By Gabby Uy, Year 10
What does it mean to be Chinese?
Ask the movies and they’ll tell you that we like maths. We’re quiet, we’re good with chopsticks and we speak in rapid incomprehensible gibberish. Ask me, someone who is 100% Chinese by blood, and I probably won’t give you a much better answer: while I can be fairly quiet, maths is one of my weaker subjects, I have terrible chopstick etiquette and my mastery of Hokkien is limited to a smattering of numbers and the ability to tell when my parents are angry at me. However, I can understand Tagalog just fine and have lived in Manila all my life. Throw globalisation, pop culture and an international school into the mix and you get an amalgamation of conflicting identities, as well as a whole lotta confusion. Really, I have no answer for you.
So it’s pretty funny how a single sitcom can explore this contentiously complex question head-on, bring light to Hollywood’s pallid excuses for its lack of diversity and still leave viewers clutching their sides with laughter. I’m talking about Fresh Off the Boat - the ABC comedy based on the memoir of Taiwanese-American celebrity chef Eddie Huang. Released in February 2015, the series chronicles the daily struggles, triumphs and hilarious antics of the Huang family, who move to Orlando to pursue the proverbial American Dream.
To say that the show and its nearly all-Asian cast has been successful would be an understatement. Fresh Off the Boat has obtained over 4 million viewers worldwide, as well as a whopping 93% on Rotten Tomatoes as of 2017 - it’s relatable, it’s heartwarming and just plain funny. And I mean really, really funny. I’ve witnessed many a Chinese Polite Fight and Success Perm in my life and watching these inside jokes play out on television is like looking into a funhouse mirror - hilarious, personal and uniquely reflective. Casting directors often argue that Asians can’t be “bankable” stars, but as long as Fresh Off the Boat exists, we can be assured that this is far from the truth.
But the name itself is a bit of a political hot potato, so it’s no surprise that the show is one too - and its humour is where a lot of the controversy has arisen from. Critics have complained that while characters remain well-rounded, the show often blows up existing Asian stereotypes for the sake of comedy to the point where more sensitive viewers take offense. The perpetuation of typecasts can’t be good for Asians in Hollywood, or Asians anywhere else for that matter. In effect, the show runs the risk of furthering existing stigma - jokes are about exaggeration, but when this contradicts a pro-diversity message, you’ve got a problem. Should hard-earned digression from prejudice really be sacrificed for the sake of an inaccurate and hyperbolic portrayal?
However, the reason why the show isn’t representative of Asians worldwide is that it was never meant to be in the first place. It only aims to document one man’s experiences, not those of a community 4.5 billion people strong. Whether viewers believe that the show’s entire content is - or should even be - applicable to half the world’s population is entirely their choice.
And surprisingly, according to Huang, none of these “more sensitive viewers” are actually Asian. My Chinese peers and I, on the other hand, rejoiced at the airing of the pilot episode. Honestly, it isn’t hard to see why: Fresh Off the Boat is probably the most realistic portrayal we’ve had on mainstream television since… well, you get the idea.
Characters shatter the Asian cookie cutter mould - to quote the Guardian, “no one is characterized into neat stereotypes”. Jessica Huang is your typical Chinese tiger mom, but she enjoys mac n’ cheese and Denzel Washington movies. Yes, Emery values his grades, but he isn’t quiet or shy. Asian characters are three dimensional; they aren’t simply Extra #6 or the butt of the joke - yet they never forget their roots.
Ironically, a significant reason why the Chinese community has responded so enthusiastically is because of how uniquely relatable the allegedly racist cultural references are. Just like the Huangs, my parents expect good grades (B for bad!). Just like the Huangs, sibling rivalry is rampant in our family. And yes, just like the Huangs, we do take home the free hotel shampoo. Would I still relate to the show if none of the cultural clashes, none of the inside jokes and none of the common experiences existed? Probably not, because Fresh Off the Boat would simply be a comedy about a quintessentially “white” middle class family wearing Asian faces. To claim that cultural background is irrelevant would only be to perpetuate Hollywood’s diversity problem; your race shapes your upbringing, your lifestyle and your values, yet it does not define who you are or what you can or cannot do - and Fresh Off the Boat captures this perfectly.
At the end of the day, as Huang put it; “I want Asians in rollerblades, I want Asians in mountains, I want Asians flying planes and I want Asians driving garbage trucks. I want us to be viewed as whole people; not people who can only do this or only do that.” I’d like to think that we can do so without forsaking what it means to be Asian - whatever that might be to you.
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