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LING WOO IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT The New Face of Asian American Stereotypes on Television

◆ Chyng Feng Sun

n contemporary mass media, representations of Asian Americans are still Irare. Although they comprise 3.6% of the U.S. population (Census 2000), only 0.8% of TV characters in the period 1991-1992 and 1.3% of TV char- acters in 1994-1997 were Asian Americans, and the majority of the roles were minor (Gerbner, 1998). According to Fall Colors 2000-2001, Asian Pacific American characters comprise 3% of the prime-time characters; however, if one focuses on primary recurring characters, the percentage drops to 2%. (Children Now, 2001, p. 15). Although the presentation of Asian American characters has increased in recent years, the underrepre- sentation and stereotyping of Asian Americans persists. One Asian American high school student stated, “[When you watch TV] you want to think I could do that. I could be there. That could be me in five or six years. But you don’t see anything of yourself” (Children Now, 2001, p. 21) It is against this historical backdrop of invisibility that Lucy Liu seized public attention and became the most visible Asian American female star

NOTE: The author wants to acknowledge Nancy Inouye’s crucial collaboration in research and Karen Cardozo’s and Nancy Rothschild’s editorial assistance.

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on TV with her role as Chinese American prohibited the entry of their families and lawyer Ling Woo on the hit show Ally Asian American women, fearing the perma- McBeal. Her presence also spreads out onto nent presence and growth of Asian the big screen, and her latest role as one of Americans (Espiritu, 2000). During the late the lead characters in Charlie’s Angels was 19th century, the economic recession a step up to her stardom. If we examine stirred up the Nativist movement against Lucy Liu’s representations in movies such Asian immigrants. Congress passed the as Payback and Charlie’s Angels, we can Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, and eventu- trace the origins of her characterization of ally in 1924 barred all Asians from Ling Woo. Ling Woo is strong, outspoken, immigrating to the United States (Mansfield- secure in her opinions, and open about her Richardson, 1996). sexuality. Unlike the more common fresh- This immigration history helps explain off-the-boat refugee Asian American char- why Asian American males are seen to this acter who speaks little or no English, Ling day as sexually deviant, paradoxically is an articulate, high-powered, and accul- either asexual or as a rape threat to white turated attorney. Very importantly, she women. In the pre-World War II era, Asian breaks the “China doll” stereotype of Asian American males were forced to establish American women as submissive, frail, and “bachelor societies” because of the unavail- quiet. Being an Asian beauty, Ling Woo ability of the women of their race. Anti-mis- also counters the blond-haired, blue-eyed cegenation laws prohibiting them from white beauty standard. (Not only do men marrying white women. Chinese were lust over her, but even Ally McBeal says posted as rape threats to the white woman that Ling has a “perfect, perfect” face.) As and considered to have an “undisciplined the most visible Asian American role on and dangerous libido”; for example, in TV, Ling Woo’s character raises the ques- 1912, Saskatchewan law prohibited white tion: Is she breaking the stereotypes or actu- women from being employed by Chinese- ally reinforcing them? To answer this owned business (Fung, 1996, p. 82). At the question, Elaine Kim has emphasized, “You same time, they were excluded from work- have to place Ling in the context of at least ing at higher paying jobs in the growing a 100-year history of sexualization of Asian metallurgical, chemical, and electrical women (Lee, 1999, para. 10). industries, and were confined instead to low-paid, dead-end jobs as laborers, or doing “women’s work” as laundrymen, ◆ Asian American cooks, and domestic servants (Ling, 1990, p. 145). “Controlled Images” Because media are important “ideologi- in the Media cal state apparatuses” that reinforce hege- mony (Althussur, 1971), the dissemination and perpetuation of the desexualized Asian Ideological constructs very often reflect American male stereotype obscure the his- material conditions, and therefore it is tory that prevented many Asian Americans important to understand the historical cir- from establishing conjugal families in pre- cumstances that led to the development of World War II United States (Espiritu, 2000, stereotypical perceptions. From the 1840s p. 91). Alfred Wang observed that between to the 1930s, a million men immigrated 1868 and 1952, “No other racial groups from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, have been subjected to worse legalized . . . and India to the United States and Hawaii sexual deprivation than the Chinese male to work as cheap laborers; U.S. immigra- immigrants (Wang, 1988, p. 18, quoted in tion law treated those workers as tempo- Espiritu, 2000, p. 19). In presenting Asian rary, disposable, and exploitable labor and American males as “eunuchs,” the media Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 658

