As an Asian person myself, I've seen a lot of stereotypes of Asian people in media. In the past, Asian people would be the funny Chinese sidekick with "Engrish". Especially in older comics and media, where racism was still rampant, there'd be a lot of these stereotypes seen. It's particularly offensive because "ching chong" is supposed to get laughs.
But on a base level, I think stereotypes, or as I like to call them--tropes, are needed in character design. I believe that tropes make characters more relatable and are a good building block to create a more developed and 3-dimensional character. At the same time, there are limits to how far we should take using a trope.
One recent example that's both relevant to my identity and has recently been cropping up is the "edgy Asian girl" trope. For example, Go Go Tamago from Big Hero 6 is a good example. She's Asian, she's got an attitude, she has a short bob with a streak of colored hair in it. This basic character design has been popping up a lot for Asian female characters. Mako Mori from Pacific Rim, Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim, these are just examples of this weird character design trope that has been used. A lot of Asians are tired of Asian girls randomly popping up and being this exact trope. They want more variety!
While it's okay to start with a trope as a base point, it's not okay to center the whole character around the trope. That's just not realistic and makes the character feel two dimensional. Similar to the old Chinese sidekick racist stereotype, where their only characteristics are being bad at English and being a funny yes man.
But on a base level, I think stereotypes, or as I like to call them--tropes, are needed in character design. I believe that tropes make characters more relatable and are a good building block to create a more developed and 3-dimensional character. At the same time, there are limits to how far we should take using a trope.
One recent example that's both relevant to my identity and has recently been cropping up is the "edgy Asian girl" trope. For example, Go Go Tamago from Big Hero 6 is a good example. She's Asian, she's got an attitude, she has a short bob with a streak of colored hair in it. This basic character design has been popping up a lot for Asian female characters. Mako Mori from Pacific Rim, Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim, these are just examples of this weird character design trope that has been used. A lot of Asians are tired of Asian girls randomly popping up and being this exact trope. They want more variety!
While it's okay to start with a trope as a base point, it's not okay to center the whole character around the trope. That's just not realistic and makes the character feel two dimensional. Similar to the old Chinese sidekick racist stereotype, where their only characteristics are being bad at English and being a funny yes man.
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