What we’re seeing in today’s landscape of big-screen movies is years of work on smaller screens. An entire world of Asian creators paved the way to better representation on YouTube.
was praised for being the first big-budget Hollywood studio film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years since. During this quarter-century gap, a generation of Asian-Americans grew up with minimal mainstream representation. But as the internet grew, YouTube channels such as Wong Fu Productions, Michelle Phan, NigaHiga, and KevJumba emerged. These Asian-Americans mobilized and took advantage of their creative liberty on the video-sharing social network.
and today’s slate of films featuring Asian stories and actors — YouTube allowed creators the creative freedom to authentically and unabashedly share their own experiences. Founded by Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang, who met at the University of California, San Diego, Wong Fu Productions has been making short films for 16 years but began uploading their videos onto YouTube in 2007. As of today, their channel has 3.2 million subscribers and more than 552 million views.
“Filmmaking was never really a dream that I was chasing, but through pursuing it I found what I was chasing,” Wang tells. “I didn’t go to film school to learn the craft, but I had all these experiences and stories I wanted to tell.” Their videos often explored the nuance of these sorts of experiences and stories, along with touching on topics that weren’t really being talked about at the time. Their 2006 short filmsatirized interracial dating between Asian-Americans and white people and especially the fetishization of Asian women, bringing Wong Fu major recognition.
“We always felt pressure to represent all types of Asian experiences, but that’s just not possible,” Wang says. “The experience of a Chinese immigrant living in southern California is going to be different from a trans Hmong-American in St. Paul. But that’s why we want more people to share their stories.”
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