We Asians are a unique minority group. We have similarities to other minorities in our American experience. We have our pressures. We have our stereotypes. We have oppression. We have our gangs. We have been used as indentured servants. We have been segregated by our looks and placed in camps. So yes, we have experience that overlaps that of other ethnic groups. But we are unique.
We are unique in that we are known to assimilate to our detriment. We are segregated among ourselves. Japanese against Chinese. Chinese against Korean. Korean against Philipino. We are unique in that we have as much distinction between nationality as we do among generations within the US. Some of us are unique in that we are living in a country where at some point in our heritage, America was the enemy. Some of us are unique in that someone in our family witnessed the devastation of an American bomb. Some of us are unique in that we got a monetary "apology" for the wrongs America did. Some of us are unique in that we lied about our age or our gender to be here. Some of us are unique in ways I don't know. Many ways that I, as a woman raised second generation Japanese American, will never know.
Why can't we make movies and tv shows that show our uniqueness???? Not how good we are at math. Not how hot our women are. Or how nerdy our men are. Real unique.
Is the route to take a white story and stick a yellow protagonist in it? Does that work? It did for others, but the world is too savvy now. An Asian American is not having the same life as a Caucasian American. The subtleties will always be there. The subtleties are what makes the story.
I'm writing a sitcom. I wrote one. And I am the protagonist. The protagonist is a theater owner who lets her theater go and lives in a commune. And I'm Asian-American. But somehow, my fictional me doesn't read that way. She just seems white. Why? I'm not quite sure. The mother seems very Asian. Very first generation. All the subtleties (and not-so-subtleties) are there for that character. But the protagonist? Nada.
No racial angst. Is that what's missing? But my Asian experience is that I was seldom the victim of prosecution. And when I was, I was usually being insulted by a person who thought I was African-American. Heh. Well, there's that to add.
What do I need??? Or do I need anything? Will the subtleties read without me trying? Maybe that's where the big mistakes are made. Trying to force details that don't need to be there. Maybe writing one's own experience is too subtle to do with overt manipulation of plot and theme.
It's so hard to trust. My pet peeve is "just write." Because as you "just write" you think. And thinking is bad. But it happens. It always happens.
Okay, Gothika is on. I'm coming back later.
