Thank you for voicing this issue!! I'm biracial (white and south asian). I recently realized the very little asian representation in media, and when there is representation, it's Chinese. This isn't saying that Chinese representation is bad, it's good! But I definitely wish to see more representation, and more South Asians in media.. :)
yeah america sees asia through a tinyyy lense, and it's kinda disappointing to see, because Asia is so diverse, culturally and enthnically, but so few countries are ever really ever mentioned in American media, and usually if they refer to Asia they exclude South and southeast Asia entirely, it's a shame
Beautifully put! I've always wanted to see a wider variety of asian cultures represented on screen - especially being a Filipino. I also loved the point made that it may be the reason people assume all Asians are Chinese! I've never really thought of it that way but am always confused when people think I am Chinese eventhough I dont feel I resemble their features xx Fab video!!
Thank you!! & absolutely! For me, it was really refreshing to see Manny Jacinto on The Good Place, but it just made me realize how few Filipino actors/actresses I've actually seen. It's kind of funny (yet so sadly realistic) how in the show, the other characters think his character is Taiwanese at first.
Do u have any concept of how expensive it is to produce a studio film or television series...why would people invest millions of dollars for a show that may resonant with like less than 1% of the populalation...heck, I would love to see a death metal band play at the superbowl...unfortunately, the audience for death metal is miniscule.
Whenever people talk about history of Asian representation in media these days they almost ALWAYS forget about Bruce Lee who was a literally the first biggest Asian figure in Hollywood that had a long lasting legacy up until today where people still know his name. People might overlook him because he was the pioneer of Asians always being a martial artist kind of role, but he was WELL ahead of his time by defying the stereotypes that Asian men were feeble and weak. And not just that, there are so many aspects of him such as health, fitness and approach to life that people still take in to today which makes him arguably the biggest Asian influence in Hollywood and also paved the way for people like Jackie Chan and Jet Li to star in more American movies too.
my GOD GIRL l love you so much. this is so so true. l am a Pakistani brown guy and l get really pissed off when l see the word Asian next to a Chinese face (no offense) and l am like man there is more to Asia than just Chinese - Even India has a lot of respresentation in Amercian media no matter how conflicted it is - think Apu in Simpsons. But as a Pakistani we are always wither called Indians and Iranis or other enthicity. I think it will be millions of decades before we see other Asian-Minorites in Western MEdia
@@LianaChau in order to bring that change we have goto be that change! I have plans to join Hollywood as an actor myself very soon and l have never been outside Pakistan before - But you have an edge over this matter since you were born there and you know California. I have acted in alot of shortfilms in my region but l hope and plan to join the Big Guys very soon - I have made it my life mission :)
The best representation I've seen Asian kids and teens have was Raya the Last Dragon (South Eastern), Claudia in Babysitters Club (Japanese), Never Have I Ever (Indian, Japanese/White, Chinese character) Also, Never Have I Ever Rant, literally love that show I love the fact the the Black character was the nerdy character AND SHE WAS A ANDROGYNOUS LESBIAN, also loved the fact that the show focused on Indian American problems and the hot jock was a Mixed White-Japanese guy who wasnt nerdy.
Have you seen Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? They have a Filipino main character (love interest) and I find the whole series just great. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on it.
I was really excited to see this video! Being Asian American (specifically filipino) and also studying to be a musical theatre actress, Asian representation in American media is a fascinating topic (you mainly discussed film and TV, but just so you know the theatre community falls into many of the same pitfalls that film and TV do, especially when it comes to being the sidekick (see Mean Girls or Heathers) or white savior/submissive asian trope (see King and I and Miss Saigon). I think Never Have I Ever having Elanor as a flamboyant theatre kid who's still very intelligent is great representation! I've also never noticed the purple/blue streak trend. one topic i loved in Never Have I Ever was the college application storyline where Devi "wasn't interesting enough to college boards" for being an Asian American who had a high GPA and multiple extracurriculars (when it would've been impressive if she was any other race). Another piece of representation I LOVED was the Pixar short film Bao just for that story of immigrant parents being unable to connect with their child. There are just so many stories specifically related to Asian American backgrounds and culture i love the growing trend of media like To All The Boys I've Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians (both of which resisted the Hollywood pressure to cast white actresses in the main leads) and Never Have I Ever becoming mainstream and popular, and i really hope that it goes more toward that trend (instead of scarlett johanssen trying to snatch up these roles).
Ahh so glad you enjoyed! I didn't know that Asian representation is very poor in the theater community as well because I don't watch much theater-- it is definitely disappointing but does not come as a surprise, and it is definitely good to know! I totally forgot about Devi's college application storyline! I could definitely relate to that too, feeling like I busted my ass in high school but still got rejected from some schools that I could've otherwise gotten into. Bao was great as well! It just broke my heart that a lot of people didn't understand it, when the mom ends up eating the bao at some point. And I completely agree, I feel very excited about the slow and small changes that Hollywood is starting to make, and can't wait to see more!
The main comment I really have to make is that I went to high school with Ramona Young, the actress for Elinore in that Never Would I Ever show. Now, Ramona was never really a close friend, but we did have mutual acquaintances, and she was one of the few Asian American people I remember interacting with regularly with during my teenage years. Looking back on that time, I remember acknowledging that she obviously looked of Asian descent, but also that she was as normal as the rest of the student body. Probably in an unconscious way, she helped normalize the sight of Asian American people to me just in day to day life just by existing and being her happy self. I'm so happy to see her acting career grow and that she can bring that sort of much needed representation of Asian Americans through TV and film to other people.
GREAT VIDEO!! Representation gives that group not only the space to dream but the validation that their dreams and stories are important and deserve to be told. Also regarding lil Wayne and Nicki, there’s DEFINITELY a conversation that needs to be had around racism and prejudice among “minority” groups. We have all bought into the falsehoods and stereotypes that we’ve been told about each other one way or another. It’s sad but it wasn’t an accident.
Thank you so much!! I feel so validated! ❤ And absolutely-- it's devastating that for so long, minority groups have been pitted against each other. I'm hoping that as time goes on, we as a society can take the necessary steps to cast away those falsehoods completely.
your channel is underrated asf! im doing an assignment on asian representation on the media and your video provided a lot of useful info for me. being an asian as well this hit home.
loved this and your take on asian representation in american media! i’m super passionate about this too so it’s great to see asian youtubers speaking out about it :) you deserve so many more subscribers omg ♥️♥️ also, asian racism / representation in music is something that really needs more attention, so so happy you brought that up too!
I can’t believe I just discovered your channel!! Have you seen the Disney Channel show Andi Mack?? It’s about a half Chinese American teenager and her family. There’s an episode where her classmates assume all these Asian stereotypes about her and it’s dealt with really well. There’s also episodes where they celebrate CNY and another one with mid autumn festival. It’s also a really good representation of mixed families, young parents, mental health and has the first Disney channel character with a coming out storyline!
My heart goes out to the Asians in western countries. Not that there's no racism that are Asians on Asians, but it just seems much more extreme there. I loved your videos.
With the Mulan remake, having finally seen it, it breaks my heart that there is no Grandmother Fa character in that version. I loved this character and she was so funny to me.
Great video and commentary! The Power Rangers franchise is one that also has Asian-American representation in children’s shows. When people think of Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin (the first 3 seasons) is what comes to mind. However, the series is still ongoing with different actors and storyline, while keeping their cast racially diverse. Late actress Thuy Trang played Trini Kwan, the yellow ranger. Although it’s great to have Asian representation, the casting was controversial since casting an Asian-American to play a “yellow” ranger is problematic, but the producers didn’t realize the mistake until it was too late. Luckily in future seasons of the Power Rangers franchise, they no longer cast Asian-American actors to play yellow ranger roles. But we have yet to see the series cast an Asian-American to portray the red ranger (typically the leader of the group). The role of the red rangers has been played by majority white, but sometimes black and hispanic/latino actors. Although one could argue that in the Power Rangers Ninja Storm season, late actor Pua Magasiva, the red ranger is considered the first Asian red ranger as he is Samoan. I personally think it still counts, but it would also be nice to see an East Asian/Southeast Asian and a South Asian to portray the leader. Fun fact: the Power Rangers franchise is based on Japan’s Super Sentai franchise in which the producers of Power Rangers uses their stock stock footage and ranger suit designs. In other words, Japan’s Super Sentai is the original power Rangers.
I was looking for examples of misrepresentation in media for a school assignment and stumbled upon your video, and this had helped me understand a whole lot more than anything I've seen before. All the examples you've given have helped me not just with this assignment, but in reality in noticing bias and racism and harmful stereotypes not just in media but in real life and ways that I can help. I thank you for that! Amazing video!
Y’all should watch Kingdom on Netflix! The movie has a Korean cast. You would love it if you liked Game of Thrones. Minari and Parasite was great and so was Raya and the Last Dragon.
