To the Future and Beyond

Consider K-Town, an Asian Jersey Shore-esque reality TV show on Youtube depicting Asians partying through the summer in Los Angeles's Koreatown.

Asians being loud, partying, and not studying? I think the brains of many ignorant people have just exploded.

The Asians of K-Town are surprisingly what most people would think of when they conjure an image of the typical misbehaving, crazy young adult. K-Town's colorful cast party and get drunk. There is "booze, girl-on-girl tonguing, body-shots and booty-wiggle, and drunk hair-pulling and cat fights" (Saria). As Saria states, "It's like every other reality show out there, except Asians are doing it."

The behavior of the cast of K-Town is in direct contrast with the typical one-dimensional stereotypes of Asian Americans and the idea of Asians as the "model minority," or a minority that is doing well in terms of education level, income, family stability, and crime rate. In the United States, the term "model minority" has become synonymous with Asian Americans. Overall, the success of Asian Americans have led to Asians being associated with only "good" personality traits, like being hard-working, family-oriented, and patient.

A chart showing that Asians have the "highest college degree attainment rate, rates of having an advanced degree (professional or Ph.D.), median family income, being in the labor force, rate of working in a "high skill" occupation (executive, professional, technical, or upper management), and median Socioeconomic Index (SEI) score that measures occupational prestige" (Le).

The executive producer of K-Town, Mike Le, states that, “Asians have always been viewed through the media as either exaggerated stereotypes or the one-dimensional model minority. K-Town is a celebration of what it’s like to be a young Asian in American today" (Okwuosa & Crouch). Le welcomes the fact that K-Town depicts Asians "behaving badly" as it goes against the "good stereotype" that Asians have. Le believes that this "good stereotype" is what leads to the stereotypical depictions of Asians in the media:

“'There’s a belief within the Asian American community that there’s a good stereotype,' Le says. 'I’m of the philosophy that there is no good stereotype. So Asians embrace this good stereotype—that we’re smart, that we’re hardworking, that we’re studious. Because we embrace that, it’s being applied directly through mass media. And that’s why we see in mass media a one-dimensional type of Asian American.'” (Saria)

While the image of Asians in K-Town might not be that of a positive or "good" one, it is one step towards depicting Asians as individuals rather than pigeonholing them into one-dimensional, uninteresting stereotypes. K-Town shows that Asians are not all soulless workaholics - that they are actually normal, unique, interesting people who know how to have fun too. If more series had different representations of Asians, perhaps one day we will be able to transcend beyond the model minority, dragon lady, lotus blossom, submissive, geeky, etc. stereotypes and be able to represent Asian Americans as well-rounded individuals.

References:

Le, C.N. 2012. "The Model Minority Image" Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. <http://www.asian-nation.org/model-minority.shtml>.

Okwuosa, F., & Angie, C. (2012, July 10). Asian-american reality show seeks to shake "model minority" stereotype. NBC Southern California. Retrieved from http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/K-Town-An-Asian-American-reality-TV-Show-is-Slated-For-YouTube-161866135.html

Saria, O. (2012, August 24). August issue: Behind the scenes of the ‘k-town’ reality show . Retrieved from http://iamkoream.com/august-issue-behind-the-scenes-of-the-k-town-reality-show/