Negotiating the Boundaries of (In)Visibility: Asian American Men and Asian/American Masculinity on Screen by Helen Kar-Yee Ho A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Communication) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Susan J. Douglas, Co-Chair Associate Professor Robin Renee Means Coleman, Co-Chair Assistant Professor Aswin Punathambekar Professor Alford A. Young, Jr. © Helen Kar-Yee Ho ———— 2011 To Mom, Dad, Liz, and Mark ii Acknowledgements A project so long in the making makes it difficult to know where to begin in thanking the many who have provided me with support and love along the way. It has been accompanied by the ups and downs of any major, multi-year project: the highs of discovering a new idea, the lows of struggling to articulate a new idea, and everything in between. I have filled the many roles of graduate student, teacher, staff assistant, research assistant, researcher and writer at the University of Michigan, and this frenetic and exhausting life would have been made unspeakably difficult if it were not for the many friends and their iterations of support along the way. The most profound, heartfelt thanks go to my dissertation committee, without whom this work would never have been designed, conducted, and completed in the way it was. Their doors were always open to me as a colleague and fellow researcher, and for that I am ever grateful. Robin Means Coleman provided continual support, tough love and structured guidance, helping me learn to grow into my skin as a scholar. Her mentorship showed the value in conducting interdisciplinary research, but more importantly can empower its own participants. Susan Douglas was an invaluable source of encouragement and practical guidance, and her hawk-like eyes helped to edit various versions of my writing. Without Aswin Punathambekar, the major theoretical ideas of this project would not have come into place. His confidence in my work provided me with my own iii motivation to continue and complete the project. Alford Young, Jr., has always made me feel appreciated and supported along the way. With his ability to push students for more while instilling confidence and inspiration, Alford provides a model for mentorship and scholarship that I can only hope to mirror in the future. I particularly thank the many writing partners who have taken part in the elations, venting, strategizing and critiquing that help us succeed as Ph.D. students. As writing partners at various stages, I thank: Deb Melican, Lauren Guggenheim, Rossie Hutchinson, Katie Will, Jeannie Lipson, Emma Garrett, Joanne Hsu. Chung-Hao Ku, Sara Jackson, Alex Olson and Aleksander Bošković helped me see the value of interdisciplinary conversations and the unique bonds that can form from structured gatherings. Most importantly, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Brad Jones, who provided countless hours of reading, helpful critique, and joint theorizing. I feel that some of the ideas in this project are as much his as they are mine. I am proud to count all of these wonderful people as my colleagues. I also want to thank those who have supported me throughout graduate school, beyond my scholarly activities. These important people have provided me with endless guidance in life, love, and seeing the bigger picture. They include (in no particular order): Fernando Velasquez, Jonathan DeVore, Juan Espindola Mata, Dan Shoup, Brian Librot, Ryan Walsh, and Jeremy Hunsucker, Emily Chivers Yochim, and Megan Biddinger. Shanna Kirschner, Marta Murray-Close, Carolina de Miguel, Jane Larson and their respective partners have also provided me with invaluable career and school advice, and we have shared too many delicious meals, glasses of wine, shoulders to cry on, and peals of laughter to count. I also want to thank Ed Renollet for the countless cups of coffee at iv Ambrosia, for my ―home away from home‖ during my writing. I also thank GEO for providing me with life experiences and I will never forget; this indomitable organization reminds us all fight for the voices of those who are told they are too insignificant to speak. There are still others who have made me who I am today, and my work what it is. Dara Greenwood was an invaluable mentor, sharing advice and life stories to help me make sense of academia and its demands. I am also indelibly shaped by my undergraduate advisor, Jim Schwoch, who shared afternoons with me in his converted office on Sheridan Road discussing the potential paths after college and how to harness my love of teaching and research. Jim helped me better understand the growing field of Communication Studies and introduced me to the notion of graduate school; he also helped me decide to come to Michigan. I could not have covered the many texts in this project without the tangible