“Be strong, be independent, but most importantly, be yourself, no matter what other people think.” – Mulan.
Ever since I chose Mandarin as my foreign language in high school, I became increasingly confused in which part of the world I belong in. During high school, my social circle were all fellow American-born Asians who grew up with Asian family and culture. When they wanted to have secret conversations, they would speak in Chinese. Majority of them also were fans of Asian bands and Asian dramas. I, on the other hand, was not as Asian, but I did watch some Asian dramas due to the family watching Hong Kong television and Taiwanese dramas. Originally, I thought I was quite Americanized because I was constantly criticized by my family and relatives that I must know my Asian culture and language because I am an Asian first based on the initial image. Then, when I entered college, I shifted into the neutral zone, not knowing where I belonged.
Every summer and winter break, I would travel to Hong Kong to visit my family so my Cantonese-speaking and Chinese-reading improved after each visit. Even though I wanted to join the cultural clubs during college, I felt that I did not belong in any of the cultural clubs. My best friend and I didn’t feel like we could fit in with the people who were part of the clubs.
Over the summer, it was great to see Asian Americans as a focus on the main movie screen or streaming platforms. Although Asian Americans have already been dominating Youtube, they’ve been underappreciated and overlooked in the entertainment industry. Asian Americans have had difficulty growing and moving up in the arts community because they’ve been stereotyped to enter professional fields like medicine, law, and engineering. Even though I am in architecture which is a professional field, it is still part of the design creative industry and is known to have low salaries out of all the professional careers. However, current Millenial and Gen-Z generations are motivated to pursue their dreams regardless if older generations discourage them because the more people say ‘no’ to them, the more they want to prove that they can do it.
Both ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ paved the way to show Asian Americans can succeed on the main screen as leads. Normally in movies or shows, we play the sidekick, the nerd, and most commonly, the background. You may not even see even one Asian in the frame. The cast of the CRA has inspired other Asian Americans to do what they love because if you do what you love, you will enjoy the process more and the end result becomes more worth it.
So as one Asian American currently working in one of the biggest entertainment corporate companies and trying to make her way to the top, go for your dreams! Don’t let anyone discourage you from going after your dreams.
Hiraeth 