"ASIAN CULTURE" AND ASIAN AMERICAN IDENTITIES IN THE TELEVISION AND FILM INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES The topic "'Asian culture' and Asian American identities in the television and film industries of the United States" is of interest to this writer because (a) I am Asian, (b) I am a filmmaker/artist, and (c) I desire to understand all aspects of cultural representation in the arts. This topic is important to this writer on a personal level because of my own ethnicity. The topic is important to me on a professional level because an understanding of the issues addressed in the article is directly relevant to my work in the arts. The article should be important to all residents (regardless of ethnicity) of the United States who desire for American society to be a fair, equitable, unbiased, and comfortable (socially) environment for all participants in the society.
An important theoretical aspect of the issues covered by Shah (2003) is the capacity and willingness to use media images of specific groups in a population (in the case of this article, groups defined in terms of their ethnicity) as controlling images. The use of controlling