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have helped render the social and cultural The hypersexualization of Asian oppression invisible. These emasculated American women stands in contrast to stereotypes are embodied by Charlie Chan this portrayal of Asian American men as and Fu Manchu, the most far-reaching asexual, but this stereotype also has its root symbols for almost a half century. in immigration practice. When Asian The detective character Charlie Chan, American men were not allowed to estab- developed by novelist Earl Derr Biggers in lish conjugal families, they sought sexual 1925 to 1932 and used in movies and tele- outlets in prostitution. It was estimated that vision as recently as 1981, is a yellow-faced in 1870, 61% of the 3,536 Chinese women “house nigger” (Xing, 1998, p. 61) who in California were prostitutes. In 1875, the walks with “the light dainty step of a Page Law prohibited the importation of woman” (Chin, Chan, Inada, & Wong, Chinese prostitutes, but all Chinese women 1974, p. xvi) and speaks in fortune-cookie nevertheless continued to be suspected of English (Cao & Novas, 1996). He repre- being prostitutes, and regardless of their sents “the helpless heathens to be saved by social status, were subject to harassment Anglo heroes or the loyal and lovable allies, (Cao & Novas, 1996, p. 29; Chan, 1991, sidekicks, and servants” (Kim, 1982, p. 4) p. 132; Espiritu, 2000, p. 18). and is “in essence an effeminate, wimpy, The hypersexualization of Asian women nerdy, inscrutable Asian male” (Cao & in popular culture was also reinforced by Novas, 1996, p. 60). U.S. military involvement in Asian in the In contrast to Charlie’s passivity, Dr. Fu 20th century when troops fought battles or Manchu is a cruel, cunning, diabolical rep- were stationed in Korea, the Philippines, resentative of the “yellow peril” (Xing, Taiwan, Japan, and the counties of 1998, p. 57) who threatens to destroy Southeast Asia. These soldiers “often devel- Western civilization. Although Fu Manchu oped strong perceptions of Asian women as is powerful, he still lacks “masculine hetero- prostitutes, bargirls and geishas”; these sexual prowess” and is an emasculated images are also prevalent in Asian war character movies of this period (Villapando, 1989, p. 324). Thus, Asian American male asexu- wearing a long dress, batting his eye- ality and Asian American female hyper- lashes, surrounded by muscular black sexuality serve to “confirm the white man’s servants in loin cloths, and with his habit virility and superiority” (Espiritu, 2000, of caressingly touching white men on the p. 13). leg, wrist, and face with his long finger- Although America’s popular culture is nails is not so much a threat as he is a generally male centered and male domi- frivolous offense to white manhood. nant, Asian American women are currently (Chin & Chan, 1972, p. 60, quoted in more visible than Asian American men, as Espiritu, 2000, p. 91) Feng (1993) stresses:

The emasculation of Asian American Novelist Amy Tan is more widely read males continues today in the form of than novelist Shawn Wong; comedian/ “nerdy Asian American adolescent math actor Margaret Cho got a shot at net- geniuses and brainy Asian American scien- work television series, while Russell tists who speak fortune-cookie English” Wong had to settle for starring in the (Cao & Novas, 1996, p. xvi.) Kung Fu syndicated Vanishing Son and Asian masters, mostly played by Chinese actors American women anchor local news but not Chinese Americans such as Jet Lee broadcasts across the country, while and Jackie Chan, can kick butt, but almost Asian American men occupy less visible never play romantic and loving roles. positions as field reporters. (p. 27) Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 659

