Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling America is clearly a melting pot, not a melting screen. Founded on ideals of freedom, in the United States there are dreams to be chased—equal opportunities and upward social mobility offer a lot of promise. But for some races, the “equal opportunities” they receive turn out to be less equal than that of other groups. Almost invisible in mainstream media, many Asians in America find themselves struggling to enter an industry heavily unreceptive toward their race. In a country with arguably the most diverse collection of differing ethnicities, races, cultures, and religions, the American entertainment industry is almost sterile in its representation of this wide variety. A study done by USC in 2013 revealed that…show more content… In Glass Ceilings and Asian Americans, racial studies professor Deborah Woo notes that Asian-Americans are “discriminated against in positions where public exposure is concerned” (21). She argues that this is due to a public that has internalized the stereotypes of the quiet, unsociable Asian, and today’s underrepresentation of Asians in the media is an evolution of that idea. Similarly, in Race in Mass Media, race theorist Joanna Schug reinforces the power of subjectivity on reality, pointing out that “certain racial and ethnic groups in their entirety are viewed as being prototypically more masculine or feminine” (2). She wields this idea as reasoning for why there is stronger representation of Asian females in the media than there are Asian males. These internalized stereotypes place more and more shackles on what an “acceptable” Asian in the entertainment industry should look like. Echoing these sentiments, Tojo Thatchenkery, a researcher at George Mason University, agrees in Making the Invisible Visible that Asians are restricted by age-old stereotypical views and an ethnocentric mindset of masculinity and femininity. He asserts that “To reclaim social visibility, Asians must assert themselves as capable individuals in the workforce, yet attempting to do so is a troubled task in an industry so assured of the meek Asian” (14). However, American sociologist Victor Nee disagrees in “Why Asian Americans are Becoming Mainstream”, noting that Asian representation in the media has “reached a peak that only seems to grow” (7). He argues that as the second fastest growing minority in the United States, more and more exposure to Asians are helping to break down stereotypes that have plagued the race since America’s inception. Nee asserts the importance of not looking at Asian
