Hi everyone, this is Taylor Chan and Mike Bow and they created the short film "In Between". Hope you enjoy! Ah, high school... a time of change, a time of firsts. It's when I first discovered my interests, when I first developed a sense of humor And when I first found my close group of friends. Okay "Yo mama's so ugly, that when she was born her parents named her shit happened." "All right how do Chinese parents name their kids? They throw a pan down the stairs." ... And that's the first time I felt Asian. I mean, I knew I was Asian, but it's weird realizing, I was seen as Asian, which confused me because I always felt like I was the same as them. They were born here, I was born here, Even my parents were born here, but Being the only Asian in school brought along special treatment So how much do we owe? Leo's got this Here you go. (Not all Asians are good at math) uhh Falco? No...Samus? Wait. What the f*ck is this? Oh lucario. Who? He's a Pokemon. Oh you would watch anime I'm Samus. I tried.
Yeah, we really were not prepared. Yeah. I think I could have read that PowerPoint a little more. Hey, you're supposed to be the one that's good at these things. Hey, uhhh Listen, do you have a... Date to the homecoming dance? Ughh no Wait why? (GO FOR IT) Oh! Leo, really? Come on! We wouldn't be a good match *REJECTED* for the dance, right? Wait... Why? You know... We're just different *horn honks* Um see you later... See ya So did you hear? Apparently Asian means different. I was different Until now! I was off to college and not just any ordinary college. A college in Southern California! Do you know what that means? Let me break it down for you. UC San Gabriel 57.9% Asian! Let's just say 60... 60% Asian. That's more than half the school of people like me! I was always "too" Asian back home because I was the only one not here! We all Asian, baby! College. This is where I discover where I fit in. This is where I discover where I belong Hey you Yeah, we're having a rush party tonight at Alpha Zeta Nu It's the Asian fraternity. I'll be there 신발! (shoes!) Yeah? Shoes *Come on now. How do you not know that?!?* Hey You look really familiar Do I? yeah Hey, Julie, doesn't this guy look like Jeff Chang? I think you mean Jeff Cheung Or is it Ching? Ching? Sounds almost like a pan getting thrown down the stairs WOw... *offended* Oh my god... Woah... Is this anime? Yeah, Tokyo Ghoul Never heard of it Strange. Quite the anime expert back home. Oh, yeah? What'd you watch? Dragon Ball. Pokémon. Ha! Did you watch subbed or dubbed? What's subbed? What's subbed? Man get out of here, Goku. Get out of here! Let's go What the fuck is going on? Subtitles Sorry? Subtitles - those words at the lower third of the screen that give context to the scene. you know, something you desperately needed tonight whitey Whitey. I am NOT white trust me... It's not second nature for you to take your shoes off indoors You use that played out and frankly offensive pan joke And the only anime you watch are Dragon Ball and Pokémon Dubbed Sounds pretty white to me Pillsbury No you just don't understand Oh really? May I? And I was different back home because I was too Asian But those things that made me Asian back home are supposed to make me fit in here You're kind of doing what your white friends did to you What are you talking about? Well, your white friends pushed you away on the basis that you're Asian But you're trying to connect with these people on the basis that they're Asian You're just reducing people to their race It's no different from your friends back home No no no no I... Wait right here Check it! I just got that girl's number over there. We connected. I didn't bring up race We'll see Gotta go. Later, Charmin (the toilet paper brand)! So what do you think Huh? oh! These are amazing The photography department's lucky to have you oh No, not a photography major. My passion's photography, but I'm actually a bio major oh Well if it's your passion maybe you should switch majors No my parents would never let me do that why not? It's your dream, right? You should be honest with your parents. Are you kidding me? They would never support me in that kind of field huh, they're your parents. I'm sure they'll understand. No they won't why wouldn't they? Why won't you? Maybe we're just different You were right. What do I do? Listen... Maybe you just have to learn to accept that you're different from everyone You feel like you don't belong here or there You just fall somewhere in between It's not necessarily a bad thing Not a bad thing? I have no one Wait where are you going? Back to at least some familiarity Rush party tonight check it out. Yeah heard Karen's coming I'll sign up First frat Nah... I actually checked out Alpha Zeta Nu last night ah Should have known God, there are too many Asian kids at this school Too many. Why don't they just go back home already That's fucked up What'd you say bro? I said that's fucked up! You guys, you guys don't get it, do you? this is as much as their home as it is yours And you know it's statements like these that make it hard for people like me to find a home in the first place so if you don't get that, then maybe you, you should go back home to... to Norway or Slovakia Or wherever the hell you come from you ignoramus *sighs* Whoa,
Hey man, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine Yeah, that really sucks with those guys said to you back there, But it takes a lot of balls to respond the way you did Props, man Thanks Yeah, so what are you? Chinese No no, I mean, are you a freshman, sophomore...? Oh! Freshman Ah. Not the best first impression of us here at UCSG. Just don't hold it against us Kyle! Hey man, what's up? How's it going?