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Though more visible, Asian American that the ‘pure’ but hopelessly fragile and female actors still play very narrow roles. childlike white woman will be ‘ruined’ by Tajima (1989) summarizes the Asian contact with the dark villain” (p. 8) and American female archetypes: mainly uses examples from movies in the early part of the 20th century to demon- There are two basic types: the Lotus strate her points, movies such as Cecil B. Blossom Baby (a.k.a. China Doll, Geisha DeMille’s The Cheat (1915), D. W. Griffith’s Girl, shy Polynesian beauty) and the Broken Blossoms (1919), and The Bitter Dragon Lady (Fu Manchu’s various Tea of General Yen (1933). In contempo- female relations, prostitutes, devious rary American popular culture, Xing madams). . . . Asian women in film are, (1998) observed that the yellow peril narra- for the most part, passive figures who tive may be less blatant but did not stop exist to serve men—as love interests for haunting the silver screen. He states that white men (Lotus Blossoms) or as part- TV programs such as Girls of the White ners in crime of men of their own kind Orchid (1985) (a made-for-television pro- (Dragon Ladies). (p. 309) gram about white slavery in Tokyo), or movies such as the Karate Kid series Lotus Blossom is “a sexual-romantic (1980s) all have the subplots of “threat of object”; characters of her vein are the rape” (p. 58). “utterly feminine, delicate and welcome On the other hand, the pairing of a white respites from their often loud, independent male and Oriental female is naturalized and American counterparts”(p. 309). Dragon has its colonialist root, manifested in the Lady is her opposite—cunning, manipula- “rescue” narrative. Ella Shohat (1997) tive and evil; Anna May Wong immortal- points out: ized that role in Thief of Baghdad (1924) where her character uses treachery to help Not only has the Western imaginary an evil Mongol prince attempt to win the metaphorically rendered the colonized Princess of Baghdad. Both Lotus Blossom land as a female to be saved from her and Dragon Lady are hypersexualized, but environmental disorder, it has also pro- the former is passive and subservient while jected rather more literal narratives of the latter is aggressive and “exudes exotic rescue, especially of Western and non- danger” (Chihara, 2000, p. 26). Western women—from African, Asian, Tajima (1989) also points out the two Arab, or Native American men. (p. 39) very different kinds of relationships that Asian American women characters in pop- Buescher and Ono (1996), in their cri- ular culture have with white men and with tique of Disney’s Pocahontas, state that “in men of their own race. She further suggests the name of saving women, colonialism that “noticeably lacking is the portrayal of presented itself as a necessary and benevo- love relationships between Asian women lent force” (p. 132). It is important to note and Asian men, particularly as lead charac- that the rescue is not only physical but also ters” (p. 312) On-screen romance between psychological. The World of Suzie Wong Asian American men and white women is (1960), The Year of Dragon (1985), Good even more scarce because it ruptures white Morning, Vietnam (1987), Karate Kid II male hegemony (Hamamoto, 1994, p. 39). (1986), and The Red Corner (1998) are just When sexuality is involved, an Asian some obvious examples. American male is more likely to be por- The West’s dominance is secured trayed as a “yellow peril” who presents a through narratives of romance and sexual- rape threat to white women, as is well ity that justify white men’s possession of the documented by Marchetti (1993). She bodies of the women of color (Marchetti, states that “rape narratives pose the danger 1993, p. 6). The romantic relationship Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 660

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between a white male and an Asian female won the best actress award (Leafe, 1998). is always unequal and demands her total Both critically and commercially acclaimed, devotion and submission, body and soul. this show even placed Flockhart’s face on a Madame Butterfly, the ultimate symbol of Time magazine cover as the poster child for Oriental femininity, was first written as a postfeminism with the title: “Is Feminism short story by John Luther Long in 1898. It Dead?” (Bellafante, 2000). The show is was adapted by Giacomo Puccini as an centered around Ally McBeal, a young opera, premiered in 1904 in Milan, and in female lawyer in a law firm where partners a very short time became popular and was are lovers with their associates and col- widely performed (Xing 1998, p. 59). It is a leagues discuss sex more than work. story about Pinkerton, a U.S. naval officer In its first season, this show drew stationed in Nagasaki, who had a love 12 million viewers, half of them men and affair with a local prostitute Cho-Cho-San. half women, and in 1998, the audience After Pinkerton goes back to United States, reached 14.8 million (Cooper, 1999). This devoted Cho-Cho-San gives birth to his son show is often described by critics as either and awaits his return. Betraying Cho-Cho- loved or hated by its viewers. Bellafante San’s love, Pinkerton gets married and sev- (1998) states that Ally McBeal represents eral years later, he comes back to Japan an “It’s all about me” type of feminism. “If with his American wife to claim his son, feminism of the ’60s and ’70s was steeped indifferent to Cho-Cho-San’s suffering. in research and obsessed with social Heartbroken, she commits suicide. Cho- change, feminism today is wed to the Cho-San is reincarnated again and again in culture of celebrity and self-obsession” the public imagination as a Japanese (para. 7). Shalit (1998) calls Ally McBeal a Takarazuka performer in Sayonara (1957), “do-me feminist” who is and a Vietnamese prostitute in Miss Saigon (1991). Wilkinson (1990) states: plucky, confident, upwardly mobile, and extremely horny. She is alert to the In recent centuries the rich tradition of wounds of race and class and gender, Oriental exoticism took a new form as but she knows that feminism is safe for colonial conquest and rule provided the women who love men and bubble baths opportunity in the form of readily avail- and kittenish outfits; that the right ideol- able girls, and encouraged Europeans ogy and the best sex are not mutually and Americans to think of the West as exclusive. She knows that she is as smart active and masculine and the East as pas- and as ambitious as a guy, but she’s sive and feminine. (p. 13) proud to be a girl and girlish. (para. 6)

