Source: Racebending.com, May 23, 2012
K-Town, the “Asian Jersey
Shore” reality show
Donny Tru wrote:
Hey guys! Not a Tumblr user but I keep up with this
blog as often as I can.
Just wanted to know your thoughts on the K-town
reality show. I saw their trailer: http://youtu.be/LqMh0IAJo20
My feelings are still mixed about it but I’m not
articulate enough to explain why exactly. I’m really happy for them coming out
with their own reality show especially since Angry Asian Man recently tweeted
that the Real World has never casted an Asian American male and don’t get me
started on the lack of Asian contestants on such shows as The Bachelor/ette.
But at the same time, it feels exploited, you know? Perhaps I’ll be wrong once
the episodes air this July. Anyhoo, would love to read an educated response to
the show and also see other readers’ response on it. Thanks, keep up the good
work!
I (Marissa) am not that familiar with K-Town but I
know that Mike (who also works on Racebending) has spoken a lot about it with
Michael Le, who is one of the producers of the reality series.
I think any time there are going to be depictions
of Asian Americans on TV it is totally legit to be nervous, especially after
seeing how crappy depictions can do so much damage to the community. There is
an entire generation of Asian Americans still reeling from the inaneness of
Long Duk Dong, for example. (The Asian American’s glorious contribution, as
dictated by white Hollywood, to the John Hughes movies everyone waxes so
nostalgic about. Yay?)
It’s also true that Asian Americans are not cast on
reality shows as often. People of color aren’t cast as often in general which
is why there is currently a lawsuit against the show The Bachelor pointing out
all 23 seasons were incredibly white. Things have gotten better for Asian
Americans on reality TV since Yul Kwon won “Survivor”. Several years back the
Media Action Network for Asian Americans and other groups in the Asian Pacific
American Media Coalition asked studios why they were not casting Asians. The
studios responded that Asians did not respond to casting calls. The APA groups
challenged them to target casting calls to Asian Americans (hence why Angry
Asian Man posts them sometimes) and since then they’ve been able to cast Asian
Americans if they want to (so there’s almost always Asian Americans on “The
Amazing Race”!) But it hasn’t been easy to get Asian Americans on screen, it is
something we have had to struggle for…as evidenced by the fact that “K-Town”
couldn’t get any networks to distribute the all-APA show and is distributing
episodes online instead.
What I find interesting about K-Town is that it
challenges not only depictions of nearly all-white reality shows but also
challenges depictions of Koreatown in and of itself. In a lot of other
television series, especially procedurals, there is always the “Chinatown”
episode where the intrepid white heroes go to an Asian ethnic enclave where
they run into the only Asians that entire season to troubleshoot some of the
Asians’ problems (triad related murders, arranged marriages, snakeheads,
prostitutes in sweatshops, honor killings, honor, honor, honor) with a handy
helping of Asian American actors forced to affect a heavy accent and scripted
to act like pathetic victims or inscrutable, unscrupulous business people.
Someone who bases his preconceived notions of Koreatown on that kind of media
would, by watching the series or hearing about it, learn that K-town is
something different…a diverse area of mid-town LA with a hopping night scene
and Asian Americans who can speaka English and are not victims or criminals.
I think all reality shows are exploitative to some
degree. The worry would be if “K-Town” is racially exploitative, but I think
that speaks more to the limited amount of roles available for Asian Americans
in entertainment media more than anything else. White actors are depicted in a
broad range of roles ranging from heroes to villains, so when reality shows
depict people who are white as say, reckless partygoers with interpersonal
drama, no one would ever say “ah, all white people must be like that” or worry
if there will be new stereotypes formed or repercussions on how white people
are perceived or treated. There are enough other different and nuanced
depictions of white people that it isn’t seen as a threat or something that
might have sweeping racial repercussions.
The same is not true for Asian Americans because we are not depicted in
a way that allows us to showcase our community’s full diversity. There are
restrictions imposed on by Hollywood as well as our community’s own—completely
understandable and considerable—anxiety over radical depictions of Asian
Americans. To me, the issue isn’t that K-Town might depict Asian Americans as
_____, ______, and ______ people, so much as that when contrasted against other
depictions of Asian Americans in media, it is clear that our full diversity is
no where near represented.
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