EP 212: Reading (into) American Born Chinese
“This is an intensely personal book. As much as there is a sort of universality, it's Yang’s own personal journey growing up.”
American Born Chinese is Gene Luen Yang's seminal comics work first released in 2006 — and comes out as a live-action Disney+ streaming series on May 24, 2023 - by the filmmakers from “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Shang Chi” - Michelle Yeoh and many others. The original graphic novel won all the awards, and launched Yang onto a full blown comics career. For AAPI Heritage month, we’re sharing this Quarantined Comics companion episode on amazing graphic novels - following the earlier Modern Minorities author conversation.
The story of American Born Chinese consists of three seemingly disparate tales: (1) the legend of the Monkey King from the classic 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West, (2) an all-too-familiar Asian American coming of age story of a American Born Chinese teenager Jin Wang, and (3) a TV sitcom starring an all-American cast of cringe-worthy stereotypes. Eventually these three tales become come together into a poignant lesson of culture and self acceptance. Raman and Ryan talks not just about the work - and their anxiety about the new TV show (which they have not yet seen) - but also their OWN American-Born Asian experiences - and a reflection on the impact of Gene Luen Yang's many works that we've covered on Quarantined Comics
LEARN ABOUT AMERICAN BORN CHINESE / GENE LUEN YANG
American Born Chinese: goodreads.com/book/show/118944.American_Born_Chinese
MENTIONS
Superman Smashes the Klan TRAILER: youtu.be/LQ5ID_k_iBA
Dragon Hoops: goodreads.com/book/show/44280830-dragon-hoops
Boxers & Saints: goodreads.com/series/108966-boxers-saints