Meghan attacks Asian ‘dragon lady’ trope

Austin Powers trilogy denounced by Duchess in podcast on stereotypes of fierce Asian women

The Duchess of Sussex has criticised the “over-sexualised or aggressive” caricatures of Asian women portrayed in pop culture, pointing to the Austin Powers spoofs of 1960s spy films and the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill as examples. In her Archetypes podcast, Meghan called the “dragon lady” trope “toxic”. “The power and the impact of these stereotypes that have the ability to strip away the humanity of entire groups of people… it cannot be underestimated,” she said.

THE Austin Powers trilogy was a wellknown spoof that skewered many stereotypes portrayed in 1960s spy films.

But its less than subtle humour has been called out by the Duchess of Sussex, who criticised the “over-sexualised or aggressive” caricatures of Asian women portrayed in pop culture.

In the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast, Meghan explored the “dragon lady” trope, warning that such “toxic” stereotyping on screen does not end when the credits roll.

“The power and the impact of these stereotypes that have the ability to strip away the humanity of entire groups of people… it cannot be underestimated,” she said. “People, all people, are multidimensional and layered.”

The latest episode of the podcast, featuring conversations with journalist Lisa Ling and comedian Margaret Cho, was released yesterday after a four- week break after the death of the Queen.

The Duchess recalled growing up in Los Angeles, where she used to visit a Korean spa with her mother, Doria Ragland. She said: “It’s a very humbling experience for a girl going through puberty because you enter a room with women from ages nine to maybe 90, all walking around naked and waiting to get a body scrub on one of these tables that are all lined up in a row.”

The Duchess said it was not until years later that she learnt about “the stigmas and archetypes” women of Asian descent faced. Clips from Austin Powers and Kill Bill, each involving actresses of Asian descent, were used to illustrate her point.

In Kill Bill, the character O-ren Ishii, played by Lucy Liu, decapitated crime boss Tanaka with a samurai sword, saying: “The price you pay for bringing up either my Chinese or American heritage as a negative is: I collect your f------ head.”

In Austin Powers, Austin was asked by a character called Fook Mi, played by Diane Mizota, for his autograph. When she told him her name, he replied: “Oh behave, baby.”

The Duchess said: “Movies like Austin Powers and Kill Bill presented these caricatures of women of Asian descent as often-times over-sexualised or aggressive.”

In an interview with a Californian newspaper published that year, Mizota said: “If it was in a different movie, they could be considered a stereotype. But it’s Austin Powers. It’s supposed to be funny and over the top.”

The Japanese Fook twins appear in the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember, released in 2002. Mizota recruited Carrie Ann Inaba to play her twin, Fook Yu, in the film. Inaba told ABC News in May: “When I hear the commentary that’s out there, it scares me, because I think comedy is important to have. I think we must be able to laugh at ourselves.”

Ria Lina, a British comedian whose mother is from the Philippines, has spoken about the Austin Powers characters. She said:

“The only reason the twins in Austin Powers were Asian was for the play on their names. They could have been ginger or blonde. Those characters were created solely for sexual innuendo.”

She added: “You can’t look at stereotypes in isolation without acknowledging that there is going to be some kind of history or truth to it. These examples [on Archetypes] have been picked to suit a purpose but by picking a wider range, the discussion would have been richer.”

Cho said the “dragon lady” trope was similar to the femme fatale, in that it portrayed women who were both beautiful and deadly. “It is so pinned to this idea that Asianness is an inherent threat, that our foreignness is somehow gonna get you,” she said.

“The mystery and the exoticism of it is part of it. And unfortunately that trope has really stuck to film

but also to Asian women.”