Week 5

This week in class, we have been presenting Asian American cultural producers who we think deserve recognition. I decided to take a look at some Asian Americans who are considered by many to be heroes and instead, share my disagreement with some of their content.

I previously mentioned the popular YouTube duo the Fung Bros. David Fung and Andrew Fung are brothers who make comedic videos and post them on popular video sharing website, YouTube. On their YouTube About page, they write, “We’re brothers who believe in advancing the education and discussion of Asian and Asian-American topics for people around the world.” A quick skim through their uploaded videos shows no lack of content on Asians and Asian Americans. Indeed, they are deeply involved in the current portrayals of Asians and Asian Americans as they make videos such as “Things Asian Parents Do,” “Things Asian Guys Like,” and “18 Types of Asian Girls.” Through these videos, the Fung Bros attempt to debunk stereotypes about Asians and Asian Americans by giving us more background and cultural detail, as well as more complex characteristics, some of which contradict the stereotypes completely.

However, the problem that I have with this method of combating stereotypes is that the viewer can still interpret the Fung Bros message inaccurately and use the characteristics that they list to further draw generalizations about the people they try to make more complex. And by using titles such as those listed above, the Fung Bros are almost promoting the idea that Asians can be categorized into 18 types, a similar way of thinking as the thought processes behind stereotyping and generalizing. The brothers seem to know this, however, and try to explain that the list of types of Asian girls or list of the things that Asian guys like are simply made up and are not conclusive or collective of all Asians and Asian Americans. Unfortunately, here is one more aspect where balancing comedy and education in videos is difficult, as audiences simply may not understand this crucial point and are instead fixated on the list of characteristics or constructs that are the focus of the video.

Other than this headache-inducing issue, I do support the Fung Bros and their journey to promote accurate and fair representations of Asians and Asian Americans as well as to encourage pride within the community. The brothers and their team have many other well-made videos that certainly help achieve this goal, so despite my gripe about a few videos, they are still understandably some amazing Asian American heroes who continue to inspire and educate the world through their own storytelling.