Meghan Markle Has Weighed In On The “Toxic Stereotyping” Of Asian Women
Markle says women of Asian descent are often depicted on screen as "oversexualised" or "aggressive".
Meghan Markle has weighed in on the sexualisation of Asian women in films with the most recent episode of her podcast episode, Archetypes.
“Movies like Austin Powers and Kill Bill — they presented these caricatures of women of Asian descent as oversexualised or aggressive,” Markle noted, with reference to the characters who appear in Austin Powers in Goldmember and O-Ren Ishii portrayed by Lucy Liu in Kill Bill.
Markle also spoke about the long history of the stereotype; often referenced as the ‘Dragon Lady’ trope. She also referenced the stereotype’s long history, noting that characterisations of Asian women in Western films go back at least as far as 1924, she notes, when Chinese-American actor Anna May Wong starred as a scheming Mongol temptress in The Thief Of Bagdad.
Markle added that the stereotype extends beyond the edges of the celluloid: “This toxic stereotyping of women of Asian descent…this doesn’t just end once the credits roll”.
“Almost every movie or TV show with a minor Asian character further perpetuates stereotypes that serve to other us or objectify us,” writes Janet Fang in Scientific American.
“Sometimes it’s a quiet nerd, sometimes it’s a kicky action sidekick or a blade-wielding gangster fighting against a white saviour. But more often than not, Asian women are either voiceless or they are sexualised, or both — submissive but also man-eating dragon ladies possessing secrets of the Orient.”
“I can think of so many perfectly acceptable movies that were ruined by how the Asian female character was portrayed,” said Fang, pointing to the Asian teen who seduces the coach in Mean Girls; Chris Pratt’s nameless Asian exes in The Five-Year Engagement, and Die Hard‘s John McClane (Bruce Willis) use of the phrase “Asian hooker bitch”.
Sadly, the spectre of hypersexualisation and sexual racism had deadly consequences in the killing of Asian-American women in the US city of Atlanta in early 2021.
Listen to Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast here.
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