Photo+Journalism
http://www.hulu.com/watch/76183/yo-teach-miki-moves-up
So…Yo Teach! apparently is a show that exists in the fictional world of the summer film, Funny People. I personally can’t wait to watch this; it’s a bit like Queen Latifah’s Last Holiday, where she discovers she has a terminal illness and wants to do all the things in life she’s missed out on. Only this film is a Judd Apatow movie, so it’ll probably be pretty hilarious and not horrible. And in both films, the protagonists discover that they are, in fact, not dying. Stupid cop-out ending. Nevertheless, wouldn’t it be nice?
Anyways, back to Yo Teach!
Granted, this show is a parody of a high school serial, akin to Saved by the Bell, etc.
Under that genre, I assume also that the characters are archetypal: the jock, nerd, Molly Ringwald, and so forth.
And while this astute Asian student is no Long Duk Dong, she is painfully archetypal and stereotypical of the modern Asian American: Miki is afraid of her parents’ expectations, complains that they want her to become a doctor, lawyer, rocket scientist, and so forth, and that she fears failure. She doesn’t want to be dumb, because she’s ASIAN.
Of course, Mr. Bradford is no Shylock; he brings up a racial stereotype and says, it just ain’t so! Although, in his case, he doesn’t BEGIN as a racial stereotype.
(Speaking of Shakespearean references, here’s another Yo Teach! short that I do like, a lot. William Shu-Shu-Shu-Shu-Shakespeare!!)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudELK0ifQQ]
On one hand, this parody show-within-a-show is perfectly excusable. It’s supposed to represent a really corny TV show, heavy on the laugh track and cliché dialogue.
But on the other hand, perpetuating a racial stereotype is very different from perpetuating the nerd, jock, rebel archetypes. While social labels might be an oversimplified, juvenille method of identification, they usually remain in the halls of high school. Well, usually.
Racial stereotypes, however, generally outlast that juvinile propensity to identify with a social group. Racial stereotypes exist in every social environment, at any age.
I’m not terribly offended by this representation of an Asian American. Maybe I’m desensitized and I’m used to that caricature. Maybe I just don’t want to make a big deal over it.
But what bothers me the most is that this really isn’t that funny.
And it would probably be even less funny if say, the student was black. Latin American. Gay.
We can rag all we want on social stereotypes. The avid members of the chess club, un-academic athletes, airheaded cheerleaders, and the hippies playing guitar on the grass (and on grass) probably won’t be up in arms. If they even exist outside of teen dramas. Representing these “groups” of people is largely inoffensive because when they do appear in the media, they are written off as archetypes, as characters.
But when a stereotypical racial character shows up, they only function to deepen those stereotypes.
It just saddens me that after so many years of attempts to break down stereotypical Asian American portrayals in the media, that something shows up to reinforce them.
And come on, when will the Asian finally be the jocks? The preps? We’re tired of being the nerds. Down with calculus club and parental demands! We’re ready for some STUDENT GOVERNMENT!
Jessica–
I wonder how racial stereotypes become stereotypes if they don’t generally reflect reality to some degree. In the case in question, is it not true that Asian students tend to work harder and do better than students of most other races and that the Asian student in the video reflects this fact? And I also wonder if you’d prefer that she be the underachieving athlete sitting in the back saying stupid things.
Actually, you probably would, and I probably would too if I were Asian.