The network’s approach was to tell a universal, ambiguous, cornstarch story about Asian-Americans resembling moo goo gai pan written by a Persian-American who cut her teeth on race relations writing for Seth MacFarlane. But who is that show written for? –Eddie Huang, “Bamboo Ceiling TV”
After reading the excerpt of Theresa M. Senft and Safiya Umoja Noble’s Handbook of Social Media, I immediately figured that we needed to address the recently aired television sitcom, Fresh Off the Boat. FOB is an ABC sitcom adapted from the published memoir of Taiwanese-American chef and restaurateur, former lawyer/weed slanger, and all around cool guy, Eddie Huang. The man spits the truth about racial microagressions, in a manner I can relate to as a second generation Korean-American who can share similar experiences that he describes in his book. His book was widely well-received by those whose opinions mattered the most about this book, the Asian-Americans. Personally however, I had my suspicions about how well this book would translate onto an American television network. After watching the first and second episodes of the sitcom, my boyfriend, also Korean-American and I exchanged unsure glances and agreed that although we didn’t mind it, it definitely could have been better. We both wondered if the show’s humor and storylines would be better enjoyed by a white viewer. Huang definitely had his differences about the show’s adaptation and writes about his frustrations and hopes in an article featured in an issue of the New York Magazine.
As of now the show feels weak and as mild-mannered as the model-minority role we Asians are expected to exceed. Where’s the sriracha sauce?! The kimchi?! The episodes so far blandly imitate the A and B plots of a Malcolm in the Middle episode, but only with Asian stereotypes sprinkled in here and there. Huang addresses these issues in the article and rants about the complications of working against an industry so content on shoving their faces with Panda Express when there’s family owned Ding Tai Fung. I do have hope for this show however, but only if it is guided under the right hands. We cannot underestimate the power of addressing microagressions on a nationally broadcasted television sitcom, I just hope we can do all of them justice.
http://www.vulture.com/2015/01/eddie-huang-fresh-off-the-boat-abc.html?mid=facebook_nymag/
As the first Asian-American family show on network TV in the US since Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl, Fresh Off the Boat has a ridiculously heavy burden to bear. If it receives poor ratings and ends up getting canceled, it’ll be slated by network executives as evidence that Asian-driven media “just doesn’t sell” and will further encourage the lack of Asian-American representation on TV. Because of that, I really wanted this show to do well.
However, seeing how bland and toothless the show is in comparison to the source text, I’m almost equally afraid of the show doing well and staying on the air. I don’t want network executives to think that the best/only method of depicting Asian-American culture is in a way that doesn’t actually resonate with the real experiences of Asian-American audiences.
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a Fox Audience Strategies viewing of FOB here on campus. I’m familiar with his book and a huge fan of Eddie Huang from his YouTube videos on the Vice channel; the idea of an ABC 8 o’clock sitcom didn’t fit those mediums but I was exciting to see the show. After watching 3 episodes, its apparent there’s work to be done if the show wants to stay on more than one season. The show has this tendency to filter their Asian experiences through broad, overly approachable ,crowd pleasing antics that reads unfunny and clumsy. It’s just unfortunate that if it fails won’t be seen as just another bad sitcom but a representation of Americas refusal to support POC media representation. I will say the last episode was a lot looser and funnier so hopefully they have worked out the kinks. We need these families on tv.
It’s interesting how mainstream television feels the need to “white-wash” POC experiences in order to get mainstream audiences on board with these same POC, which I find absurd and sad.