Me too! I would like to see more accurate representation among Asians and Asian Americans. And what I mean by that, more nationalities of Asians. As for the Japanese and Japanese American women I draw and paint, I draw and paint these women with black hair and green eyes, for aesthetic pleasure.⭐️💜🌹🌈🕊
You're Japanese. Please speak out against the Erasure of Asianess in your own media in regards to Hollywood. We should all know that hair colour and eye colour in Anime is just a stylistic choice and has nothing to do with race. But we all know your characters will be whitewashed anyway. For example, there is a RUclipsr called ReAnime who made Hidan and Ino Yamanaka from Naruto white. In a comment section he said he wanted Naruto to be white because Naruto act "American". He made Shikamaru's family the Nara clan speak Japanese as if they are immigrants in America while he spoke English with other characters. So Naruto is set in America now? And no body seems to care or talk about it at all. Why? Why? *Why?* Don't you Asians care about yourselves? Cos we black people wouldn't take that crap from anybody. Even black people in Africa wouldn't tolerate that crap. So why are Asian people quiet?
@@kenshix7902 You’re right unfortunately, it’s sad how the most popular form of media to the Western and American Public is Japanese who cater to the white folk, just disappointing
I LOVED FOB. I do think that it's high time to see more east asian, slavic, latino, brown, etc representation. however, having found out that huang (the man, whose autobiography the show is based on) didn't like the adaptation very much, i'll read the book in the near future. and, tbh, i hope that representation will be more honest and caring in the 2020s than it was in the 2010s. Speaking of kid's shows: you should check out Winx Club and WITCH. In Winx, Musa (inspired by Lucy Liu) starts off as the tomboy (and a white girl was the nerd). In WITCH, Hay Lin may be a geek, but the nerdy one is Taranee, who is black. For movies, you can check out Romeo Must Die with Jet Li and Aaliyah. I don't know if you've seen Hidden Tiger, Crouching Tiger, but it's a neat movie And there's also Nick and Wei in True Crime and Sleeping Dogs. As for the streak, i think it was an attempt to represent non white alt people (subcultures were a common thing in fiction) and, tbh, I prefer Nikki Wong from the Canadian show 6Teen from that trope.
Oh no, I didn't know that Huang didn't like it! I might check out the book too. And thanks for the recs! I, too, really liked Nikki Wong, but for some reason it took me the LONGEST time to realize she was Asian. You do make a compelling point about the subculture thing-- that's something I hadn't really thought about before! It's just that almost every time I saw an Asian girl, she had a hair streak, and I didn't feel like it was very representative of Asian American girls and women as a whole. I definitely saw more hair streaks than natural black hair, and to me that implied that Asian girls weren't interesting enough on their own unless they belonged to a subculture or something like that.
@@LianaChau he said it watered down a lot of things but sort of accepted it. The subculture stuff was very big in the 00s, however, I mostly saw east asians and whites among alt characters. Winx club, sadly, got worse as time progressed bc the writers got money-hungry and I didn't see the individuality that was present in the first four seasons. Especially considering the redesign of the characters who must be in their late twenties or early thirties at this point. Not to mention the plotholes that got more common when the rights were given to Nickelodeon. I've been told that world of Winx compensates for the mess the new seasons are, but I haven't watched it, so I can't judge. As for the video games I mentioned, I'm a little biased, bc the main character of true crime streets of LA is my favorite character. The good thing about its successor (that was supposed to be the third part of tc) is that it's set in hong kong, which is groundbreaking for a number of reasons. Another game set in China is Rise To Honor with Jet Li, but it's for PlayStation.
Also about the blue eyes, in the My scene doll line, there's Nolee Tomodachi who has blue eyes so much and rarely has brown eyes. Maybe you can talk about the "Chinese Mean Girl" fad in cartoons. Many of these shows have heroic Chinese characters but if they want an Asian female bully, she's usually Chinese. Not Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, Indian or anything like that. CHINESE. Brittney in Star vs the Forces of Evil, Heather in Total Drama, Penelope in Atomic Betty, Trixie Tang, and Gwen in the Mighty B are all notable examples.
I heard somewhere that it is hard to 3D animate black hair and that’s why they usually have some sort of streak of color I could be wrong tho so don’t take it as totally fact
this video was amazing and so are you! One of my favourite movies of all time is Harold and Kumar because it has an asian male lead who's just your average asian american smoking weed as well as the other male lead who's indian. We still have a long way to go in terms of asian leads in movies that display the average asian american experience. You did a very good job on this video and I hope you keep making content like this
What are your thoughts on Ross Butler's characters? With him being in a lot of popular teen movies/shows like "13 Reasons Why", "Riverdale", and "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" 2 and 3.
I loved your comments. I am not an Asian person but I understand all your comments from an outsider point of view. I love seeing amazing Asian characters I relate to because for me that means the character has transcended race. I would love to see more of them! Unfortunately its very rare that it happens in Hollywood. Have you watched Greys anatomy? I really like the depiction of Christina Yang. Her sexuality, her strength and her strong personality was so refreshing from the quiet study Asian depiction in media. Love your content :)
I'm really glad you enjoyed!! I don't think the goal is for an Asian character to transcend race, per se, because that might erase or cheapen the experiences and struggles that the Asian American community has had to go through in real life. At the same time, it is really great to see Asian characters that don't conform to stereotypes. I would really like to see a balance-- Asian characters who are relatable and not based on preexisting stereotypes, yet still in touch with their Asian identities. I wish Hollywood didn't see it as a necessity to either make an Asian character a stereotype OR a character who just happens to be Asian but has nothing inherently Asian about them. I also wish that even if a character is in touch with their Asian identity, it doesn't make them less relatable. & I haven't seen Grey's Anatomy but I might watch it just for Sandra Oh! She's very talented☺❤
When you're talking about Kung Fu movies, I totally wasn't aware of the Male White lead type Kung Fu movies. And I was struggling to remember any submissive female character in them. XP
even though this was mostly about film and tv, as a fledgling white writer for fiction books, this definitely helped to give me some tips about portraying asian characters, thank u
Kristin Keruk played Lana Lang in Smallville. I am curious about your thoughts are her character and character development. She really is a complex character with her own agency and she happens to be the Main Character's love interest.
To touch briefly on 'Never Have I Ever': I think Eleanor's quirky personality is rather Mindy Kaling's style than a statement about race. It makes somehow sense that Devi would be friends with an over-the-top theatre girl, especially when the goal seems to be to make the three friends as distinct as possible. If my perception is wrong, please correct me.
Makes sense to me! :) It's honestly probably not that deep to begin with, I just wanted to bring her up just to spark a conversation and see what other people thought.
As a mongolian, imma just have to go and get a film degree to finally get ANY reprensentation in american media that isn't a yellow eyed big evil man go roarr
Cartoon: Jackie Chan Adventures (2000-2005) with Jackie Chan voicing his character. Sitcom: All-American Girl (1994-1995) starring Margaret Cho pre-dated Fresh Off the Boat, but it failed and was a blow to Asian representation, Awkwafina's show Nora from Queens. Film: Flower Drum Song (1961) with Nancy Kwan, the big one was Joy Luck Club (1993) with Ming-Na Wen, Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), Searching (2018) with John Cho, great film!, Awkwafina in The Farewell (2019), up there with Scar Jo is Alita: Battle Angel (2019) using CG to white wash.
Ok but Alita Battle Angel is set in america. Kansas specifically iirc. The manga is at least, dunno about the movie verse. Where is the whitewashing you speak of??? Sure Alita could be an asian looking robot, she could also be any nationality that has pale skinned, dark haired, dark eyed people.
@@MsLilly200 Not to mention Alita is played by Rosa Salazar, a Hispanic actress so it doesn't count as white washing at all. And the movie goes out of its way to point out that Iron City is a melting pot of many different cultures and people so expecting it to be nothing but asians is just ridiculous.
I remember as a kid, I gravitated towards Ke Huy Quan in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” He was the first kid I can recall that I felt looked like me (even though I’m a Asian/Caucasian mix). I also think seeing this kid on an adventure with Indy, really made the scary stuff in the film not as scary (I watched TOD at least a hundred times…saw Raiders with the scary stuff at the end and never watched it until I was in my teens).
I not exposed to cartoons but I do like ginger on RUclips rabbit holes. Also had no idea that most of these were supposed to be asian . Because experience around me was not 2d like that.
It's the same in Canada. I have a Chinese-Canadian friend who lived in the city with me and then she moved up where there was just white people and she said she walked into a popular chain store and when she walked up to the cash register and asked the question, she told me the lady at the desk looked at her like she was shocked she could speak English, facepalm. She thought it was funny but I knew it was racist and thought it was sad.
The funniest representation by hollywood was Jason scott lee as mowgli in that really old disney 'The jungle book' movie.. I know we have tanned east asian 'looking' people also in India but mowgli is supposed to be an orphan from the middle of India lol.
I have a question about Korean actors playing Chinese characters (or vice versa). Do you think there is a substantial difference between that and white British actors playing American characters (or white Americans playing British characters)? I don't mean this as a "gotcha"; I'm genuinely curious what would differentiate the two cases. (I guess maybe part of it is the stereotype that white people think "all (East) Asians look the same", so having Asian actors playing different nationalities might reinforce the stigma that they are all interchangable?)