Good! Oh shit. It's you. What you guys know each other? yeah, he was at the party last night Why'd you dip so early? You missed the jello shots, bro Didn't think anyone noticed We're actually about to head to this alumni homecoming event if you want to tag along They got free tacos Yeah, I'll meet you guys there, I just have to take care of some stuff first Okay, adios man Yeah!
See ya there Nicely done I learned from the best Tough being an in-betweener, huh? Wait, you're one too? Yep, Michigan I went through all the same things you did when I first moved here Well, didn't tell someone to go back to Norway But same frustrations... Took me a lot longer to feel like I fit in Speaking of which, you should get to that event Whoa wait, what else can you tell me? You're the first person in this place who I... I just don't want to make a fool out of myself Again! Okay fine I'll help you Although it seems like you don't really need my help. I mean you got that invite to the homecoming event all by yourself See you later. Hey, enjoy the in-between Huh The in-between. I guess I was still right about college. I did find where I belong I was just a little misguided to think I needed to force myself into one community when in reality I can belong to many and really, the best things fall in between sandwich meat, Oreo filling, Empire Strikes Back It's not what I expected, but I think I can get used to this Well I first want to say congratulations, I'm really proud of you guys for making this. This was obviously a very big Production and project that you guys took on completely like on the side of everything that you guys already doing, so good job, like honestly Thanks, thank you For the most part it was a pretty small scale production. it felt big
but like it was like a large-scale story. Right, right. Well. I mean what like what was the genesis of this project? Why did you guys want to make it or what was the original intention? So it actually started about a year ago when there was this film contest. things circulated amongst our community. It was a call-out for Asian filmmakers to make entries about Asian identity. We shared it with each other and we thought maybe we can make something for this contest We're thinking of a story to tell them. The best idea we came up with was an experience that we shared as multi-generational Asians Oh okay. So was this story actually pretty personal to you guys like you actually like went through This identity crisis that you know that were you actually like kind of your character at some point in your life? That opening joke of Leo laughing at the joke and the friends that happen to do yeah, yeah That's because it's just so interesting because yeah from being multi-generational Asians, we're not necessarily You know raised any differently, right? It's funny growing up, and then you're like oh, no we see you as as different though And then we're talking with friends and there were just a lot of similar funny instances of feeling like too Asian amongst non-Asians And then not feeling not Asian enough amongst Asians. But that's that's the struggle already like right there where it's like what what even is "too Asian" or "Asian enough" right and like yeah It's unfortunate that just because of how you look, people are just gonna think you need to be this way right Yeah I mean I'm glad that you guys told this story and brought your perspective cuz I remember the first time I watched it I was like oh my gosh. Do I make you feel this way cuz cuz I've teased you guys before. I'm first-generation You know you guys multi-generational you guys your fans have been in America for a long time And I've teased you guys about being "Asian enough" or whatever. I'm like oh no! it's just an entire passive-aggressive film at Phil that's all but no it's it's great that you guys brought your you know your own story and I'm glad That you know people can watch and see something that I think is a story that is not that common in our community It seemed like a very big undertaking and it seemed like there was like more than you wanted to tell we definitely like Realize that through making it to like we're trying to tackle this big topic which is assimilation and there's a lot to cover, a lot of Topics within that that we could venture into, but we just knew that we can only scratch the surface of it so hopefully it was a nice light-hearted step into that topic it is a very deep and And nuanced and heavy topic And I think you guys approached it in a nice light-hearted way and hopefully like Maybe you guys can continue the story and get like you know get further into it. Meet the other in-betweeners Yeah, well I think you guys did a great job, and I hope everyone watching really enjoyed it as well Yeah, we want to see more from you guys More, hopefully more Michael Bow and Taylor Chan. Don't speak for them Why would you speak for them? They don't, they didn't say that Let us know in the comments below if you related to this video, if the story resonated with you I think there's gonna be a lot more people than you think And yeah, just want to say congrats again If you want to see more of Mike, follow the links down below, if you want to see more Taylor Stay right here Check out those other videos on the side ->. Alright, we'll see you guys next time
This pretty much sums up how I felt going from a majority white high school to a majority Asian university. I'm culturally different from the Asians, even the really whitewashed ones, and the white students. Plus I don't look like either, so I get lumped into everybody's "outsider" group before they even talk to me.
Unfortunately, the in-between I found seems to be lonely and empty. I feel like I never fit in anywhere.
Oh man this brought flashbacks for me, a lot of them not so good. Full asian, but adopted white father / korean mother.. in an all white area. Only asian throughout school and even in university there weren't many asian people. If I could have done it all over again, I would have definitely sought out going to a more diverse area earlier in life. Now that I'm older I was finally able to escape but I feel like I missed out on so much in life.
Overall good short, and worth the watch.
Lol at the "wise Asian girl who totally gets the world" trope