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Question:
Why are there so few Asian men in the world of...
American pornography?
It's a funny, weird, and perhaps petty thing to mention
And truth be told, I don't *actually* care
But this observation is relevant
Because it reflects how the Western world sees Asian men
In particular, Hollywood thinks Asian men are just...
Not sexy
"Your choice, b*tches"
If I ask you to think of an Asian male character
Written with an abundance of sex appeal
Most of you would probably think of non-American films first
The same phenomenon doesn't apply to the same extent
For female Asian characters
Even back in the earliest days of Hollywood
But like...
We know there are hot Asian dudes!
There are right there!!
So does Hollywood just hate Asian men?
(Flash montage of recent Asian stars)
Okay, then
Today, let's take a stroll through history
And check out how the perception of Asian men changed
In the eyes of Hollywood
From Yellow Peril
All the way to Asian himbo
We aren't very classy today
So, hang on tight
This is the Asian sexy revolution
[The Sexualization of Asian Men in Hollywood]
[Chapter One]
The desexualization of Asian men began as a one-two combo
Of both racism and, interestingly...
Sexism
Believe it or not
Early American cinema actually depicts Asian men as seducers
And sexual deviants
Hishuru Tori from The Cheat, for example
Is a mysterious and charming Asian gentleman
And secretly, a sexual predator
In Shanghai Express
General Henry Chang is implied to be not only a predator
But, gasp!
A bisexual man!
The implication is that Asian men are sexually impure
They are animals
As critic Gary Hoppenstand identified
The perceived influence of oriental seducers
Represents a "spiritual damnation" for white women
Of course, when such damnation is presented
By an Asian woman to a white man
The man is still free to flirt with
And even save the woman from her own damnation
This is why Asian woman is a tag on adult websites
All of this would manifest into one of the many aspects of fear
In the notion of "Yellow Peril"
Cartoons would depict Asian men as sub-human
A danger to the sanctity of the white Western world
Which is, of course, represented by a white woman
And then America went to war with the Philipines
And then with Japan
And then China
And then Vietnam
Indonesia- you get the point
The fear of Asians persisted
And the caricatures grew more ingrained in people's mind
Until it becomes
The godd*mn anti-Christ!
(Satanic Montage)
Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany's
Is your quintessential Asian male stereotype
His foreign accent, bumbling demeanor
As well as his failure to understand social norms
Were and still are some of the most persistent negative stereotypes
To this day, whenever you see an Asian man in movies or on TVs
They are very likely to be nerds who can't talk to girls
And have zero sex appeal
Oh god, there are so many!
Stop! Cut to the commercial!
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[Chapter Two]
Between 1950s to 1980s
A few things happened that rocked Hollywood
First, the Civil Rights movement made American media
More aware of racial minorities
This was when Sidney Poitier became the first Black movie star
Meanwhile, Hong Kong was becoming an influential movie hub
Kung Fu cinema began to captivate America
And it is in this era of great change
We met the first and still the biggest Asian male sex icon
(Bruce Lee spreading his "wings")
It's the umpteenth time we talk about Bruce Lee
But that is just how influential he really was to Asian representation
The man stood in front of Chuck Norris
Who had the body of a Greek
God And Bruce Lee still looks good!
He singlehandedly shattered the notion
That Asian men are weak and sub-human
But here is the thing
It isn't just Bruce Lee the actor
His characters were also written with a degree of sex appeal
In the Way of the Dragon
He is lusted over
Enough for an Italian beauty to present herself
While in Enter the Dragon, an actual American production
The camera glamourizes his body
In ways not too dissimilar to James Bond
Arguably the movie archetype for sexy male characters
It's small
But compared to what came before (and even after)
It's a big step forward
Bruce Lee cast such a large shadow
From the 70s all the way to the late 90s
The only way for Asian men to be sexy in the eyes of Hollywood
Is to be...
