Asian Drivers: Difference between revisions

** British sketch show ''Not The Nine O'Clock News'' parodied what was then a commercial for FIAT cars with ''Designed By Computer.'' (shots of car in outline design rotating on computer screen) ''Built by Robots'' (Shots of cars on assembly line being tooled by long sophisticated robotic arm). ''But driven by Italians'' (Shots of rush-hour traffic in Rome and attendant motoring mayhem.)

 

* In the [[Nicolas Cage]] film ''[[Gone in Sixty Seconds]]'', one of the team members is now a driving instructor, and his most hopeless student is an Asian [[Women Drivers|woman]]. It's plain insulting.

* Hikaru Sulu accidentally leaves the Enterprise's external inertial dampers (basically a parking brake) on the Enterprise in ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek XI]]''. Luckily, it saves the ship.

** Averted completely in ''[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier]]'', when Sulu pulls off some ridiculous fancy [[Coming in Hot]] maneuvers with a shuttlecraft.

 

* ''[[Mad TV]]'': initially averted, then subverted in an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkCSbIJO3EQ "Average Asian" skit].

* The ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' sketch where David Mitchell receives a [[Brown Note|green clarinet that makes you tell embarrassing truths in verse]] has him retaliate against a woman who cuts in front of him in the supermarket checkout line by forcing her to confess:

* In one episode of ''[[Modern Family]]'', Lily's Asian pediatrician complains that her mother expected her to get married and be a mommy instead of having a career. She says "The only way she'll be happy is if I'm some Asian stereotype, but that just isn't me." Then she drives off, hitting Mitchel and Cameron's garbage pail and a car parked across the street.

* A stand-up comedian once did a bit about a car game called "Guess the Race of the Driver In Front of You" and says that no matter what, you will always guess the same thing every time: Chinese.

 

== Memes ==

* Madam Kim{{context}}

 

* Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani lampoons this [[N-Word Privileges|along with Middle Eastern stereotypes]]:

{{quote|"We're making progress in this country. You know how I know this? I saw a car commercial, and the driver was ''Asian.'' Good for that car company. They're taking a stand. They're saying 'No, Asians ''can'' drive, and they ''will'' drive - our cars.' Then I thought, maybe they're making kind of a racist statement, like, 'Our cars are so safe even Asians can drive them.' But still... I mean, you're never going to see a Middle Eastern pilot in an airline commercial. [putting on accent] 'Come fly the friendly skies... my friend.'"}}

* Indian-Canadian comic Russell Peters claims that he thinks the media perpetuates stereotypes more subtly in modern times. For example, on the news, if they show a car crash, the first person they cut to for a comment will be, if they can possibly manage it, an Asian person...

 

== Real Life ==

* Averted. Hard. With Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the [[Badass Driver|drift king]]. He invented drifting. He is the editorial supervisor for the ''[[Initial D]]'' anime. He even managed to drive [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|with one hand taped to the wheel with duct tape.]]

* But played straight in ''[[Formula One]]''. The category has had 24 drivers hailing from Asian countries (20 of them from Japan), and only three of them managed to score over 10 points throughout their career's spans (which, considering a career's time, is a measly total): Satoru Nakajima (16 points in five seasons), Takuma Sato (44 points in seven seasons) and Kamui Kobayashi (65 points in three seasons - granted, this was after F1's punctuation system was changed to one similar to what Indy uses).

* [[George Takei]] has lampshaded this trope on his Twitter.

{{quote|“I tell young people today, I broke that Asian driver stereotype decades ago [[Star Trek: The Original Series|by being the best helmsman in the galaxy]].”}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Motor Vehicle Tropes]]

[[Category:National Stereotyping Tropes]]

[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]