Margaret Cho
All American Girl (1994-1995)
- all american/korean family (margaret = only korean actress)
- margaret’s character considering herself American + dating a white boy, mom + grandma criticizing her clothes
- parents = immigrants, children = “american”
- unrealistic portrayal of a family (especially an asian one)
-> made for a white audience (accents, stereotypes, etc.)
-> first asian american show so not much else to go by
I’m The One that I Want (2000)
- stereotypical portrayal of her mother – facial expressions + physicality, accent
- self-depreciating humor
-> in margaret’s case, tap dancing for the white people
-> self-hatred + self-protection - using comedy to tell her personal stories
Fresh off the Boat (2015?)
- taiwanese family in the 90’s
- went from “laugh at me” (margaret) to “laugh with me” (FOB)
- anti-blackness + eddie wong – hyper interest in hip-hop
-> binary of black/white
-> romanticizes relationship between racial groups - how would we change this?
-> eddie’s character being held responsible instead of being considered cute for appropriating black culture - dynamic of being the best asian for their family/the whites or immersing themselves in subcultures (aka black culture) as an act of rebellion
-> we are not a monolith
-> model minority issues - refuge from dominant culture/rebellion
-> ex. the last dragon + black community’s interest in kung fu
-> cultural exchange? almost but there’s still a big power imbalance between asian people + black people - more room to pretend issues never happened -> no discussion
-> not much internal dialogue (at least in first season)