Madame Butterfly symbolizes and justifies Shalit (1998) condemned the show as “a the Orient’s submission to the West’s patri- slap in the face of the real-life working girl, archal domination in that the creators nat- a weekly insult to the woman who wants uralized her inferiority, selfless dedication, sexual freedom and gender equality, who and ultimate self-sacrifice. can date and litigate in the same week with- out collapsing in a Vagisil heap” (p. 27). But Chambers (1998) thinks the show ◆ Ally McBeal has clearly struck a nerve with twenty- something women who feel both excited Launched in the fall of 1998, within and confused by the choices bestowed months, Ally McBeal won the Golden upon them by the feminist movement. Globe award for best comedy, and Calista They understand Ally’s big question: “If Flockhart, who plays the title character, I have it all, can I be happy?”. . . It Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 661

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captures the sense of anxious expectation and she is neither submissive nor selfless. that people feel in their 20s, when most However, she is suspiciously like a “dragon of life’s important decisions still lie lady” when she growls like an animal, ahead. (para. 3) breathing fire at Ally, walking into the office with the music of Wicked Witch of And Chambers’s interviewees seemed to the West in The Wizard of Oz. But what confirm her observations with comments really makes Ling Woo stand out is how the such as “Emotionally, I’ve been through a producer David Kelley has built an ultra lot of similar feelings to Ally,” and “This sexualized aura around her. In fact, Kelley isn’t exactly the way [putting long hours at created the character especially for Lucy the office] I saw my life playing out. If all Liu after she originally auditioned unsuc- this is being put off, then I want a great cessfully for the role of Nell (Mendoza, marriage. I want him to knock my socks 1999). When Ling was first introduced to off. I want him to blow me away.” Cooper the show, she was suing a Howard Stern- (1999) argues that the show constantly like disc jockey, Wick, because his pro- pokes fun of male chauvinism and asserts grams contributed to sexual harassment in female sexuality and freedom. (p. 3). her workplace. He said that the reason why Cooper draws from Laura Mulvey’s con- Ling brought suit was that she had a “slutty cept of the “male gaze” in film studies, little Asian thing going.” And Ling said, in which proposes that classic Hollywood a pretty twisted logic, that part of her films force the viewers to look at women wanted to sleep with him because if she did, characters from a masculine viewer’s per- she would kill him. spective, regardless of the real gender of the Ling also sexualizes and objectifies her- viewer, but applies Arbuthnot and Seneca’s self. In another show, Ling sued a nurse for reading of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to pretending to have breast implants, a trick Ally McBeal, stating that the characters that led to Ling’s sister’s plastic surgery. refuse to yield to the male gaze but become Ling recalled that the nurse “unveils. She’s active; they gaze back and expose the gazer full. Soft. Without a hint of a blemish. I (p. 7). Lewis (1998), a dedicated male fan, almost signed up and my breasts are fiercely defends the show and can’t under- beyond reproach.” Ling also has owned a stand why feminist critics were unable to mud-wrestling club as well as an escort differentiate comedies from reality and service marketed to underage boys. believes “people who are aghast . . . should Although almost all the women in the have their medication checked” (para. 4). show are sex-hungry, Ling still stands out Overall, the critics have been concerned for her kinky sexual preferences and tech- about the gender issues in the show, but niques. Her talk on sex is explicit and have largely overlooked its racial dimen- graphic (“What I really want out of a rela- sions. Lucy Liu’s character Ling Woo tionship at the end of the day . . . is a stands out among the mostly blond beau- penis.” Or she has a polyp in her throat ties, not only for her looks but also for the because her boyfriend “didn’t want her to way she evokes a longstanding symbolic scream.”) She used to tape hundred-dollar history of Orientalism in a new way. bills to her privates to “smell like money.” She asks her boyfriend, Richard Fish (played by Greg Germann, a white man), ◆ Ling Woo not to call her by her name but to call her “fruit” or anything related to food. She per- forms “hair jobs” (brushing her long hair Ling Woo is tough, rude, candid, aggressive, on his bare chest to arouse him), sucks his sharp-tongued, and manipulative. She cer- finger, and becomes a sex kitten when he tainly breaks the “China doll” stereotype, caresses her knee-pit. At the beginning of Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 662

