Fresh Off the Boat & The Limits of Asian Representation

Hey everyone, thanks for watching! I was fighting off a bit of a cold, so apologies if I sound congested in parts of the video. I hope y’all are thriving and enjoying life. Much love. ✌🏼- Terrence P.S. Support us on patreon if you wanna help me buy some cold medicine haha 🥴

As a Taiwanese who grew up loving American entertainment culture, I think that the biggest problem with Asian American-themed shows and films nowadays are that the writers put more effort into portraying Asian Americans as "Asians" and not as Americans, and many stories about finding one's own roots and staying true to one's heritage that is intended to be culturally authentic give off a heavy go-back-to-your-own-country vibe instead.

I wrote a pilot back in 2018 where the main character was Indian American and struggled to understand his Indian culture since he had only been to India once as a kid at 4. The network executive told me they would pick up the show if I changed his race and it was a fantasy show where he finds out he wasn’t fully human.

This show put Constance Wu on the map, and she's an incredible actress - but when she expressed her frustrations with the show, people lashed out at her and told her she should be grateful for every tiny opportunity she got, meanwhile in the background, one of the show's producers was harassing her. Even though I loved the show, I was so happy for her when the show ended, even before the news about the harassment came out.

I remember hearing so much talk a few years ago about how constance wu was "difficult to work with," a terrible costar and too conceited. Hearing about the assault she endured, I'm embarrassed to admit that I bought into that crap. "Difficult to work with" is often slapped on an actress who was assaulted and "isn't happy about it."

The biggest problem with Asian representation is that whenever there is representation, the character’s entire personality is their Asianness. Most people just want to be seen as a human being, not a tool to be used as a political measage

I totally get Huang's frustration, but there's a part of me that wonders whether or not he's seen other ABC shows. They're all pretty saccharine, they were never not going to neuter the reality of that story.

Wow 😢 I had no idea Constance Wu was dealing with all of that. Honestly I don’t think it’s fair to sum up her tweets about the show being renewed for the 6th season as: “She expressed disappointment because it forced her to miss out on other artistic ventures.” I’m sure the missed opportunities were a part of the issue, but would you want to go back to a show/environment where you were regularly sexually harassed? She wanted to put that whole thing in her rear view mirror so she could heal and move forward. Even if the producer was no longer there or the harassment had stopped, the trauma is still there. Being stuck in the environment where you were previously (or currently) sexually harassed can’t be easy. The severity of the backlash she received and that horrible DM is heartbreaking. I hope she’s ok now.

Thank you for addressing Constance's controversial tweet. As an Overseas Chinese, I found the public's reactions shameful and despicable. I am deeply upset that the public wants Constance to be confined to a stereotypical role without considering her desires to branch out and diversify her portfolios. She was right to be frustrated with the renewal of the show as it has turned into a cash-milking machine, losing its primary purpose of telling a genuine Chinese-American story.

As a black woman I appreciate seeing any and ALL minorities represented in media. I’m glad we as black people are finally being represented more but we definitely need to see more Asians Hispanics, American Indians etc. I want to see more of this personally. Great video!

They should've made the show more like everybody hates Chris. I often felt that Jessica especially let go too quickly of her standards whereas Chris's mom only got easier on him when she saw him mature. And also it could've been funnier. It was all very "quirky" but not so funny

I remember falling away from the show because they weren't going to do anything with it. Constance Wu carried-- absolutely carried that show. I wish it had gone to a different network. On a different note, I'd love a reality or scripted show about Vietnamese from New Orleans. I think seeing a community as strong as Vietnamese within their blended New Orleans culture(which most Americans recognize but don't really understand) would work so well because it's so damn specific. I would love for execs to understand that we want specificity. Specificity is good.

My heart breaks for Constance Wu. It seems like such an awful place to be in, and horribly traumatic. I hope she ends up as ok as can be considering

I am Black person who watched All-American Girl (AAG) when it aired on ABC because I was fan of Margaret Cho's standup, and was sad when the show was cancelled. I also watched Fresh Off The Boat (FOTB) because I was a fan of the short film "Dragon of Love" with Randall Park. I watched all six seasons of FOTP -- when it should have been cancelled after season 4. My partner at the time was Chinese and stopped watching the show after a few episodes in season 1 because they couldn't relate to the characters ... and was mad they were wearing shoes in the houses. 😄 Thanks for making this video!

