Model Minority Myth And Gender Stereotyping

Through this video project, my group aimed to address the overarching theme of orientalism, mainly shown through the model minority myth and gender stereotyping. In this, we wanted to show a different take on how these orientalist views can play out in the life of an Asian-American. Said explained in that orientalism makes a distinction between “the West and the Orient” by defining both sides in a problematic binary. Said calls the distinctions “dogmas” in which people form the west take on the “obligation” of defining characters of people from the east (Said). We wanted to problematize the main notion that Asian-American women are passive and docile, while also including a criticism on the fact the many Asian-American men from the ghetto are

The purpose of this format was show a different take on the orientalist ideas of the model minority and gender stereotypes. Firstly, the fact that an Asian-American female is the murder shows that not all women are passive and docile, and that race and gender do not determine whether a person is capable of committing murder – or any crime for that matter. This was not meant to be a generalized video, but a specific case where this person was wicked and just so happened to be Asian-American. She was not wicked because she was Asian-American, but she was also not docile because she was an Asian-American female. The point of this video was that these orientalist ideas can blind people to the truth, even when it is right in front of

Mainly this happens when Asian-Americans do not live up to the standards set by the model minority myth. For example, Chia Y. Vang explains that Hmong youth do not often fit into the model minority and, consequently, become “part of the “Other Asian… seen as failed and unlikely Asian-American subjects” merely because they were not high achieving (Vang). This statement alone seems enough to problematize the idea that Asian-Americans must fit into a certain mold to be consider a proper “subject,” whatever that is. Because of this, many Asian-Americans cannot live up to the expectations set for them, and become negatively affected, but this is not always the case. In this video, we show that model minority and gender stereotypes can sometimes affect someone in a somewhat positive way. When people are blinded by the ideals of the model minority myth, it can become easier for an Asian-American to be considered better than they are simply because of their race. For Hana, this means that she could have gotten away with triple homicide, because the investigator could not see past his own prejudices. The only reason that Hana is discovered to be the killer is because of the second investigator, who does not allow orientalist values to cloud her vision. Here, it is not the orientalist views that make anyone question Hana, but the ability of one of the investigators to look past