I'd hate to go against Angry Asian Man on this one.

... But let's see some of the wonderful commentary the last post has received in the last fourteen hours or so since I've written it. Two comments on this very site have advised me to "watch the show before you go calling for a protest," and that "that's actually what he does...he squints when he's about to teleport". Even Angry Asian Man himself can't seem to find fault in Kristin's offhanded remark, saying "he's squinty because, well... he squints." One anonymous commenter went far enough to say "lol you slants are such losers, lighten up"; needless to say, this one was just straight up removed.

Funny things, because I've seen every episode produced of this sometimes problematic show. Not only do I often write about Heroes on this blog, I do Heroes recaps for Racialicious through the lens of race. Hence, the claims that I don't watch the show or don't know better aren't so valid. For those who do watch the show and find the term "squinty" in line with what they see Hiro actually do, let's clear up some misconceptions. I'm not exactly a trigger-happy blogger.

If I weren't a regular watcher I would have included the few words following Kristin's "squinty" remark - calling him a "carp". However carp was clearly a reference to Adam Munroe's line about Hiro in the Primatech plant. So don't say I don't know this show.

According to the handy Merriam-Webster Online, to squint is to "to look or peer with eyes partly closed". The key point of this definition is that the act of squinting requires that you keep your eyes open. Does Hiro keep his eyes open while teleporting? No, he squeezes them shut. What he does while exercising his superpower resembles nothing close to "squinting".

A fine distinction, I know. But insignificant? Probably not. Does this flaw in word choice on the part of E!Online's Kristin point to a negligence in her writing or something more? As co-editor Marilla put it: If Masi weren't ethnically Japanese, would his "squinting" get pointed out? The analogy is to Matt Parkman, who squints and furrows his brows in order to read minds - but would he be labeled "squinty"? I wouldn't hesitate to say that calling someone of Asian descent "squinty" is actually a much bigger offense than it reasonably seems. Maybe nothing more than a word choice flaw, this still points to something greater.

Am I the only person "sensitive" enough to notice? Comment 188 on the E!Online site writes:

"Thank you David! I thought I was the only one who cared that she used the term "squinty." Most people here aren't Asian or don't care, I guess, but I'm with you. It's totally inappropriate."

"I do believe this is the 2nd racist comment that Kristin has made about Hiro in as many weeks. Last week she made fun of the way he talks and this week she called him "squinty." You may be his "friend" but please watch what you say about him. Maybe you don't think it was racist, but it kind of was. You could have just written " torment our favorite teleporter" and left out the "squinty" I think we would have known who you were talking about. Instead you use a word that could be construed as racist. Bad Kristin."

While I'd like to know what the first racist comment was that Kristin made about Masi Oka, I probably have more interesting things to write about. Still, if calling out someone on this insensitive remark is "making a big deal" of it, then as bloggers of color what are we really doing?

In a speculative post-finale article, E!Online series commentator Kristin writes this (warning: spoilers) about the fates of Heroes characters. She says, "our favorite squinty teleporter," referring to Masi Oka, the only main character of Asian descent.



Does this guy seem squinty to you? What are we to make of your brilliant skills of labeling people by visual characteristics, Kristin? If it's racist, then you're completely right, because calling people squinty, slitted-eyed or slanty is in fact not acceptable. If you'd like to know, last September AAA received death threats after the Minutemen incident - attacking us using exactly these terms. Therefore, it is impossible to stress the gravity of this situation.

I do believe a public apology is due, E!Online.

This time nothing even peripherally to do with Asian American issues (because Masi wasn't in this episode!), or the brain-eating Sylar for that matter, but you can read my Racialicious recap here.

Yes.










Hiro got some action... by far the most important part of Monday's episode. That's all I've got to say! Read the rest of my Racialicious recap here.

My first Heroes recap for Racialicious. (I'll begin to do this with other shows, too, but Lost and Battlestar Galactica recaps won't appear on Racialicious.) I hereby declare this the inaugural post of The Blaaag's TV Corner.

The introduction this season of new characters of color has become increasingly of interest in the discussion about race on this show. In this Monday’s episode, we have learned more about the Honduran siblings trying to immigrate illegally into the States. As strikingly, we see in this episode for the first time a family of hurricane survivors in New Orleans. All of these characters continue to carry the burdens of expectation and typecasting in their roles. Here is just a taste of this week’s racial undertones.

