Asian Identity and Orientalism in American Culture

The Melting Pot Myth and Asian Identity in America

America is supposedly the Melting Pot of the world, where people of many different ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds come together in peace to establish one united and equal society. As one of the most developed countries in the world, the United States is, to many individuals, a symbol of enlightenment and advancement in all areas of the arts, sciences, and every other aspect of life. The Melting Pot may indeed be an accurate metaphor for America, and the contents of that pot do originate from many nations and cultures. However, there are implications of that metaphor that may not be thoroughly analyzed by idealistic, patriotic American citizens.

Is a Melting Pot really that desirable a place to be contained? Consider, for a moment, the actual state of affairs within a melting pot on a hot stove — it is not a pretty picture. Like the many cheeses and spices that combine to make fondue when heated, there is an attempt by this pot to homogenize the contents of the nation into one desirable dish, yet to retain the claim of having a wide range of ingredients. Indeed, one can expect to find burned scum along the bottom and sides of a melting pot — remnants sacrificed due to their inability to flow properly with the rest of the contents. The ingredients that do integrate, rather than being cast aside or destroyed, share one fate: to be consumed into the lumpy mass by the other ingredients, and eaten alive by the omnipresent diner.

This analysis of the American way may seem a little over the top; however, the point remains quite valid. People from other countries who enter America face a number of heated problems when trying to become part of American culture, retain aspects of their own culture, and find a personal and cultural identity within these surroundings. Asians in America face a particular dilemma because there is a complex dichotomy to their cultural identity within Western culture. The Orient is perceived as exotic and mundane, intellectual and disadvantaged, chic and impoverished; Orientalism and the Asian identity within America are both idealized and degraded.

Media Representation and the Asian-American Stereotype

One of the signature goals of every downtrodden and underprivileged group of people within this country is to demand proportionately accurate representation — whether that be representation within the government, within the mass media, or within public perception. However, a proportional amount of representation does not necessarily mean equal representation. "It is crucial for all of us living in the industrialized West to obscure and willfully distort relations between East and West, between Asia and America. Our standard of living depends on it." (Shah) Americans want to believe that this is a land of endless opportunity and open understanding, and therefore many efforts are made to create an illusion that this is the truth.

In the case of Asians and their culture, there is a great deal of representation. Asians are popular in America not only in kung-fu type movies where a complete universe of Oriental inspiration is created, but also in Western-style projects that call for a little ethnic flair. Asians are represented in such American art forms as action movies, pornography, bestselling self-help books, children's cartoons, and the commercialized news media. Certainly, the appearance of more Asian characters in all forms of media is to be appreciated — particularly for the few Asians whose paychecks result from such productions, and for the many audience members who are entertained by them.

Take, for example, the 1994 sitcom All American Girl, which was groundbreaking in that it featured an all-Asian cast of characters. However, the show was riddled with stereotypes about the Asian-American: the lead girl always dating white boys, her mother being sternly opposed to that choice, and the brother being a quiet, dateless nerd. (Mura) In some ways, perhaps this is equal representation — most sitcoms are based on stereotypes and easy jokes. In many ways, though, this gives the impression of having accepted Asians into the American mainstream while simultaneously exploiting them and encouraging the rifts between ethnicities in this nation.

Another example is the film The Joy Luck Club. This movie was one of the most significant Chinese-American achievements within American culture: "It is a big-budget story about Chinese-American women, directed by a Chinese-American man, cowritten and coproduced by Chinese-American women. That's a lot to be thankful for." (Hagedorn) However, even this piece — which can be analyzed to a large degree as a fair, unprejudicial, and accurate portrait of Asian culture — still contains strong stereotypes and carries negative implications in its weepy emotional framing.

One can also observe in countless representations of the Asian and Asian-American that the American understanding of them is quite complex and contradictory. The Asian is portrayed as laughable and weak, but also intellectually superior. Studies cite statistics showing the superiority of the Asian intellect, from high test scores to masses of brilliant scientists of Asian origin. The Asian is expected to be surpassingly smart and academically accomplished, and for many Asians that expectation creates further prejudice. If an Asian student performs at the level of classmates but does not surpass them, he or she may be perceived as underachieving rather than among the top of the class. The intellect attributed to Asians leads the public to simultaneously expect them to save the world and to fear them as potential threats. It is difficult to assess whether no representation is preferable — as one recent study found, "Asian Pacific American and Native American children are virtually invisible on local news." (Gilliam)

Orientalism and the Commodification of Asian Culture

A further concern about Asian assimilation into America is what may be referred to as "Orientalism" or "Americanization" — the corruption of culture from the Orient as it is reshaped into something pleasing and marketable for the West. Asian clothing, food, art, and religion have all undergone this process, and the understanding that most Americans have regarding these cultures is skewed as a result. For example, the American understanding of Chinese food is inseparable from the fortune cookie, yet this was an American invention created to help ethnic foods sell in the United States — not a traditional Chinese treat.

Another example is Asian fashion being incorporated into American styles. "Pop singer Madonna donned dyed black hair, bindi, sari-like wraps, and mehndi after her first child... The Material One trying to mimic a traditional South Asian matriarch." (Shah) Asian culture is something to adopt when fashionable and to discard when it is not. Other examples include the recent trends of feng shui for interior design and the pursuit of Eastern serenity. The Americanized understanding of feng shui relies on easy-to-remember catchphrases and brief anecdotes about ancient beliefs. However, most of the principles taught by modern feng shui experts are completely removed from the longstanding sacred art of spatial arrangement, missing the point entirely. This nonetheless provides Americans an easy way to feel multicultural — and an even easier way to profit from the exploitation of a culture.

One trend-watcher described the phenomenon as "inflashion": "The result of the infatuation is Om cologne, popular books on feng shui, pillow shams modeled on Buddhist prayer mats, and a host of other Asian-esque consumer items... while Asian-inspired things may become fashionable or lucrative, actual Asian people are not." (Shah) Everyone wants to be Buddhist, but no one wants to actually learn about Buddhism or study the religion — and certainly no one wishes to engage with modern Asians. The admiration for the Asian is a twisting of the old and a rejection of the new.

The result of this Orientalism is the selling out of Asian culture — by Asians and anyone else — to Western culture in order to compete economically and meet consumer demands. Buddhists will serve Mongolian Beef Lunch Specials with a smile to American customers, handing over take-out containers directly beneath the nose of a mass-produced Buddha statue, despite the religious injunction against eating beef. Japanese and Korean immigrants will present themselves as being from China so that American fast-food consumers believe they are getting "authentic" Chinese food. Even Asian-Americans born in the United States, who speak fluent, unaccented English, will adopt a barely intelligible dialect when serving customers to reassure Americans that "real" Asians cooked their food. Devoted religious followers and atheists alike produce replicas of holy artifacts from the Orient to appeal to American consumers who find them fashionable.