This video is sponsored by Squarespace 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! [Sponsorship] If you are a good-looking Asian man Do us a favor Use Squarespace Start a website Let the world know you exist You can use the link squarespace.com/accentedcinema To start your free trial And use the code ACCENTEDCINEMA To get 10% off your first purchase Seriously, though If you have anything you'd like to show Your band, your restaurant Your art, your acting career The most professional way is to show off with a website It looks so much better on your business card Having just one link to rule them all! 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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
