Archive for the 'Media' Category
October 16 2008: East Asians On House M.D.
Filed under Asian-ness & Media with 15 Comments
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:
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October 11 2008: Dressing For The Races On A Budget
Filed under Fashion & Media with 11 Comments
The Herald Sun’s Saturday paper has a supplement entitled “Weekend”, which always has a page or two dedicated to images of outfits for a made-up scenario. Today’s edition was a double-page spread on outfits “on a budget” for the Spring Racing Carnival (a month of horse racing on racegrounds around Melbourne, ostensibly for sporting purposes, but really an opportunity for Melbournian women to get dressed up, get drunk, and totter around on heels that sink into the turf, all the while giggling maniacally).
I have no intention of ever going to the races, but any time that the media like attaching “on a budget” to any fashion photoshoot they might do, the cheapskate in me feels the need to point and attack them for being out of touch. The complete amount of the outfits they suggested, which really weren’t anything special, were: $362.90AUD, $233.90AUD, $328.90AUD, $433.90AUD, $422.90AUD, $400.90AUD. Erm, what? I don’t even spend that amount on three complete outfits, let alone one outfit.
To the right is what I would wear to the races, with all items pulled from my existing wardrobe:
- Fuschia silk/sateen cocktail dress, $25AUD down from $239.95AUD at the Pilgrim clearance outlet
- Black Basque heels, $25AUD down from $139.95AUD from Myer
- Fake pearl and gold charm fob necklace, $3AUD thrifted from the Salvos store
- Metallic gold clutch, $1AUD from $29.95AUD at Miss Shop in Myer
The only thing the outfit lacks that I don’t already own would be a headpiece of some sort, which is required as part of the dress code if one decides to go to the races. But when the haberdashery store Spotlight has individual feathers, beads, and ribbons for sale, and when you can get a cheap plain headband at a $2AUD store, you can craft your own individual headpiece for under $15AUD.
So take that, Polly Kerdel. My outfit for the races only cost $70AUD! This is how you dress for the races on a budget!
October 2 2008: The Only Thing Between House And Me
Filed under Media & Men with 10 Comments
You know, there’s only one thing that could make me skip watching the second episode of the fourth season of House M.D. last night, and that was the fact that I was kind of obliged to celebrate a six month anniversary.
Okay, there’s some slight exaggeration in that sentence. Firstly, I wasn’t exactly obliged to - the fella wasn’t exactly holding a gun to my head to force me to see him, and I was actually the one to ’set the date’ to spend some time together. Secondly, I didn’t exactly skip watching the episode, because I got my brother to tape it for me so I wouldn’t miss any Laurie action.
It was nice though. First and only six month anniversary I’ve had, as all my previous liaisons are of a more temporary nature that generally don’t require formal celebrations of benchmark dates. We had a nice dinner. I met his parents for the first time. Got some nookie of the penis in vagina variety.
But, yes, that’s about the only thing that stands between my weekly dose of House M.D. and my psychotic fangirl devotion. And really, it’s not exactly going entirely without Hugh Laurie. Rather it’s simply delayed gratification rather than immediate gratification. As long as I’m getting Laurie gratification, all is well with the world. The apocalypse is not upon us.