shows, he was drop out from the list to become a music star and had to pursue other passion. 

Answer for Question 3:

To challenge these media discourse and stereotypes in order to achieve sufficient positions in society and careers, APAs need not only work as an individual but also collaborate together in community-based organizations. These collective organizations create opportunities for individuals to involve in groups so that they can produce more effective methods to challenge the media discourses. The first movement of Art APAs, which includes the Basement workshop and Kearny workshop, is an example of it. The Basement workshop is a connection of all individuals in the community from students to writers, activist, as well as artists. Besides these workshops, there are many community-based organizations, which act as collective cultural productions, provide opportunities for artists from multiethnic include Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese Americans to participate, practice, and perform or challenge media discourses(Maeda). In addition, APAs need to have collective self-representation to challenge with mass media. 

The community-based media organizations such as APA Film Festival provide opportunities and supports for APAs to make corrections on the stereotypical representations of APAs. These organizations operate based on the collective actions which provide channels and vision for individuals and community to encounter with the mass media discourses. The Miss Saigon protest, then followed by many organizations’ protests like LGBT Asian American, Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York, Asian American for Creative, and Asian American for Creative is a great example of how the community-based media organization connect individuals into groups, creates mission and vision for them in the process of challenging the mass media. (Ono and Pham, p.100-101). 

The power of the internet and new media also provide APAs more opportunities to reproduce representations so that APAs can breakthrough the bamboo ceiling to be recognized and to achieve sufficient success. As Harlem Lee says "Every little bit thing helps. Believe in yourself and in what you believe", many APAs individuals and community-based organization successfully demonstrate the real identities and representations of APAs in different ways with what media discourse did. Vera Wang, Anna Su (fashion design), Norah Johns, Bruno Mars, Vanessa Hudgens (music), John Cho, Lucy Liu, Anna May Wong, Sessue Hayakawa, George Takei (movies, TV theatre), Dorothy Wang, Michelle Phan, Ryan Higa, Markiplier (internet), Maya Lin, I.M.Pei (architecture), Hyphenmagazine, APA film festival, and many more APAs and APA organization are great example of this continual process.

References:

Gee, Buck and Peck, Denise. Asian Americans Are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management. Harvard Business Review, May 31, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/05/asian-americans-are-the-least-likely-group-in-the-u-s-to-be-promoted-to-management.
Ono, Kent A. and Vincent Pham. Asian Americans and the Media. Cambridge: Polity, 2009.