Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 16:00     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No Asian men as love interests in the book, and not surprising that this is the kind of story that Hollywood chooses to make into a movie.

Very disappointed, as Asian women are often seen as ok to be represented in media AS LONG AS they serve as love interests for non Asian men, and more often than not, white men.

The author did not include any minority love interests in her book. For the movie they decided change one love interest to African American, but I guess Asian men didn't warrant a change.

In the movie, the protaganists favorite movie is "Sixteen Candles". This is not in the book. Sixteen Candles is an particularly odd choice because this movie is very unpopular with Asian Americans because of its racist portrayal of Asian men (Long Duck Dong).


Ok, two points. First, I’m half Asian and I have NEVER dated an Asian guy so don’t find the lack of Asian love interest strange.. Don’t really find them attractive. 2nd, Sixteen Candles is one of my favourite movies, despite the racist portrayal of Long Duck Dong.


You don't find Asian men attractive? You may have some things you need to unpack and think about. You're free to date as you please but you are really closing yourself off from a pretty large pool of people. There's alot of internalized self hate among Asians Americans that some people never grow out of or recognize, and a sense of priority given to assimilation and hoping to be accepted. Hopefully that isn't your case and you have some really well intentioned reasons for finding a whole race of people unattractive.


STFU, pp. i’m not the Asian poster, but really you need help more than anyone else.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 15:41     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No Asian men as love interests in the book, and not surprising that this is the kind of story that Hollywood chooses to make into a movie.

Very disappointed, as Asian women are often seen as ok to be represented in media AS LONG AS they serve as love interests for non Asian men, and more often than not, white men.

The author did not include any minority love interests in her book. For the movie they decided change one love interest to African American, but I guess Asian men didn't warrant a change.

In the movie, the protaganists favorite movie is "Sixteen Candles". This is not in the book. Sixteen Candles is an particularly odd choice because this movie is very unpopular with Asian Americans because of its racist portrayal of Asian men (Long Duck Dong).


Ok, two points. First, I’m half Asian and I have NEVER dated an Asian guy so don’t find the lack of Asian love interest strange.. Don’t really find them attractive. 2nd, Sixteen Candles is one of my favourite movies, despite the racist portrayal of Long Duck Dong.


You don't find Asian men attractive? You may have some things you need to unpack and think about. You're free to date as you please but you are really closing yourself off from a pretty large pool of people. There's alot of internalized self hate among Asians Americans that some people never grow out of or recognize, and a sense of priority given to assimilation and hoping to be accepted. Hopefully that isn't your case and you have some really well intentioned reasons for finding a whole race of people unattractive.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 15:40     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why is having a non-asian Dad somehow anti-asian?


I don't think anyone said it was anti-asian. But it certainly doesn't make it a pro-asian.


Six degrees of Asian-ness?

The story could have featured any ethnicity quite frankly. (I grew up with 16 Candles and even not being Asian could easily understand that the Asian character was a complete stereotype.)

I actually thought it was nice that the actresses playing the sisters looked different from one another. My neices are half Asian/half white and they look different from each other. In fact, one gets mistaken for being Latina.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 14:55     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:There was presumably an Asian mom, but she died way pre-movie time. I was thinking Noah Centineo could be part Latino (which he played on The Fosters), but a Google check tells me he's European American.

But having an Asian lead is still big and I'm hoping will lead the way to others. Just heard an NPR story about a new movie called Searching starring John Cho as the dad of an Asian family. Their being Asian isn't a plot point at all, and that's great thing.


I want to see this - it looks super interesting.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 14:54     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Half Asian pp here. I haven’t seen the movie yet but another point I want to bring up is depending on where the movie takes place and how many other Asians are around, the main character might think of herself as white, or at least not “ethnic” or different. I grew up in a predominantly white area and inside my own head I thought of myself as white/not different from the white kids I went to school with. It was sometime jarring to me whenever someone mentioned my race because I never considered myself as being different. That could be the case here, especially if she was being raised by a single white dad with no Asian influences from her mom.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 14:47     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:No Asian men as love interests in the book, and not surprising that this is the kind of story that Hollywood chooses to make into a movie.

Very disappointed, as Asian women are often seen as ok to be represented in media AS LONG AS they serve as love interests for non Asian men, and more often than not, white men.

The author did not include any minority love interests in her book. For the movie they decided change one love interest to African American, but I guess Asian men didn't warrant a change.

In the movie, the protaganists favorite movie is "Sixteen Candles". This is not in the book. Sixteen Candles is an particularly odd choice because this movie is very unpopular with Asian Americans because of its racist portrayal of Asian men (Long Duck Dong).


Ok, two points. First, I’m half Asian and I have NEVER dated an Asian guy so don’t find the lack of Asian love interest strange.. Don’t really find them attractive. 2nd, Sixteen Candles is one of my favourite movies, despite the racist portrayal of Long Duck Dong.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 14:44     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why is having a non-asian Dad somehow anti-asian?


I don't think anyone said it was anti-asian. But it certainly doesn't make it a pro-asian.


Maybe not pro-asian exactly but it is important representation. Lara Jean is a whole person, with different thoughts, feelings, behaviors, etc. without the entire plot being about her ethnic identity or otherness. It shows that even if she feels like an oddball in high school because she lives mostly inside her own head, that it isn't specific to her ethnicity. It's the fusion of normality and complexity in a non-white lead that shows progress.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 14:40     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
There was presumably an Asian mom, but she died way pre-movie time. I was thinking Noah Centineo could be part Latino (which he played on The Fosters), but a Google check tells me he's European American.

But having an Asian lead is still big and I'm hoping will lead the way to others. Just heard an NPR story about a new movie called Searching starring John Cho as the dad of an Asian family. Their being Asian isn't a plot point at all, and that's great thing.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 13:26     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:Why is having a non-asian Dad somehow anti-asian?


I don't think anyone said it was anti-asian. But it certainly doesn't make it a pro-asian.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 12:21     Subject: Re:To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Loved it. Super cute.
Anonymous
Post 08/23/2018 12:15     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Why is having a non-asian Dad somehow anti-asian?
Anonymous
Post 08/22/2018 21:09     Subject: Re:To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The dad is a widower, which actually underscores yet another stereotype. In popular culture men are over represented as the single parent when in reality women were and are more often single parents.


So the only Asian people that exist in this movie are Asian girls who list after white guys?

No Asian dad. No Asian mom. No Asian brother. No Asian love interest?? How convenient. What a pivotal and proud moment for Asian Americans!


The character isn’t Asian. She’s half-Asian.
Anonymous
Post 08/22/2018 20:41     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Thanks for the recommendation! Enjoyed watching and really enjoyed the main characters. Much better recommendation than that terrible Set It Up.
Anonymous
Post 08/22/2018 12:26     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
Anonymous wrote:I liked it. I really liked the main character. I could barely keep track of which white boy was the love interest and which was the next door neighbor though - they both looked way too similar.



I thought the exact same thing. They probably were up for the same role. They should have given the other kid glasses.
Anonymous
Post 08/22/2018 12:24     Subject: To All the Boys I've Loved Before on Netflix
I liked it. I really liked the main character. I could barely keep track of which white boy was the love interest and which was the next door neighbor though - they both looked way too similar.