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their relationship, she restrains herself from Ling’s character is controversial in Asian having sex with Richard and her reason is American communities. She is popular all the more tantalizing: once men have had among Asian American female college sex with her, they cannot have enough. students who cheer how that character Later, when their relationship has a prob- breaks the stereotypes of submissive and lem, the first thing she says is that she is fak- quiet Asian American females. Their opin- ing her orgasm. ions can be summed up by the author who In an episode aired on November 1, wrote “Lucy Liu . . . My Girl From Ally 1999, during the sweeps period when McBeal” in a college publication for Asian ratings are used to set local station’s adver- American students: tising rates, Ling kisses Ally. Although it seems to be producer David Kelley’s ratings- Strong Asian female role models are few boosting technique to use tantalizing lesbian and far between in the media today. kissing scenes (all the while affirming those Typically, Asian women are seen as kissers’ heterosexuality), Ling’s role is “fresh off the boat,” non-English speak- particularly seductive when compared to ing, small, naïve, sex objects, or in denial the other heterosexual situations. Ally once about their culture. . . . Ling is not the kissed her office assistant Elaine and soft spoken, passive, quiet Asian woman another time her co-worker Georgia, but that society has stereotyped us as. She is both times are out of unpleasant necessity: tough, aggressive, and worldly . . . she is getting rid of a man she is not interested in . . . a beautiful, sexy woman with a mind dating. But for her third lesbian-ish kiss, she that is both cunning and slick . . . she is is definitely seduced by Ling. Scott Seomin not the typical Asian “geisha” girl. Let from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against her be a model for us to be strong, smart, Defamation explained that the reason why sexy, and aggressive. (Tolenino, 1999, Ling was chosen to be the seducer was p. 16) because she is “the exotic, erotic experi- menter of the group” (Lee, 1999, para. 3). At the same time, Darrell Hamamoto, Consistent with a history of representa- whose Monitored Peril is so far the most tion that scarcely ever shows Asian men as comprehensive study of Asian American sexually desirable, Ling has romantic characters on TV, calls Ling “a neo- involvements with both white men (primar- Orientalist masturbatory fantasy figure” ily with the law firm partner Richard Fish) who is “concocted by a white man whose and a black man (a lawyer Jackson Duper, job it is to satisfy the blocked needs of played by Taye Diggs), but no “yellow” other white men who seek temporary man. One episode that had visible Asian escape from their banal and deadening American men in the show included a waiter lives by indulging themselves in a bit of in a Chinese restaurant (played by Alex visual cunnilingus while relaxing on the Shen) who barely spoke English, misunder- sofa” (Lee, 1999, para. 7). Helen Liu, a stood the order, and cooked Ling’s col- media consultant about Asian American league’s pet frog. Although frog leg is also a issues, states that people are drawn to Ling delicacy in French cuisine, Kelley may have not because she was central or powerful had his conscious or unconscious reasons to but because of her stereotypical qualities set the storyline in a Chinese restaurant (Chihara, 2000, p. 26). Although Ling is because it resonates with the common myth problematic, there is a common sentiment that Chinese “eat everything” including that “it is better than nothing”: as Chun their pet dogs and cats. Thus, Hollywood’s (2000) said in Asian Week, “It is pretty history of emasculating Asian American cool that there’s an all-American Asian men and hypersexualizing Asian American Angel—that would never have happened in women is alive and well in Ally McBeal. the 70s” (p. 31). Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 663

