Nineteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Asians and Asian Americans have been significantly underrepresented and are often subject to stereotypical portrayals in American media culture. When the production of culture is dominated by the majority group, it reinforces its hegemonic perspectives and creates a vicious cycle that denies minority groups fair and accurate representation and further perpetuates stereotypes. Hollywood needs to diversify its workforce both behind and in front of the camera. To address the diversity issue, studios and networks started to establish media diversity programs in the last two decades. These programs aim to prepare minority and women writers, directors and performers to apply for entry-level position in the industry. Although media diversity programs are prevalent in Hollywood today, there is a lack of research on the makeup of their participants and whether their experience helped get their foot in the door. How are Asian Americans represented in these programs? How many of them went on to be hired? What did they learn? All these questions beg the need for a study on the experience of Asian American participants in these diversity programs in Hollywood. This paper examines the experience of six Asian American media professionals who have participated in media diversity programs to gauge whether these programs are merely lip service or potentially bring real change.