WARNING: SPOILERS
One of the great things about streaming services is that they allow you to try shows and movies you may not have known much about. The possibility of serendipitously finding something wonderful is greater than with network TV, where if you weren’t available to watch something when it was broadcast, you were SOL.
A series I recently took a chance on watching was American Born Chinese. It was delightful.
The show, based on a comic of the same name, combines high school comedy/drama with Asian martial arts films (in a way that reminded me of how the high school comedy/drama was combined with detective noir in the series Veronica Mars). By combining two genres that don’t ordinarily come together, the show offers something fresh, a new way to look at both.
But American Born Chinese smartly throws other elements into the mix to great effect. Throughout the series, there is a show-within-a-show, a sitcom from the 1980s with a stereotypical Chinese character played for laughs. Both in the way the stereotype still affects Chinese people today and the way it dogged the career of the actor who played the character, American Born Chinese is very smart in addressing the issue of minority representation in the media in an entertaining way.
Some of the high school storyline (outsider tries to fit in with the jocks) is pretty standard, although the sharp writing, which was frequently hilarious, made it entertaining enough. One highlight of the show for me was the exploration of Asian mythology, especially scenes of the Monkey King; I have another trickster to add to my collection! (As you may gather, I’m a fan.)
If genre mashups tinged with social commentary are your thing (I must admit that they are mine), American Born Chinese is definitely worth watching.