Construction of Asian American Women Through the Careers of Lucy Liu and Kelly Hu

Vivian HoaCMC 200

May 6, 2013

Big Five

Topic: construction of Asian American women on television and film

Focus: careers of Asian American actress Lucy Liu and Kelly Hu

Methods: content & discourse analysis

Target of Analysis: 11 films and TV shows from Lucy Liu and Kelly Hu (each)

Goals: find if Asian American actresses can progress out of stereotypical roles

Discourse Analysis

LUCY LIU “the gender-blind and

color-blind casting of the Watson role adds another new element to the chemistry” - Elementary

“mean and selfish career woman who is ready to do anything in order to [succeed]” – Alley McBeal

“a collection of racial stereotypes” - Payback

KELLY HU “Kelly Hu is beautiful

but can't act” – The Tournament

“weird accent” – The Tournament

“arguably one of the planet earths [sic] best looking people” – Shanghai Kiss

“talented moves” – Martial Law

Discussion

Race is a continuing factor on screen & in the careers of both actresses Interwoven in script as character

background Reviews barely comment on

stereotypical roles or Asian markers in film or TV show

Future research should expand the number of actresses while looking into different mediums (cartoons, anime, video games, etc.)