Slaying the Dragon Essay

I must confess that I am guilty of harboring unconscious stereotypes of Asian women. Kathleen Uno’s article “Unlearning Orientalism: Locating Asian and Asian American Women in Family History” brought this to light. She makes a very strong argument that Orientalism has exaggerated Asian patriarchy and the subordination of women; therefore, influencing research to highlight only the oppressive aspects of the Asian family. Uno states that once we can free ourselves from the “Orientalist blinders”, it will allow us to shed the stereotypes by revaluating the role of Asian and Asian American women and acknowledging their contributions. (Uno, 2003)

In his essay “The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority”, Ronald Takaki comments on how the Asian race is perceived. He believes that the Asian race is viewed as a “model minority” and he discusses how this perception is both false and harmful. Takaki supports his stance by providing statistical facts about the Asian population in the United States. He further discusses the media’s involvement in the perpetuation (and likely, the genesis) of this perception. Takaki provides statistics that he then compared to other ethnicities in the United States to further solidify his stance. While I tend to agree with most of Takaki’s general thesis, I disagree with how he makes his points.

The early film portrayals of Asian American women have built up the stereotyped image of Asian women. The film, Slaying the Dragon Reloaded, explored two dominant stereotypes of Asian women in American movies. They are either victims who are saved by main male character as in The transporter or superwomen who is very powerful and sexually provocative like Lucy Liu in Kill Bill 2. Both are exaggerated and show little representation of Asian Women. Among these two stereotypes, Slaying the Dragon Reloaded weighs more on oversexualized and submissive women figures in films.

Good morning/afternoon Mrs Morrah and students. I have chosen 6 items for my showbag to represent the theme, setting or character of the novel ‘dragon keeper’. To represent the theme of friendship, I have chosen 2 magnets, this is for Danzi and Ping. Just like magnets, Danzi and Ping always reunite. Throughout the novel, Danzi and Ping have at one stage been separated and have come back together.

Why do people think that ethnic stereotypes operate in the same ways for men and women? That’s just being ignorant in common sense. Honestly they may never operate in the same way for both genders. In “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas”, Jennifer Pozner makes it very clear that women in are judged heavily in a feminist point of view. Ethan Watters examines Joseph Henrich’s research and explains how researchers have failed to corporate how the connection between culture and cognition affect psychology.

“A kingdom is in turmoil as the old King Roland dies and its worthy successor, Prince Peter, must do battle to claim what is rightly his. Plotting against him is the evil Flagg and his pawn, young Prince Thomas. Yet with every plan there are holes – like Thomas’s terrible secret. And the determined Prince Peter, who is planning a daring escape from his imprisonment…” (very first page)

This movie exploits many different avenues of sexism and the struggle of being a woman and transitioning to a new country. It is a warm story which gives hope to anyone having doubt about moving to a new place. I recommend this movie without reservation to anyone wanting to get insight on Chinese American women. The movie does not hold punches concerning the inferior roles of women but it shows that anyone can overcome adversities. The two theories most prevalent were the structural functional theory and the symbolic interaction theory. Both are thoroughly documented and used

For 20 years, Asian Americans have been portrayed by the press and the media as a successful minority. Asian Americans are believed to benefit from astounding achievements in education, rising occupational statuses, increasing income, and are problem-fee in mental health and crime. The idea of Asian Americans as a model minority has become the central theme in media portrayal of Asian Americans since the middle 1960s. The term model minority is given to a minority group that exhibits middle class characteristics, and attains some measure of success on its own without special programs or welfare. Asian Americans are seen as a model minority because even though they have faced prejudice and

Although Asian Americans comprise only about 5% of the U.S. population, this group is the fastest growing segment of American society. Despite such rapid expansion, Asian Americans are widely underrepresented throughout media, whether in television, cinema, or literature. Moreover, there are different stereotypes associated with Asian Americans. One of the most pervasive stereotypes details how Asian Americans are a “model minority”. In essence, this myth describes how anyone who is Asian American will become a successful individual able to achieve the “American dream”.

The media is often the only form of culture that many Americans are subjected to. Consequently, many stereotypes are formed from that medium. These stereotypes include the interfering Asian American woman that cannot keep her nose out of other people?s business. The Asian woman is also supposedly sexually active, exotic, overly feminine and eager to please. This character is termed the ?China Doll,? and appears countless times in popular movies. Hollywood tends to characterize Asian women as prostitutes, yet fails to portray the hardships these women face such as trying to support their families. Asian American women are also depicted as passive and indecisive, and often times are treated as though they want to have sex with white men, even when they are verbally not agreeing. ?Dragon Lady? refers to an Asian

The US characters who bring their partner to the US are portrayed as naïve who are easily gullible because of their deficiency in being a “normal white American.” Their naivety is not positively conveyed. Rather it functions to make the US characters somewhat miserable who are located at the bottom of the white supremacy system, that is, they are barely better than the Other. Their deficiency in being a normal white American is entailed in their failure in full performance of masculinity (or femininity). In their portrayals, the American characters’ masculinity or femininity are not fully performed due to their inability to achieve their roles in gender and sexuality.

For centuries the Native American people have been portrayed and stereotyped through different media sources some are from the past and some are present ideas that people in our society still hold to be true. They were and or are seen as savages, doomed warriors, princesses, and wise elders. American Indian men are often eroticized and portrayed as the object of white women’s Illicit lust and Native American Women are seen as beautiful, erotic, noble, and fully dedicated to her white lover. Both have the primary focus of serving white interests-by providing sexual satisfaction. The impact of the media through the 18th, 19th, and 20th century helped create the stereotype of these qualities today. Media such as movies and television shows were major contributors to the impact of race on Native Americans. With the majority of the population consuming films on a regular basis, it is likely that the stereotypes portrayed in films also

Women both on and off screen have been portrayed in a manner that represent some

     Asian Americans only make up a small percent of the American population. Even more significant is that this percentage live mostly on the west and east coasts of mainland United States and Hawaii; leaving the rest of the American population to most likely get their exposures to Asians through television and movies. However the exposure they have receive throughout the history of cinematography has been hardly flattering. Throughout the course of history Asians in film have been portrayed as evil or the "yellow peril" as described by others. If Asians are not being classified as evil in this picture then they are most likely the comic relief, with their lack of coordination or grasp of the English

Asian American actors and actresses are portrayed in Hollywood movies as always being the silent and yielding foreign victims to social injustice and prejudice. Whether or not these depictions are true, they are nonetheless stereotypes that Hollywood producers have come up with. According to the US Census in the year 2000, Asian Americans make up 4.2% of the entire American population, and knowing that most Asian Americans live on the west and east coast of the United States, many Americans living in central parts of this country have not really been exposed to any Asian Americans. Because of this fact, it is highly probable that most Americans get their exposure to the Asian American lifestyle only through television and movies. Even if