Episode 7a: Hollywood, we have (had?) a problem! (Or did we?)

In Honor of Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, this edition of RFA Insider brings together a panel of four Asian American RFA staffers to discuss Asian representation in U.S. media.

Joining the insiders on the panel are Charlie Dharapak, RFA’s multimedia managing director, and Boer Deng, director of RFA’s Investigative team.

Recording for this episode went on way longer than expected, so the decision was made to release it as two separate episodes.

In the rundown, the panel each introduced Asian two Asian characters from their youths in an effort to make a top five list out of them.

Eugene’s characters were Ensign Harry Kim from Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001) and Rufio from the 1991 film Hook.

Amy’s were Prince Christopher from Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997) and Kelly Kapoor from The Office (2005-2013).

Charlie’s characters were two played by Pat Morita, Arnold from Happy Days (1974-1984) and Martin Yan, from the cooking show Yan Can Cook (1982-present according to Wikipedia).

Boer said that because she was born abroad and moved to the U.S. as a child, she did not feel the need or expectation to be represented and therfore did not submit any characters to our top 5 list but acknowledged that for people who were born in the U.S., representation is important.

Prior to the show, Eugene, Charlie and Amy ranked each other’s characters but not their own. The ranks were averaged. Who will come out on top?

Tune in next week for Episode 7b, which will feature How its Made, and the panel will discuss their journeys as Asians in the journalism field, how their parents reacted to their choice of study or profession, given that jobs in journalism do not confer the traditional markers of success, and ways they think coverage of Asian Americans or Asia can improve.