That's a great question! I honestly don't know what the best answer is, but I think you're onto something with the last part of your comment. Talking about American media specifically, there is such little representation for the Asian American community that I think it's really important to have that accuracy with casting so that people don't learn to lump all East Asians together. Plus, the United States as we know it only exists because of European colonization-- America's whiteness is basically Europe's whiteness, so I feel it doesn't matter at all when British actors play American characters or vice versa, whereas Korean people were never Japanese and Japanese people were never Chinese and Chinese people were never Vietnamese.
Hello. You mentioned Jake Long but not Juniper Lee. Didn't you watch that cartoon? The premises were similar, but the tone of the show and the gender of the main character were different.
Alot of things you spoke of I didnt know im so glad you vented that help me out alot....if you wanna see change make it it happen if that line offended in nicki minaj song say something I wouldve supported it frfr❤❤✊✊✊
I guess the only way Asian stars will be represented more in Hollywood produced media taking on a more diverse role like action hero in action movie that involve guns instead of the usual stereo typical kungfu hero is if there's more Asian movie director or Asian movie producer in America otherwise it's almost a pipe dream to even dream about.
I think they might be some funny moments in the actual Mulan movie, but they wanted to make the movie more epic and serious. Are you planning to do a review of Mulan?
I wanna ask something regarding the eye color and race. Does the race have an effect on the person's eye color? I thought everyone had any eye color regardless?
I don’t watch TV and i don’t like movies; so even though i’m an american guy i’m just finding out a lot of these stereotypes exist somehow xD its the most fascinating thing to me. In general most stereotypes work better if you run them in reverse, by which i mean, the probability of good at math therefore asian is much higher than the probability of asian therefore good at math (for context, i took some classes on graph theory in college and i was basically the only white person in a room full of asians…could have just been that year of students though *shrug*). Which is how they form i suppose; if you don’t hold stereotypes your brain isn’t functioning correctly... The stereotypes i’ve formed of asian women by using my eyes to look around the world are like… asian grandmas are basically indestructible (this made those attacks the other month especially shocking to me), most asian women are surprisingly buff, etc. Its fascinating to me, its fascinating how much the stereotypes formed by people that watch a lot of media differ from the ones i formed.
YO omg I saw CRA with my white friend and I SOBBED during the WeChat scene.... just cuz, like, WeChat!! And I don't even use WeChat. But it made me emotional for some reason.
Liana I agree with you. No one should have to experience racism. I would like to ask you a question in this regard. Because Media lately has been articles and stuff with Star Wars John Boyega and Mulan etc etc. But I was curious and hoping you can debunk the Media's calms that Chinese People don't like Black People.....I was shocked by that but of news Because I like asians since I was a children. Bruce is my Hero literally. I like and love Alot of things because of him. He gave and still gives me inspiration to this day. But if you can please clear this Media's bad light on the Chinese People. If you can or want to, if not it's okay too. Keep up the great videos.
Thanks Alvin! I can't speak for all Chinese people, especially since I'm Chinese American (there are a lot of cultural differences and a lot about Chinese culture that I don't understand), but I think that there are racists in every group, which is unfortunate. I personally don't know any Chinese people, born in China or in America, who don't like Black people. Regardless of what the media is saying, please don't think every Chinese person is racist because that is definitely not true!
@@LianaChau Thank you so Much Liana for answering my question. I really appreciate it. I don't let it change my view on Chinese or any other Asian cultures. I still love you all. My wife knows it better then anyone. Lol she has to listen to me fanboy over how beautiful the ladies are. Lol. But thanks again. I was just curious because I told her that would suck if the Information the Media was saying is true. Thank you again. It means so much to hear it's not true. It harms my heart. My wife showing me your videos feels like it was Fate. Thank you and be safe. Looking forward to your next stream or Video. 💜👍😁
I disagree about Lane, the show made it pretty clear that she was korean, specially on the episodes around her wedding with her grandma comming home and all of that, the showed some korean traditions there.
That eyes it's weird cuz most Asians don't have eyes that slant up at least the mass of ppl I've seen so far. They're usually slanted DOWNWARD and not to mention the monolid is more common for Koreans but not Chinese. I never get why ppl like to label that as the Chinese eyes and use that to mock me. I'm like: that's more common for koreans
Idk if anyone pointed this out yet, let alone if this will ever be seen, but the thing about looking like you're from Taiwan when you're faded is about the effects of the grassy-named *ehem* on your eyes. Like yeah it is still racist but it's not about pulling your eyes back for fun, it's the thing making them puff and swell to a point it resembles it. But the comparison is at least not about purposeful mocking from the root I guess? It's visually similar enough though the use is just unnecessary imo
Do east Asian countries have high or low non Asian representation in their entertainment? For example does China have shows or movies that star African actors that live in China?
This is a good question! I'm actually not 100% sure, but I believe that in China, over 90% of the population is Chinese. Meanwhile, here in the USA, a country that is a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities, the representation in media just seems disproportionate to what the population is actually like in real life-- not just for Asian Americans.
@@LianaChau The United States was 88%+ Europeans (practically 90 percent in 1950).. There were many groups in the US but all the way up until the 1970's+ the US was majority Europeans. Which would make sense, they were instrumental in the forging of the Nation.
As a Chinese born Chinese American who is not completely Americanized, Fresh Off The Boat is offensive to me. There. My point is, if I want Asian entertainment, I just go watch Anime, or Asian dramas, or Asian movies.
Thanks for letting me know! Could you please elaborate? I'm really interested in hearing more about your perspective and I'm sure a lot of people who come across this video would as well. :)
I'm Asian American, who doesn't want to be American, I speak English but understand Tagalog fluently. I know that living in Asia, not knowing the language is one of the hardest things in a new setting. Most Americans don't know that, when we try to know this language, foreigners expecially Asians are mocked for not knowing English. But you know what's ironic, they're putting ten times the effort in trying to be respectful in our "lands". While foreigners is Asia are alienated, why, well these reasons alone. Asia isn't Asia in the books, it's like any country in the world, there would be the good, the bad, and always the ugly no matter where you search. Even in Asia, not being certain type of Asian you're mocked from being in a neighboring country which that Asian nation has fought, let me tell you Asian vs Asian civil wars wow, theirs alot of them. Much richer than this burning hellscape of colonialism's history. I want to be an actor, weirdly enough I'm more scared in being an Actor in America whom I'm native too then being one in Asia, and that as an Asian American tells something. "No respectable black man would want to be Captain America." No Asian would also want to represent America. Being American means nothing in being Asian American.
I remember in 7th grade some asshole thought since I’m Asian I should be smart at doing homework. It didn’t really bother me at first but looking back at it now, I realized how offensive it was.
For The Foreigner, it might be a bit of a stretch but it’s possible that the character is Vietnamese but ethnically Chinese, there is quite a significant Chinese population in Southeast Asia, many of whom have been there for several generations and integrated themselves into the culture
Regarding The Foreigner, I thought Jackie Chan's character was a Hoa or Ngái, Chinese ethnicities that lived in Vietnam. Maybe the movie didn't delve deeply into that.
Oh I had no idea!! In that case the casting would be appropriate, I just remember there being a lot of people who were upset about how he wasn't Vietnamese when the movie came out 😬
okay so i think i've pretty much seen all the comments on this vid so far and i'm pretty sure that no one's mentioned shang-chi yet... so, enter me. me. i'm the gal that's gonna talk about shang-chi. (someone has to 🙄🙄🙄✌️😆) girllllllll. i hope that you already know, but in case you didn't, in july 2021, shang-chi & the legend of the ten rings is going to come out and it's going to be the marvel cinematic universe's first film with an asian lead, and an all-asian cast. and, it's starring our boi simu who ya gave a shout out for in your video so hellll yessss. girl, we're finally going to have a marvel lead the likes of the chrises except this time he's asian. all the same charm, charisma, and attractiveness we love and he's asian. not to mention, the film's crew and production behind the scenes are also asians (unlike mulan 2020 🤦🤦🤦🤦), with a japanese-american director and a chinese-american writer. not to mention the eternals that has chloe zhao, a chinese-american female director with a hella diverse cast and arguably a british-chinese lead with gemma chan playing sersi (the most well known character of the bunch, from what i've seen) so gosh, do you know how long i've been hyped for this shang-chi? for like, ever since it was announced in comic con last year and i was introduced for the first time to simu and all his heart eyes inducing charm 💕💕💕 for a whole year i would check up on any news about the film cus i literally cannot wait for asians to finally take the spotlight in the biggest (as well as my absolute favorite) film franchise ever. all this time i'd think i was the only one hyped for the film and i still kinda feel like i am the only one haha. but, the fact that i'm exploring yt more and discovering all you asians who are excited over shang-chi at the outset of it at least (check out the comments section of the yt vid of that comic con announcement and you'll basically see nothing but love and hype w/c damn warmed my cold dead heart so 🥺🥺🥺🥺) and all the chinese people who were angered by mulan and who ARE hungry for that RIGHT representation, who DO want that accessible mainstream asian content as much as i do.... i am honestly just hoping so bad that shang-chi delivers what we're all wanting and hoping for... i wanna believe the cast and crew when they say they pore their motherfreaking heart out into this film and that all in all, that it really is just a well done story with great characters, a labor of love that compels you all over is all i want tbh haha
oh and wait, i almost forgot, i havent watched it yet, but dollface also has brenda song in it and the filipina actress from you in it that seems pretty cool. tbh i think you might like that more since i think it seems more in line with like the genre of sitcom, chick flick type thing hehe
OMG WAIT that's so exciting!! I'll look into it and your other recommendations as well :) I'm definitely gonna watch Dollface too!! It's on my list! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video and thank you so much for taking the time to type out this delightfully long comment! I appreciate it so much and it makes me so happy that my video was worthy of it :')
You have a point! The Internet has allowed a lot of Asian creators a platform, but I was mainly concerned with representation in Hollywood, which is very poor. I actually do think the new generation watches TV lol. Maybe not on the actual television, but they definitely watch Netflix and Hulu and go to the movie theater.
