Fresh Off the Boat & The Limits of Asian Representation

this video is brought to you by mubi a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe get a whole month free at movie.com qualityculture there's nothing like hamburgers for starving so am I you know something this is the happiest unhappy Thanksgiving I've ever spent family sitcoms have been a staple of American television since the 1950s portraying lovable and somewhat relatable families within a tight 22 minute window every weekday night for many households it was appointment viewing parents came home from a long day of work while kids came home from school and everyone gathered to watch these familiar characters maneuver through hijinks and mostly low stakes drama even though there was a bit of a lull in the 2000s the genre has been a Mainstay on network television these programs reflected what's often considered the average American family a mom and dad with two or three kids in a middle class neighborhood with some variations in class and background among other things still there were plenty of Americans who felt they weren't a part of this image of a normal family when I was growing up says all I ever wanted to do was be an actress but there are never Asian women on TV so like I had no role models in the early 90s up-and-coming comedian Margaret Cho was offered the opportunity to start on her own sitcom and on September 14th 1994 ABC debuted All-American Girl the first Prime Time sitcom centered on an Asian American Family naturally there was an excitement within the Asian American Community about the show all American Girls served as a glimmer of hope that Asians could be depicted as more than one note cliches and that Asian American stories were worth being told for a long time Asian characters were reduced to comedic Sidekicks or foreigners typically playing tertiary roles in most of the stories they were fortunate enough to even be involved in knowing this it was meaningful for a network TV channel to finally produce an Asian family sitcom it must have meant a lot to those who sat by their televisions that Wednesday night anxiously waiting to see how an Asian cast would finally fare in the spotlight but like so many of the projects that came after it it didn't exactly meet expectations I'll be honest All-American Girl was not good what's with the sunglasses you look like Yoko Ono its humor was stale eye roll-inducing and painfully formulaic it ended up being an absolute failure in both the eyes of General audiences who found it underwhelming and all also Asian Americans who were left disappointed or even offended a sentiment best expressed by one of the few Asian American TV critics at the time he wrote the show was quote awful Lord it was stereotypes and Dusty gags from Full House's cutting room floor and that Margaret Cho looks like a pow who's been tranquilized and forced to recite propaganda by her captors yeesh you want to be American go away your backward baseball cap in its attempt to portray a korean-american family in a way that held Universal appeal they brushed over the finer details that might have showcased the lives of real Asian people rather than putting cartoon characters on display and calling it a day she's not Asian enough she's not testing Asian for my benefit they hired an Asian consultant by now you might be thinking yo I thought this video was going to be about fresh off the boat well I think all American girl gives relevant context for understanding the criticisms of fresh off the boat an Asian American Media in general there's an underlying pattern in how these shows and films are made and how they're ultimately received by audiences and the cycle of controversy is what I'm gonna try to unpack All American girl came during a wave of network sitcom starring female comedians ABC's Wednesday night lineup featured Grace Under Fire Ellen Roseanne and now All-American Girl but unlike her peers Margaret Cho wasn't afforded the same creative input on her show even though it was marketed as if she did but I wish that we could have done so much more we were so limited by this idea of having to be this autobiographical narrative that was quote unquote authentic and really that's not the point and I was caught up in that too like how can we actually be authentic as if we couldn't be trusted to tell our own story and that was the wrong attitude if I were able to do All-American Girl now would be a voice that matched my voices as a stand-up comedian which was impossible to do at Disney on a television show that was on at 8 pm in an article by E Alice Jung he elaborated on Cho's lack of input writing All-American Girl publicized itself as based on Margaret Cho's stand-up comedy but that was mostly just a gloss Cho was the youngest representative of a wave of female comedians turned Network stars in their era but she was the only woman of color and the only one who had no creative control she didn't write produce or direct any of the episodes and the network infrastructure was built against her none of the show's 11 writers were a korean-american nor were any of the directors of producers butcho became the fall girl the one who would be punished if and when the show failed Jeff Yang the Asian-American critic that panned the show and also a friend of Cho at the time would later recall a conversation between them after his review was published she called me up almost newly afterward and said I was afraid that it