CAAM Home: Driving down Santa Monica Boulevard last week, my jaw dropped open when I cruised past an enormous billboard hanging over the entrance to the 101 freeway, advertising ABC’s new sitcom, Fresh Off the Boat, which stars actor Randall Park as the head of a Taiwanese American family. Park’s likeness had been reproduced as a parody of “American Gothic,” complete with denim overalls under an austere black coat and pitchfork in hand. While co-star Constance Wu gazes on with a stoic expression similar to the woman in the classic Americana painting, Park’s version of the farmer has on a guileless, toothy grin. My awestruck reaction was due to the billboard’s—and thus, Park’s and Wu’s—sheer massiveness, but perhaps also because this might be the first time I’d seen a billboard with Asians on it that didn’t feature kung fu, gambling, or a nude woman (or some combination of the three).
1 comment:
I clicked on this article after reading the first few lines simply because I was worried about how this show would be addressing the "caricature" problem they later describe in the interview. We obviously don't know how this will turn out until it premieres, however it is very reassuring that the lead actor has stated that he would never sign on to something that would simply be an array of stereotypes stitched together. In terms of representation, it is quite disconcerting that they aren't representing the race of the main character with an actor who comes from that same race, just because it doesn't make sense to attempt to represent a certain race with an actor who doesn't come from the experience of that race. In a way, it's somewhat the same issue that we saw with the "Exodus" movie that casted white males to represent Egyptians. It's a very careful line of racism that seems a bit daring for a large tv network to cross so blatantly, so I can only hope that they really do represent this culture to the best of their ability.
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