@@LianaChau no need to concern. Hollywood already have a bad reputation, better not go in there. And yes, no matter platform, they are essentially shows, entertainment products, cultures. I would say Asians doing pretty good. For example korean pop culture are trending recent years, Japan animation and games is going downhill but still strong. Chinese.... Well, I think it's pretty hard since it's locked, but it's getting better, did you see the new game trailer reactions for "Wu Kong"? It's ridiculously good.
It's almost obligatory for every MOBA in existence to have a Wukong character. About time he gets a game for himself (Yeah Odyssey to the West was a thing and it's pretty good but still). That trailer looks fantastic.
@@coolorochi I wouldn't consider K pop culture a good thing for Koreans overall. Just as the former.. I'd probably say the same for Japanimation/games for the Japanese.
I've come to learn that instead of looking for representation much less good ones, I would rather just go watch Chinese dramas or anime instead of wasting my time on American media cuz I know 99% of the time I hate it. Seriously, I never get why ppl complain but never go watch media from their own native country. Like go watch a Korean drama or a Chinese one! Or anime! Stop wasting ur time here bc u know it's never gonna happen
I love fresh off the boat because of the characters and by the way I am canadin Filipino and am 17 and I love art and anime and comics and I hate asian stereotypes because it sucks and it's so annoying and stupid in my opinion. 😊🇵🇭😊😊🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭😊
yeah this is a rant:/ It is immensely annoying to see Asians as only East Asians and NO South Asians. Even when rarely represented, the character would either do a TERRIBLE brown voice which sounds NOTHING like the Indian English accent or/and would be inherently terrible AT English- aka not knowing enough words, vocabulary, stuttering etc. As an Indian born and raised in India, English is one of the two official languages here and EVERYONE I know is absolutely perfect at everything the language offers- it is the first language for most of us, and pretty much for everyone in urban areas. Then there is the matter concerning an Indian-American (or Indian-Brit, Indian-French... wherever you are raised- your parents are probably immigrants) and an Indian raised in their own country. An Indian-American would speak American English in a white accent, obviously, having been raised there and an Indian would speak English in an Indian accent- (which fyi, SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE THE BROWN VOICE REPRESENTED IN HOLLYWOOD- we do not weirdly stretch words or stress upon syllables AT ALL, it is, in very gross terms, a watered-down British accent- learnt from them after they colonised and stole our wealth and centuries of prosperity) however THERE WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY NO DISTINCTION IN THEIR LEVEL OF PROWESS IN THE LANGUAGE. This is quite accurately depicted, atleast to a great extent in Never Have I Ever, directed by Indian-American 'The Office' star Mindy Kaling. fyi 2.0, we DO NOT talk like Raj from Big Bang Theory( WHAT EVEN IS THAT ACCENT NOOOO) and none of us are weird socially awkward geeks who can't approach the opposite sex and WE DO NOT SMELL OF CURRY/GRAVY (thank you very much white stereotype.) The same applies for every ridiculous Indian accent(PLEASE FOR HEAVENS' SAKE GET IT RIGHT FOR ONCE) and stereotyped Indian character in Hollywood. The level of inaccuracy- brown characters directed by ignorant whites who do not have even the slightest clue leaves me utterly flabbergasted.
Like have you met Asian women??? What about us is submissive! And I think I'm the only Asian (half in my case, don't get me started on the stories I could tell about the shit my white family members have pulled) I know with blue eyes! Is it bad that I kinda wanted to get purple tips? I just thought it would look good with my hair. God I'm a walking stereotype aren't I. I'm a quiet nerdy computer science Asian girl.
as a person born raised & living in South America I can wholeheartedly tell you that I NEVER EVER failed to identify to a character I like just because they were blonde and blue eyed (im caucasian but I have dark hair and dark eyes like half of south americans, although I think Americans call that Latino for some reason which fyi is not race, its a culture) and I also say this in behalf of actual mestizo people who hardly even think about the fact they arent white. I guess this steams from my countrys Racial-relations from the get go where Slavery was quickly abolished (thats why we have virtually no black people) and also interracial marriage between white and indian was MANDATORY for EUROPEANS only so we would create a fully national anti-european identity. Paraguay is considered “homogenous” like Asian countries but the truth is our Last racial census were made 200 years ago and hundreds of thousands of Italian and soviet and germanic exoduses of the 20th century increased our populations (caucasian) in a way that today half of South America is whiter than the USA proportionally. After that small history lesson Id like to continue uwu : Still, we might be alot whiter than we were 200 years ago but thats still a whopping 2 races inside a country (2 races that even share the same culture anyways because Mestizos are as european as they are indigenous) Which leads me to the conclusion that the fact that US people need to see superficial copies of themselves everywhere is because They have divided the people in their nation and forbid them to integrate with one another so much from the very beginning that its become a fundamental cultural aspect of the US: racial divide. Asian people have no problem in watching American movies with white characters but somehow Asian Americans do? Think about it. They are a melting pot that didnt melt. Its ironic how one of the first few concepts of american culture i was taught in english class was “melting pot” . I see this is a problem that echoes in other countries of América, specially those who held onto slavery longer, like Brazil which has an even worst racial divide and larger, WAY larger number of black people AND US crazy cultural ideas continuously being imported into our countries + the important historical similarities (crimes against humanity) Brasil and US share has been so deeply engrained in Brasilian society that they dont even consider themselves Latinos anymore. I think this is a fundamental problem with American Culture. Not a problem with who gets to be put in a movie. US is race obsessed and I will eat my hat if any ANY of you here that are Americans can spend a single day of your lives without hearing/reading the words black and White. if you were money obsessed like us itd be harder to discriminate cause you never know who the poor one is based on their skintone. This statement is so real that my first memory of me thinking about my race was when I started to engage with Americans online. I dont think representation matters at all when its your entire culture that failed at integration.
Thank you for voicing this issue!! I'm biracial (white and south asian). I recently realized the very little asian representation in media, and when there is representation, it's Chinese. This isn't saying that Chinese representation is bad, it's good! But I definitely wish to see more representation, and more South Asians in media.. :)
Of course!! Hoping to see much more representation for all Asians in the years to come :)
Have you seen how westerners are represented in south Asian media? It’s laughably biased and downright racist
I’ll try my best with south asian representation.
yeah america sees asia through a tinyyy lense, and it's kinda disappointing to see, because Asia is so diverse, culturally and enthnically, but so few countries are ever really ever mentioned in American media, and usually if they refer to Asia they exclude South and southeast Asia entirely, it's a shame
@@azzking9305 yea looking forward to that changing
Beautifully put! I've always wanted to see a wider variety of asian cultures represented on screen - especially being a Filipino. I also loved the point made that it may be the reason people assume all Asians are Chinese! I've never really thought of it that way but am always confused when people think I am Chinese eventhough I dont feel I resemble their features xx Fab video!!
Thank you!! & absolutely! For me, it was really refreshing to see Manny Jacinto on The Good Place, but it just made me realize how few Filipino actors/actresses I've actually seen. It's kind of funny (yet so sadly realistic) how in the show, the other characters think his character is Taiwanese at first.
Do u have any concept of how expensive it is to produce a studio film or television series...why would people invest millions of dollars for a show that may resonant with like less than 1% of the populalation...heck, I would love to see a death metal band play at the superbowl...unfortunately, the audience for death metal is miniscule.
Whenever people talk about history of Asian representation in media these days they almost ALWAYS forget about Bruce Lee who was a literally the first biggest Asian figure in Hollywood that had a long lasting legacy up until today where people still know his name. People might overlook him because he was the pioneer of Asians always being a martial artist kind of role, but he was WELL ahead of his time by defying the stereotypes that Asian men were feeble and weak. And not just that, there are so many aspects of him such as health, fitness and approach to life that people still take in to today which makes him arguably the biggest Asian influence in Hollywood and also paved the way for people like Jackie Chan and Jet Li to star in more American movies too.
I hope the upcoming Naruto live action has an All Asian cast like Avatar The Last Airbender.