Siblings Alejandro and Maya are still trying to escape the apparent lawlessness of Central America-slash-Mexico, as portrayed oh-so-accurately with palm trees, sand, and run-down neighborhoods. Throughout much of the hour, the siblings drive up to the border in a very standout, product-placed Nissan Rogue, intended to be visually discordant against the backdrop of the depicted third-world. As they drive, they meet a stranger (the baddest villain of last season, but that’s not important here). Maya translates as Alejandro warns her in Spanish.

When we talk about stereotypes on television, all accusations can be legitimate if there are no other characters to defy the claims portrayed. Here, Maya and Alejandro are the only Hispanic characters on the show, (the one last season suffered a bad heroin addiction and was killed off) and, hence, qualities embedded in their characters can become statements about entire groups of people. So in this episode, some things were clear: Maya’s constant references to God and miracles, presumably as a Catholic and their constant struggle to illegally cross the border into the States… well, what does that say about Hispanics?

There were many questionable parts to this episode other than this ride through Mexico. We see for the first time this week a family in post-Katrina New Orleans, relatives with whom a mixed-race child named Micah from last season is staying. As the child adapts to his evidently strange, new cultural surroundings, he has to put up with a hostile boy who splashes water on his face and mocks him for his different, “whiter” accent. Along with the du-rag-wearing criminal that attempts to rob a store at the end of the episode, it’s hard to miss the obvious stereotypes of confrontational black males.

The situations introduced by this new household raises larger themes and concerns about the city of New Orleans - depicted as a place of poverty, failed healing, and broken dreams. Monica, the daughter of the family, has apparently stepped up as the breadwinner of the household, or as the mean boy puts it, “in charge because someone died and made [her] that way.” Her struggles with career advancement and hope are raised as a focus. As she sings “I Will Survive” in the store where she works, she is discouraged by a white friend and co-worker before ultimately being turned down for promotion by, conveniently, a black manager. Monica says, “It’s not right. One storm comes rolling through here and blows away my whole life: my mother, my college education, my dreams.” For wanting what she does, Monica is consoled by her friend, who says, “Given the situation, I’d say you’re pretty normal.” (Eerie resemblance to Bill O’Reilly’s comment about Sylvia’s, maybe.) Micah puts the cherry on top of the theme of hope, saying “I just wish I could fix your dreams for you,” a reference to his superpower - fixing electronics. Many kudos to the politicization of a science-fiction show (I think of Battlestar Galactica again) with a worthy issue like Katrina, but in the end is the televised activism of Katrina by white media producers truly necessary? (They do really happen not to be people of color.)

But not all things this episode were utterly wrong and disturbing. Concerning Monica’s friendship with her white colleague, I’m relieved that it is portrayed as genuine and long-lasting, for we’ve been shown something different lately by the media through Jena about the stenches of divisive racism in the South. (Not that it doesn’t exist, but it should at least make us happy to see something different.) Also, we continue to enjoy the sexualization of Hiro’s father Kaito, who is yet again hinted as having had a prolonged sexual history with a female supporting character. It’s nice to see on Heroes a statement so explicit against the emasculation of Asian males.

There were many troublesome details in this episodes of Heroes, and I hope I’ve done them all fair justice. Now I just want to ask readers: what is up with the song that Mohinder was singing? I thought the yogic mantra that played at times in the first season was cool, but… well, here I turn it over to Elton for next week.

Hey people. While we always do have many serious and heavy things to talk about here at The Blaaag, I have to say I've personally stepped into pursuits a little bit more, shall we say, frivolous...

(David, what the hell are you talking about?)

In short, I've begun my stint as Heroes recapper on the venerable blog Racialicious. Some of you might remember the piece I posted here about global representation on this show - well, now I've made an entire pastime of commenting on Heroes. Catch my intro post on Racialicious here. My first recap will be for tonight's episode on NBC 9pm Eastern.

As you might have been able to tell recently with our coverage of the Desperate Housewives insensitivity, we at The Blaaag are pretty big television geeks. One of our favorite shows is Heroes, and while it may be for a variety of reasons, we all know one thing: it's got some pretty messed up stereotypes in its characters of color.

So here I'm putting up a piece I wrote in hopes of gaining a spot as Heroes episode-recapper on Carmen Van Kerckhove's blog Racialicious. Enjoy.

