In “One Step Towards Equality…”, Chau critiques movies like Crazy Rich Asians and TV shows like Fresh Off the Boat for reinforcing Asian stereotypes, but Constance Wu (or Jessica Huang), the “tiger mom” on Fresh Off the Boat states that people should celebrate how historic it is that there are movies and TV shows with all-Asian casts. Do you feel like sometimes arguments over identity and representation can be too much or overblown? In other words, are the arguments contextualized well enough and does being highly critical sometimes detract from the progress that has been made in regard to representation of different ethnic groups/races in American media? Your response should be at least four sentences long.
6 thoughts on “Blog Post #10: Is It Too Much?”
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In all honesty, I think society today is way too sensitive. The majority of people always find a way to criticize or hate something over the smallest things. Arguments over identity and representation can be too much because most times it is just someone trying to make a movie, like Crazy Rich Asians, the director was just trying to make a movie and even though not all Asians are like that, it is just something they can all relate with. Depending on how far the person takes it, not everything should be taken to offense. Being highly critical can detract from the progress being made because they are just trying to push boundaries and someone always tries to bash on it for “allowing stereotypes” like, they’re just trying to make a movie.
I think there needs to be a balance when it comes to the representation of identity and culture in the media. At times, arguments can be over blown because certain aspects of representation may be exaggerated for comedic purpose. However, other aspects of representation can be seen as highly offensive to a certain group of people. At the end of the day, everyone is bound to be offended by something. I think that although arguments can be over blown or taken out of proportion, other certain arguments have a point and have the right to be offended. It is all about balance when it comes to representing different identities and what might be funny to someone else may be offensive to another. However, I do think that our society needs to lighten up a bit and not be offended by everything so easily.
I do agree that Tristen Chu was being over-critical. Although I can understand his frustration with the stereotypes revolving around Asian-Americans and their underrepresentation in media, I still think he should be happy for the baby steps that were made. It is unfortunate that “Fresh Off the Boat” has changed the story to make it more appealing to audiences, but at the very least, it’s great that the people who were profiting were Asian-American capitalizing on their own stereotypes. These films just mean that there’s more to come, and hopefully, it going to be a better representation of Asian-Americans. I also think that the more positive reviews “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Fresh Off the Boat” get, the more people will ask for more Asian representation. By Chu being over critical, it can scare potential producers and directors from making more films evolving around the Asian culture. Especially since I have friends who are Asian-American and absolutely loved the movie and show. Maybe, he shouldn’t expect so much from a country that’s still trying to change its years of institutionalized racism.
Society is made with different diversity of groups and that would sound welcoming to many people. However, their can be mixed opinions towards that idea. The TV show, “Fresh Off the Boat” is a story that deals with only Asian-Americans and how they are being portrayed. This can let other groups of people to seem really offended and criticized for what they might believe in, and what they feel. Some might feel that, only Asian-Americans people in this group are being represented and that can be overwhelming to other people and let them to stop watching the show. I feel like identity should not be taken as a comedic purpose as it can create backstage and audience heat, as some people have their own mindsets on what they feel and that is something that can’t be changed.
I feel that society tends to overreact sometimes about what is actually offensive and what isn’t. I believe that the show “Fresh Off the Boat” or the film “Crazy Rich Asians” are successful ways of bringing awareness and illustrating stereotypical beliefs of Asian-Americans since they are known to misrepresented especially in the media. There is always going to be at least one person that feels offended by what the media especially in America capitalizes them to be, but it shouldn’t be taken so harshly offensive as Tristen Chu is taking it. I personally would love for a show to be made about my culture and it’s struggles of fitting in today’s society.
I believe that they overreacted. It’s good to have representation from each culture. If someone is going to tell a story about a certain culture, it should be someone from that certain culture. If it is an Asian movie, it should be written by an Asian writer. That is where the balance should be. It always good to have representation in every culture. For example, “Crazy Rich Asians” was written by an asian woman and a white guy. But unfortunately, she quit due unequal paid. Her partner was getting pay double than what she was earning.