Thank you for voicing the issue of this!
my GOD GIRL l love you so much. this is so so true. l am a Pakistani brown guy and l get really pissed off when l see the word Asian next to a Chinese face (no offense) and l am like man there is more to Asia than just Chinese - Even India has a lot of respresentation in Amercian media no matter how conflicted it is - think Apu in Simpsons. But as a Pakistani we are always wither called Indians and Iranis or other enthicity. I think it will be millions of decades before we see other Asian-Minorites in Western MEdia
I can imagine that being VERY frustrating! Hoping we can see some significant changes in Hollywood sooner rather than later.
@@LianaChau in order to bring that change we have goto be that change! I have plans to join Hollywood as an actor myself very soon and l have never been outside Pakistan before - But you have an edge over this matter since you were born there and you know California. I have acted in alot of shortfilms in my region but l hope and plan to join the Big Guys very soon - I have made it my life mission :)
The best representation I've seen Asian kids and teens have was Raya the Last Dragon (South Eastern), Claudia in Babysitters Club (Japanese), Never Have I Ever (Indian, Japanese/White, Chinese character)
Also, Never Have I Ever Rant, literally love that show I love the fact the the Black character was the nerdy character AND SHE WAS A ANDROGYNOUS LESBIAN, also loved the fact that the show focused on Indian American problems and the hot jock was a Mixed White-Japanese guy who wasnt nerdy.
Yeah um Raya got quite a lot of complaints from the SEA community
I've been thinking about watching that show once I remove everything from my list
Have you seen Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? They have a Filipino main character (love interest) and I find the whole series just great. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on it.
Haven't seen it but will add it to my list! :D
I was really excited to see this video! Being Asian American (specifically filipino) and also studying to be a musical theatre actress, Asian representation in American media is a fascinating topic (you mainly discussed film and TV, but just so you know the theatre community falls into many of the same pitfalls that film and TV do, especially when it comes to being the sidekick (see Mean Girls or Heathers) or white savior/submissive asian trope (see King and I and Miss Saigon). I think Never Have I Ever having Elanor as a flamboyant theatre kid who's still very intelligent is great representation! I've also never noticed the purple/blue streak trend. one topic i loved in Never Have I Ever was the college application storyline where Devi "wasn't interesting enough to college boards" for being an Asian American who had a high GPA and multiple extracurriculars (when it would've been impressive if she was any other race). Another piece of representation I LOVED was the Pixar short film Bao just for that story of immigrant parents being unable to connect with their child. There are just so many stories specifically related to Asian American backgrounds and culture
i love the growing trend of media like To All The Boys I've Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians (both of which resisted the Hollywood pressure to cast white actresses in the main leads) and Never Have I Ever becoming mainstream and popular, and i really hope that it goes more toward that trend (instead of scarlett johanssen trying to snatch up these roles).
Ahh so glad you enjoyed! I didn't know that Asian representation is very poor in the theater community as well because I don't watch much theater-- it is definitely disappointing but does not come as a surprise, and it is definitely good to know! I totally forgot about Devi's college application storyline! I could definitely relate to that too, feeling like I busted my ass in high school but still got rejected from some schools that I could've otherwise gotten into. Bao was great as well! It just broke my heart that a lot of people didn't understand it, when the mom ends up eating the bao at some point. And I completely agree, I feel very excited about the slow and small changes that Hollywood is starting to make, and can't wait to see more!
The main comment I really have to make is that I went to high school with Ramona Young, the actress for Elinore in that Never Would I Ever show. Now, Ramona was never really a close friend, but we did have mutual acquaintances, and she was one of the few Asian American people I remember interacting with regularly with during my teenage years. Looking back on that time, I remember acknowledging that she obviously looked of Asian descent, but also that she was as normal as the rest of the student body. Probably in an unconscious way, she helped normalize the sight of Asian American people to me just in day to day life just by existing and being her happy self. I'm so happy to see her acting career grow and that she can bring that sort of much needed representation of Asian Americans through TV and film to other people.
That's so cool to be able to say you went to high school with a famous person! :)
GREAT VIDEO!! Representation gives that group not only the space to dream but the validation that their dreams and stories are important and deserve to be told. Also regarding lil Wayne and Nicki, there’s DEFINITELY a conversation that needs to be had around racism and prejudice among “minority” groups. We have all bought into the falsehoods and stereotypes that we’ve been told about each other one way or another. It’s sad but it wasn’t an accident.
Thank you so much!! I feel so validated! ❤ And absolutely-- it's devastating that for so long, minority groups have been pitted against each other. I'm hoping that as time goes on, we as a society can take the necessary steps to cast away those falsehoods completely.
You are so pretty! And your voice is so light! It's really nice to listen too
Aww thank you so much!!
your channel is underrated asf! im doing an assignment on asian representation on the media and your video provided a lot of useful info for me. being an asian as well this hit home.
loved this and your take on asian representation in american media! i’m super passionate about this too so it’s great to see asian youtubers speaking out about it :) you deserve so many more subscribers omg ♥️♥️ also, asian racism / representation in music is something that really needs more attention, so so happy you brought that up too!
Thank you so much! This means so much to me!
@@LianaChau I hope them Anti SJWs don't call Asian American movies woke
I can’t believe I just discovered your channel!!
Have you seen the Disney Channel show Andi Mack?? It’s about a half Chinese American teenager and her family. There’s an episode where her classmates assume all these Asian stereotypes about her and it’s dealt with really well. There’s also episodes where they celebrate CNY and another one with mid autumn festival.
It’s also a really good representation of mixed families, young parents, mental health and has the first Disney channel character with a coming out storyline!
what episode is it?
Well... that's messed up. I'm rooting for ya to break through in the film industry.
thank you!
I heard the show Fresh off the Boat was a Great Show. Hearing you talking about it makes me want to watch it now. Adding it to my watch laters.
My heart goes out to the Asians in western countries. Not that there's no racism that are Asians on Asians, but it just seems much more extreme there. I loved your videos.
With the Mulan remake, having finally seen it, it breaks my heart that there is no Grandmother Fa character in that version. I loved this character and she was so funny to me.
Mood
I like that you're wearing green to show representation and solidarity with your favourite film character... Shrek.
we love shrek on this channel
Great video and commentary! The Power Rangers franchise is one that also has Asian-American representation in children’s shows. When people think of Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin (the first 3 seasons) is what comes to mind. However, the series is still ongoing with different actors and storyline, while keeping their cast racially diverse. Late actress Thuy Trang played Trini Kwan, the yellow ranger. Although it’s great to have Asian representation, the casting was controversial since casting an Asian-American to play a “yellow” ranger is problematic, but the producers didn’t realize the mistake until it was too late. Luckily in future seasons of the Power Rangers franchise, they no longer cast Asian-American actors to play yellow ranger roles. But we have yet to see the series cast an Asian-American to portray the red ranger (typically the leader of the group). The role of the red rangers has been played by majority white, but sometimes black and hispanic/latino actors. Although one could argue that in the Power Rangers Ninja Storm season, late actor Pua Magasiva, the red ranger is considered the first Asian red ranger as he is Samoan. I personally think it still counts, but it would also be nice to see an East Asian/Southeast Asian and a South Asian to portray the leader.
Fun fact: the Power Rangers franchise is based on Japan’s Super Sentai franchise in which the producers of Power Rangers uses their stock stock footage and ranger suit designs. In other words, Japan’s Super Sentai is the original power Rangers.
But we should consider the fact that it was based on Super Sentai, a Japanese show where everyone was Asian including the Yellow Ranger...
aren't samoans pacific islanders, not asian? unless he's half asian or something idk
I was looking for examples of misrepresentation in media for a school assignment and stumbled upon your video, and this had helped me understand a whole lot more than anything I've seen before. All the examples you've given have helped me not just with this assignment, but in reality in noticing bias and racism and harmful stereotypes not just in media but in real life and ways that I can help. I thank you for that! Amazing video!
Y’all should watch Kingdom on Netflix! The movie has a Korean cast. You would love it if you liked Game of Thrones. Minari and Parasite was great and so was Raya and the Last Dragon.
Me too! I would like to see more accurate representation among Asians and Asian Americans. And what I mean by that, more nationalities of Asians. As for the Japanese and Japanese American women I draw and paint, I draw and paint these women with black hair and green eyes, for aesthetic pleasure.⭐️💜🌹🌈🕊
You're Japanese. Please speak out against the Erasure of Asianess in your own media in regards to Hollywood. We should all know that hair colour and eye colour in Anime is just a stylistic choice and has nothing to do with race. But we all know your characters will be whitewashed anyway. For example, there is a RUclipsr called ReAnime who made Hidan and Ino Yamanaka from Naruto white. In a comment section he said he wanted Naruto to be white because Naruto act "American". He made Shikamaru's family the Nara clan speak Japanese as if they are immigrants in America while he spoke English with other characters. So Naruto is set in America now? And no body seems to care or talk about it at all. Why? Why? *Why?* Don't you Asians care about yourselves? Cos we black people wouldn't take that crap from anybody. Even black people in Africa wouldn't tolerate that crap. So why are Asian people quiet?
@@kenshix7902 You’re right unfortunately, it’s sad how the most popular form of media to the Western and American Public is Japanese who cater to the white folk, just disappointing
I had a huge crush on cartoon Asian guys growing up. Especially Shang and Professor Utonium 😍😍
Utonium is Asian????