From its inception as a global innovation in the fall of 2006, the show Heroes has been inextricably tied to its international and multi-ethnic set of characters and, hence, tricky issues of race and representation that few television programs have had the power to delve into. And at times, Heroes have felt to us viewers a sight a little awkward to observe. After all, this is the show where a Hispanic painter uses heroin to unlock his powers, and a black father, as devoted as he is to his wife and child, escapes from prison on charges of robbery and murder. As viewers who are still getting used to the growing diversity on shows like Lost and Ugly Betty, we know there’s something false about a diversity that still vigorously perpetuates such worn-out stereotypes.

The position of Heroes in maneuvering through this mess of racialized television was no more evident than in what was said at a panel discussion of Heroes at the San Diego Comic Convention this past summer. (You can watch the videos of the panel here.) Here, the producers and actors talked about their visions and justifications for some of the qualities that have made this show so successful (and so problematic.)

Future guest writer Kevin Smith appeared on the panel for a few moments to discuss his aspirations for working on the show. He described a conversation with creator Tim Kring in which he described his initial fascination with the “two gay heroes” on Heroes. Passing off his conception of these “Japanese dudes” (“they’re gay, right?”) as misunderstanding, he incited wave after wave of awkward laughter. Kevin Smith, however, was just the tip of the iceberg. A few minutes later, one audience member eventually asked something conclusively more direct.

Regarding these two Japanese characters, he asked, “Hiro’s a great character… at the same time, he and Ando are arguably the least traditionally masculine of the male characters in the past… I think it’s relevant given Kevin Smith’s joke when he came in here.” More awkward laughter erupted all around, from the panelists themselves as well. The interrogator pursues, “I just feel like there are certain situations that the two Asian characters are put in, such as getting knocked up by that stripper, or being the only two male characters not shown on screen completing a kiss with a girl… I just think that’s closely relevant.”

Masi Oka, the actor who portrays one of the Japanese characters, had only four words: “Wait until season two.” Doesn’t say too much about the show’s sense of racial awareness or lack thereof, but Masi’s certainly got me hooked on the second season.

In addition to the Hispanic druggie and the black convict, these emasculated Asian men are far from the only characters that will have, in a year of casting and storytelling, been typecast into haunting clichés. Two new characters for the second season include a pair of siblings seeking undocumented passage into the United States via Mexico and a black woman displaced by the Hurricane Katrina. The stereotypes don’t end with race; another audience member in San Diego asked if there would be any female leads not represented as “cheerleaders or strippers… or any other diminutive female stereotype”. After all of this, one could argue that there are few shows on television that stereotypically pigeonhole their characters as completely as does Heroes.

But the creators of Heroes might have offered a subtle rationale behind their choices during the San Diego panel. After receiving a compliment for assembling a multi-ethnic cast of actors, creator Tim Kring elaborated upon the meaning that national and ethnic diversity has for the story of Heroes. “We set out to make a certain statement about the world, and the basic premise of the show was … a true global event,” he said, “and so the idea of it happening to, you know, blonde-haired blue-eyed people in Southern California just seemed kind of disingenuous to the idea.” The pursuit of global representation of the human race definitely deserves kudos. Still, what vision of the world is Heroes offering us to embrace? Why does stereotype justify this higher meaning or goal?

To Kring, the world of Heroes is grounded in a particular reality that emphasizes our ability to relate to these featured protagonists. “People need to be able to relate to this show as though it could actually happen,” said Kring. “People look at these characters and have a sense that they look and feel like people that they know and went to school with.” While we might be able to see our friends and neighbors in these characters, as viewers we might realize something else. Our recognition of these characters stems inevitably from stereotypes already cemented in our imaginations by the media from which we have learned so much about our world in the first place. So would this “global” cast of characters truly remind us of classmates, neighbors, and friends? Unless we go to school on one continent and buy groceries on another, probably not.

Ultimately, this does not say that these characters bound by stereotype cannot transcend the limits of their expectations. Perhaps this is what Heroes attempts to do above all – to introduce to us characters we think we’ve seen before and, almost surprisingly, let us connect more with them than we had expected to. Certainly this doesn’t have to be done with stereotype after stereotype, but the end result – rising above a typecast image and showing what really matters – could just be worth the means. Let’s just hope first that Hiro the Japanese cubicle worker scores a girl soon.