Lack of Asians Americans on Screen?

In the article, “Of Myths and Men: “Better Luck Tomorrow” and the Mainstreaming of Asian American Cinema” written by Margaret Hillenbrand, it explores the problems of cinematic representation faced by Asian American men. Hillenbrand discussed about how Asian Americans are cast in less than 3% of film, television, and commercial parts … in only 1.7% of lead roles across the entertainment mainstream (50). Also, she argued that Asian American males are given supportive roles or “non-leading” romantic roles such as cinematic space outside the laundry, the triad, the kung-fu club, or the academic decathlon (50) which they are denied to “get the girl” and masculinity. Since the 1940’s, Asian American males have been portrayed in a feminized position in relation to white male citizens as it is still stands today. Asian American males have faced multiple accounts of being demasculinized through political cartoons, Broadway, television, entertainment, etc. This resulted in Asian American males to be the stereotypical character of playing the villain or the geek. Either roles played by Asian Americans, they are still considered the lowest representation Hillenbrand used the film Better Luck Tomorrow to argue that Asian American masculinity is locked, and it is a film that aspires to oppose the central ideology of Asian American films. While reading this article, I wanted to know what is the first step for Asian American males to play the main lead in a Hollywood film? Does this come from the decisions of the casting directors or does it have to change from the perspective from the public to change their perspective of Asian American males? Another question, how can we push more Asian Americans to go into the entertainment business to be more and accurately represented on screen? This of course comes from a cultural aspect where the entertainment business is not a traditional route for many young Asian Americans to become a professional in.