@@kenshix7902 idk but he seemed asian
I LOVED FOB. I do think that it's high time to see more east asian, slavic, latino, brown, etc representation. however, having found out that huang (the man, whose autobiography the show is based on) didn't like the adaptation very much, i'll read the book in the near future. and, tbh, i hope that representation will be more honest and caring in the 2020s than it was in the 2010s.
Speaking of kid's shows: you should check out Winx Club and WITCH. In Winx, Musa (inspired by Lucy Liu) starts off as the tomboy (and a white girl was the nerd). In WITCH, Hay Lin may be a geek, but the nerdy one is Taranee, who is black.
For movies, you can check out Romeo Must Die with Jet Li and Aaliyah. I don't know if you've seen Hidden Tiger, Crouching Tiger, but it's a neat movie
And there's also Nick and Wei in True Crime and Sleeping Dogs.
As for the streak, i think it was an attempt to represent non white alt people (subcultures were a common thing in fiction) and, tbh, I prefer Nikki Wong from the Canadian show 6Teen from that trope.
Oh no, I didn't know that Huang didn't like it! I might check out the book too. And thanks for the recs! I, too, really liked Nikki Wong, but for some reason it took me the LONGEST time to realize she was Asian. You do make a compelling point about the subculture thing-- that's something I hadn't really thought about before! It's just that almost every time I saw an Asian girl, she had a hair streak, and I didn't feel like it was very representative of Asian American girls and women as a whole. I definitely saw more hair streaks than natural black hair, and to me that implied that Asian girls weren't interesting enough on their own unless they belonged to a subculture or something like that.
@@LianaChau he said it watered down a lot of things but sort of accepted it. The subculture stuff was very big in the 00s, however, I mostly saw east asians and whites among alt characters.
Winx club, sadly, got worse as time progressed bc the writers got money-hungry and I didn't see the individuality that was present in the first four seasons. Especially considering the redesign of the characters who must be in their late twenties or early thirties at this point. Not to mention the plotholes that got more common when the rights were given to Nickelodeon. I've been told that world of Winx compensates for the mess the new seasons are, but I haven't watched it, so I can't judge.
As for the video games I mentioned, I'm a little biased, bc the main character of true crime streets of LA is my favorite character. The good thing about its successor (that was supposed to be the third part of tc) is that it's set in hong kong, which is groundbreaking for a number of reasons. Another game set in China is Rise To Honor with Jet Li, but it's for PlayStation.
Also about the blue eyes, in the My scene doll line, there's Nolee Tomodachi who has blue eyes so much and rarely has brown eyes.
Maybe you can talk about the "Chinese Mean Girl" fad in cartoons. Many of these shows have heroic Chinese characters but if they want an Asian female bully, she's usually Chinese. Not Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, Indian or anything like that. CHINESE. Brittney in Star vs the Forces of Evil, Heather in Total Drama, Penelope in Atomic Betty, Trixie Tang, and Gwen in the Mighty B are all notable examples.
Awesome video! Thank you! I was thinking about this today and so glad to have watched this!
So glad you enjoyed :))
I heard somewhere that it is hard to 3D animate black hair and that’s why they usually have some sort of streak of color
I could be wrong tho so don’t take it as totally fact
Love that you put Jackie in the thumbnail!
thank you for talking about this.
im not asian myself, but as an animator wanting to represent asian americans, this really helped!
* cries in South Asian *
this video was amazing and so are you! One of my favourite movies of all time is Harold and Kumar because it has an asian male lead who's just your average asian american smoking weed as well as the other male lead who's indian. We still have a long way to go in terms of asian leads in movies that display the average asian american experience. You did a very good job on this video and I hope you keep making content like this
Thank you so much, that means a lot to me!! Omg I love the sound of that movie, might check it out!
@@LianaChau omg you haven't seen harold and Kumar???!!! It's on Netflix!! Atleast it is rn in Canada
I was today years old when I found out Trixie was Asian whaaat?
I KNOW I was so shook when I realized!!
What are your thoughts on Ross Butler's characters? With him being in a lot of popular teen movies/shows like "13 Reasons Why", "Riverdale", and "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" 2 and 3.
I loved your comments. I am not an Asian person but I understand all your comments from an outsider point of view. I love seeing amazing Asian characters I relate to because for me that means the character has transcended race. I would love to see more of them! Unfortunately its very rare that it happens in Hollywood. Have you watched Greys anatomy? I really like the depiction of Christina Yang. Her sexuality, her strength and her strong personality was so refreshing from the quiet study Asian depiction in media. Love your content :)
I'm really glad you enjoyed!! I don't think the goal is for an Asian character to transcend race, per se, because that might erase or cheapen the experiences and struggles that the Asian American community has had to go through in real life. At the same time, it is really great to see Asian characters that don't conform to stereotypes. I would really like to see a balance-- Asian characters who are relatable and not based on preexisting stereotypes, yet still in touch with their Asian identities. I wish Hollywood didn't see it as a necessity to either make an Asian character a stereotype OR a character who just happens to be Asian but has nothing inherently Asian about them. I also wish that even if a character is in touch with their Asian identity, it doesn't make them less relatable. & I haven't seen Grey's Anatomy but I might watch it just for Sandra Oh! She's very talented☺❤
When you're talking about Kung Fu movies, I totally wasn't aware of the Male White lead type Kung Fu movies. And I was struggling to remember any submissive female character in them. XP
"I am American unfortunately" LMAOO relate.
Dude you should watch amphibia! It's a cartoon made by an asian creator that has two asian protagonist
Wait that's so cool!! I'll add it to my list!!
@@LianaChau also! I forgot to tell you but Brenda song is voice acting the main protagonist too!
even though this was mostly about film and tv, as a fledgling white writer for fiction books, this definitely helped to give me some tips about portraying asian characters, thank u
Kristin Keruk played Lana Lang in Smallville. I am curious about your thoughts are her character and character development. She really is a complex character with her own agency and she happens to be the Main Character's love interest.
I haven't seen it, but I will be sure to add it to my list!! :)
To touch briefly on 'Never Have I Ever':
I think Eleanor's quirky personality is rather Mindy Kaling's style than a statement about race. It makes somehow sense that Devi would be friends with an over-the-top theatre girl, especially when the goal seems to be to make the three friends as distinct as possible.
If my perception is wrong, please correct me.
Makes sense to me! :) It's honestly probably not that deep to begin with, I just wanted to bring her up just to spark a conversation and see what other people thought.
As a mongolian, imma just have to go and get a film degree to finally get ANY reprensentation in american media that isn't a yellow eyed big evil man go roarr
Cartoon: Jackie Chan Adventures (2000-2005) with Jackie Chan voicing his character. Sitcom: All-American Girl (1994-1995) starring Margaret Cho pre-dated Fresh Off the Boat, but it failed and was a blow to Asian representation, Awkwafina's show Nora from Queens. Film: Flower Drum Song (1961) with Nancy Kwan, the big one was Joy Luck Club (1993) with Ming-Na Wen, Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), Searching (2018) with John Cho, great film!, Awkwafina in The Farewell (2019), up there with Scar Jo is Alita: Battle Angel (2019) using CG to white wash.
Ok but Alita Battle Angel is set in america. Kansas specifically iirc. The manga is at least, dunno about the movie verse.
Where is the whitewashing you speak of??? Sure Alita could be an asian looking robot, she could also be any nationality that has pale skinned, dark haired, dark eyed people.
@@MsLilly200 Not to mention Alita is played by Rosa Salazar, a Hispanic actress so it doesn't count as white washing at all. And the movie goes out of its way to point out that Iron City is a melting pot of many different cultures and people so expecting it to be nothing but asians is just ridiculous.
Love thissssss 🙌🏼
thank you!
I remember as a kid, I gravitated towards Ke Huy Quan in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” He was the first kid I can recall that I felt looked like me (even though I’m a Asian/Caucasian mix).
I also think seeing this kid on an adventure with Indy, really made the scary stuff in the film not as scary (I watched TOD at least a hundred times…saw Raiders with the scary stuff at the end and never watched it until I was in my teens).
I not exposed to cartoons but I do like ginger on RUclips rabbit holes. Also had no idea that most of these were supposed to be asian . Because experience around me was not 2d like that.
It's the same in Canada. I have a Chinese-Canadian friend who lived in the city with me and then she moved up where there was just white people and she said she walked into a popular chain store and when she walked up to the cash register and asked the question, she told me the lady at the desk looked at her like she was shocked she could speak English, facepalm. She thought it was funny but I knew it was racist and thought it was sad.
Trixie Tang is asian? Mind blown!
The funniest representation by hollywood was Jason scott lee as mowgli in that really old disney 'The jungle book' movie.. I know we have tanned east asian 'looking' people also in India but mowgli is supposed to be an orphan from the middle of India lol.
I have a question about Korean actors playing Chinese characters (or vice versa). Do you think there is a substantial difference between that and white British actors playing American characters (or white Americans playing British characters)? I don't mean this as a "gotcha"; I'm genuinely curious what would differentiate the two cases.
