ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the representation of Asian Americans in Hollywood films in the new century, and what impact Asian American filmmakers have had in this endeavor. Hollywood has traditionally depicted Asians and Asian Americans as interchangeable and malleable, capable of turning from good to evil in an instant. Few Hollywood films present the cumulative effects of racism, both for its victims as well as the unjust enrichment enjoyed by its perpetrators. In accordance with Beltrn, the chapter shows that contemporary Hollywood images of Asian Americans in films such as the Fast & Furious films: notions of race in contradictory ways. They reinforce Hollywood traditions of white-centrism, reinforcing notions of White mastery while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent youth who fuel race-car and other commercial youth cultures. Media outlets assisted in the transmission of this message, including Hollywood movies.
