By virtue of its overall reach, visual mass media—movies, television, and internet content—offers a powerful sense of accessibility, immediacy, and multisensory immersion that draws people in and shapes their opinions, attitudes, and worldviews.

Visual mass media has:

• Provided the first ways for people on opposite sides of the globe to remotely experience one another’s cultures and lifestyles with their own eyes
• Enabled audiences in the West to see Asia at a time when international travel was out of reach for all but the wealthiest classes
• Showcased the glamor, convenience, and abundance of America to audiences in Asia, inspiring the desire to immigrate to the United States in pursuit of the “American Dream”

But, importantly, video is framed, curated, cut, and edited. In these and other ways, what we see on screen reflects the bias of creators, censorship by studios and government entities, the influence of prevailing cultural attitudes, and the need to make money. For decades, these forces relegated Asian performers to Hollywood’s margins in supporting roles as servants and henchmen, as seductive temptresses or self-sacrificing martyrs, as diabolical villains, brutal thugs, or comical buffoons. Any available Asian leading roles were often given to white actors in “yellowface” and “brownface” makeup.

Still, from the motion picture industry’s earliest days, pioneering Asian American storytellers and performers have contributed successfully in front of and behind the camera.

This module explores Asian American milestones and notable achievers in film and television. Specifically, it highlights the early years of Asian Americans appearing in “moving images.” It also provides a general overview of Asian Americans appearing on US television programs to the present.