resources that make research possible. I am truly grateful for the financial support given to me by the generosity of the Department of Communication Studies and the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan. The Communication Studies administrative staff, in its various iterations, has helped me with everything as small as reserving rooms on campus and unlocking my office door for me, to filling out timesheets and helping ensure that my health insurance had carried over. In particular I would like to thank Chris Gale for his tireless efforts to advocate for graduate students, and Jessica Brown for her patience and kindness when scheduling meetings seemed to be impossible. Most importantly, the material for this research would not exist without the interviewees who responded to me. Their stories and insights lend so much to the field, and the act of interviewing helped each of us see that, as some put it, ―we are not crazy‖ in v thinking we see race and gender in moments when neither seem to be relevant. I only hope that my work has, and will continue, to do them justice by presenting their voices. I also would specifically like to thank my COMM 478 class, perhaps the best seminar course I will ever have, who provided the first insights into the very first interview transcripts from this research. This brings us to Rebecca Cheezum, who spent many hours meticulously transcribing interviews for me when I needed the help and could not stand to hear my own voice recordings anymore. If not for my family continually supporting me, pushing me to be accountable for my actions and to be the best I could be, I would not have made it this far. My parents have always wanted the best for me, seen the best in me, and given their best, and my sister has always provided the guidance of one who has blazed a trail before. Words cannot express how thankful I am to have a partner in Mark Supanich, whose dedication and interest in my work held this entire project (and me) together. Mark has always helped me see the bigger picture and is truly a guiding light in every journey. He has suffered through as much as anyone, serving as a soundboard for ideas and revisions, and as an impromptu editor and housekeeper. He is a true anchor of support and unconditional love. Ann Arbor, MI • 2011 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ii Acknowledgments iii List of Figures x Abstract xi Introduction 1 Methods 7 Situating the Study 16 Understanding ―Asian American‖ 18 Asian American Men 20 Media and Cultural Studies 26 Asian American Studies 29 Chapter Breakdown 33 Interviewee Profiles 38 Chapter 1 – Visibly Invisible: Exploring “Asian America” 48 Exploring Asian/American 50 Brad: ―There‘s Something Going On.‖ 50 Locating Asian American Men 53 Defining Asian American: What Asian American is Not 57 vii David: ―I Guess It‘s Kind of an Underdog Story.‖ 67 Randy: ―I‘m just Asian American.‖ 75 Situational Asian America 80 Beyond Race: Asian American as Global Competency 84 Conclusion 87 Chapter 2 – Managing the Octopus: 21st Century Yellow Peril 90 The Role of News and National Discourse 92 Chinatowns and Chinamen: The Origins of Yellow Peril 101 Sample and Methods 106 Mediated Panic and the Rhetoric of Containment 110 ―Spreading its Tentacles‖: The Looming Specter of China 114 ―Learning How to Make Itself More Infectious‖: H5N1, SARS, and the Boundaries of Sickness 121 Outbreak 121 The Hot Zone 138 ―When Do You Draw the Line Between Cautionary and Crazy?‖: Product Recalls 130 Chapter 3 – Viewing Asian Americans 145 ―You‘ll Never See A Movie Called Saving Private Kim!”: Negotiating Mediated Whiteness 148 The Brad Pitt Phenomenon 153 The Asian/American Spectrum 155 Exit the Dragon: Jackie Chan 155 viii Entering the White Castle: From Jackie Chan to John Cho 159 From Zeroes to Heroes: Masi Oka and ―Geek Chic‖ 170 Finding a Lost Masculinity: Daniel Dae Kim 176 Multicultural Television and the Invisibility of Difference 184 Conclusion 190 Chapter 4 – Transmedia Possibilities of Race and Gender 194 Mapping Shifts in Television 197 ―Dollars for Downloads‖: The Writers‘ Strike 197 Giving up on TV? Audience Shifts 201 Beyond Television: The Transmedia Experiment 204 ―Fishing Where the Fish Are‖: The Niches of Transmedia Universes 207 Experiencing Lost: Alternate Reality Games and Audiences at the Periphery 208 Building Heroes: Bringing Peripheral Representations to the Center 215 Transmedia Narratives: Connecting the Dots 224 (De)legitimized Marginality 227 Conclusion 230 Conclusion 233 Appendix 244 Bibliography 247 ix LIST OF FIGURES 1. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 3 (2007). 158 2. John Cho and Kal Penn in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008). 164 3. Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura in Heroes (2006).