{"id":18181,"date":"2014-12-22T21:12:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T21:12:58","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-12-31T22:01:17","modified_gmt":"2014-12-31T22:01:17","slug":"That-SNL-Asian-American-Doll-skit-","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=18181","title":{"rendered":"That SNL Asian American Doll skit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nBy now, no doubt, many of you have seen this faux commercial for \u201cAsian American Doll\u201d that aired on <i>Saturday Night Live<\/i> last weekend:<\/p>\n<p><iframe width='500' height='360' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' src='https:\/\/screen.yahoo.com\/asian-american-doll-102413051.html?format=embed' allowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' allowtransparency='true'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For international viewers<br \/>\n<iframe width=\"500\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5F8HsssYlks?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been a lot of discussion about the segment among Asian Americans, and opinions vary from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/asian-america\/snl-doll-sketch-straight-satire-or-pushing-stereotypes-n273111\"> \u201cIt\u2019s funny and shows our clout\u201d<\/a> (e.g., the <i>Wall Street Journal<\/i>\u2019s Jeff Yang), to <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.angryasianman.com\/2014\/12\/snls-asian-american-doll-doll-thats.html\">\u201cA bigger issue is a lack of Asian American representation on the show itself\u201d<\/a> (e.g., AngryAsianMan.com\u2019s Phil Yu), to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/asian-america\/snl-doll-sketch-straight-satire-or-pushing-stereotypes-n273111\"> \u201cMeh\u201d <\/a>(e.g., 8Asians.com\u2019s Joz Wang). <\/p>\n<p>My wife and I thought it was quite funny. That\u2019s partly because the sketch gets a lot right \u2013 we Asian Americans, as Jeff Yang says, are becoming better known for speaking out. I tell folks to just take a look at <a href=\"http:\/\/Yelp.com\"> Yelp.com.<\/a> Asian Americans dominate Yelp! We are online <i>a lot<\/i> and willing to give a loud thumbs-down when we don\u2019t get our money\u2019s worth. <\/p>\n<p>The faux <i>SNL<\/i> ad is also correct that a toy company would get a significant backlash if it mishandled the cultural portrayal of a Native American doll. My Native activist friends would respond quickly, and I would be right there with them. (I\u2019ve previously written several times <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rebelmouse.com\/EugeneHung\/Asiance\">about the misappropriation of Native culture.<\/a>) The company would indeed not hear the end of it, nor should it \u2013 at least not until it showed a good faith effort to portray Native culture respectfully and accurately. <\/p>\n<p>I also liked the mom character, well played by <i>SNL<\/i>\u2019s Vanessa Bayer. The mom represents a person I have not often met in real life \u2013 a white person who\u2019s knowledgeable about micro-aggressions, and takes care to avoid them. Most white people I\u2019ve known at least know that they shouldn\u2019t use the term <i>chink<\/i> to refer to Asians, or that it\u2019s highly offensive to mock us with \u201cching chong, ding dong\u201d gibberish. Those are among the more obvious slurs. But relatively few understand, more subtly, that the Model Minority tag is harmful, and it\u2019s one that we resist for a slew of good reasons. Few also get that we hate it when we\u2019re asked where we\u2019re <i>really<\/i> from.<\/p>\n<p>The greatest bit of irony to me about the commercial \u2013 and it\u2019s probably <i>not<\/i> what the <i>SNL<\/i> script writers were attempting to skewer \u2013 is that there\u2019s no major toy company out there that actually would do this. The big toy companies usually just do what they want to do, and they rarely recall or change racially offensive toys. It would actually be nice if they showed just some of the sensitivity possessed by the fictional makers of <i>SNL\u2019s<\/i> Asian American Doll. And once in a while, a toy company has indeed been responsive. But by and large, when consumers complain about racial stereotypes, or about the misrepresentation or misappropriation of cultures, the big toy companies shrug and say, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.takepart.com\/article\/2014\/12\/21\/snls-asian-american-doll\">\u201cWell, we can\u2019t please everyone.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Such was the case earlier this year when Mattel discontinued, or rather, \u201carchived\u201d Ivy Ling, the only Asian American doll in the American Girl historical doll series. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation-now\/2014\/12\/10\/changing-face-dolls-diversity-american-girl\/18004191\">The move sparked a substantial degree of protest from Asian American girls and their parents.<\/a> Two sisters, Taylor and Ayden Her of Minnesota, started a <a href=\"http:\/\/action.18mr.org\/americangirl\/?source=oldlink\"> petition through 18 Million Rising,<\/a> an Asian American advocacy organization, asking Mattel to produce another Asian American historical doll. To date, they\u2019ve collected over 2700 signatures. To my knowledge, Mattel\u2019s response has simply been to say they appreciate the feedback, and that they take customer opinions into account when planning future products.<\/p>\n<p>In fairness, Mattel has demonstrated some cultural sensitivity in the past.  The books about its historical character and doll Kaya, a Nez Perce girl living in the 1760s, <a href=\"http:\/\/usatoday30.usatoday.com\/life\/2002-08-11-kaya_x.htm\">were written in consultation with the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.<\/a> And the one book that centered on Ivy Ling was written by an <a href=\"http:\/\/lisayee.com\"> Asian American author, Lisa Yee.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But these days, Mattel appears to be entrenched in the usual toy company practice of doing its own thing, and paying little mind to what Asian Americans have said. If only it were half as responsive as the toy company in the <i>SNL<\/i> sketch!<\/p>\n<p>How do I know Mattel is \u201centrenched\u201d? Well, earlier this year it retired Ivy, the only Asian American historical doll, right? Just a couple of months ago, Mattel brought back a previously archived doll \u2013 a white one named Samantha Parkington.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, you can\u2019t please everyone, Mattel, but couldn\u2019t you at least look like you\u2019re trying? <\/p>\n<p>\n<i>Eugene Hung has written the Raising Asian American Daughters blog here on AsianceMagazine.com since early 2013. He also serves as the lead organizer in the Los Angeles area for the Man Up Campaign, a nonprofit that mobilizes men worldwide to stop violence against women and girls in their communities. Follow him on Twitter via <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/eughung\"> @eughung.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By now, no doubt, many of you have seen this faux commercial for \u201cAsian American Doll\u201d that aired on Saturday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11068,"featured_media":72448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"4","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"By now, no doubt, many of you have seen this faux commercial for \u201cAsian American Doll\u201d that aired on Saturday","magazineBlocksPostCategories":[],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":200,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":5,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"medium":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u.jpg",113,170,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/u-113x150.jpg",113,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?author=11068"},"magazine_blocks_comment":4,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}