was gonna be a negative review I didn't know how how negative was going to be I'm telling you right now when they canceled the show they're gonna throw this on the table and say this is the only guy the only Asian American TV critic in America even your community doesn't support this why should we meanwhile Studio execs found issue with Cho's appearance and encouraged her to go on a crash diet she lost 30 pounds in two weeks resulting in a hospitalization due to kidney failure and years of health issues following the show's dissolution I think I wasn't why they had to somehow make me conform in other ways that would make me more palatable to an audience when you're the first person to kind of cross over this racial barrier then you were scrutinized for all these other things that have nothing to do with race but they have everything to do with race it's a very strange strange thing clearly being the face of the first Asian American sitcom took a toll on her and unfairly or not the show held the hopes and expectations of millions of Asian Americans who'd gone their whole lives without saying much if any resonant representation but producers of the show neglected to honor chose experiences or hire Asian writers in favor of catering to Outsider perspectives about Asian households billing All-American Girl with archetypes of tiger moms cookie foreigners and model minorities All-American Girl failed to live up to people's hopes for it while also failing to deliver just good quality TV making the whole Endeavor feel like such a missed opportunity Unity of course these Monumental expectations are unreasonable for any show or movie or work of art to Bear but we'll get to that after just one season the show was canceled leaving a vacuum of Asian American representation on TV for the next 20 years fast forward to the 2010s when a wave of network shows started expanding the landscape of family sitcoms after the huge success of Modern Family these shows aimed to reflect a wider range of American families diving deeper into the idiosyncrasies and differences in American experiences and cultures during this time abc greenlit blackish cristella The Goldbergs and speechless and in 2014 TV execs got a hold of a book called Fresh Off The Boat a memoir by chef and food personality Eddie Huang in it Huang used conversational language and frequent references to hip-hop culture to help unpack small yet crucial moments and surprisingly thoughtful and introspective ways chronicling his life from childhood up to his big career move from attorney to Chef on February 4th 2015 ABC premiered fresh off the boat basing it on huang's childhood it was the first Asian-American Network sitcom in two decades and aimed to pick up the lofty goals his predecessor didn't live up to do you feel like people are counting on you to get it right so to speak I do feel that you know that pressure especially since we're the only one out there right now and it's been so long like all American Girl fresh off the boat was set in the 90s this time following Eddie Huang and his Taiwanese American family after they moved from DC to Orlando where his father starts a new business the family has to learn to navigate this new world after uprooting themselves from a city with a large Asian Community to a place where they're seemingly the only Asian family in town it's not true we know there are other Chinese people in the area remember but unlike All-American Girl based on his title alone fresh off the boat seemed to have bigger goals than simply showing how relatable this Asian family was despite what some people had to say most followers shows about black and Asian families they're just like us they're now you're all caught up for those who don't know fresh off the boat or fob is a term often used derogatorily to describe newly arriving immigrants who have yet to assimilate maintaining this title for the show was a Reclamation of the phrase and a small sign that fresh off the boat wasn't going to shy away from Asian issues one conundrum the show addressed in its initial season is when the huangs wonder if they've lost some of themselves in the process of moving to America you know sometimes I forget you guys are Chinese you guys are just like regular old Americans to us while they want to fit in and be part of their Community they also want to stay in touch with their Heritage all Marvin met was he sees us As Americans first isn't that what we want what I don't want is for the boys to forget where they came from so rather than depicting Chinese culture is something foreign or strange the show treated these Traditions as normal and often light-heartedly poked funded American Norms in the process what's for dinner mom macaroni and cheese with bacon bits although the show would shift its focus to the entire family after the first season it initially revolved around Eddie A hip-hop obsessed kid grappling with coming of age and that's me your boy Eddie Wong still straight struggling to fit in at my new school Eddie is played by Hudson Yang as in the son of Jeff Yang in a wild stroke of fate and possibly a bit of nepotism the critic whose review helped kill the only Asian American Family sitcom would be the father of the Kid starring in the next one it's a bit of cosmic Karma he addressed in this comic panel anyway once again Asian audiences were buzzing about the prospects of this new show including myself just from the premise alone fresh off the boat