ASIAN ARTS EXHIBIT ANALYZES STEREOTYPES
THEIR FACES ARE distorted, coiled into extreme expressions, their eyes slanted shut - these are some of the stereotypical drawings found in American comic books featuring Asian characters.
THEIR FACES ARE distorted, coiled into extreme expressions, their eyes slanted shut - these are some of the stereotypical drawings found in American comic books featuring Asian characters.
The Asian Arts Initiative is taking a closer look at depictions of Asians and Asian-Americans in the exhibit, "Marvels and Monsters: Unmasking Asians in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986," brought to Philadelphia by New York University's Fales Library and Special Collections.
The exhibit draws from the extensive collection of William F. Wu, a science-fiction author and cultural studies scholar. It was curated by Jeff Yang, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
"When I began this collection, it was because I realized that popular culture reaches virtually everyone," Wu said in a press release. "These iconic images - good and bad - have real-world effects on people's perceptions of themselves and those around them."
Deconstructing the images to show the transformation of Asian stereotypes, this exhibit includes a combination of large cutouts and comic books, their covers and inside pages.
Many of the drawings depict Asians with their eyes so severely slanted they seem to be shut. Their complexions vary from pale yellow to a dark gray. Male characters' bodies are either abnormally large, muscular and taut, or frail.
"When I first saw the show [in New York], I was immediately drawn to it and wanted to bring it back to Philadelphia to spark the conversation about the stereotypes generated so long ago and their presence today," said Nancy Chen, local exhibition coordinator and Asian Arts Initiative's program director.
The collection, here through March 23, is displayed alongside a library of contemporary graphic novels by Asian-American authors such as Ken Chen, V. V. Ganeshananthan and David Henry Hwang.
One of the goals of this exhibit is to take pictures that depict a specific archetype, such as the Brain, or Temptress, and place it into historical context - the feelings of xenophobia after World War II, for instance.