The Asian Screen Test

by Sylvie Shaw

In the early 1990s, the Federal Government was keen to build stronger bridges to Asia. The Hawke-Keating governments of the time wanted to establish tighter economic relationships with Asia. Countries like Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan were growing rapidly in industry and manufacturing and Ausrralia saw opportunity. Asia was no longer seen as a threat to keep out - as governments had done from 1901's White Australia Policy.

The early 1990s marked a loosening of ties to Britain, and a strengthening of relationships with Asia through a reduction of trade barriers, increased immigration, promotion of Asian language learning in schools, and a growth of tourism from Asia, especially from Japan. 

During this period I was asked by a group at Melbourne University, Asialink, to look at what was happening in the media at the time - about Asia and Asians. How were they represented?

I thought this work would be easy. I imagined that there would be a lot of research material about representation of Asians in the media. But what was not the case. I certainly found the negatively stereotyped cartoons from the 1890s about Asia being depicted as a giant octopus reaching its tentacles into the heart of Australia. 

I visited the Chinese Museums in Melbourne and Bendigo and learnt of the history of the Chinese in Australia. I'd begun this historical journey as I had been picnicking on the side of the road in northern Victoria with a group of friends. We were on the edge of a cemetry in Beechworth and It was there that I saw a large number of small gravestones and wondered whose they were.

There was a small museum at Beeachworth and I learnt about a part of Australia's history that I did not know well - that a huge influx of Chinese mostly men, indentured labour, many from Canton, arrived in the colonies - Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland - during the 1850s and 1860s on the quest for gold.

In the Melbourne Chinese Museum, I stood in front of a huge painting of a very long queue, stretching way into the distance, of seemingly thousands of Chinese men loaded with goods, on their way to the goldfields.

What I also learned from the various museums I visited and books I read was that the experience of the Chinese miners was also filled with racism and violence. Other gold prospectors were critical of their mining methods, their different clothing and appearance, their hard work, and the way the Chinese practised their religion. In an effort to curb the numbers of Chinese coming to Australia for gold, various colonial authorities passed legislation to restrict immigration from China and imposed high taxes and fees, but only for the Chinese.

When the gold petered out, not all the miners went back to China. Those who remained established businesses, created market gardens, dispensed herbs, opened restaurants, and became part of the local community. But they continued to face discrimination. Anti-Chinese campaigns grew during the 1880s and 90s with movements to boycott local Chinese businesses and products. Mass rallies were held, especially in Sydney, calling for increased restrictions against the Chinese. In 1901, the Immigration Restriction Act was passed.
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By the late 1980s and early 1990s, pockets of anti-Asian bias remained. But they were disappearing in the midst of increased immigration to Australia and a government intent on building trade and economic links with Asia. In 1989 the government commissioned a report from Professor Ross Garnaut, who recently headed the report on climate change. Known as the 'Garnaut report', it promoted Asia's growing prosperity and recommended the Australian community should become Asia-literate.

As part of this shift in policy and outlook, I was asked to develop a research project around Asia and Asians in the media. This was done in two ways - the first was to work with filmmakers, bringing Asian and Australian filmmakers together to discuss ways to enhance the image of Asians in Australian film. I worked with Chinese film expert, Chris Berry, and we ran a successful roundtable seminar to discuss the issue and ways to shift the limited representation of Asia on screen. An outcome of this meeting was a report called 'No Koalas Please'. It reviewed the image in Asia of Australia as a tourist destination to see animals, the reef and the outback and called for change to more realistic and contemporary media representations - of both Asia and Australia.

For the second part of the project I ran workshops with local television producers, direcrtors and actors, again to raise the profile of Asia in Australian soapies particularly and other programs as well. One of the results of this research became an article in the local film zine, Cinema Papers. It was called The Asian Screen Test. The article examined the role and representation of Asia in film and teleivision, focusing especially on the eroticism and exoticism of storylines and images, the martial arts stereotype, and the notion of the inscrutible and wise elder (e.g. Karate Kid, Ninja Turtles).

The research project was conducted at the same time as other projects scrutinizing the media around all aspects of multiculturalism and ethnicity. The question I still think about when I watch TV 20 years after doing the project is where are the Asians on Australian television and film? What roles do they play (e.g. newsreading on SBS)? And why is there still a tendency in ads and other shows to rarely show the diversity of Australians?

Questions:
- How are Asia and Asians currently represented on Australian television?
- What roles do they play on screen?
- Why has SBS introduced 'Pop Asia' while other stations have all but stopped their weekend video hit shows?
- Why was the film Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon important in Hollywood?
- What is your favourite Asian film?
- Have you seen a change in the way Asia and Asians are shown in film and television - and in what ways?

References
Shaw, S. 1990. No Koalas Please. Canberra. Commonwealth of Australia. 
Shaw, S. 1992. The Asian Screen Test, Cinema Papers, March.