A BIRACIAL COMMENTARY ON "YELLOWFACE" BY DAVID HENRY HWANG

Written by: Madeline Cruz

Interviews by: Catalina Yap

Revised by: Catalina Yap

This past week, the seniors and members of Rep’s Asian Student Union went to see the Broadway show Yellowface at Roundabout Theater. A couple of the people who went identify as biracial, meaning they have ancestors from different ethnic backgrounds. Yellowface is a play about the misrepresentation of the Asian community in the theater industry and how it can affect others. The main character is a playwright who was protesting white actors wearing makeup and prosthetics to portray a biracial Asian character in Miss Saigon. This then backfired on him as he ended up mistaking a Caucasian man for being Asian and casting him as an Asian character. It was later clarified in a talkback with the actors of Yellowface that the biracial character in Miss Saigon had originally been fully Asian, but had been made biracial to allow a white actor to fit the part. A few days ago, two Asian biracial RepCo students were interviewed and asked: How do you feel about biracial-ness being used insensitively to commit acts of racism? 

“I feel very strongly about it. Growing up, I would constantly go in for auditions, and, almost every single audition I went in for was either an Asian person, or like, a mixed [person]. And a lot of roles that I got turned down for, I got turned down for because I was Asian, and a lot of roles, they normally wanted a white person to play. So I kind of experienced that firsthand, and I was deprived of a role based on my race, just like the people in the show.” - anonymous Rep student A

“I feel like biracial-ness, in the media, is constantly being used as a tool. You know, either to further some plot point or some development, rather than as just an identity that people have. And I do have a problem with that, because, believe it or not, there are biracial people that exist for reasons outside of superficial things like that. And it’s similar to how, in Yellowface, you know, the fact that Marcus, the white character, could have possibly been biracial and that’s how he was Asian, that was constantly being used as a sort of quick and easy answer to sort of brush off the underlying racism there. And I felt it was sort of brushed off as a joke. And I see my biracial-ness not as a subcategory of Asian, but rather to be a category all on its own. I find that I am able to relate more with people of the biracial community than I ever was able to relate to people in the monoracial community. Because I feel like our experiences of not belonging, of feeling the need to be shoved into a box, are very similar.”- anonymous Rep student B

VIEWS ON “HOW ASIANS LOOK LIKE” ARE PROBLEMATIC

Throughout this interview it has become clear that the various ways Asians are viewed by the public and media are extremely problematic. When people think of Asians the first thought that comes to their mind is either Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Due to this it puts people into categories based on how they look, often making biracial people feel left out and as if they don’t belong with others. 

“I do feel like Yellowface’s views on what Asian people look like are problematic, because people should not be put in categories based on how they look, especially based on their race. That’s very racist and it can make people feel very self-conscious, especially if it’s categorized in a negative way. This personally affects me because growing up, people were very racist to me, especially in elementary school. They would go up to me and [stretch my eyes out] and you know, they would make fun of me, they would call me names, and it did bring my self confidence down a lot, and I would have to talk about it with my mom multiple times, and she would have to explain to me, like, your race does not define you, the way you look does not define you, and be strong, don’t let it bother you.” - anonymous Rep student A

“I think Yellowface’s views on what Asians look like are very problematic, because it was constantly being said in the show, you know, Marcus doesn’t look particularly Asian. And him not looking Asian is sort of brushed off as a joke, ‘Oh, maybe he’s from Siberia,’ which is, quote on quote, ‘technically part of Asia’ it’s very much a part of Asia, and this also ties in a lot to the issue with this sort of very superficial view on what an Asian is. Like, all Asians only come from China, Japan, and Korea, and those are the only three notable countries. And all Asians only look like those from China, Japan, or Korea, and that’s very much not true. And this idea of having to ‘live as an Asian,’ for example, that Marcus could participate in the Asian community without having to ‘live as an Asian,’ that’s not the case for a lot of Asian people who look just like him. You know? And, in fact, me, as a biracial person, ‘cause I’ve always been finding ways to fit into various groups, or various categories, and I always felt like I had to look a certain way in order to be who I am. And that’s not true. That’s absolutely not true.”- anonymous Rep student B

REPRESENTATION OF THE BIRACIAL COMMUNITY IN YELLOWFACE

Currently, the overall consensus among a couple Rep students is that Yellowface is mostly successful in representing the biracial and monoracial Asian community. It demonstrates the hardships Asian people face whether with how they look to others, how “they are supposed to act,”, getting jobs and more. Yellowface represents the slick racism people tend to bring into the world and how they get away with it. Here are some of the interviewees' responses. 

“Yes, I do [feel represented by Yellowface] because people are constantly asking me, like, where I’m from, what type of Asian I am, without trying to be racist, if that makes sense. They’re always like ‘Oh, are you Chinese?’ and I’m like, ‘No, I’m not Chinese, I’m Korean.’ Growing up, I was always asked if I was Chinese because, for some reason, when people hear the name ‘Asian,’ they go straight to either, like, Chinese or Japanese and they don’t really give other cultures the same acknowledgment, and I feel like that’s kind of shown in Yellowface.” - anonymous Rep student A

“I am an East Asian, which is a very limited subcategory of Asia. So, as an East Asian, yes, I would find that I was accurately represented in Yellowface. However, the broad term of Asian, or just East Asian is something that, you can’t say that the majority of Asians could have related to this because the only ones that were being represented were East Asians. So I do think, while it was accurate to some Asians’ experiences, Yellowface still has a long way to go in terms of being inclusive and being representative of the entire Asian community.”- anonymous Rep student B

Check out the following sources to learn more about the struggles of biracials and Asian Americans, and help support our cause!

NBC News - ‘What are you?’ How multiracial Americans respond and how it’s changing

The number of multiracial Asian Americans is growing - and how the way they define themselves and talk about identity are also changing.

National Library of Medicine - Examining Multiracial Pride, Identity-based Challenges, and Discrimination: An Exploratory Investigation among Biracial Emerging Adults

This study investigated the main and interactive effects of identity-based challenges, discrimination, and Multiracial pride on psychological distress in Biracial emerging adults.

Harvard Kennedy School - Media Matters: Why Asian American Representation in Media is a Social Justice Issue

Media creates the narrative foundation for how people of color are perceived and treated in the real world. Negative portrayals have profound and insidious consequences, which is why this is not just a representation issue but also a social justice issue.