I read an article in the March 5th New York Times about young Asian pop singers and their difficulty in making it "big." I agree that the pop music scene in the U.S. and Western Europe would be a tough nut to crack especially for an Asian male.
Female Asians will do much better because, frankly, female Asians are almost wholly accepted in the non-Asian world and universally regarded as sexy. No one seems to turn ones head when a non-Asian male dates an Asian female but somehow it's a little harder to take the other way around. Watching a video by a "hot" Asian female singer just seems a lot sexier than picturing an Asian male doing the same thing, you know? I just can't imagine saying, "Oh yeah, baby, let me pop in the George Kang and take you on a journey."
Right now, Asian pop stars are few and far between ... probably Amelie is the most well known and she's half-Korean. I can't really think of any others. In rock, it's a slightly different story namely because of the target audience. For indie rock fans it's easier to accept the likes of Jame Iha, Joseph Hahn or Mike Shinoda since they all inhabit, to some extent, some alternative sub-culture where race rarely comes into play.
In most other fields of entertainment, it's just a matter of time as Asians are so much more assimilated with this generation. When I was growing up, you basically had Soon Taek-Oh playing the bad guys and that was it for Korean actors in Hollywood. Now you have Daniel Dae Kim in People magazine and in Gap ads along with Wentworth Miller and Chris O'Donnell ... that's a huge thing. I used to say that Koreans needed a true badass in Hollywood and, that being said, I think Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica is taking us all to the promised land.
-Pat in Seoul
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I'm not sure I agree completely. I think there's just too much being made of the lack of Asian American entertainment/TV/media stars. I just don't think it's that big of a deal. Asian Americans make up only about 3% of the entire population and our culture instills academic excellence over other creative venues. Call me a bore, but I'm more inclined to pay attention to Korean American representation in the areas that have more substantive impact in how we live - CEOs, politicians, federal judges, government prosecutors, writers, artists, philanthropists, community builders, scientists, etc.
Whether it is entertainment, politics, business, the arts, the assimilation of Korean Americans is quickly resulting in more high profile leaders in these fields. Intelligence and hard work is not a question but rather knowing how to navigate this world which only comes with experience. The smartest person armed only with book smarts is not necessarily going to make it to the top.
Anyway, this post was more in specific response to the article in the NY Times about Asians in pop music so was focused mostly on popular entertainment. Koreans are very well represented in the "higher" arts like classical music. Living in Seoul, I guess I wouldn't be able to gauge the fact that there is "too much being made of the lack of Asian American entertainment/TV/media stars."
I also wouldn't say it's boring to want to focus on those people making a "substantive" impact on the way we live though, of course, this is a completely subjective notion. To some people, it might be important and some contributors to this blog are in the thick of the popular entertainment field trying to "make it" and will, I'm sure, have a lot to say about their experiences.
That being said, we'll surely be talking about the Henry Kohs, the Chang Rae Lees and politics in the future.
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