A Jornada de Jin Wang

I had great expectations for the television series "American Born Chinese," but they were quickly shattered. This comedy-drama series, based on Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel, follows the journey of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American teenager striving to fit in with his predominantly white high school.

While the show effectively explores themes of identity, belonging, and cultural assimilation, its execution falls short. In an attempt to cram numerous ideas into its eight episodes, the series lacks the necessary depth and character development.

The show's tone is inconsistent, with the supernatural elements feeling out of place and the humour often failing to make me laugh. The acting is commendable, particularly the performances of Ben Wang and Jimmy Liu, who excel as the main duo. The production design and cinematography are impressive, although the special effects leave much to be desired.

This series offers a lively portrayal of challenges faced by individuals straddling two different worlds. It fails to fully delve into its themes and develop its characters. I found myself bored throughout its runtime.

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...

.

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.

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.

I found this show to be very enticing, fully binge-watching it in one sitting. The costumes are average, but having watched other movies trying to emulate the same energy I found American Born Chinese slightly above average. The casting was amazing, though I might just be a biased Michelle Yeoh fan, though I thought Jin's mother to be one of the best cast actors in the series along with Jin's dad. Overall, it is a teen show with a story inspired by Chinese mythology, not to be taken seriously or criticized to the standard of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos or Game of Thrones, it's your more than average Disney show with a similar feel to Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, but done much better. Having a nostalgic feel to some wacky Jackie Chan movies and the cheese 2000's American teen show, a feel-good series with good acting and great familial relationships.

*I also loved the fact that the people in the show didn't need much convincing into helping with the main plot, I find it's a much more accurate depiction of the reaction a person from a chronically online generation would have, it's refreshing not having people doubt the main character's sanity for 3 episodes or even longer.