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almost solely based on stereotypes. Margaret is
a second-generation free spirit in a culture clash
with her parents.
On the show, the mother continuall;^ drops
hints about how Margaret should pursue a
career in law. Her older brother is a doctor. The
grandmother is unassimilated, yet content just
watching television and spinning stories about
“the old country.”
“All the characters are still
stereotypically Asian,” Lee said. “It is
just furthering stereotypes. It doesn’t
portray what a family is really
like.”
Amy Huang, a UNC-CH
sophomore from Raleigh, said
that Cho’s character was
trying too hard to be all-
American. “She just comes
across as stupid,” Huang
said. “Their family life is
ridiculous. No parents or
grandparents would act like
that in real life.”
By Tammy Sung
I f you have the strength to change the
channel from “Beverly Hills 90210” on
Wednesday nights, you’ll see a new face in
network land. Margaret Cho, formerly of HBO
Comedy fame, stars in ABC’s “All American
Cirl” along with Jodi Lone. Clvde
Kusatsu and B.D
What? Could I
be a prime-time
national show
nbout an Asian
American
family? Asian American
l^aces in sitcoms have been rare
*n the past,
and
certainly an
entire
Asian television family has not
Spaced the television screen before this season.
Tet, here it is: Mom, Dad, Grandma and three
^ds all in San Francisco with their relationships
nnd lives portrayed for our viewing pleasure.
However, many Asian Americans are
criticizing the first prime-time network
television show that has Asians as the main
characters.
One criticism comes from the logistical
^Pects of the way the actors sound and speak.
Stacey Hong, a UNC-CH junior from Staten
tsland, N.Y., said: “These people are supposed
to be Korean, and none of the actors other than
^nrgaret Cho is even Korean. It just sounds
Completely ridiculous. The word yuh-bo (a
Korean word one uses in addressing one’s
mate) is so mispronounced that I couldn’t
figure out what they were saying.”
k:
orean Americans were not the only
ones to find fault with the accents on
the show. Grace Lee, a UNC-CH
sophomore from Chapel Hill, said the characters
sounded unnatural. “It sounds like what
someone mimicking what an Asian person
sounds like,” she said. “It’s like when Margaret
Cho makes fun of the way her parents talk in her
comedy act.”
One exception to the Asian-accented speech
on the show is Kusatsu’s character, the father,
Mr. Kim. In an Entertainment Weekly article,
Kusatsu said that his lack of accent was his way
of making a statement. “Not all Asian immi
grants have an accent,” he said. “That can be a
stereotype.”
Still, many people say the show seems to be
There is no other
prime-time show to
counter the image this
show puts forth. It
just seems to be
making fun of
Asians^ and I don't
think that is right.
Here's a family that
has retained their
culture, and then it
just laughs at them. ”
—Tessy Paikaday,
UNC-CH
sopho
more
Hong said that “All American Girl”
was failing to be to Asian Americans what “The
Cosby Show” was to African Americans.
“I can see black people watching this (“The
Cosby Show”) and other shows with predomi
nately black characters and relating to them,”
she said. “I can’t relate to this.”Critics of the
show also say that it even goes beyond
stereotyping to ridiculing Asians.
“ There is no other prime-time show to
counter the image this show puts forth,” said
Tessy Paikaday, a UNC-CH sophomore from
Cape Girardeau, Mo. “It just seems to be
making fun of Asians, and I don’t think that is
right. Here’s a family that has retained their
culture, and then it just laughs at them.”
Hong said she would have felt stupid
watching the show with people who weren’t
Asian.
“I would have felt humiliated and mortified,”
she said. “I hate it that a 30-minute show can
make me feel this way.”
Computer screens are
buzzing with such elec
tronic mail messages ds
''Margaret Cho is a
sellout. ” The show has
even been renamed by
some net users as "All
AmeriKKKan Girl" or
"All-American
Capitalist Pig.
yt
P erhaps the criticism of “All American
Girl” is so harsh because of the high
expectations that the Asian American
community has for the first show to place them
in the national spotlight.
In an article in Glamour magazine, Cho
wrote: “It is the first prime-time sitcom about an
Asian American family that America has seen. I
am so proud that it’s mine. And trust me, getting
this opportunity wasn’t easy — partly because
American TV is not exactly hunting for Asians
to put into prime time.”
Hong said she expected the show to be of the
same caliber as “The Joy Luck Club.” “I was
really looking forward to it, and maybe I was
expecting this serious show that did talk about
issues I could relate to,” she said.
“It seems that she (Cho) is tom about the
whole idea about the show. Is it an Asian thing
or a comedy thing? Something seems to get lost
in between.”
Computer screens are buzzing with such
electronic mail messages as “Margaret Cho is a
sellout.” The show has even been renamed by
some net users as “All AmeriKKKan Girl” or
“All-American Capitalist Pig.”
Huang said it would be better to not have any
show on Asian Americans. “It’s just giving us
bad coverage,” she said. “They are trying so
hard to be funny that they are just dissing
Asians.”
Hong agreed, “I don’t really see anything
positive coming out from the show.”
B ut while there is disappointment in the
show, there is some sympathy for the
position Cho has been given as the
trailblazer for Asian Americans’ national
exposure. Hong compared Cho’s position to that
of Spike Lee in the African American commu
nity.
“People criticized him saying, ‘You aren’t
answering any questions. You are just creating
more problems,”’ she said. “His answer is that
his job is to make movies about whatever he
wants. It’s almost unfair to put all these
expectations on her.”
But many viewers think the show’s problems
go beyond its portrayal of Asian Americans —
the sitcom just isn’t funny, they say.
“By being so bad it reflects that the Asian
community is something that is not quite up to
standards,” said Michael Kim, a sophomore at
Duke University. “The quality of jokes is bad.
“I’m not offended that they are centered
around an Asian core, but it is because they are
so bad.” •