After the critical failure of All-American Girl, featuring stand-up comedian Margaret Cho, American network television didn’t see another Asian family for over 20 years. Yes, it was that bad: static characters, cheap racial jokes, and a cast with no chemistry. But in February 2015, celebrity chef Eddie Huang will be stirring up the pot (pun intended). His autobiography, Fresh Off the Boat, will be transformed into a hot spot on Primetime Television. But when the producers were leaning towards caricatures, Huang leaned towards characters. He notes in his Vulture op-ed, “The network tried to turn my memoir into a cornstarch sitcom and me into a mascot for America. I hated that”, and he actively pushed to minimize the blatant marginalization of Asian-Americans. Perusing every last word of the script, Huang ensured the storyline and characters didn’t portray any harmful stereotypes (or, at least, what wasn’t previously true in his biography). As the script writers urged to squeeze his family into cookie- cutter clichés and steal his story,
Huang resisted, preserving his memoir and narrating the Asian-American tale from an accurate point of view. Fresh Off the Boat will, hopefully, churn out a fresh portrayal of Asian-Americans in television. Because, right now, it’s not so great.
MTV’s teen comedy series Awkward literally makes me feel awkward whenever I watch it.
A recurring side-plot of the Asian Mafia features a group of sneaky, mystical Asians who “know everything about anything”. Funneled into the label of “Cool Asian” or “School Asian”, the show
portrays Asians as either rebellious or nerdy, with absolutely no other options. (No, seriously, one character told another character that if she’s not a Cool Asian or School Asian, then she must be white. Because all Asians can be narrowed down into those simple labels by just process of elimination, right?) The prevalent use of the phrases “the Asians” and “your people” quickly corners the characters into an exclusive group based on a characteristic over which humans have no individual control. Assuming that Asians can only hang out with other Asians creates a false blockade of segregation, and further marginalizes the Asian race as a group who cannot make individual judgments.
As an audience member, I ask why the writers could not have assimilated the Asian-American characters with the other students, and live a normal American life?
While other characters worried about everyday teenager issues, like relationships and schoolwork, the Asian characters only worried about the various problems
in the Asian community.
The TV series even coined the term “Asian b*tching”, as if Asians are unable to b*tch like other regular human beings. Currently, society is feeding our generation with these harmful and commonly inaccurate, preconceived notions of Asian-American lifestyle.