Meghan Markle is back with her podcast after a pause due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Spotify dropped the latest edition of Archetypes today, Tuesday, October 4, 2022.
Comedian Margaret Cho and Journalist Lisa Ling joined Meghan Markle to break down the trope of the “Dragon Lady.” The episode with Meghan Markle recalling the diversity of cultures she experienced while growing up in Los Angeles.
Meghan Markle’s Archetypes Is Back With A New Edition, Asian Celebs Discuss ‘Toxic’ Asian Stereotypes
She said that “the multitude of Asian cultures was a huge part of that,” from enjoying Little Tokyo on the weekends to taking some time off to relax at the Korean spa with her mum, Doria Ragland. However, the Duchess of Sussex revealed that she didn’t know about the prejudiced stigmas that a lot of Asian women are forced to experience until many years later, noting the problematic portrayals frequently seen on the silver screen.
She slammed Quentin Tarantino’s film saying, “Movies like Austin Powers and Kill Bill — they presented these caricatures of women of Asian descent as oversexualized or aggressive,” pointing out that the classic films were only two of “many” examples. “This toxic stereotyping of women of Asian descent… this doesn’t just end once the credits roll,” Meghan continued continued.
Welcoming Margaret Cho to break down the “dragon lady” trope, the comedian, activist, and actress said that the archetype stems from the “fantasy of Orientalism.” “It’s similar to the femme fatale… a woman who is beautiful and deadly. Because we can’t just be beautiful.
We have to have, like it has to come at a cost and it’s kind of like, evil queen adjacent. But it’s also so pinned to this idea that Asianness is an inherent threat. That our foreignness is somehow ‘gonna getcha,’ ” Margaret Cho 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-American women or Asian women.”
The Fire Island star reflected on her childhood in San Francisco, saying she was “raised” by TV and movies, but the lack of Asian representatio upset her. “I never saw Asian people in them, and so I never felt visible. I never felt seen anywhere. And then later, I guess, I started to go into silent films, and I started to realize, ‘Oh, this is actually like an archetype, this archetype of the Dragon Lady,’ ” Cho said of her experience watching celebrities Anna May Wong. Jorunalist Ling also talked about the lack of representation she saw on the small screen. She said that it was a driving force for her to pursue a career in Journalism.
“To be honest with you, the reason why I pursued broadcast journalism at all was because growing up, it’s the only path that I thought was available to me. I was someone who grew up in a broken home,” Ling said. “My parents were divorced when I was 7, and the television was always on in my home. It was like my favorite babysitter. And I used to have these fantasies of, of being part of it somehow, because I thought, if I can get on TV, maybe I, I will have a better life one day. But no one looked remotely like me on TV except for Connie Chung.”
Two days after the first episode of Archetypes was launched, the podcast became the number one in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Spotify’s international charts.
