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Harry Potter and Cho Chang: Exotified Asian Women and Invisible Filipinos (4 of 4)
Do we look at the roles of girls (who dance Tahitian) inaccurately represented and stereotyped as “hula girls” in the films and cause an uproar in our community? Maybe in Hawaii. People can argue that the hula girl is good for Hawaii and its tourism. Everyone always likes a pretty face. Sex sells. Not to insult something so integral to Hawaiian culture, but when things are commoditized and influence the general public of the Asian American/Pacific Islander image, they're up for debate.
What are Filipino American stereotypes that we should watch for in the media if they are there at all? The savage, primitive brown islander from the Pacific? Or the exotic hula dancer? Most will just go along with the idea that the girl or woman is “pretty, beautiful, ugly,” and are either proud or angry that the person is representing them as that without necessarily looking at the facts.
The same frustration has been expressed by some Asian Americans who often criticized their representations in film in a long list of movies ranging from the old film “Drum Flower Song” to recent druggie comedy, “Harold and Kumar.” “Where are all the Filipino Americans?” I ask myself. Asian American “model minority meets Columbine” MTV film and Sundance Film Festival winner, “Better Luck Tomorrow” was co-written by a FilAm that had the leading role as a FilAm, but was cast as a Chinese American. The target audience was Asian American, and not distinctly Filipino American, much unlike “The Debut.” If we are the second largest among the Asian American population, where are we in the media? Yes, the Philippines has a smaller population compared to China. The exotification of Chinese and Japanese culture in films with martial arts does not go unnoticed. But it is very rare to see Filipino Americans on screen, if at all, in positive roles. Are we only represented by the modern depictions of the buck-toothed-tone-deaf William Hung? Are we the geisha girls like Lucy Liu? Are we the distorted image of Disney's “Mulan?” Aren't we something more?
If it is easy to cast Cho Chang as an East Asian stereotype, then what image or depiction is subject to label a Filipino stereotype?
Will Cho Chang be portrayed stereotypically in the film as in the book? And if she is a negative image, what does this do for Asian Americans or Filipino Americans in the media? It worsens the likelihood of success for us when people only want to see us as a stereotype.
Erin Pangilinan is a writer for Philippine News, A-Zine, Bamboo Girl, and Maganda Magazine. Her current novel-in-progress seeks to express socioeconomic values influencing cultural and political identity in the gap between Asian/Pacific Islander or Filipino immigrants and 2nd generation Asian/Pacific Islander or Filipino Americans. Once her people's stories are told through APIA/FilAm literature and film from a FilipinA-American perspective, (mixing her influences of Spike Lee and Amy Tan), she can rest.
