Where are all the Asian Bennifers?
No Responses | Leave a Comment »
Tom and Katie, Brad and Angelina, Jen and Ben, Nick and Jessica, Britney and that guy. While standing in the supermarket checkout line, I can’t help but notice all the trashy celebrity gossip magazines. US Weekly, People, Star and In Touch all scream the latest headlines from Hollywood and the red carpets around the world, and alongside are photos of the same celebrity couples week in and week out, month after month, over and over again. These stars cover so many magazines, so often, that we the public is privy to nearly every nuance of their personal lives. We’re so immersed and transfixed by the celebrity pictures and captions that we ask ourselves, “How long will they last?” “Who cheated on whom?” “Is she really pregnant?” But the first question in my head is, “Where are the Asian American celebrity couples?” Just once I’d like to see a glamorous wedding photo of Asian American celebrities on the cover of People. Or even a scandalous tidbit on the front of The Inquirer; give me something!! Unfortunately the answer to my question is not a simple one, and I’ve produced several reasons as to why Asian American faces are not staring at me from the magazine rack.
1. Lack of Asian American celebrities. First and foremost, there is a miniscule number of Asians in popular culture and the entertainment business. According to a recent media study, Asian Americans, who make up 5% of the U.S. population, portray just 2.7% of regular characters on prime-time network television. There are probably even fewer in the mainstream music industry. Thus the paparazzi have few chances to glimpse Asian American celebrities in public … or in general for that matter. There aren’t many opportunities to spy them at the mall, vacationing at the beach or eating McDonald’s. The sheer (or mere) number of Asian Americans in the media is reason enough for their lack of tabloid representation.
While there is no one way to immediately overcome this dearth, a solution is to widen the celebrity pool. After all, there are famous Asian Americans athletes, businessmen and -women and other people of notoriety. If Michael Chang had dated Michelle Kwan, they would’ve be a formidable power couple. Or if Lisa Ling was married to Jerry Yang, they’d be intriguing, too. But these celebrities aren’t the ones that appear every night on MTV, Entertainment Tonight or the E! Channel, and therefore aren’t likely to grace these tabloid covers. Unfortunately, there are few Asian Americans stars that shine in Hollywood.
2. Lack of Asian American male celebrities. Asian American power couples need Asian American men, and sadly, Asian American male celebrities are exponentially scarce. While Margaret Cho, Kristi Yamaguchi and Connie Chung are household names, there are few Asian American men that are of the same recognition by the American public. Being the most underrepresented demographic in American media, and the least likely to have careers in the entertainment industry doesn’t help create Asian American power couples in the media. Yes, there are Ichiro, Yao and Jet Li, but they are not Americans, rather established foreign stars who have spread their fame to the U.S. Unfortunately that isn’t the same.
3. Privacy. Asians in general are fairly private people. They aren’t unnecessarily eager to draw too much attention to themselves or their love lives. For the most part they don’t air out the laundry of their relationships, dirty or clean. They are raised not to bring dishonor or disrespect to their families. Why put themselves and their loved ones in a position to be overanalyzed, scrutinized and criticized by the media? That’s not to say they completely duck publicity; but they do hold a greater amount of respect for their personal lives. You don’t see Lucy Liu snuggled up all over the tabloids with her man; but her fellow Charlie’s Angels, Demi Moore and Cameron Diaz, both always seem to be spotted with their respective boy toys. Who is Lucy Liu dating anyway? See?
4. Asian Americans aren’t as scandalous (yet, anyway). It seems like 90% of all the celebrity couples on these tabloid covers are just downright shady. You got love triangles, cheating, divorces. Failed engagements, unsober marriages, break ups. Baby rumors, drug rumors, weight loss rumors. The media couldn’t make up the stories that non-Asian celebrities write for themselves. Like a 23-year old pop singer’s marriage - months after a previous drunken Vegas wedding, mind you - to her back-up dancer, who himself left his girlfriend and their two out-of-wedlock babies.
I guess Asian Americans have their work cut out if I am to see them on entertainment magazine covers. They have to be involved in more ignominious affairs or leave their significant others more often. And if that is indeed the case - where celebrities relish in the limelight of scandal, public scrutiny and judgment - then I don’t really need to see an Asian American couple on the front pages of tabloids. I don’t want to see or read about them at their worst times. It’s almost a disgrace to be on the covers of those magazines. I want to be proud to see an Asian American couple, not completely and utterly ashamed.
Asian Americans should strive for the root word of celebrity: someone who is celebrated for what they have accomplished and how admirably they carry themselves. If I were to pick up US Weekly and see an Asian American celebrity couple, I would hope it would be under the condition that they did something good. Until then, I’ll wait in line and gasp in judgment at the recent escapades of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Can you believe those two? I can’t get enough of this stuff.
Leave a Comment »
Share
Entries (RSS)
