I Am Not a Fetish or Model Minority: Redefining What it Means to Be API in the Entertainment Industry

Executive Summary

In the past two years, the United States has seen a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes,1 particularly surrounding COVID-19, which has had a disproportionate impact on the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities.2 At the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media,
we believe that it is imperative that we investigate our cultural messaging surrounding marginalized groups. Therefore, we examined the portrayal of Asian people and Pacific Islanders within the film industry – both on screen and behind the scenes. Authentic representation should be informed by the API people who contribute to its creation, and it is important to ask whether they feel heard and seen.

In order to assess inclusion and representation of Asians and Pacific Islanders in entertainment as well as their experiences in the industry, we conducted three complementary studies:

• First, we present an original analysis from a survey
  of respondents recruited by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) about their personal experiences, their perceptions of representation, and the industry as a whole. Individuals who took the survey currently work in or with the entertainment industry as talent, in agencies, or in public relations; over half of respondents indicated that they were in positions of creative power, such as writers, directors, and producers.
• Second, we carry out a content analysis of 100 films — the 10 top-grossing domestic films from each year between 2010-2019 — to identify the state of API inclusion in popular films.
• Third, we carry out a content analysis of every film (124) produced or distributed by one of the major conglomerate3 or mini-major4 studios and their subsidiaries and/or the major streaming services with API actors in the main title cast from 2017- 2020 in order to determine how API characters are portrayed in mainstream films when they are featured prominently.

This study is unique because it combines content analysis of on-screen representation of API characters in film and a survey of members of API communities in the entertainment industry about representation. Therefore, our study contributes to an ongoing dialogue about the state of API representation and inclusion by not only assessing whether members of these communities are portrayed on screen, but also the nature of that portrayal, and speaking directly to API creators and industry members about their experiences and ideas about representation.

Key Findings

Survey Analysis

• The majority of surveyed members of API communities in the entertainment industry recruited by CAPE believe that “representation” means “portraying a group of people in an authentic way on screen” (97.6%), but less than half (42.9%) believe that “Hollywood” shares this opinion. This enormous gap signals that members of API communities in the industry do not feel they are aligned on the meaning of representation with “Hollywood.”
• The majority of respondents recruited by CAPE do not have a positive view of the state
  of API representation; 93.3% agree that API representation on screen is inadequate, and 95.1% agree that API representation behind the scenes is inadequate.
• Eighty percent of CAPE respondents surveyed have experienced microaggressions (80.9%), blatant racism (55.6%), and tokenization (72.5%) in the workplace.
• Only 43.5% of CAPE respondents surveyed feel that their voice is valued.

Content Analysis

• Asian people make up about 7% of the US population5 and Pacific Islanders about 0.4%6, but together only 4.5% of leads or co-leads in the top 10 grossing domestic films from 2010-2019 are API characters; 5.6% of supporting characters are API.
• Seventeen percent of female API characters are verbally objectified and 13.0% are visually objectified in the top 10 grossing domestic films from 2010-2019. This is more common for API women than white women and other non-API women of color. Characters who are visually and verbally objectified are treated in ways that separate their appearance from their individuality and personal agency.
• Even in films that feature API characters in the main title cast, nearly three-fourths of API characters are in supportive roles.
• According to our analysis of films featuring API characters in the main title cast, about a third of API characters embody at least one common API trope or stereotype (35.2%), such as the “Martial Artist,” (Asian trope) the “Model Minority,” (Asian trope) or the “Exotic Woman.”
• According to our analysis of films featuring API characters in the main title cast, API characters are written as “smart” and “hard-working,” (Asian tropes) but less often “sexy” and “funny.”
• API ethnic identity is most central to characters who are East Asian (49.2%) and least central to characters who are Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders (12.2%).