Grey's Anatomy: Christina Yang

I almost forgot to mention Christina Yang, played by Sandra Oh in ABC's medical drama "Grey's Anatomy." The show, in its 12th season this year, follows several interns and residents as they gradually evolve into experienced doctors, while balancing their personal relationships and lives as well. 

Christina Yang is one of the central characters in the show until she leaves in Season 10 of the show. Throughout the show, we see her character defying Asian stereotypes. Most Asian characters in media in the past were very one-dimensional. They would be solely defined by those stereotypes, whether it be nerdy or being a kung-fu master. Although Christina may fall in the "Model Minority" stereotype because her character is aggressive, competitive, unsympathetic and brilliant, her overall character becomes well-rounded and definitely not one-dimensional. Her character grows from being initially somewhat cold to other characters to focus on her profession, to one of caring and warm who balances both her personal and professional lives. Her character doesn't focus solely on work, as she has multiple relationships and close friendships. She has several sexual relationships with other characters, such as Dr. Preston Burke and Dr. Owen Hunt throughout the show and establishes a very close friendship with Meredith Grey and other doctors. Christina Yang. who grows into a well-rounded character, gives a positive outlook of what an Asian character can be without being defined by stereotypes. 

Christina Yang's departure from the show in the end of the 10th season will definitely leave a gap in Asian American representation in television, but her role has paved the road for future Asian roles. From her leaving the show up until now, more Asian characters leads have been in media, from Eddie Huang's family in Fresh Off the Boat to Daniel Wu's Sunny in Into the Badlands.

This is one of my favorite shows and I definitely recommend the show to anyone as it is a good balance of medical and drama. I was definitely addicted to this show over the summer as I would stay up very late to watch episodes. Although I am less interested than initially as Christina Yang is no longer in the show, I will continue to watch it because it is overall a very good show! 

                            

Fresh Off the Boat

Growing up, I never found an Asian American television show that I could relate to. Granted, I was watching TVB a lot of the times, but whenever I turned on the television, there were never ever any Asian people on the screen. When I first saw the trailer for ABC's comedy series "Fresh Off the Boat," I was extremely hyped because I wouldn't see just one Asian character, but a whole Asian American family! "Fresh Off the Boat" is loosely based off the life of restaurateur and chef Eddie Huang and his book Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir. This is the first show to star an all Asian American family on network primetime since Margaret Cho's All American Girl in 1994. To be the first show in 20 years to feature an Asian American family is of course, groundbreaking, but also very important because it can either build on those Asian stereotypes that we hate or break away from them and pave the way for Asian Americans in media in the future.  

There was a lot of hype before the premiere of ABC's comedy series "Fresh Off the Boat" earlier in the year. Most of my friends already saw the trailer or knew what the show was about when I mentioned it. And the great thing about the show was that it was actually funny. Randall Park and Constance Wu, who play the parents of Eddie in the show, say how every joke in the show is not based off of any stereotypes, because that is not what they find funny. However, I disagree because there are so many examples and jokes in the show that are based off of stereotypes, ranging from the "cheap Asian" or the "Tiger Mom." I mean, the show's title itself is already derogatory to explain the stereotypical behavior of new immigrants. But honestly, I found these jokes based off of stereotypes hilarious because they were so relatable. I like the fact that "Fresh Off the Boat" doesn't shy away from the stereotypes, but rather puts a twist on them and exaggerates them to a certain degree to make them funny to the viewers.

The one thing that did bother me were the parent's accents. So often in media, Asian characters have ridiculous sounding accents that make them the butt of the joke and define their characters (yes, I'm talking about Long Duk Dong from 16 Candles.) Both Randall and Constance explain that the characters' accents were not included to be part of a joke or to build on that stereotype, but to add authenticity to the characters. However, their accents were not convincing at all. Throughout the first few episodes, I was getting very tired of their fake accents, because it seemed too forced and didn't fit in the show. If you can get past the accents though, this show is a good start in changing the way media represents Asian stereotypes!