K-Pop, Make him stop, Why you buggin’ when you on top?

The Fairy Princess has noticed that this last week that Asian America, and particularly Asian American males seem to be losing their damn minds….in the press and elsewhere, so she wants to say…

First up on the Isle de Stupid were comments read on the interwebs by API men who were unwilling to consider watching the new Nickelodeon show “Make it Pop“. Why? Because the Producer of the show, at an “Up Front” said that there would be no API young men on the show – a show that is about 3 young API women trying to break into the music industry.

Now, if you click that link above, you will see that even though the writer acknowledges that the answer of “Nope, never. Asian guys in my show? Not gonna happen.” was said as a joke, it made him as an API Male go to the ‘Dark place‘ where traditional emasculated images of Asian men in American media rolled around in his head.

TFP agrees that these images are out there, and that there IS a ‘dark place’ to go to as an API Man in America.

TFP totally gets that you are as sick of comments that reference 16 Candles, as she is of comments made to her that reference Full Metal Jacket.

Yes, a Producer made a bad joke, that does not mean we should all lose our damn minds and miss what is happening here.

What is happening here is that there is a show that revolves around 3 API Teenagers in America.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED IN AMERICA?

The answer you are looking at is NEVER. The show takes place in a boarding school on the East Coast and three girls meet and decide to start a band.

Just like The Monkees.

The Monkees was a show about four guys that meet and try and start a band and there were some big pop songs that came out of it.

Never heard of The Monkees….

Nevermind. These kids probably have not heard of The Partridge Family either, sorry Shirley Jones.

Yes, there is a Caucasian male on the show…which is called…wait for it – DIVERSITY.

All the kid’s shows now have a lot of Diversity in the cast – or, as Shonda Rhimes calls it, “normalizing‘ – no one lives in an exclusively Black, exclusively White, or exclusively Asian world on television in children’s programming in America. No one lives in an exclusively Latino or exclusively Native American world either, because the people planning children’s programming have looked at the demographics of America, and the winds of change are coming. THAT is what they are planning for – they are making ‘stars’ of the kids on the shows now, because these are some of the ‘stars’ of tomorrow.

TFP is happy to see that, according to Nickelodeon, at least 3 of these ‘future stars’ are going to be API women.

Not watching a show because you want to protest the lack of Asian American men, where Asian American women are the focus, is sending a clear message that one values males over females – all hail the Motherland!

That kind of thinking went out with foot binding, didn’t it?

What are you saying – that Girls are not worthy of your television viewing support simply because they are girls and not boys?

Look, if this show is successful, and continues to grow, of course we will be given more of the girls’ backstories – including Family members and boyfriends and all sorts of information, that is what happens in television – the Producer already said he is hoping International Superstar and singer of GANGNAM STYLE, PSY will play one of the Fathers, so this rage against the show seems misplaced. Of course if the show continues to explore the world of K-Pop there will be API males, give it a chance.

Let’s not throw the Girl Babies out with the bathwater, okay – Oppa, Oppa?

Moving on….Mindy Kaling’s brother announced this week that he changed his race on his application to medical school to make himself a Black Man and benefit from affirmative action, because he felt that his grades as a Asian male, which were crappy, would not allow him to get in, due to ‘bias’ against APIs having to have good grades.

This is Vijay Chokal-Ingam.

HIS SISTER IS FAMOUS BUT HE NEEDS ATTENTION TOO!

In what can only be described as a rip off of a really bad C.Thomas Howell movie called SOUL MAN….

Mr. Chokal-Ingam decided to claim that he altered both his appearance and his race on his application to medical school, and that is why he got in. The school in question, St. Louis University’s School of Medicine, disputes this, but…Mr. Chokal-Ingam wants to write a book and get an advance. This article by Journalist Jeff Yang is a good read on the situation, the claims and counter claims.

TFP is of the belief that co-opting another Person of Color’s experience is morally wrong. Speaking for herself and for every friend who has read about this and demanded she write about it, we would like him to know –

Has anyone called #BlackTwitter about this yet? Cuz first it will be like…

And then it will be like…

And after all that… he will have to tell his Mom….

She may be worse than #BlackTwitter – we can only hope.

Also, endowing a scholarship specifically to benefit African Americans who want to go to medical school would not be a bad idea to try to make amends, Mr. Chokal-Ingam – got it?

Next up – there is a petition going around, already protesting the white-washing of Mulan, the live action version of the animated film.

EXCEPT THERE HAS BEEN NO WHITE WASHING OF MULAN ANNOUNCED.

Perhaps this is a ‘pre-emptive’ strike on the part of rabid fans, but  TFP cannot get behind this petition. Nope.

This is a movie that has made $304 MILLION Dollars for the studio, just as it is – a story about a Chinese girl who saved China. Disney is nothing if not faithful to their animated films, look at their latest live action Cinderella – now here is animated Cinderella

And here is the new ‘Live Action” Cinderella, Actress Lily James….

Also just announced, Emma Watson as the new live action Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

Do you see what TFP is going for? Cinderella made

by remaining relatively faithful to the look and feel of the animated classic. As will B&B, as will Mulan!

No one will be white-washing Mulan, it would be fiscally irresponsible, and as Disney and ABC are now THE ones leading the pack with Diversity casting and “Normalizing”, they would absolutely never white wash the character of Mulan, Shang, or any of the characters we have grown to love.

Will every actor in the film be Chinese? Probably not. But they will be of Asian descent, and they will be good actors – and that is what we want, good actors of Asian descent in a live action film.

Can the petition, it’s troll worthy, and we are better than that.

Finally, TFP has to mention Eddie Huang and his Twitter rants against his own show.

Eddie! Eddie!

TFP gets that you are mad that every moment from the book is not in the show, but you sold the book to ABC, which is a mainstream network, and you sold it as a comedy. Not even a dark comedy, you sold it as a sit-com.

A SITUATION COMEDY.

If you wanted it dark and twisted, sell it to HBO, sell it to Showtime, sell it to….well, heck – The History Channel is doing an awesome job with VIKINGS and that is pretty dark and very bloody….the point is – you could have sold it to a variety of outlets that would have gone as dark as you wanted to go, but you sold it to a Network to go into a ‘family block’ of entertaining shows that can be watched with kids.

No one is asking you to silence your voice – and even if they did you would not listen, but TFP was at that first party where you spoke about how much the show meant to you,

and how you were behind it, so what happened? You are acting all like…

Did the check not clear?

TFP has been a writer on a project that got sold, and what she found out the very hard way is…the script is just a jumping off point – Directors, Producers, Actors…just about everyone has more say than the writer – unless the Writer is also the Show Runner. So if you feel you are not a big enough part of the process or being ignored, that’s kind of the fate of the non-showrunner writer, and you…well….you need a mantra – here is one that has helped TFP –

It’s a hard lesson to learn, and maybe the show does not go with ‘your brand’ as a bad ass chef who was a lawyer who talks about hip hop and what it means to you and your journey in America. TFP gets that you are upset, but let’s remember…

It’s still funny.

It’s still important.

It’s still a high ranking comedy.

But it is never going to not be a sitcom. Maybe you feel you danced with the devil here…but you signed the papers.

if you are looking to sink this boat, that’s your right, but remember – there are way more people that want it to float…

You see…the show matters, even if you hate it. So next time that check comes in the mail….even if you hate the fact that you get to deposit it – which makes you part of the 1 per cent….

cuz a lot of people are not quite as fortunate.

TFP awards all those API Males mentioned 10 smacks of the wand – grab yourselves a paddle and steer yourselves out of the sh*tstorms of your own invention. Cuz you makin’ her feel like….

TFP OUT.