Yin on Microaggresstions Against Asian-Americans in Hollywood...and Law Schools

Tung Yin, Lewis & Clark Law School, Boley Law Library, has published Microaggressions Against Asian-Americans in Hollywood…and Law Schools at 33 Asian American Law Journal 1 (2026). Here is the abstract.

Hollywood movies and television shows have a long history of offensive portrayals of Asian-Americans and Asians-what we now call microaggressions. In the 21st century, a new form of microaggression has emerged: taking Asian-American or Asian stories and erasing the Asian presence in favor of (usually) white characters, ostensibly on the grounds that Asian actors are not bankable. For example, the 2022 action thriller Bullet Train took a Japanese novel about Japanese professional killers on a shinkansen (bullet train) and kept the Tokyo setting, but cast white, Black, and Latino actors in most of the roles-a diverse group, but one that is not going to blend into the Japanese crowd. Intended or not, the lesson that Asian-Americans might draw is that our stories are not worth telling unless they involve people other than Asians.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.