felt like it was about me I'm not Taiwanese but I am Vietnamese and grew up loving rap music as you can see from these old photos the show is basically my childhood give or take a few years difference in fashion trends truly a beautiful time it was the first instance something reflected my experience growing up from Simply being a chubby Asian kid who loved hip-hop to wanting my mom to pack American food for lunch instead of Asian food Chinese food my mom needs to get it out of here dude that smells nasty the show even touched on racism in his pilot episode While most of it was a classic Fish Out of Water story with Eddie getting acclimated to his new school at the end of the episode he's confronted by the only black kid at school who takes an opportunity to try to rise from the bottom of the social hierarchy get used to it you're the one at the bottom now no I'm not idea you are it's my turn it was a bit of a revelation as it occurred to me that for just a few minutes racism against Asians was being addressed on a national stage not only that but specifically racism between two minorities but the whole time I was not mad at the kid because I knew where it came from that kid Edgar was picked on all the time it was a daring move for the show's pilot but gave proof that it was willing to at least acknowledge tough subjects that boy called our son a chick do you think that's okay why didn't you do anything about that proposition is anti-immigrant so you're an immigrant I'm a legal immigrant just fill this out too update your green card and restore your permanent residence status I thought permanent resident meant permanent as the show progressed we learned about the rest of the family Jessica's journey to citizenship and later becoming a writer Lewis's adventures and mishaps with Running a Restaurant Evan's dream to attend private school Emery's year of bad luck and Grandma eventually learning English even their neighbors honey and Marvin felt like something straight out of my childhood I know these kinds of nice white characters are often inserted to placate white viewers to make them feel included and less vilified but it is representative of the experience many immigrants have from welcoming Americans of course this isn't always the case we just pointed out every once in a while in the show but honey and Marvin's wholesome presence was something I appreciated all this along with the annual inclusion of a Chinese New Year holiday episode made the show feel like it could be an honest depiction of at least one kind of Asian American Family exploring genuine Dynamics while also just being actually funny the length and depth of my bow expresses my deep appreciation of I think that's more of a Japanese knees thing but uh thank you Rick and at midnight Beijing time we're gonna drop the rat uh that's not a real thing not to mention the bewildering cameos like Shaq Michael Bolton Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and DMX DMX I prefer to be called Earl when I'm holding my baby which made the show all the more fun and unpredictable all this to say I had an emotional reaction to watching the show as it really felt like the first time someone like me was fully realized on TV and it was actually pretty good too but the show wasn't universally praised and one of its most vocal critics was the guy whose family it was based on the depiction of this hunky-dory family isn't exactly faithful to the Memoir written by Eddie Huang in his book he describes his family with much more nuance and paints a childhood that wasn't so picturesque of course there's always going to be changes to a story when adapting a book but Hulk took issue with the show's neuter tone and its lukewarm portrayal of his family in a 2015 article for vulture he wrote it wasn't that I hated the show it genuinely entertained me but it had to do more A Midsummer Night's Dream satisfies Groundlings and intellectuals alike tragedy is easy and comedy's hard but we weren't even trying my story had become an entertaining but domesticated vehicle to sell dominant culture with Kidz Bop pot shots in the emasculated Asian male I got upset when they dressed Randall Park who played my dad like a Fung wall bus driver or Hudson Yang who played me like an an1 yard sale or Constance Wu who played my mom like the crocodile hunter with kitty cat heels we couldn't go out like this if America is ever going to treat his cold sores its culture will have to force conversations examining Freedom equality and Asians and gator shoes I think the root of huang's issue with the show was that it was too safe everyone wants representation and and I feel like representation is not enough and it's too easy because Hollywood's answer is like all right cool like we need to put these faces with this skin on television and movies to get y'all to watch cool but we're gonna put our words and our stories in their mouths and that's really how I felt with fresh off the boat it seems Huang was fighting to tell a more intricate story about his childhood that would provide insight to the complexities of growing up as a Taiwanese American kid in the 90s but ABC appeared to focus on the nostalgic aspect of the show making it seem like just a trip down memory lane Through The Eyes of an Asian kid who happened to like rap music what I'm asking you to do is to tell our story without stripping it and sanitizing it of the pain and struggle that we faced in this criticisms of the