An Assessment of the Past and Present Depictions of the Asian Male in Western Media Through Social Media Comments

This research was intended to explore attitudes towards Asian men on social media through the investigation of comments under posts throughout the years. By viewing different timeframes, a basis of comparison is created in order to analyze how these ideations change and manifest throughout the years with social influences. The goal of this research was to first identify the shift in racial attitudes towards Asian men within American media, and then identify specific factors that have played a role in this change. A content analysis was utilized, in which comments under pictures, videos, texts, and other forms of media regarding Asian men were investigated, with keywords and search parameters integrated to collect posts. The content analysis was conducted on popular social media apps within the United States, including Instagram, Reddit, X, and Facebook. Fifty posts created within the years of 2020-2024 as well as fifty posts from 2000-2019 were selected randomly for each tag. The comments for each post were then analyzed. The aim of this study was not only to better understand the strengths and weaknesses regarding the representation of the Asian community, but also to help find ways to better protect them from prejudice online.