For this post I am choosing to focus on First Generation Korean-American Women. The first video is from the office when the group buys a used van that used to be used by a Korean Christian Church. The story that this tells is of the very conservative christian values that are permeated throughout western media. The second picture paints the picture of Mrs. Kim, the very conservative christian mom of Lane Kim in the show Gilmore Girls. Both these images show of how the media views Koreans as people who don't understand new western values and are very stuck in the "old fashioned" ways of viewing things.
This is a very stereotypical view on Korean-American woman and does not accurately paint the picture of how they truly are. Clearly not all Korean-American Women are like Mrs. Kim or the Koreans represented in the office. Showing Korean women like this on these extremely popular shows presents a danger of increasing the stereotype because there are not many first generation Koreans spread out throughout the United States to help break that stereotype.
Personally I have had the opportunity to live close to many first generation Koreans in Southern California and I know that some can be like the ones presented in these two tv shows but the bulk of them are not like Mrs. Kim. They are a kind a welcoming people and all my interactions with them have been very positive. I wish Koreans would play a bigger role in American media with more accurate depictions of who they really are. This can make a big difference on how Koreans are viewed in the United States.
I really liked your analysis! I didn't realize that Korean-American women were sometimes viewed this way.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you because I am also Korean. I didn't know those shows were portraying Koreans this way. As a Korean, I feel disappointed and worried that Americans will judge us because of the way media depict Koreans. Thanks for writing about this Adam!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love Gilmore Girls... like so much, but the way they portray Mrs. Kim as well as her daughter is very single-minded. It disappoints me that there are so few depictions of so many different groups (including Korean women) that people only hear one story. I would really love to see different cultures represented more in the media.
ReplyDeleteGreat insights! I've never thought of many of these before, so I like the new points of view. Being a first generation citizen must make it difficult because of the meshing of cultures, but I agree that the media needs to take caution to avoid blatant stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteI love The Office! It was a good video choice! But I never saw this stereotype before. I don't know a whole lot about Korean women, but I never thought that they acted this way. I'm glad you opened my eyes before a stereotype did. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI like how this was personally relevant to you. It would have been cool to see some news articles or something that supports your story.
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