show he specifically cites a line the writers encouraged him to read for a voiceover the line was a Jewish kid a black kid and an Asian kid go to a hip-hop concert isn't America great I think it rubbed him the wrong way because it felt like such a submission to the perceived sensibilities of white audiences the reason why I didn't like the show was because I think that the well I know that the producers in the network they really I believe miscalculated and did not give Middle America white Americans enough credit additionally in the episode Eddie and his new friends go to see the Beastie Boys but in real life it was an outcast concert yes rappers rather than being a moment about how these kids bonded over music specifically black music it was watered down to be a sentiment about how great America was isn't America great and so when they turned on the mic I said I don't want to say this it's like yo if you want to get paid you're going to say this after Huang refused to record the line they reached a compromise check us out an Asian kid and a black kid bonding over music by white Jewish rappers America's crazy at some point the show diverted so far from his Memoir and no longer resembled the vision of what he thought it could be like all American Girl it seemed like Executives squandered the opportunity to expose a wider audience to the nuances of an Asian family in exchange for a surface level depiction of one huang's real life family Dynamic was filled with contradictions and Shades of Gray that aren't depicted at all in the show for example while the portrayal of Louis Wong as a classic TV dad generally loving with some goofy quirks was endearing and entertaining it was ultimately a simple characterization that failed to evoke the complexities of the relationship as Huang revered his father but also admits he was a bully and at times abusive writing if your parents are fobs this is just how it is you don't talk about it you can't escape it and in a way it humbles you the rest of your life when I got bees I got hit real bad front of the hands and back of the hands front of the hands back of the hands was it hard for you to read the parts of the book where he described physical punishment at home not at all not at all that's a different culture you know punishment discipline is a part of the a very important fundamental for leadership and I want them to be leaders in his mind he was making us stronger men but we got no room to make mistakes it was any little thing we were gonna get hit and I think that was unfair the Stark differences between the show and reality are highlighted in this New Yorker article by Emily Nussbaum where she states reading the book then watching the show you get why Huang was frustrated without a cruel bully for her father Eddie's taste for hip-hop feels more superficial in the book it's an abused child's catharsis and an identification with black history without this context the show's portrayal of Eddie's love for hip-hop is more like a quirk rather than an integral part of his personality I think he's always been there for me when we moved to Orlando and I had no friends his Rhymes cheered me up the show wasn't necessarily just trying to make this Asian family more broadly relatable but Network TV fashion it was clearly afraid of ruffling too many feathers it glossed over the unique qualities of Eddie huang's actual family which led to Fresh Off The Boat feeling like a toothless Hollow depiction of his upbringing the stories had a backdrop of Taiwanese culture but that was usually pushed aside for more conventional sitcom hijinks the executives were always like they'll never understand we need to give them like a version they understand and basically admitting that they were going to use yellow faces to tell uh Universal white stories that you see in every other sitcom additionally critics argued the show was yet again pushing Asian stereotypes like Jessica's high expectations for her kids another rehashing of a tired cliche but in this case I think there's a negative truth in their portrayal because whether you want to deny it or not is just a reality in a lot of Asian American households to have a mom hold you to an unbelievably high standard it's why this Arc type is still present in most depictions of Asian families and media today my mom especially will still yell at us all the time yes I have to you're my kid one day you're my kid forever no matter what age you need to go to school so you go to college so you can make lots of money all you care about is money do me a favor go find a homeless man ask him if he thinks Money Matters of course even if this is a cultural norm the repeated use of it speaks to the limited scope in which Asian Americans are presented on screen either way fresh off the boat seemed like it would be a Monumental moment in Asian representation and in a way it was but after a while it ended up just feeling like every other Network's income a harmless 22 minute viewing experience where the audience shares some laughs before leaving the episode the same way they came into it something all too reminiscent of All-American Girls I don't think that's always necessarily a bad thing but it's not exactly as groundbreaking as the marketing tried to make it out to be fresh off the boat draws comparisons to All-American Girl for a Litany of reasons of course they were both the only shows were predominantly Asian cast on network TV in decades but also