Feeling Asian: Hollywood Asian celebrities’ influence on Southeast Asian youth’s pride of being Asians

This study explores how Asian celebrities in 21st century Hollywood films influence Southeast Asian youth’s pride in being Asians. The researchers analyzed the main Asian celebrities of five of these films, namely “Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle”, “Rush Hour 3”, “Shanghai Knights”, “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and found out that Priming still exist in Hollywood films through the continued stereotyping of Asians. The researchers then conducted online interviews of the youth to know their perceptions and assessment of the celebrities in the studied Hollywood films. Accordingly, they used Piaget’s Constructivism and Bandura’s Social Learning Process as their theoretical guide. Data revealed that Southeast Asian youth perceive these celebrities as Westernized and hence, they do not want to imitate them. In addition, they are critical of how the roles of these celebrities are still limiting the diversity of the Asian culture. However, they are impressed with the Asian celebrities’ success in Hollywood, and they see Hollywood as a venue for Asians to be known by the world. In this study, Cultural Globalization, or the imposition of Hollywood Asian stereotypes on Southeast Asian youth takes a backseat as their Asian values are more impressed in their minds. 

Mercado, M. & Solo, J. (2010). Feeling Asian: Hollywood Asian celebrities’ influence on Southeast Asian youth’s pride of being Asians. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.