ALL CHINESE PRACTICE KUNG-FU, RIGHT?

Back in 1973, once I saw Bruce Lee and the tsunami of kung fu films that quickly flooded our American shores, I thought, “Man, it seems everyone in China must know kung fu.” Asian kids at school were suddenly given the wide berth because, “You just never knew.”

Then when the martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon hit the U.S. in 2000, Asian film and Asian stars were hot commodities in the U.S. entertainment world. Taiwan-born director Ang Lee was named America's best director of 2001 by Time magazine, Hong Kong star Jackie Chan commanded $15 million per Hollywood picture and Crouching Tiger sent a charge through the Academy Awards.

Asian American Stereotypes and Films

In Wesley Yang’s May 8^th New York Magazine article “Paper Tigers”, he begins by asking “What happens to all the Asian American overachievers when the test taking ends?” Yang’s article discusses how Asian Americans are still saddled with stereotypes, but the difficulty of breaking down these stereotypes is how they are rooted in beliefs about educational success that is supposed to lead to overall success—the nerd, the good student, the model minority. His anger over these stereotypes comes out Yang’s frustration about Asian Americans’ career and/or life choices: when you are stuck with a stereotype of apparent success, what do you do?