many of the criticisms All-American Girl face were mirrored and fresh off the boat like having a non-chinese Taiwanese showrunner and casting Randall Park a Korean American as the Taiwanese patriarch of the show name one Chinese person on TV Pat Morita Japanese and you know it what's your point it was a dilemma that didn't go unnoticed by Park but he accepted the role after Eddie Huang expressed his support it's a touchy subject as there's been a lot of discussion about whether actors should be able to play characters of different nationalities personally I'm torn on one hand I don't really care all that much white actors play different white nationalities all the time and it's fine I think it's limiting to split hair so much when you're trying to encourage moral representation but there are instances where it wouldn't feel quite right to cast someone with a different background like if the character's story is deeply tied to their family history or Heritage or when there's complicated historical context involved in Randall Park's case I didn't see much issue since like I said the show stays pretty surface level in his characterizations and he even got huang's blessing not to mention he was honestly one of the best parts of the show but my opinion on it won't be the same as everyone else's unfortunately another similarity to All-American Girl was the effect the show had on his female lead after the shows conclusion Constance will revealed in her book making a scene that she'd been regularly sexually harassed by a producer during the early seasons of Fresh Off The Boat as an unknown actress on her first television show before the metoo movement she did feel she had the power to say anything she kept it to herself fearing she could lose her job but also because it would jeopardize the legacy of the show that show was historic for Asian Americans and it was the only show on network television in over 20 years to Star Asian Americans and I did not want to Sully the reputation of the one show we had representing us it mirrors Margaret Cho's self-destructive efforts to keep her own show afloat Wu became a breakout star and the show contributed to her Landing major roles in feature films like crazy Rich Asians and Hustlers but after the show was renewed for its Sixth and final season she expressed disappointment because it forced her to miss out on other artistic Ventures people didn't understand the context of those tweets um and thank you for like not making fun of it because you know it led me to a really dark time it came out sounding pretty bad um my tweets were really graceless and the most painful thing of all was it was really the Asian American community that either ostracized or avoided me the most around that topic admittedly her initial comments were harsh but it led to intense backlash where many called her spoiled and unappreciative of what the show did for her she would later recall a particularly hurtful DM she received from a fellow Asian actress shaming me to the point of me thinking that I needed to end my own life she basically said I had become a blight on the Asian American community and nothing I could ever do would make up for the damage I'd done to the community that I was like a disgrace and it made me feel like Asian Americans feel like it would be better if I just didn't exist it was a sad reminder of the constant pressure to save face for the well-being of the collective good in this case the collective good was having an Asian show on network TV even with the benefit of hindsight it seemed fresh off the boat only perpetuated the issues that played the last Asian networks that come while fresh off the boat was a success in most regards lasting six seasons spanning 116 episodes and launching the careers of constance Wu and Randall Park it still seemed to fall short in capturing the Asian American Experience in the eyes of many but I guess that begs the question what does capturing the Asian experience even mean if you go to Asia nobody in Asia considers themselves Asian right like there is no category for that like they all consider themselves a member of their own nation of origin right like or your culture your Korean you're Japanese you're Indian and Sato come here we come to here right where we're this overarching label is slapped on us and so we got to figure out what that means the identity of Asian embodies vastly different cultures and distinct qualities that don't always is overlap a Chinese person doesn't necessarily relate to Filipino culture and an Indian person might not relate much to Vietnamese culture yet we're all lumped together as one demographic with East Asians usually being favored over South and Southeast so even when there's a stray show or movie here or there we've still barely scratched the surface of Asian American experiences it was a very uh terrible realization for child to understand that the way that racism represents itself is through invisibility and something that you can't really explain to people who aren't that same kind of invisible you know yet some commenters in my other videos surrounding this topic disagree that representation is even important or necessary so I want to briefly address a couple of the most common arguments I've seen first only six percent of Americans are Asians why should entertainment have to cater to such a small demographic well six percent of 330 million is over 19 million people that's not an insignificant