When someone says, “Think of a type of Asian,” what do you think of? First, you may think Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. After that you might even include Indian in your thoughts. Did Filipino ever pop into your head? What comes to mind when you think the word ‘Filipino’? Does a certain celebrity come to mind? Do you think of certain common characteristics immediately? If common characteristics do come up, what are they? Filipinos have Asian eyes? Filipinos eat rice? Filipinos speak ‘ching-cheong-chang’? Some of these characteristics are true of Filipinos, but one is not. In America and perhaps other countries, there are many Asian stereotypes. Some may be true of a specific Asian nationality, but for others it is not. Usually these stereotypes are assumed to apply to all of the types of Asians. There is not really a specific Filipino stereotype in America. Why is this so? Not many people in the United States know about or are familiar with Filipino culture. Because people don’t really know about it, it leads to assuming the Asian stereotypes and applying them to Filipinos. 

There are many reasons that people in America may be unfamiliar with Filipino culture, ultimately leading to the misconceptions. First of all, there aren’t many highly concentrated areas of Filipino communities. According to the U.S. Census taken in 2000, the most populated areas were the Seattle area in Washington, southern California, Nevada, New Jersey, city of Chicago in Illinois, and Hawaii. The other states had a range of 0%-2.4%. In the cities with a higher concentration of Filipinos, there are Filipino stores and restaurants. When people, who aren’t Filipino, go into these stores and restaurants, they learn more about Filipino culture and food in Filipino Culture.

Another reason that people may be unfamiliar with Filipino culture is that there isn’t a well-known Filipino-American celebrity; however, there are many famous celebrities in the U.S. that have a mix of nationalities that include being Filipino. Many people don’t even know that they have Filipino blood in them. These celebrities include: Rob Schneider, Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Scherzinger, and Vanessa Minnillo. There are also not many distinctly Filipino parts/roles on television or in movies. There is one independent film about Filipino-Americans called The Debut (Click on the link to connect to the film's webpage). The film is focused on a young second-generation Filipino-American and his conflict with his heritage.

This is the trailer for The Debut.

Because of the unfamiliarity of Filipino culture, Asian stereotypes are assumed. The causes are because of the low population of Filipinos in most areas of the United States and also because of the lack of well-known Filipino celebrities. The causes are few, but they still make a big impact on the knowledge of Filipino culture.