The topic of defining my Race has never been a definitive process which has rendered a

clear cut or correct answer. As a person who was born to parents of two completely different
races, I have never been able (or ever felt obligated) to choose one specific way to strictly
identify myself. There were many marriages and relationships in my family between people of
diverse races and backgrounds, and I feel fortunate to have been raised to embrace myself and
others as individuals. It gave me the opportunity to have an open mind to many forms of
diversity, and an interest and attraction to all sorts of different people, customs and philosophies.
Regardless of how I feel, I realize that society at large will at times inevitably
classify or identify me by Race. It has always been a guessing game, in which the curious are
wrong in about 99% of their attempts to successfully peg it. I have experienced this from a young
age, and have learned not to exert much energy or concern to this; truthfully, I have grown to
view it as a source of amusement. When it is an obvious indicator of ignorance, racism, or
hatefulness I do not become defensive or take it personally-it is fruitless to try to control the
feelings or thoughts of others. Instead, I opt to plainly verbalize my questions regarding the
motives behind the one who may be feeling such an insistent need to know, and then I simply
distance myself from people who exhibit prejudice toward me or toward others. That being said,
for the purposes of this paper, I will identify my Race as Asian-specifically Korean, because my
father is Korean.

The historical information that I have about my Race is mostly

generalized, common knowledge: Koreans hail from Korea-are therefore Asian, and are said to
have been genetically linked to ancient peoples of both Mongolia and Siberia. The Korean
people have historically and routinely experienced conflict, turmoil and unrest. Politics divide
the county between North and South, with North Korea being under the rule of communist
regime, while South Korea is democratic in nature. The occupation by Japan in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries drove the assimilation and attempted ethnocide of
Koreans, and later, conflict between North and South Korea resulted in the Korean War in the
1950s. Political and cultural unrest continued from the 1950s until the 1980s, when laws were
changed to allow people to directly elect leaders.
Some of the societal representations I see regarding my race are largely in the form of
stereotypes: Asians on the whole are, bad drivers, good at math, and all look the same.
Lately I have noticed more articles in the media about Korean women being absolutely fanatical
about undergoing plastic surgery, either to alter the shape of ones eyes into a double eyelid, or
for a variety of other drastic procedures in order to attain some uniform, static cultural ideals of
physical beauty.
Of course the irony in this is that these in-demand Korean plastic surgeries can actually bring to
fruition the stereotype that all Asians look alike, because the procedures themselves are so
unfailingly formulaic. They are all based on the unwavering, popular ideals and standards of
beauty in Korea. Still, I cannot help but wonder why it is only Asians who, all look the same,
and not so for the similarly sculpted and contoured White women, for instance those in the
celebrity culture. Curiously, the sea of bleached blonde hair, emaciated, anorexic-thin bodies,
enormously augmented breasts and perfect, narrow noses that have been expertly shaved down
via mass production rhinoplasties somehow does not place these non-Asians into a category
which classifies them as all looking alike.
Regarding social representations, especially in Hollywood, the manner in which
Asians are portrayed is disturbing, insulting and stereotypical. In recent films, actor Ken Jeong
(The Hangover 1, 2, and 3, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) has been one of the few Korean
actors to even work in any major productions, however, in every role he is a caricature of typical
2

Asian stereotypes: an embodiment of exaggerated accents and over the top goofiness.
These films provide no shortage of vulgar, demeaning dialog including Jeongs
character actually describing his own genitalia specifically by Race and size. There are scenes
where all of the Caucasian actors gather around to inspect and objectify Jeongs private
anatomical parts as he sleeps, and the storylines have frequently called for him to frantically run
around in the nude.

