Asian Representation in Comics: Who does it best, East or West?
In 2015, Scarlett Johansson played an Asian character in the adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, sparking outrage among PoC. A petition was created which begs: “The original film is set in Japan, and the major cast members are Japanese. So why would the American remake star a white actress?”
A fair question indeed. It is sad to acknowledge that Asian representation in media has never been one to be proud of. A legacy that created and reinforced harmful stereotypes, that till this day, is something we have to overcome.
In critiquing the representation of Asians in the comic industry, we realized that the problem runs deep. Upon referring to misrepresentations one often talks about the West. But we forget that the white-washing actually originates from the East, or more specifically, Japan.
Following that discourse, the topic of Asian representation in comics is one complex topic. We, as a team, firmly stand and champion for inclusion of non-tokenized Asian characters, and to celebrate Asian creators who work tirelessly to bring rightful representation to the Asian community in comics. Let’s get into it!
Mainstream Anime and Manga from Japan
Post WWII, Japanese creators looked West-ward and saw the popularity of Disney-style cartoons. Coming out of this melting pot is the gradual transition to bigger heads, rounder eyes, softer features — or in other words: Mukokuseki features. In practice, commonly perceived Japanese facial features are replaced with quasi-Caucasian features.
Emily Yoshida in a Verge’s article proposes: “Anime Allows for the obfuscation of Race, no matter how introspective the story”. Through analyzing Ghost in the Shell, she states that the cyborgs “are more ‘anime-looking’ than any characters who are mere Japanese or American humans” — expressing that Mukokuseki features allow for a raceless look. However, this is not entirely true.
In an empirical research on 341 anime characters, it was found that increasingly, anime characters are being perceived as Caucasian, although they are Asian-intended. What does this tell us? That there is indeed a Western look to sell. This ponders: where can Asian feel represented? We’re witnessing Asian consensus characters being perceived as Caucasian due to Mukokuseki. So, we beg to differ, Mukokuseki isn’t at all raceless.
The use of Mukokuseki features is selective, with Japanese characters typically being rendered as more Caucasian. This selectivism is only extended towards some other nonwhite groups. Other Asians have typically been rendered with their ethnic and racial features intact, often exaggerated in grotesque proportions. These mocking features are directly influenced by the Western-style comics, which often implemented these features in its past Asian representation.
An argument made in favour of Mukokuseki features is that “these physical traits are read as white only by Westerners, that they exist in other racial groups and to read them otherwise is in itself an act of cultural imperialism”. This argument fails to acknowledge the historical impact of Japan’s contact with the West, which has forced an internal transformation. In addition, the rate at which Asian characters are perceived as Caucasian counters this argument. Therefore, expressing that these physical traits are only being read as White by some is simply ignorant.
Tragically, the love for Mukokuseki features have strayed Japanese creators further away from celebrating accurate depictions of their own race. Thus, within the East, there is misrepresentation of Asians: of self, and others. This disparity can be traced back to the need to sell the look of the West. Through which, Japan has picked up some negative Western stereotypes, along with the need to Westernize itself.
Mainstream Webtoon from Korea
Another problematic contender in the Eastern comic industry is the Korean Webtoon scene. Media is a strong asset in instilling the rigid beauty standard in Korea, and comics are no different. So how did this come to play; what is the association with proper representation? Allow us to explain.
In the Western world, we come to know of this beauty standard as the Korean Look. This rigid beauty notion has proven to be extremely toxic, which can be encapsulated with the term Lookism, referring to “prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance and especially physical appearance believed to fall short of societal notions of beauty”. In that sense, those who fit into the rigid beauty standard are elevated, while those that fall short of those standards are thrown out and trampled on. This is extremely harmful to it and damages one’s self-esteem at the expense of others.
Sadly, the Korean look is still heavily implemented in Romance Webtoons. Upon scrolling through the Romance page, it is undeniable that the most popular ones are drawn adhering to the Korean Look. V-shape face, pale skin, skinny, tall are synonymous in most cases. To a certain extent, it appears as if only attractive people can fall in love. What about other individuals that don’t fall within the Korean Look? Thus, in adhering to the typical Korean Look, the Romance genre helps foster this toxic outlook on beauty, further fueling inaccurate stereotypical depiction in comics.
To combat this, many creators use their platform to illustrate the true beauty of the every-day people. As a genre, Slice of Life shines light onto the depiction of beauty through their drawing style by making deliberate choices — portraying characters in comical style, round faces, with all shapes and forms, straying further and further away from what is considered standardly beautiful.
Let’s analyze Family Man — a slice of life Webtoon by Pillwon Jung. It tells the story of Gang-ho, a local factory worker whose life turns dramatically worse when his face is burned in a massive fire. Gang-ho’s biggest struggle is wanting his daughter to not be scared of his face. He resorts to wearing a Superhero costume and becomes Gugu-man to stay with his daughter. People like Gang-ho struggle to fit into society because they look different compared to the standard, thus forcing them to feel outcast. The only way in which Gang-ho feels like he could stay with his daughter is to disguise his scar. In a subtle nod to Lookism, Webtoons such as Family Man shines a light on the problematic representation based on the Korean Look existing in the comic scene in Korea.
