Meghan Markle blasts Austin Powers and Kill Bill for presenting Asian women as ‘over sexualised’ in Hollywood
MEGHAN Markle has blasted blockbusters like Austin Powers and Kill Bill for portraying Asian women as “over sexualised”.
Speaking to journalist Lisa Ling and comedian Margaret Cho on the first episode of her podcast after the Queen’s death, she criticised Hollywood filmmakers for their use of what she called the “Dragon Lady” stereotype.
Meghan said: “Movies like Austin Powers and Kill Bill presented these characters of Asian women as oftentimes over sexualized or aggressive.
“And it’s not just those two examples, there’s so many more.”
The Duchess of Sussex defined the “Dragon Lady” as “the East Asian temptress whose mysterious foreign allure is scripted as both tantalising and deadly.”
She added: “This has seeped into a lot of our entertainment. But this toxic stereotyping of women of Asian descent, it doesn’t just end once the credits roll.”
Her criticism was levelled at the two 20-year-old movie hits for “caricaturing” Asian characters.
The 2002 Austin Powers film ‘Goldmember’ features two Japanese characters called Fook Mi and Fook Yu, who have been criticised for “sexually tokenising” Asian women.
A shot of Mike Myers as Powers ticking off “threesome with Japanese twins” from a bucket list attracted particular scorn.
Meanwhile 2003 Tarantino classic Kill Bill stats Lucy Liu as Yakuza lead O-Ren Ishii.
Fashion writer India Roby hit out at the character as an example of a “Dragon Lady”, saying she “uses her sexuality as a powerful tool of manipulation, but often is emotionally and sexually cold and threatens masculinity.”
Liu snapped back at the critique last year, arguing that it didn’t make sense given that the film features three other professional female killers.
In the rest of the episode, Meghan told listeners to disregard “societal frameworks” and ignore the “loud voice coming from a small place”.
Listeners were later left wondering if she took a veiled swipe at the Royal Family during a discussion about defining ourselves.
She said: “You want to be weird, or sponge-like, be silly or fierce or curious, or even self doubting or unsure some days and strong and brave and others. Whatever it is that’s up to you.
“Just be yourself no matter what any societal framework or archetype or loud voice coming from a small place tells you you should be – be yourself.”
