Hollywood is currently making movies about Southeast Asian countries or cultures, For example Raya: The Last Dragon which tells a story about a young girl with a Southeast Asian background and now we have The Last of Us which tells us the story of how the virus comes from Indonesia. This made us wonder, how does Hollywood actually view Southeast Asian countries and all of their people?

 

Comedian Ali Wong made a joke in one of her comedy specials that she and her husband are both “fancy Asian” and half “jungle Asian.” Even though she did not mention country names, I think it’s not a surprise anymore that we all know what region counts as jungle Asia. 

 

The Asian character Jason Mendoza even said it in the television program The Good Place, which is based on the afterlife, “Everyone thinks I’m Taiwanese. I’m Filipino. That’s racist. Heaven is so racist.” The actor who portrays the part, Manny Jacinto, is Filipino.

 

Vietnam War, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

If we look closely, we may see how Southeast Asian civilizations are presented in popular Western culture. For example, we can see how Vietnam is portrayed primarily about the war. There is also a piece that lists "The 10 Best Movies About the Vietnam War," that can be found on Google, and we can find the movie “Good Morning, Vietnam” which earned Robin Williams an Oscar nomination for his role as Adrian Cronauer, a DJ who goes to Vietnam to bring an inspired liveliness and entertainment to the Armed Forces Radio. Not only that, the movie “Rescue Dawn” starred Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, and Jeremy Davies also deliver staggering, physically brutal performances as three prisoners of war in Werner Herzog's intimate depiction of survival in Vietnam. 

 

So is this how Hollywood sees Southeast Asia?

 

More Than Just a War

Delaney Le, a Vietnamese full-time nursing student and a part-time nurse tech at a local hospital who currently lives in the States told us that maybe they just pick out whatever feature that is interesting to them, or sure, maybe they are common. “For example, I can understand why they usually associate Vietnam with war because of its impact and significance. But it is definitely not what I imagined people would think about Vietnam before I came here. I do think movies, like arts and cuisines, spread cultural awareness and the things they want to show/talk about should reflect that culture more accurately instead of just some stereotypes they got from Google-searching,” she said. 

 

She herself came from Southern Vietnam and both her parents were athletes but now they are working in different fields. Her father’s parents were English teachers, they always see education as an important part of life, that is why she got to learn English at a very young age. After having experienced so many things in her life, she can say with confidence that Vietnam is more than simply ‘the war’. But she had the idea that perhaps films only focused on something that is interesting to film makers, like arts and cuisines.

 

More than Just Bicycles and Paddy Hats

Our friend Hafizah, who was born in Brunei Darussalam but has been considering the Philippines her second home because she has lived here for seven years, has somewhat the same viewpoint as Delaney. Her mother was raised on a farm in a poverty stricken province and she worked very hard to get herself out of there so that she could help her family. 

 

When Hafizah talked about her mother’s background, this might remind us of one episode of the sitcom Modern Family, in season 4 episode 19 to be precise, the episode when Lily (the adopted child) asked what Vietnam is, her parents (Cameron and Mitchell) said that Vietnam is a beautiful country which is full of bicycles and people with paddy hats. Well, we know it’s scripted, however it appears that they are using this as a sarcastic way of informing us that the majority of people may only be familiar with Southeast Asia, which is characterized by bicycles and paddy hats. Whereas, in Hafizah’s opinion, Southeast Asia has a very diverse culture. Especially in the Philippines where food and fashion is really rich, people also like attending festivals like Sinulog, San Juan Day, and the Giant Lantern Festival. 

 

BGC Coffee Festival in The Philippines, Courtesy of Bonifacio Global City

 

Hafizah can see stereotypes everywhere about how Southeast Asians are portrayed, she also assumes Hollywood doesn’t do its best in changing the perspective. “There are stereotypes everywhere about how Southeast Asians are portrayed. I'm assuming Hollywood doesn't do its best in changing the perspective. However, I'm not saying there isn't a ring of truth to it, but to be chalked up to such simplicity is wicked. There is more to Southeast Asians than what society thinks. There is so much beauty and our culture has so much depth and Hollywood should explore it more. It is difficult to bring more to the table when that's not what people want to see. What we see as normal is what they see as change and to some people, change is terrifying. I would love to see better Southeast Asians representation in Hollywood, and I would love for them to portray it right.” Just like what she said, there are more to Southeast Asians than what society thinks. We agree on how there is so much beauty and culture which can be lifted. 

