Blog Post #3: “If We Are Asians, Then Are We Funny?”
- In Sarah Moon Cassinelli’s article “If We Are Asians, Then Are We Funny?”, she details Margaret Cho’s experience as told through memoirs of her time as the star of All-American Girl. Cho’s memoirs tell a story relatable by many immigrants in show business as to how their lives are affected by the use of stereotypes, in Cho’s case especially ones related to body image. The show itself also over emphasized many stereotypes of Asian culture to spread cultural awareness as well as add comedic value, but became overused and eventually unattractive.
- The producers of All-American Girl wanted Cho to be relatable to the average American watching the show, yet they wanted to stress the idea of Asian American culture which took a toll on Cho immensely. Cassinelli talks about how the “show’s demands [were] made visible on the body of Margaret Cho” (p.4), to the point where she wasn’t in a healthy state mentally or physically. They dressed her as an average American teenager, commented on her weight, and attempted to alter her in a way that was suitable for the American public, not what was a best representation of herself or her culture.
- The key term which really stands out in this article is the use of ‘Asian American’. The TV producers were making a sitcom about an Asian family in America, however, what they filmed and put on television was what the American public wanted an Asian American family to be. There was so much altering to Cho that it was no longer an accurate representation to her and her family values. Between the image, clothes, and the weight issues, as well as the over exaggeration of Asian stereotypes to “promote” Asian cultural awareness, there wasn’t any room for authentic content in the final product. It ended up becoming a sitcom about an American family played by an Asian cast, which is what would sell best to an American audience.
- This entire idea of promoting Asian culture in America has gone through most of the examples we have looked at in this class so far, and it all has similar flaws. The American media wants to promote Asian culture and attempt to spread it to the masses for consumption. However, in order to do so they feel the need to Americanize it in order to sell it and be successful. There is no mainstream interest for an unadulterated version of a media production promoting pure Asian culture.
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