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[rogueslayer452]

++ Both Crazy Rich Asians and To All The Boys I Loved Before are Asian-led, with the former being an all-Asian cast, films (on the big screen and Netflix, respectively) that have gained a lot of positive reception from audiences and critics alike. Both have succeeded in charming audiences with being adorable and hilarious romantic comedies, something that we haven't had in recent years since the genre itself has dwindled significantly in light of superhero and action films dominating the box office. It also proves once again that representation absolutely matters, and that it is successful. But it's absolutely disgusting knowing that production companies still wanted to whitewash these projects. Ugh. I'm glad the creators stood their ground and didn't give in.

There isn't much Asian representation in Western media to begin with, the Asian-American experience in particular. We need more of this kind of exposure, which hopefully will get more stories out there that focus on other aspects of different Asian cultures, without erasing/whitewashing or any of that offensive nonsense.

++ Lately, I've been watching a bunch of booktube videos. Not any one person specifically, just randomly searching things. I don't quite know how it started, I think there was a video recommendation of someone reviewing a book that I watched and I just continued going down the rabbit hole. It's very fascinating since it is a different side of YouTube that I wasn't that familiar with, since I do watch a lot of YouTubers but most of them are entertainers in some form. This is just a book community on YouTube talking about, well, books. Though it's interesting, after watching a number of different booktube videos specifically reviewing or talking about YA™ I'm realizing that it's not my preferred genre. Don't get me wrong, I've read books that have been categorized as young adult throughout the years (as seen in this brief but fantastic video discussing the evolution of young adult fiction), but the recent YA™ subgenre that has exploded in the market lately is completely different and while it's not to say that I won't read it if it captures my interest since I'm definitely not dismissing the entirety of YA as a whole, it's just not something I normally gravitate towards. My personal reading preferences tend to lean more towards horror/suspense, mystery/crime thrillers, with some science fiction and gothic literature added in.

Comments

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try and see it as soon as possible, either with my mom or sister, or both. :)

Hollywood needs to stop with the whitewashing. There is no excuse for it, and yet we continue to see it time and time again despite the immense backlash and negativity given. The fact that for one of them they claimed that race didn't matter is hilarious because, if it didn't matter why are you insisting to change the character from being Asian to being white? Just, ugh, so ridiculous. And they know what they're doing. While the climate is gradually shifting for more representation, as it should, let's not deny that Hollywood is still incredibly racist and that it needs to be dealt with, and it starts from the inside.

There was a l thread on twitter where someone mentioned The Joy Luck Club. Then someone ELSE pointed out that was about 25 years ago, and maybe it would be nice if there'd been a movie somewhere in between... hopefully there will be more.

Yep. Crazy Rich Asians is the first all-Asian cast in a Hollywood film in 25 years, same with how Fresh Off The Boat is the first television show in 20 years to feature a story focusing on Asian-Americans. It's been far too long for Asian-Americans to get any representation that isn't relying on being the token minority character. I really want this to be a new generation where we have a wide variety of diverse media, getting to show the many different experiences of different cultures and allowing people to see themselves instead of the stereotypes that have plagued Hollywood/our society for so long. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of that shift in our culture instead of it being a one-time thing. I don't want to another another 20-25 years before the next Asian-American story to be told in mainstream media.

Oh, and YA... from what I can tell, a lot of it lately has been based around dying teens and stuff.

From the things I've seen lately, it's been dystopians or contemporaries that center around romances, mostly love triangles with the "I'm not like other girls" protagonist. Those things have existed in other genres before, but it seems to be running rampant in YA recently for some reason. I mean, I get that due to the successes of such books like The Hunger Games many want to replicate that, which happens a lot with something that was popular and people want to copy it with their own version. But still. It might be for other people, but it's just not for me.

And this reminds me why I don't like John Green books. I randomly flipped through one of them in a bookstore and just noped out. I don't like his writing style or the plots of his books. Then again, I'm just not the target demographic.