If you grew up in America, chances are you grew up watching American movies and TV shows. You probably have certain movies and TV shows that stand out as your favorites. Maybe you can even quote lines from some of them.

While movies and TV shows are a great way to escape from reality and enjoy being entertained for a bit, they can be damaging. For example, there’s a reason that movies have ratings and why we don’t want little kids to see violence or sexually explicit content.

While there is clearly some content that we consider ok for kids and other content that we consider ok for adults, there is some content that maybe never should have been created in the first place. Some movies and TV shows include characters that perpetuate stereotypes. Maybe the creators did it on purpose. Maybe they actually had good intentions or were misinformed. Whatever the case, the fact that many of us grew up watching movies and TV shows with characters that were stereotypes might mean that when we meet someone for the first time we’re seeing a stereotype from a movie or TV show instead of a real person.

The attacks on Asian Americans within the past year have been particularly concerning, but it turns out that this isn’t necessarily something new. It’s just something that many people are newly aware of. Watch the video below to learn what Asian Americans find most concerning about the way they have been portrayed in popular movies and TV shows.

Many viewers agree that Asian Americans should be portrayed differently. One viewer wrote, “I’m so glad they’re doing a story on this. My closest friends are Asian and this type of media is disgusting.”

Another viewer points out that Hollywood stereotypes more than just Asian Americans. “I’m more in agreement with having non Asians playing Asian roles and that it should stop, but I think every race/culture has been stereotyped in Hollywood.”

What do you think about the types of roles Asian Americans have been given in Hollywood? What should Hollywood do differently going forward?