Mainstream American Comics
Meanwhile, Western comics have been rather slow in adding PoC characters. To understand the Asian representation discourse, one must understand the beginning of it. The 1800s oversaw mass migration from China to the United States. To reflect the mass hysteria, newspapers across the U.S published single-panel political cartoons, depicting Chinese people with “grotesquely” exaggerated facial features as an act to dehumanize them. Some of the earliest popular illustrations went as far as explicitly depicting Chinese as racist caricatures to help facilitate and uphold anti-immigration discourses.
Those preconceptions have allowed for a negative and harmful trope: Yellow peril. In contrast to the Japanese Mukokuseki, Western comics “yellow” wash their Asian characters. Yellow peril is deeply rooted in Western culture, stemming from fears of the Mongolian invasion of Europe. In carrying on that fear, Western comics combine racist terror of “alien” culture, sexual anxieties, and most importantly the belief of a righteous West.
Upon analyzing major comic publishing houses, DC has quite a history of misrepresentation. Detective Comic #1 (1937) featured on cover Ching Lung, a Chinese supervillain whose dream is to take over the Western World, graced with a stereotypical depiction of Asians in Western comics: slanted black eyes, pointy tooth grin, and Fu Manchu-style facial hair. CBR notes that Ching Lung is “one of the few DC Comics has never even attempted to incorporate into the DC Universe” because he was considered to be extremely toxic and politically incorrect. To think that the origin of DC is linked with this incredibly inaccurate and harmful depiction, which facilitated negative discourse around (East) Asian Americans shocked us. As a mainstream publication, DC representation has a massive ripple effect among comic lovers and the public. It is representations like these that have hindered Asian characters from being accurately represented in mainstream comics.
Notable mention: Egg Fu
We believe that it is important to look at growth, at how mainstream publishers have taken initiative to educate themselves, thus transforming their stereotypical depictions. As a rebirth initiative, DC has decided to resurrect Ching Lung. Confused? We were too until we heard that he would be featured in the New Superman, written by Gene Leun Yang — an Asian American creator. So what’s Ching Lung’s role? Well, he’s still the villain, and his design almost mirrors his original design in the 1930s. Controversial? Perhaps. However, Yang explains the motive behind this decision, stating that: “If we really want to embrace who we are as Americans, we have to look at both the good and the bad and the pretty and the ugly of our history. If rebirth is about reclaiming a lot of DC’s past, we also have to examine some of the ugly stuff too.” He further said that redesigning Ching Lung would cause more harm for it could potentially result in “introducing a new form of Yellow Peril”. Thus, the appearance of Ching Lung in New Super-Man serves as a commentary on DC’s past of yellow-washing their Asian character, and to demonstrate the growth the mainstream industry has gone through. From now on, the only way forward is to embrace the uniform goal of facilitating non-racist discourses of Asians in the industry.
Indie comics and creators of digital comics
In analyzing the major comic industries, we realize there are inherent problems in both Eastern and Western representations of Asians. We must then appreciate Indie comics and creators who have worked tirelessly to combat and challenge this inaccuracy. So, what have they done to bring forth proper representation in their work?
Turn your attention to Graphic India. As “a new media startup that believes India should have its own home-grown answer to cartoon empires like Marvel”, their success has proven that there is indeed a thirst for proper representation of South Asians in comics. As such, Grant Morrison’s 18 Days: The Mahabharata is a fantastic example of non-tokenized representation of South Asian. As Coxmilogy states: “18 Days is a re-imagining of the great eastern myth, Mahabharata, and follows the course of the climactic war that concludes the age of the gods and begins the age of man.” A mythical story that well represents the culture, and does it justice? That is exactly how it needs to be done.
While there have been attempts at non-racist East Asian Americans discourses, South-east Asian Americans are highly undermined in mainstream comics. That is until Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir was published. This notable Vietnamese-American graphic memoir recounts the struggle of Bui’s parents living through the war, and their decision to flee Vietnam. Bui’s work is praised for narratives like hers are important, accounting the “history, memory, and identity, assimilation into US culture by Southeast Asian refugees, and the politically charged framings of a former home country after war”. Most importantly, it forces the mainstream industry to realize that there still is a large section of Asians who are extremely underrepresented in the comic scene.
What we need is for Asian creators to have the platform and support to tell stories of their own experiences, of their culture. This does not indicate that non-Asian creators cannot write about Asian characters, for there has been previous work such as John Layman’s and Rob Guillory Chew series that has produced a compelling representation of Asian American narratives. However, the fight is not over — not yet. While we see more and more, each day, of how the comic industry is changing in their way of representing Asians, we need to further push for Asian creators to have the recognition they deserve and for their stories to be told and to be listened to.
From our team to you — some comics worthy of your support:
