A new study has found that on-screen Asian American characters are more likely to be laughed at than laughed with.
Titled “I Am Not a Fetish or Model Minority”, the study was held by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which partnered with Gold House and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.
Researchers analyzed AAPI characters in each of the 10 highest grossing films from 2010 to 2019 and films with any AAPI in the main cast in films on streaming platforms between 2017 and 2020.
Many of the films portrayed the model minority, forever foreigner, nerd, exotic and dragon ladies stereotypes.
The study also found that many AAPI characters were depicted in stereotypical jobs such as tech and store owners.
23.45% of AAPI characters were actually funny and 43.4% were characters designed to make the audience laugh at, making them the punchline.
Only 29.2% were seen as cool and 29.2% displayed leadership traits. 21.6% of Asian main characters were regarded as sexy.
In other film news, Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau refused to take on Hollywood roles that degraded Chinese people.
