East Asians On House M.D.
October 16, 2008 | Filed under Asian-ness, Media
Last night, I watched House M.D, this time with the regular gratuitous episode featuring an East-Asian actor. It got me thinking about the depiction of Asians on television, which, Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh not withstanding, is few and far between. An examination of when East Asian actors have appeared on House M.D:
- 1-04 Maternity: The baby that ends up dying (the Chen-Lupino baby) is the child of a mixed race (Asian and Latina) lesbian couple.
- 1-08 Poison: The second admitted patient is of Korean (?) descent.
- 1-20 Love Hurts: John Cho (of Harold and Kumar fame) is the guest in this episode, playing a young man into S&M.
- 3-18 Airborne: The patient on the plane suffering from decompression sickness is Singaporean.
- 5-04 Birthmarks: The patient is of Chinese descent, though adopted by an American family. This plays a big role in the storyline.
I think those are the only episodes featuring East Asian characters, but correct me if I’m wrong. Taken as a percentage of the total number of episodes (ninety in all), the number of episodes in which an East Asian character appears is only 5%. As a percentage of the total population of America, Asian Americans make up 4.4%. However, this doesn’t take into account the greater concentration of Asian Americans on either coasts – on the East Coast for example, where House M.D. is set, there’s a greater concentration of Asian Americans (some studies suggest as much as 8-10% of the population), in which case the show is most definitely not ‘true to life’.
So, the question: Does House M.D. as a television show accurately depict the Asiatic population of America? I think that in a certain sense it does – they’re clearly making a concentrated effort to cast East Asian actors in roles that aren’t specifically written for someone of Asiatic appearance (e.g. episodes 1-04, 1-08, 1-20, 3-18). However, there’s a problem with the roles that they’re being cast for, which are predominantly as primarily unlikable characters that the average audience member will fail to connect with, which then leads to questions about possible inherent racism in the program. Note for instance:
- 1-04 Maternity: The East Asian in this episode is in a same-sex relationship, which conservatives would have a problem with.
- 1-08 Poison: The parents of the East Asian patient cannot speak fluent English, and pander to stereotypes of “flied lice!”.
- 1-20 Love Hurts: The East Asian patient is part of a sexual subculture of S&M, which isn’t a ‘social norm’.
- 3-18 Airborne: The East Asian patient was idiotic enough to fly on a plane the day immediately following a day of scuba diving – when all scuba diving schools are bound by law to mention the danger of doing so.
- 5-04 Birthmarks: The East Asian patient is an alcoholic, a smoker, a drug user, and has a generally negative attitude to life.
Where are the positive portrayals of East Asians on the program? The doctors, lawyers, nurses? There are for instance, over 1000 doctors of Chinese descent as members of the Chinese American Medical Society, so including any non-members, we can assume there’s at least 2000 doctors of Chinese descent. Including similar numbers for those of Korean, Japanese, and South-East Asian descent, there should be anywhere between 6000 and 10,000 doctors in America of East Asian descent, perhaps more if you take into account the stereotype that Asians are more likely than other races to enter the medical profession. Why aren’t these figures being properly represented? Why have we yet to see an East Asian doctor or nurse on the show?
It is also notable that while the first season (2004-2005) featured three episodes featuring East Asian characters, the latter three and a half seasons (2005 – now) have only featured two such episodes. Which then begs the question – why this sudden downturn? What happened in 2005, and every year since, to make the appearance of East Asian actors on the show such a rarity?
I think too much.
15 Responses to East Asians On House M.D.
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I thought you were only in it for the Hugh Laurie?
Reply: Shun! It’s a fantastic TV show, and of course I wouldn’t just watch it to perve. ;)
Tracey on October 16, 2008 #
I love Wilson<3
monkee on October 16, 2008 #
Psht. You don’t see a lot of Maori in American programming, but do you see me overthinking things? :P
Nellie on October 16, 2008 #
I see your point Amanda but I guess it happens on other TV shows too. Not that that makes it alright though! Also I doubt that any TV producer is ever going to calculate the way you did they will probably just guess instead.