amount and while it's kind of silly to limit the idea of Art and expression of such logistical terms if we follow this argument to its conclusion then we all agree there should be even more Asian main characters we did a little research and found that only 2.4 percent of American movies in 2022 featured an Asian lead and a report analyzing Asian and Pacific Islander actors enrolls in 1300 popular films from 2007 to 2019 Founders little to no meaningful increase despite Asian Americans being the fastest growing demographic in the U.S just 3.4 percent of films had an aapi lead or co-lead equaling 44 films 14 of which starred The Rock So no matter how you look at it we're definitely not at six percent yet another argument is just watch foreign films if you want to see more Asians on screen there's a cultural Gap and experiential difference between Asian and Asia and Asian American they're obviously not completely dissimilar and I do enjoy International media but the difference isn't trivial you're not actors you think they're gonna put two Chinese boys on TV maybe if there's a nerdy friend or a magical thing where someone wanders into a Chinatown the root of the issue isn't simply seeing Asians it's the lack of Asian Americans and our stories in American Media even though we're just as American as anyone else the idea that you can just watch an Indian Korean or Chinese movie to feel represented implies our dual identity should just be enjoyed separately when in reality Asian American comprises a plethora of distinct cultures unto themselves which also deserve to be explored I don't think that that being Asian and then being American are exclusive to one another like there's it's not as though there's some magical flip that happens and then suddenly Asians are American we are Patrick Swayze and ghost stuck between Two Worlds part of both belonging to neither the last argument I frequently seen is why do you need people to look like you to enjoy or relate to Media I don't of course nobody needs to relate to characters and stories on deeply personal levels to appreciate the art and worthiness of their existence but when you're usually not acknowledged on a meaningful level in your own country or when artists aren't offered opportunities because of their race it becomes all too alienating to continually be pushed aside mock to stereotypes and often replaced by white faces for a group of people labeled a model minority are issues and experiences are often ignored I mean is it that hard to understand that people don't want to feel invisible that they want to feel valued by their society and feel understood and connected and the producer said the Asians were not good enough and they are not box office but look at us now huh no one's saying every movie or show is just star an Asian actor or feature an Asian American experience but you know we'd like a bit more than there is currently anyway while there have been prominent figures like Bruce Lee Pat Morita or George Takei historically it seems Hollywood only half-heartedly gave Asian Americans an opportunity to shine because of this I think there's an underlying anxiety regarding our portrayal anytime a project aspires to tell our stories it's the reason they were protests by Asian activists during the production of Mr T and Tina the first American sitcom with a predominantly Asian cast compelling producers of the show had a promise they devoid stereotypical portrayals Mr TI and Tina was thrown into graveyard time slot lasting only five episodes but the concern about how to depict Asian Americans has persisted in subsequent generations for a while it seemed like an easy fix for Studios was to merely put Asian faces in place of white ones usually as a token side character that doesn't have much going on under the surface and while there have been shows with Asian main characters typically their ethnicity is washed away in favor of a more General characterization where race is inconsequential to who they are I don't think it's malicious or even in bad taste notably John Cho discussed his feelings regarding his roles often having little to do with his asianness saying a movie that treats race in the background feels more authentic because while the rest of mainstream Society in America looks at you and sees solely the color of your skin internally people don't think about the race throughout the course of a day other identities are much more Forefront in your conception of yourself so in that sense is completely understandable to shy away from betrayals where race is a defining trait but at the same time it's a sort of get out of jail free card when it comes to diversity Studios can tell the same stories with the appearance of a diverse cast without exploring critical aspects of these minority characters most of the thing I've done have not been Asian specific purposefully for at least the first 10 seasons we would not talk about rakes we would not go into raids that was purposeful and and whatever it was the right thing to do when it was you know I mean there are times where you know there are in early Seasons like season three Burke and Christina were getting married and they were the two mothers that you know the Asian mother and the black mother I'm like come on there is a lot of story that we can do here right but they didn't want to touch it whether we acknowledge it or not are races and backgrounds do play a role in the way we move through and experience