Asian American Characters On Screen Are More Likely To Be Laughed At Than Laughed With A new study describes how major movies perpetuate harmful stereotypes about AAPI people and make them the punchline. For many Asian Americans, being the butt of a racist joke is an all-too-familiar experience. A new study on the ways AAPI people are represented in major movies finds this is also true on screen, revealing that more often than not, audiences are expected to laugh at an AAPI character rather than laugh with one. Across the board, AAPI characters usually only get to be the object in major movies rather than the subject, according to a study released Tuesday by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which partnered with Gold House and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. Their report, “I Am Not a Fetish or Model Minority: Redefining What it Means to Be API in the Entertainment Industry,” lays out the ways that popular movies perpetuate tropes that objectify and flatten AAPI people. The rise in anti-Asian attacks and harassment over the past year and a half has underscored the importance of interrogating how pop culture perpetuates harmful perceptions of Asian Americans, which can lead to real-life racism and violence.