Christianne Padilla

Asian Americans in Popular Culture

Professor Long Bui
Spring 2016

Asian Americans: the New White or the Perpetual Foreigner?

Is assimilation truly possible in today's American society? Assimilation
is the act of removing one's culture and accepting the host groups culture in
place of your own. However, in our complex society, a simple definition
cannot encapsulate the entirety of this idea; many factors such as
citizenship, cultural acceptance, whiteness being the norm, economic and
racial barriers are needed to fully understand what assimilation is. As
complicated as assimilation is, it is understandable that it is nearly, if not
completely, impossible to assimilate into American society by immigrant
groups. Despite the rumors claiming that Asians assimilate with ease and
have prospects of becoming the new white, Asians and Asian Americans
will never be white, nor will they ever be seen as anything besides foreign.
Their otherness their appearances, cuisines, dispositions, etc. have and
will always be distinct from the norm. In American popular culture, a variety
of media outlets such as television shows have used Asian American actors
and actresses merely as tools of decoration to categorize their show as
progressive and diverse, when, in fact, they are whitening the characters,
thereby reinforcing the goal of assimilation and re-centering the desire of
cultural whiteness. To examine the discourse of assimilation among Asian
Americans and the struggles and stereotypes forced upon them, this essay
will review three episodes from MTVs critically acclaimed, coming-of-age
comedy, Awkward.
Awkward features a diverse cast of eight white main characters and
one Chinese main character. It is acclaimed for its raunchy and unapologetic
humor and awkward experiences that any teen can relate to, even Asian
Americans. Awkward is centered on the embarrassing life of Jenna Hamilton,
a high school sophomore, after she has an accident that coincidently looks
like she tried to commit suicide. Since the conception of the show in 2011,
Ming Huang, one of two of Jennas best friends, has been a steady
embellishment to the show, only having a few lines here and there in every
other episode. It isnt until the second season, with the introduction of the
Asian Mafia, does she arise from the background.
The second episode of season two, Sex, Lies, and the Sanctuary,
security footage of the notorious hookup spot, appropriately called the
Sanctuary, has been leaked and Jenna, the main character, calls upon Ming,
to talk to her people, also known as the Asian Mafia, because "the Asians
know everything about everything." As Jenna says, her people, the camera
pans to several groups that seem to be of East Asian descent. Ultimately, the
term and image combined homogenizes Asians to solely East Asians and
seems to declare that each and every Asian are somehow related to one
another. It also renders Ming as the Other. Since the term comes from one of
her best friends and since Ming hardly has more than thirty seconds of
screen time, it questions her cultural citizenship; the situation insinuates that
she is not really their friend but rather a tool that they can use to obtain
wanted information.

As the situation tenses, Ming comically defends herself by denying that

Asians run the school, but both Jenna and Tamara, Jennas other best friend,
declare that Asians are magic and have omnipotent powers, not forgetting to
mention the dragon on the schools flag (although the school mascot is a
pirate). These basic, Orientalist ideas are ideas that many Americans
associate with anything remotely Asian and allows Asian American academic
success to be reduced to inherent genius.
Intrinsic omnipotence and intelligence of Asian Americans are some of
the key terms included in the model minority stereotype enforced on Asian
Americans. The image is often utilized to sustain the white hegemony by
suggesting Asian Americans are basically white, or at least honorary
whites, next in line to become white, a model for other minorities to
follow (Yi). The episode touches upon the model minority image as Ming
walks towards the leader of her people. The camera depicts an
aesthetically, stereotypical Asian girl, eating sushi with chopsticks while
simultaneously beating away at her calculator. The calculator-er, Becca,
robotically spits out Ming's full name and address before Ming can complete
her half-hearted greeting (Choie). Becca explains that she knows a lot of
things about Ming but she doesnt know whether she "a cool Asian or a
school Asian." She renders Ming as neither, but white and bids her adieu by
giving her the answers to the next history exam since shes been giving
Asians a bad rep.
The line giving Asians a bad rep, is a reminiscent term that many
Asian Americans are familiar with. It tells them that they arent Asian
enough or real Asians because they arent able to live up to the
expectations of societal stereotype that was created for the continuation of
white supremacy in the United States. This then creates an identity crisis, or
an authenticity crisis (Yang 31), especially among impressionable youth,
making them considered their legitimacy as an Asian and whether they fit
the mold of what American society has deemed Asian.
Another identity crisis for many young Asian Americans is if theyre too
American or just American enough. Since American is often synonymous
with white, the question becomes am I too white or white enough to fit into
society? Although the question will never have a definite answer but by
rendering someone else as white, you strip them of their race, exemplifying
the invisible, assimilated into white end of the spectrum (Yang 30). By
declaring Ming as white, it seems as though the racial divisions between
white and Asian, once so stark and to many almost unbridgeable, are quickly
fading away (Yi). It erases the entirety of Asian American history, including
the rampant racial discrimination, immigration bans, racially charged
violence, and renders Ming as complicit to the white hegemony.
Ming, although initially taken aback from the declaration of her
supposed whiteness, decides to embrace the moniker in season three in the
episode Reality Check. Ming and Beccas feud ensues as Ming begins to
have romantic relations with Fred Wu, Beccas ex- boyfriend. As Becca
discovers their relationship, she drives a wedge between Ming and Fred by

