The Lack of Asian Culture in the Entertainment Industry

With the birth of a new era in film, the cultural, racial, and LGBTQ+ diversity in television and media has been on an uphill climb, especially with the release of new, record-breaking series and movies such as Barbie and Heartstopper. Companies such as Disney have been attempting to include diverse casts and plotlines in their media, like in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. However, despite the increase in general cultural awareness and representation, Asian culture remains severely underrepresented in movies and media. 

Illustration by Shruthi Arunkumar

Written by Navya Chitlur

Edited by Catherine Qin

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According to the Gold House, from 2007 to 2022, there was a 13% increase in Asian characters in films, from 3% to 16%. However, most of these roles were similar to white characters' roles, lacked cultural depth, and Asian actors played 90% of them with a nearly white complexion. Additionally,  out of the Asian characters with essential roles, the cultural representation was lacking or not represented correctly. 

Companies such as Disney have recently looked to diversify their casting by creating remakes of films with actors and actresses of different races. This sparked major controversy with the viewers, especially with films such as Snow White (2025) with American Actress Rachel Zegler’s casting and the lack of dwarfish actors, or The Little Mermaid (2023) with Halle Bailey, an actress of color playing Ariel. These castings angered many viewers, including those of color or racial differences, due to the diversion from the original storyline and characters. “Race-agnostic roles should not come at the expense of cultural authenticity. That is a false binary. We hope to see more stories that feature the full range of the Asian diaspora’s experiences,” Vice President of Entertainment and Media at Gold House Tiffany Chao said. Further controversy sparked after rumors circulated about Indian-American singer and actress Avantika Vandanapu’s casting as Rapunzel for a live-action Tangled film due to the growing disloyalty to original and traditional Disney characters. However, these same controversies were placated once the rumors switched directions and suspected her casting as Mother Gothel in the same film, highlighting racially motivated double standards regarding Asian casting. 

Despite the lack of diverse casting in mainstream films, there has been a drastic increase in the popularity of Asian-centric films over the past decades. Many such movies rose to fame, including  Crazy Rich Asians (2018), the first film since The Joy Luck Club (1993) to feature an all-Asian cast. Parasite (2019) was another revolutionary movie, winning four Oscars around the time President Donald Trump’s xenophobic speeches sparked mass anti-Asian behavior throughout the country. Despite the increasing hostility towards Chinese immigrants in America at the time, the revenue of the film smashed box office records, proving that Asian films could be as successful as their Western counterparts. In the past decade, other Asian cinematic pieces such as Squid Game (2021) and RRR (2022) rose to great popularity, adding to the globalization of Asian culture and art. Notably, Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) became the most-awarded film of all time, and the lead, Michelle Yeoh, became the first Asian-American to win an Oscar for Best Actress.

All of these movies feature representation not only in the casting but also in the integrated Asian culture, with the portrayal of struggles such as navigating an immigrant’s life, cultural alienation, and problems specific to Asians or Asian immigrants, making them cinematic pieces that the Asian community strives to see more of. “[The Asian] community cares even more about creative excellence, as opposed to just sort of representation,” Gold House CEO and Co-Founder Bing Chen said. This is something Asian directors have been striving to achieve for decades, and has been especially common with new directors such as Mindy Kaling (Never Have I Ever) and Domee Shi (Turning Red). These directors wrote their own cultural values and characteristics into their works, creating beautifully crafted cinema while also increasing the representation in the film industry, in contrast to simply casting a couple of Asian characters for a Western film and plot. 

The increasing amounts of Asian representation in films have created a cadence and have repeatedly proven that Asian films can be just as successful as Western ones. The growth of Asian cinema has been majorly impacted by overarching cultures such as Bollywood, which spread Indian cultural films worldwide, as well as K-pop, which increased the popularity of Korean-oriented artwork, including K-dramas and films. Despite all of this, there has statistically been little improvement in overall Asian representation in the entertainment industry over the past decade. Despite the overall increase in Asian representation, more needs to be done in order for Asians to be on equal footing with Western cultures. “Representation is a problem because our movies don't really depict the world as we see it around us, especially for female characters. There are [fewer] opportunities for women to play incredible roles. And then if you're a woman of color, that's put you in an even bigger stereotype,” Film Producer and Actress Priyanka Chopra said. 

There have been many movements calling for increased diversity, such as the #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements, to combat this issue over the years. At the 2015 Academy Awards, no actors or actresses of color were nominated. This realization led to backlash and countless social media campaigns captioned with #OscarsSoWhite, advocating for greater opportunities for non-white people in the entertainment industry. In the past decade, despite the movements and steps taken to include a more diverse cast list or culture, Asian representation in the entertainment industry has seen relatively little improvement and continues to struggle against issues such as misrepresentation or Westernization. This issue has been continually spoken about by well-known Asian stars, but to make a drastic and lasting impact, campaigns such as these should be renewed and advocated for.