Other scenes succeed in not only insulting Asians, but also the gay

community, due to the (masculine) American actors ridiculing Jeongs effeminate affect,
implying that he has the potential for homosexual proclivities, and even includes lines where the
term, gay boys is hurled as an insult, but is offered up as comedy by making a laughing stock
of (assumed) homosexual Asians in particular.
Jeong consistently plays the part of zany buffoon, and (both literally and
figuratively) the butt of all jokes-which is interesting in light of the fact that he is a practicing,
board certified physician. Ken Jeong graduated from Duke University and the University of
North Carolina, is a native of Detroit, Michigan and speaks English flawlessly, with no accent of
any kind. I suppose if grasping at straws, the only positive tidbit to be gleaned of any of this is
that at least an Asian actor was cast to depict an Asian character.
This was not at all the case in one of the most offensive roles that I
can recall: Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys. Rooney played Mr. Yunioshi-the bumbling,
heavily accented and forever-shouting Japanese landlord of Audrey Hepburns Holly Golightly.
Both his makeup and acting are atrocious and grotesque; his performance cringe-worthy.
Although this film was made in 1961, clearly nothing much has changed in over fifty years, as to
how Asians are depicted in the media.
A much more recent example is documented by (red haired, blue-eyed)

actor Emma Stones portrayal of a character of Asian descent in the recent film, Aloha. The
movie was unsuccessful, and appears to get more attention for its racial disparity than its content
or appeal. The resulting backlash rendered a half-hearted apology from the films director, but
curiously not from Stone herself.
It goes without saying that white privilege has been the name of
the game and the status quo shows no signs of changing anytime soon. Asians continue to
operate from and stagnantly remain in a place of target by actively choosing to participate in
farces which further reinforce stereotypes and make a mockery of Asian culture and Race. This
has the potential to directly carry over into daily life and culture of our youth, thus continuing the
cycle.

In the article, Perceptions of Asian American Students: Stereotypes

and Effects, author Qin Zhang (2010) discusses this, stating, Racial-ethnic stereotypes include
characterizations of communication and social skills, are often constructed and perpetuated by
the media. Asian Americans are traditionally underrepresented in the media and
misrepresented with stereotypes. Cultivation theory suggests that media-activated racial-ethnic
stereotypes affect people's perceptions about the stereotyped groups. She goes on to say, After
reading scenarios that manipulate communication and social skills, college students rated the
likelihood of the person being Asian, Black, Hispanic, or White. As expected, college students'
perceptions of Asian Americans are much aligned with media representations. and Moreover,
college students' stereotypes seem to affect their interactions with peers. They are least likely to
initiate friendship with Asian students. This aligns with my observations and can potentially
solidify further alienation and separateness between Asians and people of a variety of different
Races.

Since I am an Asian woman who is of mixed race and thus somewhat

racially ambiguous, I am constantly experiencing people attempting to figure me out (yes, I

have actually been told that). It is so extremely common for my Race to be misclassified, that it
has happened twice in the last week.
The first time was while having an innocuous conversation with an
82 year old White male (who apparently assumed that since I was attending to children, then
naturally, I must be Latina). While we were discussing golf, he suddenly switched gears from
describing the pleasures of the sport to launching a fairly lengthy diatribe on the off-putting and
overt rudeness of all golfing Koreans.
Admittedly, in this instance, I continued to let him rant without interruption, or
identifying my heritage because I was enjoying with some measure of internal giggling, the
spectacle he created, with no clue whatsoever of how severely he was embarrassing himself. He
is the father of a friend, so if the topic of my Race ever comes up, he will probably experience
his own mortifying realization later on, and he is welcomed to that, I do not begrudge him that
discomfort, should it happen.
The second incident occurred when a complete stranger overheard me introduce my
(Korean) father to my friend (who happens to be older, male and Latino). When she heard me
call my father, Dad, she spun around to face me and shouted, Thats your dad??!! NO! Hes
your dad! she insisted, pointing at my friend. This is why I must find humor, how else would I
ever be able to identify my own father, if a complete stranger did not correct me?
In the latter case, the woman making the wrong assumption happened to be Asian herself.
When I identify myself as Korean-and I selectively do so, depending on the attitude of the
confused individual-I am often looked at as though I am a liar, or sometimes just met with
resounding, verbalized disbelief of, Noooooo!...Really?!?
This all merely serves to remind me that biases and inaccuracies are universal in

humankind, and go in every direction imaginable.

My experiences have taught me to learn how to address these issues with some degree of
humor and diplomacy. Sometimes I suggest to the confused that they possibly consider how/why
they arrived at their assumptions, and what they are really driving at. Other times, I allow them
the dignity of their own experience by not responding to racist remarks and anticipate that they
will later somehow discover that they were showcasing their racism to the very object of their
hate, with no idea whatsoever.
I suppose that could mean that I am guilty of giving them just enough rope to hang
themselves. Perhaps it is not the nicest way to conduct myself: by enjoying the deliciousness of
my omissions at the expense of racistsNevertheless, at times it seems that our more
outstandingly humiliating experiences can potentially be powerful enough to truly get our
attention, snapping us to, and helping us promptly discover and recognize our otherwise
unchecked character flaws or wrong thinking. At least this has been true for me. Some of my
most painful lessons have been the most enlightening ones.
I am grateful to continuously and actively learn about myself and others, even when the
lesson may be uncomfortable. It helps me become more and more active both socially and
politically, so that I can best manage these challenges when they arise and I am reminded to
vigilantly monitor my own thinking for bias and judgment. By gaining greater self knowledge
and acceptance, I can continue to learn how to extend such principles to others.
Most importantly, I do not have to volunteer to play the part of target, in a biased world,
and no one deserves to be treated that way. By keeping this in mind, I can slowly help things
change for the better through humor, communication, and appropriate action.

Works Cited:
Pak, E. (2015, May 25). The Ugly Truth About the '100 Years of Korean Beauty' Video. The
Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eudie-pak/the-ugly-truth-aboutthe-100-years-of-korean-beauty-video_b_6936460.html
Yeo, J. (2013, May 21). Beauty Recovery Room. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/plastic-surgery-photos-ji-yeos-the-beauty-recoveryroom-south-koreas-obsession_n_3313715.html
Ken Jeong is a Korean-American actor, comedian and physician, best known for his role as the
comedic gangster Leslie Chow in The Hangover film franchise, (2015) Retrieved from
http://www.biography.com/people/ken-jeong-20996403
Goldberg, D. (Producer), & Phillips, T. (Director). (2009). The Hangover. [Motion picture].
United States: Warner Bros. Pictures
Goldberg, D. (Producer), & Phillips, T. (Director). (20011). The Hangover 2. [Motion picture].
United States: Warner Bros. Pictures
Goldberg, D. (Producer), & Phillips, T. (Director). (20013). The Hangover 3. [Motion picture].
United States: Warner Bros. Pictures
Apatow, J. (Producer), & Green, D. (Director). (2008). Pineapple Express. [Motion picture].
United States: Sony Pictures
Apatow, J. (Producer), & Apatow, J. (Director). (2007). Knocked Up. [Motion picture].

United States: Universal Pictures

The Numbers Where Data and the Movie Business Meet. (1997-2015). [Data tables on films July
20, 2015]. Retrieved from http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Pineapple-ExpressThe#tab=summary
The Numbers Where Data and the Movie Business Meet. (1997-2015). [Data tables on films July
20, 2015]. Retrieved from http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Knocked-Up#tab=summary
The New York Times. (2009). MoviesCast, Credits, Awards. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/451439/The-Hangover/details
Zhang, Q. (2010). Perceptions of Asian American Students: Stereotypes and Effects. Communication
Currents/Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 3. Retrieved from
https://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=963

Zeba, B. (2015, June 4). Where Is Emma Stone's Apology For Whitewashing? The Huffington Post. Retrieved fro
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/03/emma-stone-aloha-whitewashing_n_7506098.html

Copyright 2015 by Steven Prigg. All rights reserved.

Steven Prigg interviews ken jeong

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