Interracial Intimacy: Hegemonic Construction of Asian American and Black Relationships on TV Medical Dramas

Abstract

This article examines the representations of Black and Asian interracial relationships on prime-time television dramas, ER and Grey's Anatomy. Interracial relationships are still a very small percentage of relationships depicted on television, and Black and Asian couplings represent an even smaller fraction, which makes examining the discourses surrounding these relationships valuable and illuminating. Using a close textual analysis of the discursive strategies that frame the representation of the Black and Asian characters in general, and the representations of their relationships with each other in the dramas specifically, I argue that the narrative arcs and racialized tropes maintain hegemonic racial hierarchies. The representations have the potential to be progressive and/or transgressive, but the death and destruction meted out to the couples ensures no couple reaches the dominant culture's idea for romantic relationships: marriage and a baby.

KEYTERMS:

• African Americans stereotypes
• Asian television characters
• Blasians
• interracial relationships
• television dramas

Notes

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1; 87 S. Ct. 1817; 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010 (1967).

Throughout the article, I will use multiracial to refer to both bi- and multiracial groups as a convenience, although aware of many different ways these terms have differing meanings.

Lost: Bernard & Rose; Will & Grace: Will & James, Grace & Ben; CSI: Warrick & Catherine; Sex and the City: Miranda & Robert; Friends: Ross & Charlie; Life on Mars: Sam & Maya; My Name is Earl: Joy & Darnell; Cold Case: Nick & Toni; House: Foreman & 13; Supernatural: Dean & Cassie; Scrubs: Turk & Carla; Six Feet Under: Keith & David; The L-Word: Bette & Tina, Shane & Carmen, Alice & Tasha, Kit & Angus, Kit & Ivan; Ugly Betty: Betty & Henry, Betty & Walter, Wilhemina & Connor; West Wing: Charlie & Zoë; The Wire: Daniels & Pearlman; Grey's Anatomy: Torres & O'Malley, Torres & Hahn, Torres & Sloan; Desperate Housewives: Edie & Carlos, Gabrielle & John, Gabrielle & Victor.

McFarland (2006a); Oldenburg (2005); Barney (2006); Jayson (2006).

An acknowledgement is needed regarding the term Asian. It is a problematic term because it subsumes the disparate identities of the various nations and peoples located in the same general geographic area under the panethnic umbrella of “Asian.” Certainly for critics like Yen Le Espiritu, this label is distinctively American and it both brings together the diverse Asian ethnicities and highlights their individuality. Obviously, this article recognizes that the Indian, Korean, and Chinese identities of the actresses in ER and Grey's Anatomy come with their own unique cultural and ethnic materialities that deserve to be analyzed independently. However, the findings from the separate critiques of their characters would in all likelihood share the same conclusion; as such, they are grouped together here.

See http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/bios.