Blog Post 3: “If we are Asian, then are we funny?”

In the article “ If we are Asian, then are we funny?” written by Sarah Moon, Cassinelli examines “All-American Girls” which is the first Asian American family sitcom on the television. The directors of All-American Girls tried to portray Kim family as authentic Asian American family. However, the show portrays them as a stereotypical Asian American family because they focused on identifying ethnic and cultural identity too much rather than a specific comedic form.

According to Cassinelli, “The show seemed to over emphasize the character’s Asianness making the Asian face, body, and family structure as decidedly uncanny.” (131) Cho played Margaret Kim as herself, a real Asian American girl in the All-American Girl. However, the director forced her to lose weight to express Asianness in the show. She was afflicted both mentally and physically for a long time because of strict diet to be “Asian face”. Like this, Kim family in All-American Girl is not realistic presentations of an average Asian American family.

The key term in this article is “authenticity”. In general, the term “authenticity” means the quality of being real or true. However, it means how the characters of the show fit to the what Asian Americans should be which expected by American audience in this article. Cho was forced to be Asian face by losing weight to fit the ideal image of Asian American girl which directors and audience have. According to Cassinelli, “the real racism is wrapped up in the audience’s expectation of an ‘authentic’ Asian American family, especially in consideration to sitcom comedy.” (132) That is, Asian American authenticity has a influence on how Asian Americans portrayed in the TV shows and rendition of Asian Americans.

Cho’s experience is similar to the Connie Chun’s episode in Slaying the dragon. She played an active part as Asian American anchor and reporter in the U.S. television news networks. When She appear on TV, her make up artist tried to maker her look more exotic. The makeup artist overemphasized her Asian face just because she is Asian American even though she is just an anchor same as American anchors. Asian Americans are often forced to be Asian look too much in the media.

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