Tiffany from Bunk’d: the Epitome of the Smart Asian Stereotype

 

    The smart Asian stereotype is a prime example of a positive, racial stereotype. The assumption that “all Asian Americans are smart” seems like an uplifting compliment, but in reality creates a disturbing, distorted perception of the Asian American community that does more harm than good. 

    Tiffany from Bunk’d is one of the most exaggerated, most spot-on embodiments of this stereotype. How do I know this? Well, all of the jokes written in the show for her are about her obsession with academics, or her fear of her tiger mom that generates her drive to be book-smart, the fact that she’s only academically intelligent but lacks socially/emotionally intelligence, and lastly— I was the one who played her on TV.

    

    As an 11 year old actress just starting to make my way into the film industry in 2016, I was pretty clueless to the repercussions that taking on the role would have to the entire Asian American community. Looking back on the role now 7 years later as a future aspiring screenwriter myself, I along with the rest of society can see how Tiffany’s character is a racially inaccurate, harmful positive stereotype.

    Tiffany’s positive trait— her book smart intelligence— is not meant to be an admirable trait. She wasn’t written to be a character to be looked up to, but a character to be laughed at for her obsession with school. This stereotype is extremely harmful to the Asian American community because it downplays the actual relationships that Asian American children have with their immigrant parents, and why there IS this culture of wanting to or needing to succeed academically/professionally within the Asian American community. The show offers no deeper explanation as to WHY Tiffany feels the need to be “smart”— only that she needs to appease her strict mother. When in reality there is a much more complex relationship between Asian American children and their immigrant parents; the drive to succeed stems from a deep yearning to achieve everything that their parents weren’t able to achieve in America because of their immigrant status, or because of the language barrier. Simply dismissing that Tiffany’s relationship with her mother is strained because her mother is a “tiger mom” completely ignores this reality. 

    This stereotype also reinforces an idea that, if an Asian American is actually academically talented, that their talent magically comes from their “Asianness.” It allows people to dismiss all the hours of extra work that individuals spent to achieve what they’ve been able to achieve and blame their success on their race. 

    “However, when an Asian person accomplishes something in STEM, their accomplishment gets attributed to their race, and some people will even say that they were only able to do that because they are Asian. Not because they are a well-educated, curious person with good problem-solving skills, but simply because they are Asian.”

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/why-the-smart-asian-stereotype-not-flattering