Paragraph Labels

Paragraph 1 – Sets up the topic by using a historical background for Chinese people in the US.

Paragraph 2 – Introduces the two media examples “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Fresh Off the Boat”, which will be discussed later.

Paragraph 3 – Continues on the media topic to highlight the point of stereotypes being exploited for entertainment.

Paragraph 4 – Brings up the premise for “Crazy Rich Asians” and uses examples of negative stereotypes woven into the plot.

Paragraph 5 – Begins with a positive quote and juxtaposes that with his opinion on the film’s shortcomings regarding diversity and class representation.

Paragraph 6 – Interprets a quote as being a commentary on incompatibility between Western and East Asian culture.

Paragraph 7 – Reinforces the assimilation/incompatibility thread with a personal experience.

Paragraph 8 – Adds in an expert’s opinion to begin the television topic.

Paragraph 9 – Brings up the premise for “Fresh Off the Boat” along with a negative quote from executive producer Eddie Huang.

Paragraph 10 – Builds on the quote to elaborate on how the show lost its authenticity.

Paragraph 11 – Uses another quote from Eddie Huang to summarize Chau’s general sentiment towards how the show developed.

Paragraph 12 – Brings up more examples of negative stereotypes in the show.

Paragraph 13 – Argues against the merit of the show’s success.

Paragraph 14 – Reintroduces the opening topic in the closing sentence.

Summary

Tristen Chau’s “One Step Towards Equality, Two Steps Back for Asian-Americans” discusses how racism is reinforced through media.  He begins with detailing the historical struggles that Chinese people in the US overcame and outlines how negative sentiments have carried over into portrayals in entertainment.  Negative stereotypes form the basis of this paper and he outlines how they are used in the plot of “Crazy Rich Asians”.  Using a personal experience, he concludes that there is a widespread perceived incompatibility between Western and East Asian culture.  After quoting an expert on the topic, he continues with another main example, the TV show “Fresh Off the Boat”.  He introduces his own perception and expectations of the show and reinforces his disappointment with quotes from the executive producer.  Chau believes that the merit of a movie or TV show having minority casting is invalid if it does not address racial issues.

Organization Lens

I thought the paper was solidly organized because it clearly hammered in what the content was going to be about and the opinion that the author was trying to reinforce.  He used examples and quotes with credibility to support his opinion and followed up with a personal experience.  I also noticed that he ended most paragraphs with his own commentary on the facts/quotes/evidence.  I feel that the way the content was constructed could have used some improvement because while I agree with negative stereotypes being prevalent today, I’m not sold on the final argument.  I think Chau should have concluded with explaining why he thinks any media with Asian cast members must address racial issues.  There is a significant gap between those elements and building the connection between them would have supported the opinion better.  The Eddie Huang quotes were a good start, but I think there needed to be more there.

To add some more feedback, I think I would have written about segregated neighborhoods and a “separate but equal” status that minorities experience in the US today.  For example, Boston and its suburbs are diverse as a whole, but closer examination shows that different areas are extremely segregated.  It would help the section with the media lens because most US cities are small, white, and homogenous.  Or they are majority white with smaller and segregated Black and Latino populations.  So that may give some insight into decisions by the larger media companies.