Aaron Rodriguez
Media Culture Studies: TVF 2500
Kelly Madison
May 9,2018
How Does It Feel to Be Viral Me
The article “ How Does It Feel to Be Viral Me” illustrates the way in which Asians and Asian Americans are viewed on social media opposed to mainstream media. They specifically highlight how Asian and Asian American Youtube stars now have the freedom to show the world that Asian are not just submissive and kung fu fighters which media portrays them to be. They specifically highlight Ryan Higa, Wong Fu Productions and Just Kidding Films.The content which they put out on the internet break out of the kung fu and submissive stereotypes and allows them to show more of what the Asian and Asian American culture is as well as their own personalities are and provide an alternative reality in media from what has been portrayed in the past. Sometimes they do revert back to the stereotype but only to make fun of it to show that the stereotype is not who they are and that they are more than just what the media has stereotyped them to be. However, most content which is posted on social media video platforms mostly show the individuality of the youtube stars and allows them to break out of the stereotype. Another point that the article talked about was that the people on the social media are narcissistic and amatures. This would be obvious however, because they often don’t have the multi millions in order to have full scale productions and need to be slightly narcissistic in order to put themselves out there. One thing I would like to ask the author is how can we as a society make mainstream media be more like social media and have more ways to accurately represent Asians and Asian Americans to make there be less of a stereotyped image of Asians and Asian Americans. There has been progress in accurately portraying Asians and Asian Americans recently in tv shows such as Fresh off the Boat and Dr. Ken which often shows the lifestyle of a multi-generational family who often has had different experiences. Most tv shows such as this has 3 generations of immigrants. The first is the people who came straight from the mainland of their people and grew up there, the next generation is someone who may have been born there but grew up here in America and the final generation is people who have lived in America their entire lives. This is more accurately depicting the way in which Asian and Asian Americans live their lives because most families that are 3 generations long are like this most times so they can relate to the characters. These tv shows have been shaped by the opening up of looking into the personalities of Asians and Asian Americans as well as the dynamic of how this multi-generational experience is. The creation of the viral Asian American has been good for media because it opens the door to understanding the Asian and Asian American culture fully.
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