PODCAST

Asian Futures Without Asians

— ·24 min read

Brief

Asian Futures Without Asians examines a persistent visual grammar in Western science fiction where futures are drenched in Asian signifiers but lack actual Asian people or agency. Eric Malinsky introduces artist Astrea Superak’s presentation, which compiles recurring cinematic shortcuts—kimonos worn by white leads, exaggerated conical hats on nameless extras, neoned alleyways of fake Asian street food, and interiors full of shoji screens and martial artifacts—that read as an aestheticized, commodified version of Asia rather than lived cultures. Superak and Malinsky run through many film and TV examples: Blade Runner’s noodle vendor as template, Blade Runner 2049’s stylized kimono on a white antagonist, Ex Machina’s casting that gives the white android protagonist depth while relegating Kyoko and Jade to sexualized, language‑less servitude, and Firefly’s aesthetic fusion of US/China material culture despite minimal Asian representation on screen.

The episode moves from cataloging tropes to historical causes and remedies. Jason Concepcion, an Asian American host who moderated Superak’s talk, describes the feeling of being 'brought home' to how embedded these motifs are and counsels pragmatic engagement: creators should perform continual research and ethical gut checks when borrowing cultural elements. The hosts and guests trace techno‑orientalism back to Western anxieties after the Russo‑Japanese War (1904–1905), through the 1980s Japan panic and today’s China‑focused fears, arguing that sci‑fi has repeatedly projected those anxieties into imagined futures. Consensus emerges on solutions: hire multiple Asians in creative leadership rather than token consults, bring groups like CAPE in early (CAPE warns late reviews are ineffective), and allow people from those cultures to shape how their aesthetics and histories are used. While the participants disagree on how to balance love of classic works with critique, they broadly agree the industry can and should change its production practices to avoid reproducing techno‑oriental stereotypes.

Cleaned source text

title: "Asian Futures Without Asians"

author: "Imaginary Worlds"

source_type: podcast

content_hash: 5061d3778257af1ee35cfcb1d314a772495e385535b10e6254b7364f2e1493e0

extraction_method: podscripts

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You're listening to Imaginary Worlds,

a show about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief.

I'm Eric Malinsky.

Part of what makes up a genre, like science fiction or fantasy,

is that certain tropes are repeated.

And as a fan, it's fun to recognize tropes when they come up

and appreciate how they've been adapted.

But I recently learned about a genre within a genre that's been hiding in plain sight, or at least it was for me.

I was invited to watch a presentation called Asian Futures Without Asians by the artist Astrea Superak.

Futures Without Asians by the artist Astrea Superak. Her talk looks at how science fiction often depicts a future full of Asian iconography that's mixed up and taken out of context,

but there aren't many Asian people in these futures. And this is a talk that she's given

in person and virtually, and her presentation has been paired with exhibits at galleries and museums.

and virtually. And her presentation has been paired with exhibits at galleries and museums.

Now, I expected her to cover obviously offensive things like Flash Gordon serials from the 1930s with Ming the Merciless. And that was there, but she really wanted to concentrate on more

recent history. And it was eye-opening for me because I had seen most of the movies and shows

that she referenced,

but I was suddenly seeing them in a whole new light.

Apparently a lot of people feel that way after seeing her presentation.

I mean a lot of people say it's like being red-pilled in a way where suddenly the veil

has lifted and they see these tropes constantly.

And people also say that people of Asian and Arab cultures

that are represented in this project, in this presentation, will also say that.

Like, I didn't even see that my culture was represented until you pointed these parts out.

Now, I don't want to give away her entire talk,

but I wanted to cover several different tropes that really stuck out for me.

Let's begin with costume design.

How often do you think white people wear kimonos in science fiction films?

I don't know if I could have come up with any before I saw her presentation,

before I saw her presentation,

but she showed images from the reboot of Total Recall,

RoboCop, Alita Battle Angel, AI, Looper,

and many more movies.

Kimonos are used to mean like Zen samurai warrior,

like in Star Wars,

to paint a population as neutered and pleasureless,

like in Demolition Man,

or to make someone seem ominously powerful or eccentric, like Jared Leto in Blade Runner 2049.

They're also used on sex workers to indicate vacation or leisure wear for wealthy people.

It's like a quick summary of the racist ideas about Asians and Asian cultures.

Here's another one.

Think about conical hats.

They're often made from straw or bamboo, and they protect people from the rain or sun.

I thought I'd only seen them in Hollywood movies about the Vietnam War,

but she showed images from all these different futuristic science fiction films where background characters are wearing

conical hats.

What would be like a waterproof headgear, which sure would be practical in a dystopia

where it's perpetually raining.

But how they're used in sci-fi, since the main characters are suspiciously hatless,

they're not wearing these same hats as the other people running around the background and the extras are wearing the hats like regardless of weather conditions or

whether it's sunny out so you know it's not practical because they're not

protecting themselves from the Sun or the rain when they're still wearing

these hats indoors or at night it's like a shortcut to me not only an Asian or an Asian-like population, but also an overpopulated,

an impoverished, an immoral, an expendable one.

Can you give me some examples, too, of where that pops up?

So Demolition Man, when they're underground, there's some of the people who are underground

in the dark wearing these hats. In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, there's a beginning scene where a

bunch of people are in the desert walking towards what I think is the marketplace.

Several people are wearing conical hats. And then one person has a conical hat on a turban.

There's no logical reason to have these clashing different headgears. And then the weave of that

conical hat is so open that, again, it's not protecting you from the sun or from possible rain.

Oh, and then in Solo, a Star Wars story, there's this conical hat that's so huge and exaggerated that it completely covers the man's body like down to his stomach.