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I used to be able to keep track of every single one because there were so few.
Now, Im merely aware.
(Although Im going to catch up, because Imstill thirsty.)
Is it simply Asian-American creators making work?
Or is there something intrinsically Asian-American about the work that bends genre or medium to itself?
Asian-Americanness existed as a one-to-one equation of representation.
(Just remember John Cho walked so Henry Golding could fly.)
Theres a fog of invisibility, of never quite feeling full ownership over American culture.
At the time, it felt like nothing depicted in popular culture before.
Loneliness still reverberates throughout her latest album,Be the Cowboy.
Theres another moment in Bing Lius documentaryMinding the Gapthat hits that raw nerve.
There is no neat resolution, and much of it is left unanswered.
If feeling adrift is melancholic, maybe that middle space can be claimed as a home of its own.
When she DJs, she layersimprovised vocalsto her set, adding to the hybrid effect.
She makes the hyphenate of Korean-American a style in and of itself.
So, too, does Steven Yeun.
In Bong Joon-hos 2017 filmOkja, Yeun played a fumbling Korean-American animal-rights activist who speaks mangled Korean.
Hes the tragic fool trying to bridge two worlds and failing.
Even though the role is completely in Korean, theres a Korean-American sensibility guiding the part.
Yeuns performances inOkjaandBurningare roles only a Korean-American with his level of language facility and artistic ambition could do.
Whats more Asian-American than that?
That dynamic is written into the film, too.
