Terminator: Genisys – terminating Asian representation

The iconic robotic villain, the model T-1000 terminator, is played by South Korean actor, Byung-hun Lee. This appears to be a victory for Asian male representation. We should look deeper. Byung-hun Lee has only ever portrayed villains in Western films [GI Joe 1 & 2, Red 2]. This follows Hollywood’s racial agenda for Asian men. Asian men, according to Hollywood, must be stripped of sexual desirability. He may come in two forms: unattractive good guy or attractive bad guy. The Asian man rarely, if ever, appear as a fully humanized and sexually desirable man. That role is almost monopolized by white males. Our detractors will smear us as “over sensitive”, but their deflections fail to explain Western media harms self esteem in all children except white boys.

Byung-hun Lee as the villain in Terminator Genisys