I’m not a Chinese American male, but I am an Asian American male, so I got excited when I first heard about Sleeping Dogs and I loved that the protagonist was a badass Asian male.
So this is what positive representation feels like, I thought. Too bad it’s so far and few in between for people like me in Western media.
Until we're treated as equals in Western media, I will continue to consume and financially support more Asian media than Western media.
iggy:
I think the same can be said for any minority, or group that's treated like a minority. I can't tell you how little I am impressed with the current onslaught of female characters in mainstream movies and television. White male characters can have nuance, but it seems that nuance and roundness of character is just not available to minorities or women. We have to serve our respective stereotypes, while white men can buck theirs.
tmk:
@iggy It's so tiring that in this day and age we have to fight tooth and fucking nail to break and challenge stereotypes because it's so easy for the (white) Western mass media to pigeonhole us into these stereotypes. I dream of a day when this is no longer necessary, though I'm not holding my breath this is going to happen anytime soon. It's like you said - if a character is a white male, he can have depth, character development, etc, whereas minority and female characters by and large aren't given the same opportunities.