It's interesting to go back and watch Law and Order in the 1990s and early 2000s. Clearly, they're willing to take more risks, including with offending their target audience (which, presumably, was meant to be people intelligent enough to think through the ideas rather than simply react emotionally).
In this episode, a blond White woman claims she was abused in Japan. While the episode traffics in stereotypes -- we're reminded that women "walk behind their husbands" in Japan when that is certainly not universally true or that Japanese men are "intimidated" by western women as though Asian men are somehow inferior -- it does get to the heart of American prejudices. When that blond White women murders a seemingly random Japanese man -- after letting herself be picked up in a hotel bar and even voluntarily going back to the room of the Japanese man -- we're to believe racism isn't at work but merely a form of "battered wife" syndrome. She could have walked away. And she has a library of books about battered women syndrome.
From there, it becomes who will the almost entirely White jury, defense, and prosecution sympathize with. Kudos to the writers and producers for having the courage to be honest with how things work in our justice system with the ending. Yes, the ending is infuriating, but it will remind us of closet bigotry.
Where the episode stops short, though, is in fully addressing race as an issue. By constantly reminding us her issue is with Japanese men only, it ignores the reality that then and now, most westerners don't see a distinction among the various Asian cultures and nationalities. This is why keeps the episode from having the full courage to be truthful.
Laura Linney is perfectly cast. Her flat, shrill, monotone presence is exactly what the character calls for, and if so many in the audience don't see any of those negative qualities, it just proves the point the episode makes about how something else is clouding their judgment.. But the lack of an Asian American regular characters on Law and Order -- then and now -- is even more apparent here. It's sad and amusing to see people constantly talking about Asians who aren't Asian themselves. Kind of takes the issue of prejudice to a meta level.
In this episode, a blond White woman claims she was abused in Japan. While the episode traffics in stereotypes -- we're reminded that women "walk behind their husbands" in Japan when that is certainly not universally true or that Japanese men are "intimidated" by western women as though Asian men are somehow inferior -- it does get to the heart of American prejudices. When that blond White women murders a seemingly random Japanese man -- after letting herself be picked up in a hotel bar and even voluntarily going back to the room of the Japanese man -- we're to believe racism isn't at work but merely a form of "battered wife" syndrome. She could have walked away. And she has a library of books about battered women syndrome.
From there, it becomes who will the almost entirely White jury, defense, and prosecution sympathize with. Kudos to the writers and producers for having the courage to be honest with how things work in our justice system with the ending. Yes, the ending is infuriating, but it will remind us of closet bigotry.
Where the episode stops short, though, is in fully addressing race as an issue. By constantly reminding us her issue is with Japanese men only, it ignores the reality that then and now, most westerners don't see a distinction among the various Asian cultures and nationalities. This is why keeps the episode from having the full courage to be truthful.
Laura Linney is perfectly cast. Her flat, shrill, monotone presence is exactly what the character calls for, and if so many in the audience don't see any of those negative qualities, it just proves the point the episode makes about how something else is clouding their judgment.. But the lack of an Asian American regular characters on Law and Order -- then and now -- is even more apparent here. It's sad and amusing to see people constantly talking about Asians who aren't Asian themselves. Kind of takes the issue of prejudice to a meta level.