 

When we learn about Hafizah's life and the way she envisions Southeast Asia's portrayal, it prompts us to adjust our vision a little. Recently, Hollywood has been bringing up many stories that present cultural diversity from many countries, including Southeast Asia. 

For instance, we have Kumandra which is a fictitious land that was inspired by Southeast Asia in the Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon. To make this movie into a total success, the filmmakers formed a story trust of Southeast Asian cultural experts, including choreographers, musicians, linguists, architects, cultural experts, martial artists, and anthropologists. A team of filmmakers and artists visited Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore in the early stages of developing the movie in order to find inspiration. The key creative team itself consisted of people with Southeast Asian cultural backgrounds, and they shared their life backgrounds and added details they felt were important.

 

There are Still More than What You See on TV

Just from Delaney and Hafizah, we can already see that Southeast Asia is really rich in culture and stories that everyone should know. Just like in any other countries, we can also meet so many people with such different backgrounds such as farmers, office workers, small business owners, nurses, or even a human rights lawyer like one of our friends, Julio Castor Achmadi. He was born in an Indonesian-Chinese family, that is why he speaks Chinese and Hokkien. His parents were both small-business owners who put a lot of effort into giving their kids access to an education that they themselves did not have when they were younger. In addition to all of that, they continue to uphold certain traditional Chinese cultures in the home, which is intriguing to us because maintaining traditions has become much more difficult as a result of modern technologies and how globalization influences culture around the globe. 

 

Because of the life he lives, Julio has decided to pursue his aspirations of working mostly with refugees and people adversely affected by development projects. But besides his daily basis, he also loves to watch some movies such as horrors and Japanese animations. When it comes to Hollywood movies' representation of Southeast Asia, he actually doesn't see a lot of it, which leads him to believe that Hollywood might not know enough about the region to include it in its productions. But when he sees one, he can instantly recognize a number of Southeast Asian stereotypes from the movies, including accents, dark skin tones, poor income and education levels, migrants, and inferior people. Well, we can't say that every aspect of Hollywood's portrayal of Southeast Asia is inaccurate, but are these the only aspects of it? No, in our opinion.

G20 Gala Dinner in Taman Budaya Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK), Bali, Courtesy of Biro Setpres RI

 

According to Julio, Southeast Asia is very diverse. There are thousands of ethnicities, tribes, languages and cultures in Indonesia alone. Despite being of Indonesian-Chinese ancestry, Julio declared himself to be Indonesian because that is his nationality. “This is something that could not be generalized, humans are more complex than their city or country of origin, there is cultural history behind each and every person,” he said.

Why is Representation so Crucial?

Representation in movies is important because it enables viewers to see themselves and their experiences reflected on the big screen, it is crucial. People may feel more seen and affirmed when they see themselves portrayed in the media. It can also help them feel less alone in their experiences. Additionally, seeing accurate representations of different groups in film can help break down stereotypes and promote understanding and acceptance. That is why we understand that Julio also stated that besides telling the beauty of Southeast Asia, to tell the truth is also important. For example, it’s refreshing to see movies that do not generalize Southeast Asian people, but include the story of how they often face discrimination in countries like the United States. While he understands that some stereotypical characteristics can make people relate more, that should not be Hollywood's main topic to describe Southeast Asia people. For him, any movies that picture how diverse people from Southeast Asia are, with strong women, highly capable communities and beautiful cultures is important to be shared with the world.

 

Finally, we come to the conclusion that Southeast Asia has a lot more to offer. We must nevertheless be grateful that some people actually made an effort to imagine it in certain ways. Raya and the Last Dragon is written by Vietnamese-American screenwriter Qui Nguyen and Malaysian screenwriter Adele Lim, who is well-known for her work on Crazy Rich Asians. The movie marks a significant breakthrough in terms of establishing new ground for representation, according to Adele Lim and Nguyen. “When there’s a project like Raya and the Last Dragon, it has a lot of attention put on it, and the people who have not been represented for such a long time have so much of their hopes and dreams pinned on it,” she says. And we couldn’t agree more with that statement. We hope that more people will recognize that Southeast Asia is not simply a stunning region famous for its bicycles, paddy hats, vast rice fields, or even the war, but is also a region that is home to many remarkable people.