The Asian population has spent decades with little recognition in the media outside of stereotypes, but recent films like "Everything Everywhere All At Once" are changing that. The film grossed $107.5 million worldwide and has been both a critical and commercial success. Graphic by Faith Zhao
By Zoie Carlile
In elementary school, kids would yank at the corners of their eyes and laugh at me. As I stared at them, already used to hearing the same unoriginal remarks, I was always confused as to how they learned racism before they learned their multiplication tables.
Growing up, I never really saw Asian protagonists in films or TV. If there were, they were super smart, great at math or had really no depth at all.
But now, I’ve finally seen a change.
Watching a movie about an all-consuming everything bagel and endless multiverses was the first time I was able to see every part of myself represented on the big screen. This experience was granted to me through Everything Everywhere All at Once, the critically-acclaimed sci-fi movie that has been nominated for eleven Oscars.
The movie centers around the Wangs, a Chinese American family who own a laundromat. This seemingly simple start ends in a beautiful mess as the characters face both the complexity of the multiverse as well as the complexities of themselves.
What made this movie stand out to me was the accuracy with which it displayed the dynamics of a Chinese family, as well as the individual emotions of each character.
Even more importantly, the characters weren’t stereotypically nerdy, hypersexualised or emasculated. They just existed as genuine, relatable human beings.
When I watched the movie, I didn’t see the racist jokes I’m all too familiar with. I simply saw the Wangs: a family full of well written characters with complex emotions and vastly different motivations.
I cannot stress how this kind of representation matters to me and countless others.
One of the most important characters of the film to me was Joy, the daughter of the family. She represents a huge step in representation being a queer, Asian young adult who represents so many of the fears, thoughts and experiences that our generation shares.
Overall, every aspect of Everything Everywhere All At Once is a shockingly well-rounded example of the kind of representation we should be striving for in the film industry.
Yet, with this spectacular movie in mind, it's still important to acknowledge how long it took to get to where we are today.
The history of Asian representation in the media has been a complex and rocky one, filled with racism and exclusion.
In the beginning, large amounts of yellowface and caricatured portrayals were common in Hollywood. Dating back to the early 1900s, this practice was seen throughout famous films such as Madam Butterfly, The Mask of Fu Manchu and Dragon Seed.
The most notable example of yellowface in film can be seen in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s in which viewers are introduced to Mr. Yunioshi. This character is played by Mickey Rooney, a white actor, who is portrayed as a loud, obnoxious buck-toothed man with a thick Asian accent.
These portrayals are disturbing beyond comparison.
Even worse, they remind me of how many people in American society, including the kids who ridiculed me in elementary school, see Asian people as alien or untrustworthy.
In addition to these blatantly racist depictions, hyper specific stereotypes have been the foundation of many roles for Asian women in American media. “Temptresses,” “exotic,” “submissive” and even the notorious “dragon lady” are all common traits which manifest themselves in female Asian characters. The list goes on as there have been so many movies where Asian women are reduced to a joke or sexual object.
Actor Ke Huy Quan plays the role of Waymond, the husband of the Wang family in Everything Everywhere All At Once, and has won a Golden Golden for his incredible performance and is nominated for his first Oscar. His story illustrates how Hollywood did move past blatant racism, but didn’t reach an ideal state for Asian Americans.
Quan became known for his roles as a child actor in huge films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. After a short run of success, he left the industry.
In Quan’s own words, he had to say goodbye to the dream he always wanted and step away from acting due to the scarcity of roles for Asian actors.
Although the media has largely facilitated racist portrayals and a deficit of good representation for Asians, I strongly believe that we have made an immense amount of progress.
For groups who haven’t been ridiculed and demonized in the media, it's hard to understand how important accurate representation is for marginalized groups. But the experience truly allows you to feel understood and seen.
I noticed that many people who watched Everything Everywhere All at Once claim they couldn’t understand the movie, completely failing to see the complex cultural context interwoven into the film.
This lack of understanding, coupled with lingering racism is exactly why we need consistent well written representation.
From my point of view, there are a few specific things I hope to see more of in the coming years.
For starters, I’ve noticed that “Asian” roles often lump together every Asian group to be represented through the big three: Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Aside from the big three, a vast amount of Southeast Asian, South Asian and North Asian culture hasn’t gained much recognition in the media.
Films, TV and the entertainment industry as a whole needs to stop lumping together a diverse continent into two or three small categories, instead allowing every Asian group to be able to connect to characters who represent their culture and experiences.
Another necessary addition is more queer Asian representation. Although LGBT+ representation has improved in recent years, in many cases, we completely lack any representation for non-white queer characters. If there are any examples, the POC characters are often side characters or simply lack any depth that could define them.
These are just a few examples of things that could be done to greatly improve the state of Asian representation in media and can be applied to tons of other groups who still haven’t had their stories told through the artforms of film or TV.
Although it’s been a long and rough road to get to where we are today, I hold an immense amount of hope and excitement.
If the directors of Everything Everywhere All at Once are able to create such an incredible experience and display of representation for the whole world to see, then I have no doubt it will continue to be done in the future.
At the Oscars this March, I hope the academy will recognize the importance of this kind of representation and the film that changed my life will sweep the awards.