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These different and opposed readings of Children Now. (2001). Fall colors 2000-2001: Ling’s character demonstrate the polysemic Prime time diversity report. Oakland, CA. nature of the media text (Fiske, 1986) as Chin, F., Chan, J., Inada, L., & Wong S. (1974). well as how differing levels of knowledge Aiiieeeee!: An anthology of Asian American about the historic context of Asian writers. New York: Mentor. American representations affect the read- Cooper, B. (1999). Ally McBeal vs. Hollywood’s ing. It is also true that the message of the male gaze—Round One. National Conven- character “depends largely on what the tion of the Association of Educators in viewer brings to the sofa” (Zahra, 1999, Journalism and Mass Communication, p. 20) and that audiences do make resistive New Orleans, LA. or oppositional readings even if they are Chun, K. (2000, November 9). Charlie’s Angels dedicated fans (Jenkins, 1995). Research fly high: Lucy Liu gets her big-screen wings that can bridge an examination of Asian with action-hero chops. Asian Week, American representations with an analysis 22(11), 31. of how those representations actually affect Espiritu, Y. L. (2000). Asian American women both Asian Americans and other racial and men. New York: AltaMira. groups is urgently needed. Ethnographic Feng, P. (1993). Redefining Asian American interviews and small groups would be parti- masculinity: Steven Okazaki’s American cularly helpful in investigating the tension sons. Cineaste, 22(3), 27 (3). between media hegemony and the indivi- Fiske, J. (1986). Television: Polysemy and popu- dual viewer’s autonomy. We should also larity. Critical Studies in Mass Communi- examine how the media’s political economy cation, 3, 391-408. affects Asian American’s media representa- Fung, R. (1996). Looking for my penis: The tions and agitate for regulatory and system- eroticized Asian in gay video porn. In atic change. R. Leong (Ed.), Asian American sexualities: Dimensions of the gay and lesbian experi- ence. New York: Routledge. ◆ References Gerbner, G. (1998). Casting and fate in ’98. Fairness and diversity in television: An update and trends since the 1993 SAG Althusser, L. (1971). Ideology and ideological report (A Cultural Indicators Project report state apparatuses. In Lenin and philosophy to the Screen Actors Guild). Philadelphia: and other essays. London: New Left Books. Temple University. Bellafante, G. (1998, June 29). Feminism: It’s all Jenkins, H. (1995). Out of the closet and into about me! [Electronic version] Time, 151 the universe. In J. Tulloch & H. Jenkins, (25), p. 54 (7). Science fiction audiences (pp. 239-265). Buescher, D. T., & Ono, K. A. (1996). Civilized London and New York: Routledge. colonialism: Pocahontas as neocolonial Kim, E. H. (1982). Asian American literature: rhetoric. Women’s Studies in Communi- An introduction to the writings and their cation, 19(2), 229-249. social context. Philadelphia: Temple Cao, L., & Novas, H. (1996). Everything you University Press. need to know about Asian-American Leafe, A. S. (1998, August). Blurring the lines: history. New York: Plume. Postfeminism, sanity and Ally McBeal. Chambers, V. (1998, March 2). How would Paper presented at the annual meeting of Ally do it? Newsweek. the Association for Education in Journalism Chan, S. (1991). Asian Americans: An interpre- and Mass Communication, Baltimore. tive history. New York: Twayne. Lee, C. (1999). Ling Woo below: Admirably Chihara, M. (2000, February 25). Casting a cold “free” or “neo-Orientalist masturbatory eye on the rise of Asian starlets. The Boston fantasy figure”? [Electronic version]. Phoenix, p. 26 (3). Village Voice, 44(48), 65 (1). Dines63.qxd 7/26/02 12:41 PM Page 664

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