In the past year, prominent NBA player Yuki Kawamura has received global acclamation for his performance on the court. Despite being labeled as the shortest NBA player in the league at 5’8’, Yuki overcame expectations of the league with his sharp maneuverability, strategic thinking and mental discipline, and his performance as a point guard. In the 2024 Olympics, he performed with an average of 20.3 points in the game- casting him the honorary title as a prodigy for his country. On October 19th, 2024, Yuki signed a two-way contract to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, making history as the fourth Japanese-born athlete in the NBA. Despite these historic successes, the medias’ commentary associated with Yui about his ethnicity and height, underscores his athleticism. This is a demonstration of how Asian athletes are still being subjected by dominate narratives in the media about their background, physicality and masculinity in contrast to their Western peers, reinforcing limited perspectives about the potential success of Asian players not meeting the expectations by the Western standards of athletes.
Today, popular culture serves as a tool to actively push for better representation of different industries. For example, in the Hollywood industry, they’ve made efforts to cast a variety of actors from marginalized communities to increase social awareness, amplify voices and craft diverse stories, cultivating a space of innovation, talent and shared creativity. Accomplished films like Crazy Rich Asians, have helped reshape stereotypical narratives of the Asian culture that is not often depicted by Western media, through the wealthy and glamorous lifestyles. However, this progression isn’t reflected for Asian athletes in the sport industry. Their success is often highlighted in the media narratives and reductive portrayals about their diligence, strategic thinking, and mental discipline over their athletic prowess. For instance, Yuki is constantly portrayed by several media outlets as the “underdog” due to his physical stature not meeting the traditional standards of the NBA’s long-legged athletes. His success is constantly preoccupied by his "offensive IQ” in the league, rather than for this talent and skills on the court. On the other hand, Western stars like Stephen Curry also considered on the shorter side for the NBA, are seen in a more positive spotlight and the archetype of NBA’s standards in execution, skill, and talent in the court. There is a contrasting difference between how two athletes are being celebrated for their mark in sports where Asian athletes’ accomplishments and execution is belittled over Western players.
The media’s portrayals of Asian athletes, evokes the concept of controlling images, which is when marginalized groups are being reinforced by stereotypical narratives from dominant groups of people (Lindermann, 2022, p.132). The idea that these controlling images comes across as natural the more the media adds to it. This ties into the idea how the more each media outlet draws bigger attention to Kawamura’s height and tactical plays, the more normalized this preconceive notion will become about Asian athletes. In the public eye, these controlling images will be taken for granted for the narrow cultural narratives of how Asian athletes are depicted and ultimately accepted for what they are, through assuming that these are based on reality. In the media’s frequency to place these repetitive stereotypical representations of Asian athletes, it shows how there are little alternative ways to change the views and perceptions of the public eye, because of their trust in the media outlets to get their information.
The media often sorts Asian and Western athletes into two-part structures of exoticism vs. familiarity. On one hand, Western stars like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are seen as the “dominant forces” and the face of NBA’s ideals of elite athletes. Contrastingly, Asian athletes like Yuki, are portrayed as the “other”, encompassing their triumphs on the court by the stereotypical notion of hard work, mental discipline and dedication rather than for their athletic prowess. Despite Yui’s success in challenging the norms of NBA standards and binaries, the media continues to write underdog anecdotes about his motivation to conquer the standards of being a towered athlete, rather than focusing on his technical abilities and significant contributions to his team. This example closely relates to Hall’s concept of the regime of representation and binary opposition. It elaborates how meaning is established through the concept of "differences” in the media (Hall, 1997).
Hence across various sports articles like Duke Basketball Report, “YouTube Gold: Little Man is Making a Name in Pre-Season NBA Basketball”, referring to Yui’s build as a “little man”. Though the articles highlights his basketball IQ and drive, they adhere him to the stereotypes of Asian players, depreciating his historic accomplishments by his tactical plays rather than his athleticism. In contrast, the Fox Sports’ article, “NBA 2024: Yuki Kawamura is the shortest player in the NBA...and quickly becoming a cult hero Grizzlies”, portrays him in a positive light by incorporating his teammates praises and thoughts about Yuki as an NBA player, his impact on the team, and that no height can place a barrier to his abilities to be able to compete in the league. Marcus Smart, noted Kawamura “brings a uniqueness to the game that you can’t teach”, while Yuki said, “I want to show that you don’t have to be big to play in the NBA.” The article heavily emphasizes his ability to be a great shooter and carries skills that will help contribute to the success, revolutionizing Asian representation in this industry.
Overall, Asian athletes like Yuki wide range of skills and abilities are underestimated by the reductive narratives, stereotypes, and controlling images that minimizes the talent of all in marginalized coomunities. The media should embrace the athletes in a bigger picture of their talents and skills as multidimensional people. Create a short film that highlights Yuki’s successful journey from Japan to the NBA while capturing his athletic artistry and celebration for his ethnicity. By doing so, the media can present Asian athletes in a nonstereotypical way, adding more inclusive perception, maintaining global reach and visibility of athletes like Yuki.
References
Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. (pp.225-249). Newberry, CA: Sage
Lindermann D. (2022). True story: What reality tv says about us. Chapter 6 (pp.132). New York, NY: Picador
Jackson, A. (2024). NBA 2024: Yuki Kawamura is the shortest player in the NBA...and quickly becoming a cult hero Grizzlies. Fox Sports
Restrepo, A. (2024). How tall is Yuki Kawamura? Height, weight, and shoe size of the Grizzlies’ guard. AS USA.
Anjali Shah:
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this op-ed and specifically how the media paints a specific image of minority groups, especially in sports. This is an unfortunate reality that many marginalized groups face, especially in the sports world where stereotypes and comparisons to the standard of Western athletes are always at play in the media. Our society continues to target people of difference using controlling images, presenting Yuki Kawamura as someone successful solely based on academic excellence, rather than his true talent and ability in basketball. You seamlessly align the influence of controlling images and media portrayal into Kawamura’s fight to reframe his identity, but one concept I feel directly applies to this situation is Jenkins’ concept of textual poaching - how fans take elements from media and alter them to create a new meaning. Looking specifically at Kawamura’s circumstances, the media claiming him as an “underdog” because of his race and height is poached from the larger narrative about Asian athletes in the Western sports world. But, textual poaching can be used in a positive light to alter the way Asian athletes (specifically Yuki Kawamura) are viewed by the Western sports world. Sports journalists or other media outlets can alter the larger narrative by using textual poaching to reframe the way we view Yuki, highlighting his athletic success and talent rather than diminishing his talents to a larger racial narrative. Textual poaching is a tool that can be used to reframe this harmful narrative that stems from a larger societal interpretation of Asian American athletes while helping Kawamura gain the recognition he deserves.
Citation: Jenkins III, H. (1988). Star Trek rerun, reread, rewritten: Fan writing as textual poaching