Benjamin Han outlines the outlines the myriad methods of
overlooking Asian American diasporic identity and its construction/maintenance
ultimately failed the attempt at a 24/7 Asian American Network. Han mentions
how language, diasporic community identification, previous Asian channels and
streaming methods interconnected to bankrupt a network that no one seemed to be
watching in 2007. I was certainly surprised that I had never heard of this
network before, raised in an Asian American household and on a steady diet of Korean
media. But perhaps this is why I hadn’t, because I, like the “Asian American audience”
the network sought after (without understanding the nuance of what this
audience was), “saw no significant value in subscribing to ImaginAsian TV”
(283).
What interests me, however, is the “diverse media
consumption practices of Asian American audiences ranging from illegal
downloading to online streaming” that ImaginAsian TV had not anticipated, which
contributed to their uselessness in Asian American households. Especially in
the current digital age, streaming platforms have either widened their scope
(Netflix originals from several countries) or made niche viewing easier (Kocowa,
Viki, OnDemandKorea to speak to a relevant few). The digital age has made the echo
chambers of programming easier for an individual. So what of platforms with
this (broad) niche marketing desire?
I’d like to bring Subtle Asian Traits into the mix here. Though
it isn’t a TV series, it’s still a media forum and necessitates analysis. A widely
popular Facebook group (1,716,217 members as of this post), the group itself
satisfies some of the general aims of ImaginAsian TV while remaining loyal to
the “heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity” inherent to the Asian
diasporic condition (qtd. In 281). Though a private group, there are no real
barriers to access and it serves as a sort of self-subscription on facebook. The
group is run in English, but it broadly appeals and is directed towards the
entire Asian diaspora globally, or even more broadly, Asians in general. How does
it satisfy this grand scope while still based in one primary language? The
group does not understand the Asian experience through solely a linguistic
lens. The content focuses on a “shared” Asian experience that resonates with
many, but never assumed all. Though a scroll through the page may take a
visitor from a post in Vietnamese to Tagalog to Chinese, the confluence of
language doesn’t result in “interrupted…programming flow [that] further
highlighted the disjuncture between…language” as ImaginAsian TV did (285).
Instead, the flow of the group/forum on digital media is multi-ethnic in
inception. Homogeneity is never assumed; heterogeneity is built into and
assumed in the flow of the group. Perhaps this is one of the affordances of
digital media platforms, as a post can be easily translated into any user’s
language instantly. Regardless, in the digital age, it seems that increased
attempts to reach a broader labeled “Asian” and even “Asian American” audience
may succeed, if one looks further than the TV.
I love this shout-out to Subtle Asian Traits! I think it's important to see shows like Fresh off the Boat in the context of a larger mediascape of Asian American content. Personally, I see the show's success as closely tied to Wong Fu Productions, whose YouTube fame catapulted not only the careers of many Asian American actors but also the fame of Asian American content in general. And now, many of these common Asian American names are members of Subtle Asian Traits (SAT), a group that, in my opinion, really does represent grassroots efforts for Asians across the globe to represent themselves in visual media. Much of the content is amateur memes, home videos, niche jokes, and crass humour, but it's something that belongs to the Asian community as a way of articulating the particular markers of our own identity on our own terms.
ReplyDeleteSAT, however, demonstrates kind of a counter-example to the trajectory Aymar Jean Christian (can’t wait to see him in action tomorrow) sees in webseries creators, whom he describes as largely using webseries to enter a mainstream media career. While there is much cross-over between the online and the television world within Asian American media, that cross-over isn’t always from webseries to television. Metaphorically, this trajectory of web to television also seems like a journey towards assimilation and authorization by white mainstream media. Some of the content on SAT is sometimes too niche or too offensive to put onto mainstream television. Within the range of media available Asian Americans, many consider Fresh off the Boat, an officially sanctioned show by a major studio, to be, honestly, too Americanized. Often, episodes would end on a lesson that, at best, seeks to balance Americanized values with traditional Chinese roots. For those who do not seek those lessons, Fresh off the Boat definitely feels too tame and too restricted by its medium and its message (not to mention its American source, which, for the international audience on SAT, is already restricting enough).
Personally, I actually don’t see a way around that. I’m not criticizing Fresh off the Boat for it to get better. I don’t think it can, given its medium, and I think the Internet, for better or for worse, does provide the capacity for grassroots representation in a way that has benefited Asian American representation. Even though there have been warnings from those like Lisa Nakamura regarding the over-representation of Asians in the tech field and Asians online, the Internet is where many of us found our voices, and there is a reason why much of that voice doesn’t cross-over into mainstream media. Therefore, I hope that when we talk about Fresh off the Boat, we will be able to do so in the context of the rest of Asian American media and the rise of online platforms like YouTube and Facebook, in order to understand the full picture.
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