Chans on October 16, 2008 #
I see your point and I certainly agree with you. I noticed that when they feature Asians, more often than not, they are shown as stupid people with a shallow way of thinking who can’t speak English fluently and eats ‘flied lice’ all the time. I also remember a time wherein Desperate Housewives made a racist remark with regards to Filipino medical schools and it caused quite some noise around here.
Enzo on October 16, 2008 #
Yeah, and honestly there’s hardly a group of people who ARE portrayed correctly in TV shows and stuff. Even white men are treated like bumbling idiots in commercials. It’s stupid and silly and that’s most of the reason why I avoid TV. Although, I do like House. :P
Rebee on October 16, 2008 #
My college seminar professor would love you, he’s all over this race in the media stuff (my class with him is called “Race for Cyberspace”).
But in regards to 1 and 3: isn’t that making the assumption that the audience of House is too conservative to connect with these characters, or views people like this negatively? And are there instances of other races — minority or otherwise — being characterized in a similar fashion, just as a control?
Reply: First question – ideally, I’d hope not. Yet same-sex relationships and alternative sexual lifestyles aren’t accepted in Australia (at least, not in a “talk about it openly” way), and as far as I know, America is about ten times more conservative than Australia.
Second question – definitely (one particular example of a Hispanic family being tradesmen working illegally in the country comes to mind), but as I wrote this on the spur of the moment, I wasn’t thinking about other portrayals. :P
Leila on October 17, 2008 #
The bus driver in the final episode of last season was Asian.
Reply: Ah, forgot that.
Stephanie on October 17, 2008 #
wow.. i do not have the attention span to do this! but i am glad you noticed, it’s something i always think about.. whether asians are being represented properly. this girl in my class did a project on how asians are portrayed in tv.. and bobby lee from mad tv made up 90% of the videos making fun of asians… there will always be buttheads out there throwing things out of proportion :/
i am annoyed that aside from lucy liu, sandra oh and zhang ziyi there are no successful asian female actresses… :/ because really, there’s not much room for much else aside from being asian kung fu princesses and over-achieving doctors… down with exoticization!!!
Becca on October 17, 2008 #
This entry is great. I often find similar problems with a lot of different stereotypes on American sitcoms and it really bothers me. It is part of the reason, in my opinion, why so many people are intolerant and so easy to be racist and stereotype different people.
Caitlin on October 17, 2008 #
A couple of the med students, an anaesthesiologist and a few other doctors and nurses are also Asian – these characters are all reoccurring, except for the med students. Whether they count or not for your list is debatable, since they weren’t the poor folks getting sick like all the guest stars do.
Reply: Ah, I have this tendency of not paying attention to background characters. :P I’m a “watch actors with more than two lines” kind of viewer. :P
Catherine on October 17, 2008 #
@Catherine — there are also a few asian nurses, aren’t there?
Stephanie on October 18, 2008 #
I think two more important questions to ask are 1) does it actually matter, and, 2) if it does, who is the target audience?
Reply: Oh, it doesn’t matter in the sense that nothing I say will ever change the way it is, but it’s just an interesting way of reading the series. :P
Mike Haddad on October 18, 2008 #
I don’t think it’s fair to say all the East Asian patients are portrayed in a bad light because pretty much ALL the patients are fucked up in some way or another.
Arielle on October 18, 2008 #
What about the guy who tried to perform his own circumcision? He was really cute. Granted he was only given about 15 seconds of speaking time. It was the episode where this young girl was having severe hallucinations from her chemotherapy medication. I am sure there are many others, but I agree with Arielle. No one patient is glorified. They’re all there because they’re patients. But there are a number of East Asian actors on this television show–the medical students, nurses, etc.
Melle on October 19, 2008 #