The Brain, the Brute, the Guru, the Kamikaze, the Lotus Blossom, the Manipulator and the Temptress; these are the eight main character types Asian Americans were depicted as for almost half a century in comic books.
The new exhibit “Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986,” visiting the Japanese American National Museum through Feb. 9. examines these archetypes in hundreds of comics depicting Asians donated from the collection of sci-fi writer, William F. Wu.
According to the exhibition curator, Jeff Yang, the archetypes are largely negative.
“This reflected the time frame — a period when the view of Asians was shaped by racist, xenophobic wartime propaganda,” Yang said.
However, Yang says that since the 80s the comics world has grown more diverse. The old archetypes remain, but the Asian characters depicted are richer, complicated and multifaceted.
To read more about the exhibit, see the article from the LA Times.