Member-only story
In BEEF, Asians Who Fail And Struggle Finally Get The Spotlight
Warning: spoilers for BEEF
I listened to a podcast from BEEF director, Lee Sung-Jin, where he highlighted what he did that most shows or movies depicting Asians don’t. Most shows and movies that depict Asians show Asian greatness and success. And that’s important and necessary.
I usually don’t like prioritizing the growing representation of Asians in Hollywood due to my own aversion to identity politics (of my own race), but more Asian representation in Hollywood is undoubtedly a good thing. I enjoyed seeing the comedic rise of Aziz Ansari’s character and his acting career in Master of None. I laughed and enjoyed seeing so many successful and extremely wealthy Asians in Crazy Rich Asians, the marriage between an economics professor at NYU and royalty-adjacent Singaporean wealth.
I also fit the profile of “successful Asian,” although I don’t see myself as the most successful Asian. I have a rapidly rising career in the school system. I’m a law student and going to be a lawyer. Although I would like to keep contributing to altruistic causes I believe in, everyone is pressuring me to sell out and make a lot of money in a firm, and there is pressure now that I have a wife…