life personally I think it's important to have a mix of all of these depictions some were Race Matters and others not so much because with the historical lack of cultural representation each time an Asian story is told we've needed it to be perfect to finally get it right there's a pattern of projects about Asian Americans being met with a surge of disapproval and dissatisfaction they're held to an often unreasonable standard in presenting the culture as swiftly picked apart as being incomplete representations maybe it's because of of our Collective family Dynamics how our parents often Place high expectations on us to be the best of the best maybe it's the scarcity of our stories and media that we feel there's such a need to get it right maybe a combination of both but it all adds up to wanting to see ourselves fully realized on screen it's an all or nothing mentality where it either does everything perfectly or is not good enough to have been made but this perfect betrayal doesn't exist and it never will Margaret Cho touched on this saying the weirdness of being the first Asian-American star is that people are constantly judging you they're asking where do you fit on this idea of who we are with ethnic identity there's a right way to be and a wrong way to be and that's a really weird thing the Panic comes from not seeing Asian Americans on TV so the few images we do have of them become overly scrutinized if you're coming into visibility you're the first person to write the story and it's very hard to do that first what is your identity if you've never seen yourself before how do you carve it out of nothing that's a really challenging thing as a performer what All-American Girl did was point out that we are invisible you don't understand invisibility Until you realize you're not invisible anymore it absolutely was more important than just television or just entertainment we're talking about this idea of visibility versus Power in society it's a huge huge thing there is an idea that when you're talking about Asian Americans that there needs to be an authenticity sort of like either a stamp of historical accuracy that is placed on our existence and you know that that really limits the the variety of experience that we're capable of that that humans are capable of there's just too many factors that embody Asian American experiences that one depiction will never be able to satisfy even if there's a movie that somehow says everything there is to say about an Asian American Experience it'll still be leaving out the experiences of so many others under the same umbrella basically depicting everything that makes up an Asian American is complicated and pretty much impossible so in regards to fresh off the boat it feels impossible to get it right what could it really do as a network TV show it could only be so daring and Progressive yet it needed to be a step forward in how Asian Americans are seen on screen I think the show addressed this in an episode from its second season in it Lewis is invited to an interview with the local news and he entertains the host with Goofy celebrity Impressions but Jessica takes issue with his behavior you don't get opportunity is to be on TV that's why when we do we need to present our best face her critical response towards Lewis reflects the feelings many Asian Americans have in regards to our on-screen portrayals she even cites a particularly Infamous character to point out why Lewis shouldn't be so silly when he's on TV you know what it reminded me of your favorite character the Chinese guy in that movie became what everybody thought all Chinese people were [Music] that's why when we get opportunities like this it matters after Jessica insists that people were laughing at him not with him Lewis toggles between being his naturally goofy self and a humorless Persona he puts on in an effort to be taken seriously you just want me to be joking around the Chinese guys on TV make everybody laugh let's go to commercial ultimately he settles on being himself but be serious don't make waves but be interesting and pleasant and also smart one person can't be everything and I think that's all we can ask for to see depictions of real people on screen instead of these all-encompassing ideas of people fresh off the boat wasn't exactly a model of unique characterization and storytelling but it served as a jumping off point for Asian stories and mainstream media and proved that there was an audience for them so while the episode doesn't necessarily solve issues with representation it helped me realize how we can properly represent Asian American experiences which is to Simply have more and it's not because I want everything to be asian-centric but rather a bigger selection allows for specificity instead of generalities with more variety a show about a korean-american woman or a Taiwanese American kid and their families wouldn't have to represent every Asian family they could just be about Margaret Cho and Eddie Huang and I think at the very least fresh off the boat was a step in the right direction notably when Huang had reservations about granting rights to a story he reached out to Cho for advice he'd looked up to her when he was younger and figured if anyone knew what it was like to go down this path it was her she urged him to fight Executives at every step and to go to Hollywood and be the same person you've been this whole time because we need this I think he took her words