Soooooo… Let’s Talk About it

The 5-minute Recap

In our rapid-fire recap, we go over everything we covered this season!

The Season Finale

WE DID IT! We made it to the season finale! In this wrap episode, we talk about all things current and upcoming in terms of projects with Asian/Asian American representation. Since it’s the Holiday season, we start by doing a quick film review of Netflix’s new Christmas film Love Hard starring Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang. Each of us then talk about some independent research we did on upcoming projects with Asian/Asian American representation. We look at Netflix’s live-action Avatar The Last Airbender, HBO’s The Sympathizer, the Crazy Rich Asians sequel, and Sesame Street introducing its first Asian American muppet, as well as a few other upcoming projects. Next, we play a game where we pitch a movie idea and who we would cast and also discuss what we personally would like to see as far as Asian/Asian American representation on screen. Lastly, in the wrap up we talk about our experience, likes, and dislikes doing this podcast as our graduate seminar project. Thank you to everyone who listened and joined us on the journey through Asian representation on the Silver Screen. Happy Holidays! Links to references and articles on upcoming projects below:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x5dpb1hTiznKbeqSAYm6gLOI0i0OSWYq7KMVw2Mcfqw/edit?usp=sharing

The Director's Cut

In tonight's episode, we discuss Asian Actors and Directors in Hollywood. First, we take a look at some Diversity and Inclusion reports by UCLA and USC Annenberg to see how those of Asian Descent are fairing throughout films and the Hollywood landscape. Next, we talk about the #OscarsSoWhite movement and how that directly applies to Asians. For our independent research of the episode, Destinee goes into Asian directors and their experiences in Hollywood while Morgan goes into Asian actors and their experiences. We end the episode by having a candid conversation about our thought on Hollywood’s casting of Asian actors and what that means as far as representation for audiences of all ethnicities. TW: Online Harassment and Verbal Abuse Link for any of the reports and articles mentioned below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xb8xeXmmqcBGtFufEA41Ys3IboTUzmAfAQtfu0VH5aU/edit?usp=sharing

Is the Ghost really in the Shell?

In this week's episode, Morgan and Destinee talk about all things yellowface, cultural appropriation, and orientalism! We take a look at popular American films that were inspired by or are direct copies of Asian films. For this week's film review, we looked at Ghost in the Shell, both the original Japanese animated version and the 2017 live-action remake, and The Star Wars along with the Akira Kurosawa films that influenced it. We also take a deep look at Destinee's research on whitewashing and color-conscious casting, as well as Morgan's research on the consumption and commodification of Asian Intellectual Property. We had a lot of fun filming this one, so ENJOY!  Link to our resources and research for this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hu4iabLiFmHosO8BnsbGbE20dsb3nMuBc7jeJqoc_yM/edit?usp=sharing

This is now a Shang-Chi Stan Account!

In episode 3 we take a look at the MCU Film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. To begin the episode, we go into some statistics of East Asian Representation within the MCU. Next, we go into a film review... talking about the things we liked, didn't like, the Assembled documentary, and our thoughts on potential tropes and stereotyping within the film. For our individual research of the week, Destinee goes into the public’s reaction and reception to the film along with the Chinese film market and mainland China’s refusal to release Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Morgan then goes into research on how Marvel and its fandom have created misrepresentations of Asians within the MCU films and comics and how the MCU has addressed these misrepresentations. In our wrap-up, we talk about what we gained from the film and tried to answer the question of why Asian Superheroes are important. Link to Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XxCGu8HBmiEUxoo4-M8UptAH6eupU1RyZAsiLaUtfbo/edit?usp=sharing