The conversation you mentioned regarding actors playing characters of a different nationality makes me think of the conversation in the black community regarding casting clearly biracial actors (usually women) as fully black characters, including when adapting something to live action that originally had a dark-skinned female character. Part of the reason this is such a continuous conversation is that it's tied to colorism/featurism. Also, it's not lost on us how most black male characters are played by unambiguous, medium-to-darker-skinned black men at a rate far, far above black female characters being played by unambiguous medium-to-darker-skinned black women women. It reflects the colorism present in black and brown communities. For African-Americans, darker skinned men are considered the standard of attractiveness, while the lighter-skinned/mixed/biracial/ethnically ambiguous, looser-tressed female is considered more attractive. And Hollywood very often follows this as well. That's partly why films like Black Panther and Wakanda Forever are so notable. If left in different hands, they'd have cast clearly biracial actors to play members of an uncolonized African nation because of their attractiveness (and, no, not their skill, given that there are very skilled unambiguously black female actresses, as both films show). Notably, Amandla Stenberg (Rue in Hunger Games) originally auditioned for Shuri but walked away when she realized (and props to her). That's not to say that mixed/biracial/ethnically ambiguous people shouldn't be cast. Of course they should! But Hollywood, like some black people themselves, hold them in higher regard due to their closer proximity to whiteness and Eurocentric beauty standards. And that is a problem when you're casting roles for characters who are meant to have two non-mixed black parents. We may share experiences on differing levels, but we don't walk through life the same way, and that should be considered where it is relevant. Also, it's not lost on us that actors who are half-Caucasian aren't typically cast in Caucasian roles as though it's all the same, since they're likely more Caucasian than black (considering many African-Americans have some Caucasian ancestry). Zendaya being one exception. Zoe Kravitz is another. But black women cannot get the roles that they can. So, it limits the roles they can have when biracial actors occupy their spaces as well. There should be enough to go around for everyone.

As a first generation Filipina American who grew up to silent generation and boomer parents who both immigrated here, I struggled growing up because I grew up in an overwhelmingly predominantly white area where I was often reminded that I was different so I really felt that depiction of the struggle between the "American" culture and one's own culture that was depicted in Fresh off the Boat. Also hearing Eddie's father talk about disciplining his children, very much reminded me of my father even though mine has passed. I think that the issue is that when trying to portray "Asian American" experiences, or any minority experiences for that matter, in media, they keep trying to center the one part of the identity - the "Asian-ness", the stereotypes, whatever. The problem is that as Asian-Americans, our identity is not just our heritage, our cultural background, familial interactions, but also our experience and interactions in the larger scheme, and it's frustrating that when there is representation, it's often pigeonholed.

Representation matters I'm sorry. The girls that get it, get it and the girls that don't just simply don't. I remember watching Zack and Cody every week and seeing London Tipton on TV was an absolute blast. She was ditzy, spoiled and rude. She also came from a neglectful billionaire White father and a neglectful rice farmer mother from Thailand. That's put into the care of a attentive yet uptight middle aged manager Black man. Idk it may be miniscule in the grand scheme of things but I loved seeing that dynamic, because not only did it break stereotypes it also showed me families can look all kinds of ways.

As a white American I see the hypocrisy where in America we consider WHERE in America you came from if it is the south, or mid-west (ect.) and create stereotypes based on just the geological demographic of ONE country but can't even fathom that the CONTINENT of Asia IS made up of different countries yet we clump ALL those nationalities together under the word "Asian" and call it a day. I'll admit I also did this when younger because it is "easier" to do but it is not the right thing to do and the older I get the more I realize how messed up thinking like that is... It is because of the push to get those diverse stories out there that has helped educate me on this matter even if they are not the best they are still better then what we had to begin with...

So, I'm a white dude from Arkansas. I try to get perspective from the art of others, the Paper Menagerie for example was not only a great collection of stories from an asian author, but man... it was effecting. In a way not dissimilar to the Farewell. I treasure both now, and I know it'll never mean the same thing to me as it may to a young asian american kid seeing they're not alone. But, I think there's value in those stories on their own. The representation is a bonus (to me). And I'm glad you get to have it, I wish there was more. And I hope with the success of movies like Everything Everywhere All At Once, we'll see more diverse stories. And I don't mean that in the context of what the cast looks like (though that too) I mean tell me a story I haven't heard over and over again since the 80s.

Thank you for such a thoughful and in-depth video essay! As a fellow Vietnamese-American, I hope that there will be Vietnamese-American centered stories in mainstream media someday