American Born Chinese

I found this show delightful. I did grow up with lots of Asian and Indian friends so it felt kind of familiar to me. It was well written and well acted and the humor fit very well. I'm pretty sure a lot of people will not like this as American's (as a generality) do not enjoy reading subtitles. And of course you will have those that down-vote this just because of the ethnic make-up of the cast. Well, Eff those people. They are full of vitriol regarding anyone and anything that don't look like them.

I actually found this to be one of the more believable shows about how high school students actually act. And I have to say the lead actor, Ben Wang, is amazing. He kind of has like an Asian Micahel Cera thing going on and it works really well for him.

I'm really hoping for another season.

This was so relatable and the awkward moments were worth watching. I cringed and knew every teenager was able to feel the pending disaster. I watched with the same feeling of "I can't watch this" with my hand over my eyes that made every John Hughes movie so great. It truly had moments from so many of my favourite coming of age movies but with action and special effects. I like that the parents are also dealing with some of the issues of self doubt and confusing cultural limitations that Jim is feeling. Confidence isn't conquered through popularity. It was always about self doubt and everyone is working on that their entire lives.

Born in China, working in the US, fluent in Mandarin. And i gotta say coming into this show i was very skeptical about whether they could tell the myth of Chinese gods well, and whether they could nail the mandarin dialogues. They did a pretty decent job. They even wrote some of the dialogues among the gods in ancient Chinese grammar (even i cant write those after studying ancient Chinese as a mandatory for 12 years from elementary to high school).

They changed Sun Wukong's origin story a bit. In Chinese myths, Wukong made a huge mess at the peach party in heaven, stole a bunch of peaches, and was punished by the Buddha by being buried under the Five-Finger Mountain for 500 yrs. He went on a quest to India for the Sutra after he got out, Eventually he was acknoledged as a god after taking on 81 obstacles along the way to India and got the Sutra.

Anyway, I am glad the story still took a nod to the old tale, with all the gods' names and story settings.

And the actors portrait of a shy american born chinse and a fresh off the boat native taiwanese, so relatable. They really nailed the nuances, well translating the thoughts i went through, looking up to white ppl, desperately trying to fit in, thinking my niches are too nerdy to be shared, the different mind sets and culture and etiquette...

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An Asian American high schooler with first gen immigrant parents. An awkward neutered Chinese father. His dinner with family involves typical Chinese food with chopsticks. And the guy from China is of course much better at math.

The show is riding on the diversity trend, but relies on typical East Asian American tropes. Don't get me wrong though, there isn't anything "offensive" about the show, but it certainly doesn't break the mold.

The plot draws elements from Journey to the West, but takes extreme artistic license because of its utter lack of similarity to the original source material. There is little doubt in my mind that the show's Americanised interpretation of Sun Wukong is going to cause annoyance to fans of Journey to the West.

Despite the dull stereotypes, the show is still an easy watch. The action scenes aren't too bad, and you don't need to pay attention a hundred percent to follow each episode. The story is ultimately silly, but it's light-heartedly entertaining enough to put on if you have nothing else to watch.

Was this perfect? No, it's very Disney. However this show is still absolutely amazing and l love the homage to the retro style of old Chinese films. My partner grew up watching the Monkey King as a kid and loved how they encorproated it to the story. And as an Asian American myself, the representation I felt made my inner child cry happy tears. I saw the sadness and frustration the dad Simon faced and it just directly mirrored my dad's own experience, looking "different" from everyone else and being the butt of the joke. And I love how they portrayed the mom! Not a tiger mom, but I felt how much she genuinely care for Jin and just wanted him to follow his dreams. Thank you disney, this one was a good one and I hope for more Asian heros and heroines in the future!