Asian Drivers: Difference between revisions

== Anime and Manga ==

 

** 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 desgn 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 attendent 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.

** This would be a more impressive example of a stereotype if it weren't for Kirk's ridiculously bad driving in the Star Trek TV Episode "A Piece of the Action," and the fact that Sulu "drives" the ship throughout the series. Why would a starship pilot know how to drive a car?

 

== Live Action TV ==

{{quote| '''Pam''': Okay, if I have to do this, based on stereotypes that are totally untrue and that I do not agree with, you would maybe... not be a very good driver.<br />

'''Dwight''': Aw, man! Am I a woman? }}

* 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 ==

* 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).

* [http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/10/not-news-south-korean-woman-passes-driving-test-news/ South Korean woman passes driving test after 950 attempts.]

* Many Filipinos actually take some twisted pride in their reputation for bad driving. One favorite joke is "Westerners say Filipinos don't know how to drive. Filipinos say Westerners don't know how to survive." Some variation of the joke is also present in India, Vietnam, and, well, pretty much every Asian country with high traffic density and poor enforcement of motoring laws.

** In the Philippines, traffic laws are so lax, they're only enforced in "traffic discipline zones", normally large busy intersections in dense urban areas, which are clearly marked with signs all around.

* Japan is the only developed country where more people are killed ''by'' cars than in them. This is most likely because a lot of surface roads in Japan are ridiculously narrow and don't have sidewalks.

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

 

== Western Animation ==

 

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' includes this in a no-holds-barred barrage of Asian stereotypes (against Ling-Ling, the Pikachu-looking monster), ''all'' of which are apparently caused by the shape of the eyes.

* One ''[[King of the Hill]]'' has Hank go to a "[[wikipedia:Def|Def]]-ensive Driving" course in search of a driving course without any gimmicks, only to discover that it is a Live At The Apollo-esque stand-up class. The "instructor" states that one of the most heinous mistakes he sees on the road is "DWO: Driving While Oriental".

{{quote| '''Kahn:''' Ooh, cheap shot.}}

** "How can Santa be Asian? He doesn't drive around at 20 miles an hour with his left blinker on!"

** The NASCAR in China gag, where the whole field piles up at the drop of the green flag, then all the drivers start arguing with each other about who was at fault.

 

{{reflist}}