From the article:
Reality cooking and travel shows highlight the limitations of Asian stock characters, a recent study by an Indiana University researcher finds. Korean American contestants on reality cooking shows are active cultural producers, not passive consumers of both Korean and American culture.Read it in full.
Rather than relying on stereotypes, Korean Americans featured on two shows take on iconoclastic portrayals of either a “bad Korean,” a male in his late 30s who exudes an edgy, bad-boy vibe within the Korean cultural context; or a “shifting Korean,” the female counterpart based on Beverly Kim’s character on “Top Chef.” The “shifting Korean” uses racial stereotypes to her advantage to advance in cooking competitions.
The adoption of these gendered tropes creates a new space for diversified Korean American televisual images, according to the study co-authored by Chi-Hoon Kim, a Ph.D. candidate in food studies in the IU Bloomington Department of Anthropology.
