Asian Airhead: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Jamie.jpg|frame| That sound you hear [[In One Ear, Out the Other|is the wind rushing between her ears]].]]

 

{{quote|'''Student #1:''' ''She's cute, but why is she staring into space?''

 

A stereotype used in various media, mainly within the last few decades. More or less, the Asian equivalent of a [[Dumb Blonde]].

{{examples}}

== Type One ==

* Ultimate Wasp from ''[[The Ultimates]]'', re-imagined as a Chinese-American woman, came off like this sometimes. While she was a brilliant scientist, her life and relationship choices were often ill-advised... to put it charitably. ''Ultimates 3'' saw her devolve into a superpowered [[Alpha Bitch|high-school queen bitch]], minus the high-school.

** Although somewhere along the line everyone (or at least the artist) forgot she wasn't Caucasian, reversing her initial [[Race Lift]] without explanation.

*** This is referenced in the [[A Day at the Bizarro|alternate dimension]] episode, where the girls are their original intended roles.

** That said, [[Brenda Song]] basically plays this part in every Disney channel show she's ever worked on. She played a ''vaguely'' competent person in her own movie ''[[Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior]]''. Key word there being [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|vaguely.]] Who still ended up blowing off saving the world in favor of being crowned 'Homecoming Queen'. Although, she eventually saw the light after a very mild metaphorical slap across the face. She wasn't too stupid in ''Stuck in the Suburbs'' either. Her breakout role on Nickelodeon's ''[[100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd|One Hundred Deeds for Eddie Mcdowd]]'' had her [[Asian and Nerdy|in a more stereotypical Asian role]].

* On the show ''[[Salute Your Shorts]]'', the de facto [[Alpha Bitch|queen bitch of camp]], was Dina Alexander. Played by Chinese-American actress Heidi Lucas, she was in effect a mirror image of London Tipton years before the latter character was created. Dim witted, easily manipulated, vain and yet also universally considered beautiful and popular by her peers. Also a [[Rich Bitch]], she gets some [[Defrosting Ice Queen|minor development]] on a pity date with the hoggish [[Butt Monkey]] of the show. Subverted in that she's not a total [[Alpha Bitch]] and lacks prominently Asian features or even an Asian surname.

* [[Anna Maria Perez De Tagle]] has this in her resume when she started. A list of her characters with this trope:

** The same actress who played Miracle also played Ashley Dewitt on ''[[Hannah Montana]]''. Basically the same character, but much stupider, with a different name.

** Same idea, same actress with her ''[[Camp Rock]]'' role. It's a miracle there haven't been mass protests at Disney yet.

* Sui Blake from ''One World.''

* Piper Bauman from ''[[Married... with Children]]'', Kelly's rival in the competition for a Allente car spokesperson.

 

 

* Suki from ''[[Vampire Cheerleaders]]''. She got looks, and knows how to use 'em. But while generally leaning toward the nice side of the spectrum - outside [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] or other excitement - she's thoughtless. Like... well... a stereotypical cheerleader. And with vampire powers - [[Unfit for Greatness|dangerously thoughtless]].

 

 

 

* Jubilee, a Chinese valley girl and member of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' who can shoot bolts of explosive energy from her fingertips. For the vast majority of her existence, she is personified as a flighty mall rat who also happens to be gorgeous.

** Jubilee has always been described as, at best, vaguely pretty and while she isn't good with numbers (a deliberate subversion of the [[Asian and Nerdy]] trope) she's also a brilliant strategist. She's an underachiever and general trouble maker, but not stupid. Nor is she rich, being a homeless orphan who was in and out of juvie for a few years before being picked up by the X-Men.

* At the end of ''[[Mean Girls]]'', the members of the primary [[Girl Posse]], the Plastics, have broken up. In the case of Gretchen, she finds herself a new [[Girl Posse]] composed of stylish Asian girls. The last scene shows Gretchen ass-kissing in Vietnamese.

** The Asian girls who also had a [[Cat Fight]] after finding out [[Unfortunate Implications|they were all secretly sleeping with the coach.]] The movie also noted that "Asian nerds" and "cool Asians" were separate cliques at that school.

 

 

* On ''[[Glee]]'' with Mike Chang, who is in great shape, a football player, and an excellent dancer.

* On ''[[The Walking Dead]]'' with Glenn, who made a living delivering pizzas before the [[Zombie Apocalypse]].

 

 

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'': One-off background character Naomi Nguyen, though we aren't given any hints that she's Asian within the show (the last name is only present [[All There in the Manual|in show notes]], and she doesn't look remotely Asian).

* Lee Lee, one of Dee Dee's friends in ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]''. Though, to be fair, she just has the exact same personality as Dee Dee and all her other friends.

 

{{reflist}}