to heart because even though he recognized the limits of network TV and the reluctance to acknowledge harsh truths and gray areas he persisted in pushing boundaries and ultimately it led to seeing a story on screen he never thought was possible before in regards to the show tackling a racial slur in the pilot episode he wrote for all the [ __ ] I heard at Studios about Universal stories and the cultural pus it perpetuates I felt some truth in it for those three minutes it takes a lot of hurts but to launch a network comedy with a pilot addressing the word chick yet it works because it's the safest bet the studio could have made the feeling of being different is universal because difference makes us universally human in our own individual relationships with Society we're all [ __ ] weirdos the social contract is here because we have a collective desire are to be individuals and preserve our right to pursue singular happiness with or without cilantro but we've been fixated way too long in universality and the matrix's pursuit of monoculture it's time to embrace difference and speak about it with Singularity idiosyncrasy and infinite density my family was going to create their place in Orlando and we're going to do it our way because you don't have to pretend to be someone else in order to belong I think fresh off the boat helped Hollywood and general audiences appreciate Asian American stories and clamor for more because of it there have been spectacular portrayals of Asian characters as well as forgettable ones and I think the forgettable presentations are just as important because it alleviates the need for every Asian film or TV show to have to mean so much I am looking forward to Asian American mediocrity in that not everything has to matter so much not everything has to hang on the success it will the success of this will make or break Asian America you know this one film this one you know this one book whatever you know I I'm looking forward to a time where like we can just be ourselves and be be happy with this and be content I am not gonna die because I failed as someone else I'm gonna succeed as myself personally I'm looking forward to shows like american-born Chinese and the next season of never have I ever but also for Vietnamese American experiences to one day be reflected on screen I think we all understandably feel disappointed at the slow progression of change which makes everything feel like such a fruitless Endeavor but a small step forward is still a step forward there's been so much discussion about what fresh off the boat lacked and how it fell short of what it needed to be but at the end of the day it broke a 20-year drought on network TV and made strides in ensuring there wouldn't be another decades-long break so while it's right to point out how these presentations can better reflect the lives of Asian Americans we should try not to hold them to Impossible standards and that goes for every minority story was fresh off the boat perfect clearly it wasn't but I'm glad it existed and I hope more can follow in its footsteps what's up guys thanks for watching the video it's sort of been this accidental ongoing series I've been doing talking about Asian experiences from my farewell video to the crazy Rich Asians video I did last year I guess it's a really important topic to me because I've always felt really invisible when it comes to representation especially as a Vietnamese American so I'm really glad mubi is sponsoring this video because they have a lot of interesting movies from all over the world we need to shut the curtain mark it mubi is a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great Cinema from all around the globe from Iconic directors to emerging autores there's always something new to discover with mubi each and every film is hand selected it's like your own personal Film Festival streaming anytime anywhere Steph mentioned decision to leave last time which is obviously a great film directed by Park Chan wook whose work I'm getting more familiar with on mubi I also really enjoyed the film burning which co-stars My Guy Stephen young both these films have elements of romance and mystery that makes for really captivating stories and probably my favorite feature on movie is that I could search by country so it makes it really easy to discover titles from everywhere not a lie it's really cool to come across a brilliant and thought-provoking film I might have never heard of otherwise if you want to check out their selection you can try a movie for free for 30 days at movie.com qualityculture that's mubi.com quality culture for a whole month of great Cinema for free one more time thanks again for watching our video if you want to support the channel you know check out our patreon it really means a lot to have your support since we always have the threat of demonetization and restrictions hovering over us at all times anyways I'll see you guys next time

Channel: Quality Culture

Views: 771,894

Keywords: fresh off the boat show, fresh off the boat abc, fob abc, fresh off the boat randall park, fresh off the boat hudson yang, fresh off the boat constance wu, fresh off the boat review, fresh off the boat analysis, fresh off the boat video essay, fresh off the boat controversy, fresh off the boat abc analysis, asian representation analysis, asian representation

Id: cZ5f7TQu1N8

Length: 39min 59sec (2399 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 08 2023