(I guess maybe part of it is the stereotype that white people think "all (East) Asians look the same", so having Asian actors playing different nationalities might reinforce the stigma that they are all interchangable?)
That's a great question! I honestly don't know what the best answer is, but I think you're onto something with the last part of your comment. Talking about American media specifically, there is such little representation for the Asian American community that I think it's really important to have that accuracy with casting so that people don't learn to lump all East Asians together. Plus, the United States as we know it only exists because of European colonization-- America's whiteness is basically Europe's whiteness, so I feel it doesn't matter at all when British actors play American characters or vice versa, whereas Korean people were never Japanese and Japanese people were never Chinese and Chinese people were never Vietnamese.
Hello. You mentioned Jake Long but not Juniper Lee. Didn't you watch that cartoon? The premises were similar, but the tone of the show and the gender of the main character were different.
Asians are DEFINITELY being more catered to now. You see Asians routinely in American tv commercials now.
Alot of things you spoke of I didnt know im so glad you vented that help me out alot....if you wanna see change make it it happen if that line offended in nicki minaj song say something I wouldve supported it frfr❤❤✊✊✊
thank you! 💛
There's Cloud Atlus that has people switch races all the time throughout the movie. It's a bit yecks.
I guess the only way Asian stars will be represented more in Hollywood produced media taking on a more diverse role like action hero in action movie that involve guns instead of the usual stereo typical kungfu hero is if there's more Asian movie director or Asian movie producer in America otherwise it's almost a pipe dream to even dream about.
It may not be popular but all races of people have some with coloured eyes
I think they might be some funny moments in the actual Mulan movie, but they wanted to make the movie more epic and serious. Are you planning to do a review of Mulan?
It's up on my channel! ☺
I wanna ask something regarding the eye color and race.
Does the race have an effect on the person's eye color? I thought everyone had any eye color regardless?
I don’t watch TV and i don’t like movies; so even though i’m an american guy i’m just finding out a lot of these stereotypes exist somehow xD its the most fascinating thing to me. In general most stereotypes work better if you run them in reverse, by which i mean, the probability of good at math therefore asian is much higher than the probability of asian therefore good at math (for context, i took some classes on graph theory in college and i was basically the only white person in a room full of asians…could have just been that year of students though *shrug*). Which is how they form i suppose; if you don’t hold stereotypes your brain isn’t functioning correctly...
The stereotypes i’ve formed of asian women by using my eyes to look around the world are like… asian grandmas are basically indestructible (this made those attacks the other month especially shocking to me), most asian women are surprisingly buff, etc. Its fascinating to me, its fascinating how much the stereotypes formed by people that watch a lot of media differ from the ones i formed.
YO omg I saw CRA with my white friend and I SOBBED during the WeChat scene.... just cuz, like, WeChat!! And I don't even use WeChat. But it made me emotional for some reason.
Hey, it's pretty much like latinos/mexicans, everyone thinks mexicans represent all of latinoamerica.
Hoping to see you on screen in the future!💜
Liana I agree with you. No one should have to experience racism. I would like to ask you a question in this regard. Because Media lately has been articles and stuff with Star Wars John Boyega and Mulan etc etc. But I was curious and hoping you can debunk the Media's calms that Chinese People don't like Black People.....I was shocked by that but of news Because I like asians since I was a children. Bruce is my Hero literally. I like and love Alot of things because of him. He gave and still gives me inspiration to this day. But if you can please clear this Media's bad light on the Chinese People. If you can or want to, if not it's okay too. Keep up the great videos.
Thanks Alvin! I can't speak for all Chinese people, especially since I'm Chinese American (there are a lot of cultural differences and a lot about Chinese culture that I don't understand), but I think that there are racists in every group, which is unfortunate. I personally don't know any Chinese people, born in China or in America, who don't like Black people. Regardless of what the media is saying, please don't think every Chinese person is racist because that is definitely not true!
@@LianaChau Thank you so Much Liana for answering my question. I really appreciate it. I don't let it change my view on Chinese or any other Asian cultures. I still love you all. My wife knows it better then anyone. Lol she has to listen to me fanboy over how beautiful the ladies are. Lol. But thanks again. I was just curious because I told her that would suck if the Information the Media was saying is true. Thank you again. It means so much to hear it's not true. It harms my heart. My wife showing me your videos feels like it was Fate. Thank you and be safe. Looking forward to your next stream or Video. 💜👍😁
I disagree about Lane, the show made it pretty clear that she was korean, specially on the episodes around her wedding with her grandma comming home and all of that, the showed some korean traditions there.
That eyes it's weird cuz most Asians don't have eyes that slant up at least the mass of ppl I've seen so far. They're usually slanted DOWNWARD and not to mention the monolid is more common for Koreans but not Chinese. I never get why ppl like to label that as the Chinese eyes and use that to mock me. I'm like: that's more common for koreans
Love your taste in clothes, where do you shop xx I'm in the UK x
Idk if anyone pointed this out yet, let alone if this will ever be seen, but the thing about looking like you're from Taiwan when you're faded is about the effects of the grassy-named *ehem* on your eyes. Like yeah it is still racist but it's not about pulling your eyes back for fun, it's the thing making them puff and swell to a point it resembles it. But the comparison is at least not about purposeful mocking from the root I guess? It's visually similar enough though the use is just unnecessary imo
Maybe she meant that still but as a stoner i wanted to explain it without really defending it djddnnfnfm
this is so random but your a gorgeous human being
That’s so sweet thank you 🥺❤️
@@LianaChau your very welcome, also i love your videos!!
Do east Asian countries have high or low non Asian representation in their entertainment? For example does China have shows or movies that star African actors that live in China?
This is a good question! I'm actually not 100% sure, but I believe that in China, over 90% of the population is Chinese. Meanwhile, here in the USA, a country that is a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities, the representation in media just seems disproportionate to what the population is actually like in real life-- not just for Asian Americans.
@@LianaChau The United States was 88%+ Europeans (practically 90 percent in 1950).. There were many groups in the US but all the way up until the 1970's+ the US was majority Europeans. Which would make sense, they were instrumental in the forging of the Nation.
As a Chinese born Chinese American who is not completely Americanized, Fresh Off The Boat is offensive to me. There.
My point is, if I want Asian entertainment, I just go watch Anime, or Asian dramas, or Asian movies.
Thanks for letting me know! Could you please elaborate? I'm really interested in hearing more about your perspective and I'm sure a lot of people who come across this video would as well. :)
Jade from bratz
I'm Asian American, who doesn't want to be American, I speak English but understand Tagalog fluently. I know that living in Asia, not knowing the language is one of the hardest things in a new setting. Most Americans don't know that, when we try to know this language, foreigners expecially Asians are mocked for not knowing English. But you know what's ironic, they're putting ten times the effort in trying to be respectful in our "lands". While foreigners is Asia are alienated, why, well these reasons alone. Asia isn't Asia in the books, it's like any country in the world, there would be the good, the bad, and always the ugly no matter where you search. Even in Asia, not being certain type of Asian you're mocked from being in a neighboring country which that Asian nation has fought, let me tell you Asian vs Asian civil wars wow, theirs alot of them. Much richer than this burning hellscape of colonialism's history. I want to be an actor, weirdly enough I'm more scared in being an Actor in America whom I'm native too then being one in Asia, and that as an Asian American tells something. "No respectable black man would want to be Captain America." No Asian would also want to represent America. Being American means nothing in being Asian American.
I remember in 7th grade some asshole thought since I’m Asian I should be smart at doing homework. It didn’t really bother me at first but looking back at it now, I realized how offensive it was.
For The Foreigner, it might be a bit of a stretch but it’s possible that the character is Vietnamese but ethnically Chinese, there is quite a significant Chinese population in Southeast Asia, many of whom have been there for several generations and integrated themselves into the culture
I think Stacey had asian heritage :0, maybe her was white and her dad chinese
I love Brenda Song.
Me too
nice thumbnail 🤠
Brenda Song is not Chinese American. She's half Thai and half Hmong.
You’re right! My bad I didn’t know
i'm from brazil.. there's a lot of brazilian-chinese people here
I really liked the Chinese movie
to live it was about a rich guy that lost everything gambling and survived the revolution because of it.
Regarding The Foreigner, I thought Jackie Chan's character was a Hoa or Ngái, Chinese ethnicities that lived in Vietnam. Maybe the movie didn't delve deeply into that.