framing Fred for a cheating scandal, forcing him to move to Idaho to live with
his distant relatives. Overcome with anger, Ming confronts Becca in the
lunchroom and states, You [Becca] will always be five steps ahead of me.
Youre right. And youre right that Im not Asian; Im white. And you know
how a white bitch deals with and Asian bitch, she gets in her face. She
appropriately punches Becca, making her fall to the floor unconscious and
thus allows Ming to become the next head of the mafia.
The categorization of white bitch and Asian bitch further reinforces
Orientalist stereotypes and, again, suggests that Asians will never be in the
same category as whites. In previous episodes, a white bitch is known to be
loud, in your face, and emotional (visibly angry) while the Asian bitch is
passive, conniving, and derives from the way of the ninja and plots revenge
in the shadows. Essentially one is confrontational while the other is not,
and ultimately that is what determines ones [the Asians] downfall. By
depicting the Asian bitch as mentally superior and physically inferior, and
therefore socially inferior, the show establishes the desire for cultural
whiteness.
By embracing her whiteness, Ming has reached the goal of
assimilation: rejecting her Asianess. Ming has never been an embodiment of
Asian stereotypes, rather she is presented as a sanitized or white-washed
Asian, but Becca on the other hand, has always been the epitome of
stereotypes. Allowing Ming to conquer Becca, depicts historical relations
between Asian Americans and white Americans. Although Asian Americans
seem to succeed more than white Americans, ultimately, white Americans
win in society, meaning they will always have more benefits and privileges
because the standard in America is white and not Asian.
Even once Ming ascends the head of the mafia, she is still represented
as the Other through her physical appearance. Unlike Jenna and Tamara,
Mings clothing has always been much more boisterous and eye catching. It
was one of the visual renderings of her otherness in the white community.
Similarly, during her reign in the mafia, her style is eclectic and unique
compared to the demurely and preppy dressed Asian Mafia. Further in
season three, in the episode, Surprise, Ming is no longer dressed in multicolored layered shirts and jackets, sagging skinny jeans, and animal knit hats
but she now sports long blonde hair, colorful leather jackets, and other
garments resembling to that of African American culture.
As the new head of the mafia, it was expected that Ming change her
style but her choices were unprecedented. One would think that Ming would
embrace the conservative dresses, but Mings new appearance is a
combination of white and black attributes. In Lee & Vaughts, You Can Never
Be Too Rich or Too Thin: Popular and Consumer Culture and the
Americanization of Asian American Girls and Young Women, they argue that
Asian American girls respond to exclusion by adopting, identifying with, and
transforming the existing Black youth popular culture, which they perceive as
having oppositional power (460). Similarly, Ming may have been dressed in
Black you dress because she felt powerless towards the power and race

structures around her. Mass media and popular culture, although they
negative depict Black youth garments as dressing ghetto (Lee & Vaught
460), they are also symbols of empowerment and reclamation of power. The
juxtaposition of Mings blonde hair is also a symbol of empowerment and,
ironically, a symbol of her Americanization, or whitening. While they dressed
in what was perceived as Black youth dress, aspired to and internalized a
standard of a white, middle class gender aesthetic (Lee & Vaught 460).
Although, Ming finds power through her clothing, ultimately she wants to
embody the white aesthetic. Additionally, since she is the leader, her
seemingly white appearance further reinforces the idea of white superiority
over minorities and idealizes white beauty.
It is not possible to assimilation in today's American society, even if
you reject your own culture by embracing the current American (white) one.
In the MTV coming-of-age comedy, Awkward, Ming Huang, the only person of
color in the main cast, is able to seemingly blend into the white hegemony.
The act of assimilation even resulted in her questioning her own Asianess,
and ultimately led her into an authenticity crisis. However, despite her
crisis, she completely dismissed her Asianess and declared her supposed
whiteness, but she was never fully accepted into the white community
because her Otherness was always too apparent. Popular culture has taken
actors of color and has given them whitewashed parts to reinforce
assimilation and complicity in the white hegemonic society. Asian Americans
will always live in a push and pull cycle of white/not white vs foreigner, but
despite any and all efforts, they will always be known as the Other, as the
perpetual foreigner.

Works Cited
Choie, Diane. "Hyphen TV: Cool Asian or School Asian?" Hyphen Magazine. N.p.,
09 July 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.
<http://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2012/7/9/hyphen-tv-cool-asian-orschool-asian>.
Danyo. "The Secret (Awkward.) Life of the Asian American Teenager." SensAsian-al. N.p., 3 June 2012. Web. Mar. 2016.
<https://vietnoknees.wordpress.com/tag/awkward/>.
Lee, Stacey J., and Sabina Vaught. ""You Can Never Be Too Rich or Too Thin":
Popular and Consumer Culture and the Americanization of Asian American
Girls and Young Women." The Journal of Negro Education 72.4 (2003): 457.
Web. May 2016.
Lowe, Lisa. "The Power of Culture." Journal of Asian American Studies 1.1 (1998):
5-29. Web. Mar. 2016.

Thompson, Audrey. "Summary of Whiteness Theory." Summary of Whiteness

Theory. N.p., 2011. Web. Mar. 2016. <http://www.pauahtun.org/WhitenessSummary-1.html>.
Yang, Mina. "Yellow Skin, White Masks." Daedalus 142.4 (2013): 24-37. Web. Mar.
2016.
Yi, Eugene. "Asian Americans: The New White?" KoreAm Journal. N.p., 15 July
2014. Web. Mar. 2016. <http://iamkoream.com/asian-americans-the-newwhite/>.