hardboiled

Singing Out of Tune

Ineffective satirical video harmful to image of Asian American women

A controversial music video titled “Single Asians” was recently released by a Yale University a capella group. The video, a racialized parody on Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” features two minutes of lyrics that incorporate almost every Asian stereotype in existence. Because all four girls performing are Asians, supporters insist that the video’s content is not only acceptable, it is funny.

I cannot disagree more. This video tried to be funny, but as far as I’m concerned it failed. I found the humor tasteless and offensive to the Asian American identity. The sub par performance leaves the viewer feeling something was lacking that would have really made it shine as a satire, rather than just another piece of media that perpetuates the same old Asian stereotypes. The video ultimately fails as a satire because it leaves no room for meaningful discussion on the subject.

The first two verses are about the stereotypical Asian girl who “[lives her] life for med school.” Some sample lines read, “You ain’t hardcore enough for me…An A-minus ain’t the same as an A, is it?” These lyrics echo the model minority stereotype, which is a problem, but they’re not nearly as self-degrading as the verses that follow.

The lines “Let’s make some noise for all the boys who have yellow fever. I’ll be Lucy Liu, or Sailor Moon, a geisha just for you” struck me as extremely disgusting. These girls pitifully compromise their self-dignity by catering to the idea of “yellow fever”, which portrays Asian American women as exotic sex objects desirable to white men. A poor attempt at parody, their nonsensical statements come across as a lame joke. Is it funny that the girls are pretending to be stereotypical exotic, Asian women?

Next, a smiling girl sings “Me love you long time” while forming a heart with her hands. Again, this repulsive image perpetuates the idea that Asian women are submissive females whose only goal in life is to love their men. It does not help that while one girl sings the above lines, the rest dance with white guys that suddenly appear. This just reiterates the cliché theme of “yellow fever.”

Finally, the singers adopt fake Asian accents in the lines, “We from Beijing, we dry cleaning, and practice vio(r)in.” At this point I could only wonder what these girls were thinking. They invoke the “fob” stereotype, which perpetuates Asians as foreigners. Their performance invites others to laugh derisively at immigrants with imperfect English, turning the Asian identity into a caricature of a human being.

Even if these girls were only poking fun at Asian stereotypes, they have now helped to propagate them. They have also inadvertently invited others to objectify themselves and other Asian women. This is extremely irresponsible considering that their affiliation with a prestigious university lends high visibility to their actions. If intelligent students from such a powerful institution are willing to publicly humiliate their Asian identities, that just sends the wrong message to the general public.

Because the girls are Asian, many people (including Asian Americans) accept their jokes and don’t see what they’re doing as racist. However, the widespread toleration of such a production brings up a serious issue regarding attitudes toward Asian stereotypes.

Asian Americans who find the video funny only affirm their lack of understanding of their own cultural identity. When we regurgitate racial stereotypes constructed by non-Asians, we do it out of an attempt to laugh at our differences and to assert our own normativity. When hearing those fake accents, for example, some might think: “Who is this? This sounds totally alien, it’s not me, it’s different, so let’s laugh at it.” However, we do in fact know who these people are – they’re our family members, friends, maybe even ourselves. Our laughing at them only shows our disconnection from a culture whose history is intimately linked with our own identities.

On sites where the video is posted, many supporters assert that those who feel offended are “taking themselves too seriously” and “don’t know how to take a joke.” These comments are problematic because they close any possibility of discussion about the video’s faults and implications. No one wants to be told that he or she can’t take a joke. But there are people out there who, like me, think this video is insulting and detrimental to the image of Asian American women –

We need to speak up. We need to insist that jokes which deride Asian identities are not funny, and make it known that Asian stereotypes are still a very real problem that Asian American communities face today. Informed discussion is necessary to mend people’s ignorant attitudes toward this subject.

Making fun of stereotypes is perfectly acceptable, but it can be done in a much more intelligent and constructive way. True satire does not solely aim to evoke laughter. It aims to give a critical view on the subject and to provide an open forum for discussion that leads to corrective change. For an effective satire,, the girls should have made it clear that such stereotypes are not acceptable, instead of just affirming their existence for the sake of entertainment. That would have allowed for a much more creative and less offensive project that truly empowers Asian American women while casting off the stereotypes that threaten to engulf our identities.