Beyond the fetishization of the female body for the male gaze, there is another somewhat disturbing trend I see which is the fetishization of an entire culture for the (literal) gaze of American audiences. And the power dynamic is almost the exact same: the framing of the outside or immigrant culture to please or at least attract the attention of the more dominant, American culture.
A couple years ago there was this really terrible TV show on NBC called "Outsourced." Riding in on the coattails of Slumdog Millionaire's success, "Outsourced" was the first time South Asian culture was being framed for a passive TV-watching American audience. I will admit, I was super excited to watch the show. And running up to its premier, I would watch all of the trailers as they were released. I noticed the blatant racism and overemphasis on Indian stereotypes that are just wrong and, at least to me, pretty offensive: Indian people eat really spicy food that'll mess up your digestive system for sure, they smell, there are cows all over the streets even in the most developed cities and ALL Indian people work in IT.
All of these stereotypes were meant to be funny and I don't think the show was trying to actively subordinate, fetishize or make fun of Indian culture. Still, I noticed that the show made Indian culture seem more vulnerable and a lot "lesser" in comparison to American culture. I mean, the few American characters in the show were constantly in a position of dominance, replaying a version of the colonial narrative all over again. So, perhaps the most disturbing part was that this subordination was almost unconscious. Unintentional but still very, very present. Is American culture so dominant that when trying to integrate an 'other' this other is necessarily (framed as) lesser?
I haven't watched "Fresh Off the Boat," and I know the show has gotten a lot of really wonderful reviews, but I have also heard that like "Outsourced" it similarly struggles with its own authenticity. Does the show fetishize east asian culture in a similar way? Or, is it in a wholly different (and more acceptable) sphere because it's narrating the story of an immigrant growing up in the US and is therefore an American story and not one of an outsider?
A couple years ago there was this really terrible TV show on NBC called "Outsourced." Riding in on the coattails of Slumdog Millionaire's success, "Outsourced" was the first time South Asian culture was being framed for a passive TV-watching American audience. I will admit, I was super excited to watch the show. And running up to its premier, I would watch all of the trailers as they were released. I noticed the blatant racism and overemphasis on Indian stereotypes that are just wrong and, at least to me, pretty offensive: Indian people eat really spicy food that'll mess up your digestive system for sure, they smell, there are cows all over the streets even in the most developed cities and ALL Indian people work in IT.
All of these stereotypes were meant to be funny and I don't think the show was trying to actively subordinate, fetishize or make fun of Indian culture. Still, I noticed that the show made Indian culture seem more vulnerable and a lot "lesser" in comparison to American culture. I mean, the few American characters in the show were constantly in a position of dominance, replaying a version of the colonial narrative all over again. So, perhaps the most disturbing part was that this subordination was almost unconscious. Unintentional but still very, very present. Is American culture so dominant that when trying to integrate an 'other' this other is necessarily (framed as) lesser?
I haven't watched "Fresh Off the Boat," and I know the show has gotten a lot of really wonderful reviews, but I have also heard that like "Outsourced" it similarly struggles with its own authenticity. Does the show fetishize east asian culture in a similar way? Or, is it in a wholly different (and more acceptable) sphere because it's narrating the story of an immigrant growing up in the US and is therefore an American story and not one of an outsider?
Hi Sandhya,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post about the television show "Outsourced" because I remember seeing promos for the series a long time ago, but never caught an episode. Upon Google searching the show, I found numerous commercial stills and photographs that seemed to allow American culture to dominate Indian culture just as you've suggested. Ben Rappaport, the white actor who plays the manager of an all-Indian call center staff, is always positioned in the center or above the rest of the cast. From my first impression of the commercial stills, I'm led to assume that "Outsourced" is not actually about Indian culture, but it's actually about a white person's experience of Indian culture. Because Indian culture on the show is filtered through this white American lens, I can see how the show would come off as disingenuous. Time and time again on television, it seems that minority cultures are used as exotic backdrops to frame American narratives.
I haven't watched "Fresh Off the Boat" either, but Google searching that show led me to more genuine commercial stills than that of "Outsourced". The Asian family is depicted at the forefront of a lot of the media. There are no white Americans pictured. From this I'm led to believe that "Fresh Off the Boat" is actually about Asians in America, and not just white Americans' view of Asians. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and one day we may see a more authentic show about Indian culture as well.
- Michael Francisco
Just wanted to chime in - I've been watching "Fresh Off the Boat" and actually really enjoying it! The show centers around the main character's Taiwanese-American family, and portrays a set of narratives around their experiences. The show does this in some insightful ways while still maintaining its lightheartedness, and as an Asian-American, I have found the characters to be pretty relatable. One thing I really respect is that the show does not claim to speak for the experiences of all Asian-Americans; in fact, the creators of the show have specifically stated that they are telling one set of unique stories, with elements that they hope will be relatable. I think that the show's strengths really stem from the way that it examines the complexities of being Asian in white America. The show addresses the conflicts between the cultures through everything from microaggressions to outright exclusion and violence, and explores the different paths Asian-American individuals take to navigate this. Anyways, the show is definitely worth taking a look at!
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