Bruce Lee
Quite literally
(Brandon Lee: Son of Bruce Lee)
[Chapter Three]
In the 90s, the Hong Kong film industry created
Some of the most beloved male stars of all time
Many of them were and are seen as sex icons in Asia
Tony Leung
Leslie Cheung
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Andy Lau
Leon Lai
And they all have one other thing in common
They didn't make it to Hollywood
From Jackie Chan to Jet Li
From John Woo to Yuen Woo-ping
The only thing Hollywood wanted from Asian men
Was action
The funniest example is Chow Yun-fat
He was never known to be an action star in Asia
But he still had to be one in Hollywood
Except in Anna and the King
Nevertheless, Hong Kong action stars from this era
Continue to challenge the old and persistent perception
Of weak Asian men
And the result was... colorful
White
Asian
African-American
Jackie even married a Sioux woman
Their characters have love interests of all races and ethnicities
They seem like the hottest studs in the world
Yet, at the same time, like in Romeo Must Die
Jet Li, the cool-as-heck bad boy who broke out of jail
Still can't escape the trope of being a nerdy cab driver
Who can't speak to girls
Not to mention
Hollywood continues to be deathly allergic to interracial kisses
By this point, the desexualization of Asian male characters
Was more or less the default
Asian men are cool, funny, or even charming
But almost never sexy
Films seldom view them with sexual intent
Even when the opportunity presents itself
If you don't know what I mean by sexual intent
Here are some examples
(Fan service montage)
It's like...
You let Chris Tucker go topless
But not Jackie Chan?
Really?
[Chapter Four]
Thanks to the internet, a new generation of Americans
Became much more aware of the rest of the world
...
Look, I'm talking about K-pop stans
From the ancient days of H.O.T.
To the current dominance of BTS
The rise of "Korean Oppa" shaped the definition
Of sexy Asian men since the late 2000s
When there is an audience
There is a market
Suddenly, Asian-American stars with sex appeal
Is no longer in such dire short supply
And they are no longer limited to the genre of action
Meanwhile, beauty standard is also expanding
More people are willing to see the charm
Beyond narrowly defined physical features
Take a white actor as an example
Adam Driver is good looking
But probably not what most people consider to be sculpted
Nevertheless, he still has a lot of fangirls
Why?
Because he is talented
Talented men are sexy
This trend applies to Asian men, especially
With a greater vacuum
There are most spaces for actors and characters
No offense to Randall Park
But I don't think a comedian fits most people's definition of sexy
And at first glance, in Always Be My Maybe
Park plays yet another bumbling Asian nerd
But then 30 minutes into the movie
And he starts rapping
(It's a sick song, give it a listen)
He pops off and becomes such a charming man
He's pretty good at flirting
"Looking at the back seat?"
"Because we had sex back there?"
He is approachable, yet sexy!
He also punches Keanu Reeves
Watch this movie, it's great
This Hollywood definition of sexy Asian men is, of course
Not without its controversies
To some, the dominance of small eye Asian stars in Hollywood
Is perceived as a sort of orientalism
A beauty standard enforced by Hollywood executives
Which does not reflect "true Asian perception"
And, yeah, none of my Asian friends think Simu Liu is hot
But that controversy will have to wait for another video
The trend is still new
Just a few actors here and there is hardly a representative sample
We've only just begun fighting back
Against the desexualization of Asian men
If you have not found your ideal American Oppa
Call for it, fight for it, wait for it
[Conclusion]
In the fight against this stereotype
The Hollywood pendulum has swung all the way to the other end
Instead of having nerdy and unsexy Asian men
We now have hunk Asian men who are really dumb
Which, I have to say
Is kinda hilarious
All this talk about desexualization sounds kinda silly
And it may not be the most important thing in the world
But it's only really silly to us because...
We are so used to accepting this bias without challenging it
Being aware of small biases that disguised themself as "normal"
Allows us to realize just how often we take things at face value
That's why we should question things
To see things as they truly are
And then, make things better
Or in this case
Sexier