Oh I had no idea!! In that case the casting would be appropriate, I just remember there being a lot of people who were upset about how he wasn't Vietnamese when the movie came out 😬
okay so i think i've pretty much seen all the comments on this vid so far and i'm pretty sure that no one's mentioned shang-chi yet...
so, enter me. me. i'm the gal that's gonna talk about shang-chi. (someone has to 🙄🙄🙄✌️😆)
girllllllll. i hope that you already know, but in case you didn't, in july 2021, shang-chi & the legend of the ten rings is going to come out and it's going to be the marvel cinematic universe's first film with an asian lead, and an all-asian cast.
and, it's starring our boi simu who ya gave a shout out for in your video so hellll yessss.
girl, we're finally going to have a marvel lead the likes of the chrises except this time he's asian. all the same charm, charisma, and attractiveness we love and he's asian.
not to mention, the film's crew and production behind the scenes are also asians (unlike mulan 2020 🤦🤦🤦🤦), with a japanese-american director and a chinese-american writer.
not to mention the eternals that has chloe zhao, a chinese-american female director with a hella diverse cast and arguably a british-chinese lead with gemma chan playing sersi (the most well known character of the bunch, from what i've seen)
so gosh, do you know how long i've been hyped for this shang-chi? for like, ever since it was announced in comic con last year and i was introduced for the first time to simu and all his heart eyes inducing charm 💕💕💕
for a whole year i would check up on any news about the film cus i literally cannot wait for asians to finally take the spotlight in the biggest (as well as my absolute favorite) film franchise ever.
all this time i'd think i was the only one hyped for the film and i still kinda feel like i am the only one haha. but, the fact that i'm exploring yt more and discovering all you asians who are excited over shang-chi at the outset of it at least (check out the comments section of the yt vid of that comic con announcement and you'll basically see nothing but love and hype w/c damn warmed my cold dead heart so 🥺🥺🥺🥺)
and all the chinese people who were angered by mulan and who ARE hungry for that RIGHT representation, who DO want that accessible mainstream asian content as much as i do....
i am honestly just hoping so bad that shang-chi delivers what we're all wanting and hoping for...
i wanna believe the cast and crew when they say they pore their motherfreaking heart out into this film and that all in all, that it really is just a well done story with great characters, a labor of love that compels you all over is all i want tbh haha
oh and wait, i almost forgot, i havent watched it yet, but dollface also has brenda song in it and the filipina actress from you in it that seems pretty cool. tbh i think you might like that more since i think it seems more in line with like the genre of sitcom, chick flick type thing hehe
OMG WAIT that's so exciting!! I'll look into it and your other recommendations as well :) I'm definitely gonna watch Dollface too!! It's on my list!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the video and thank you so much for taking the time to type out this delightfully long comment! I appreciate it so much and it makes me so happy that my video was worthy of it :')
Well, there's Raya And The Last Dragon
Internet is still representation.
New generation don't even watch TV anymore.
You have a point! The Internet has allowed a lot of Asian creators a platform, but I was mainly concerned with representation in Hollywood, which is very poor. I actually do think the new generation watches TV lol. Maybe not on the actual television, but they definitely watch Netflix and Hulu and go to the movie theater.
@@LianaChau no need to concern.
Hollywood already have a bad reputation, better not go in there.
And yes, no matter platform, they are essentially shows, entertainment products, cultures.
I would say Asians doing pretty good.
For example korean pop culture are trending recent years, Japan animation and games is going downhill but still strong.
Chinese.... Well, I think it's pretty hard since it's locked, but it's getting better, did you see the new game trailer reactions for "Wu Kong"?
It's ridiculously good.
It's almost obligatory for every MOBA in existence to have a Wukong character.
About time he gets a game for himself (Yeah Odyssey to the West was a thing and it's pretty good but still). That trailer looks fantastic.
@@coolorochi I wouldn't consider K pop culture a good thing for Koreans overall. Just as the former.. I'd probably say the same for Japanimation/games for the Japanese.
Your unmatched eyeliner is soo distracting giiirl
But nice video keep it up 💋
I just have uneven eyelids 😭😭😭
@@LianaChau I'm just poking fun you're gorgeous either way ♥️
Michelle yeo. Was cool in Jackie Chan movies.
I've come to learn that instead of looking for representation much less good ones, I would rather just go watch Chinese dramas or anime instead of wasting my time on American media cuz I know 99% of the time I hate it.
Seriously, I never get why ppl complain but never go watch media from their own native country. Like go watch a Korean drama or a Chinese one! Or anime! Stop wasting ur time here bc u know it's never gonna happen
Also the chick in agents of shield called herself Asian but she looked white to me.
brenda song isn't chinese she is Thai and Hmong
And now we have Raya and the Last Dragon
yes we do!!
I love fresh off the boat because of the characters and by the way I am canadin Filipino and am 17 and I love art and anime and comics and I hate asian stereotypes because it sucks and it's so annoying and stupid in my opinion. 😊🇵🇭😊😊🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭😊
Now that I think about it she reminds me of Megan merckl.
Boy oh boy, whait when u watch the new mulan...
yeah this is a rant:/
It is immensely annoying to see Asians as only East Asians and NO South Asians. Even when rarely represented, the character would either do a TERRIBLE brown voice which sounds NOTHING like the Indian English accent or/and would be inherently terrible AT English- aka not knowing enough words, vocabulary, stuttering etc. As an Indian born and raised in India, English is one of the two official languages here and EVERYONE I know is absolutely perfect at everything the language offers- it is the first language for most of us, and pretty much for everyone in urban areas. Then there is the matter concerning an Indian-American (or Indian-Brit, Indian-French... wherever you are raised- your parents are probably immigrants) and an Indian raised in their own country. An Indian-American would speak American English in a white accent, obviously, having been raised there and an Indian would speak English in an Indian accent- (which fyi, SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE THE BROWN VOICE REPRESENTED IN HOLLYWOOD- we do not weirdly stretch words or stress upon syllables AT ALL, it is, in very gross terms, a watered-down British accent- learnt from them after they colonised and stole our wealth and centuries of prosperity) however THERE WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY NO DISTINCTION IN THEIR LEVEL OF PROWESS IN THE LANGUAGE. This is quite accurately depicted, atleast to a great extent in Never Have I Ever, directed by Indian-American 'The Office' star Mindy Kaling.
fyi 2.0, we DO NOT talk like Raj from Big Bang Theory( WHAT EVEN IS THAT ACCENT NOOOO) and none of us are weird socially awkward geeks who can't approach the opposite sex and WE DO NOT SMELL OF CURRY/GRAVY (thank you very much white stereotype.) The same applies for every ridiculous Indian accent(PLEASE FOR HEAVENS' SAKE GET IT RIGHT FOR ONCE) and stereotyped Indian character in Hollywood. The level of inaccuracy- brown characters directed by ignorant whites who do not have even the slightest clue leaves me utterly flabbergasted.
You are beautiful 😍
I also agree with what you said.
Do you feel represented? Cause you know movies are supposed to help us imagine the lives of others.
Like have you met Asian women??? What about us is submissive! And I think I'm the only Asian (half in my case, don't get me started on the stories I could tell about the shit my white family members have pulled) I know with blue eyes! Is it bad that I kinda wanted to get purple tips? I just thought it would look good with my hair. God I'm a walking stereotype aren't I. I'm a quiet nerdy computer science Asian girl.
Sum ting wong?
Misleading title
Nuh uh
@@LianaChau yeah huh
as a person born raised & living in South America I can wholeheartedly tell you that I NEVER EVER failed to identify to a character I like just because they were blonde and blue eyed (im caucasian but I have dark hair and dark eyes like half of south americans, although I think Americans call that Latino for some reason which fyi is not race, its a culture) and I also say this in behalf of actual mestizo people who hardly even think about the fact they arent white.
I guess this steams from my countrys Racial-relations from the get go where Slavery was quickly abolished (thats why we have virtually no black people) and also interracial marriage between white and indian was MANDATORY for EUROPEANS only so we would create a fully national anti-european identity. Paraguay is considered “homogenous” like Asian countries but the truth is our Last racial census were made 200 years ago and hundreds of thousands of Italian and soviet and germanic exoduses of the 20th century increased our populations (caucasian) in a way that today half of South America is whiter than the USA proportionally. After that small history lesson Id like to continue uwu : Still, we might be alot whiter than we were 200 years ago but thats still a whopping 2 races inside a country (2 races that even share the same culture anyways because Mestizos are as european as they are indigenous)
Which leads me to the conclusion that the fact that US people need to see superficial copies of themselves everywhere is because They have divided the people in their nation and forbid them to integrate with one another so much from the very beginning that its become a fundamental cultural aspect of the US: racial divide.
Asian people have no problem in watching American movies with white characters but somehow Asian Americans do? Think about it. They are a melting pot that didnt melt. Its ironic how one of the first few concepts of american culture i was taught in english class was “melting pot” .
I see this is a problem that echoes in other countries of América, specially those who held onto slavery longer, like Brazil which has an even worst racial divide and larger, WAY larger number of black people AND US crazy cultural ideas continuously being imported into our countries + the important historical similarities (crimes against humanity) Brasil and US share has been so deeply engrained in Brasilian society that they dont even consider themselves Latinos anymore.
I think this is a fundamental problem with American Culture. Not a problem with who gets to be put in a movie.
US is race obsessed and I will eat my hat if any ANY of you here that are Americans can spend a single day of your lives without hearing/reading the words black and White.
if you were money obsessed like us itd be harder to discriminate cause you never know who the poor one is based on their skintone.
This statement is so real that my first memory of me thinking about my race was when I started to engage with Americans online.
I dont think representation matters at all when its your entire culture that failed at integration.