American Born Chinese

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

I will watch.

So much good stuff from Disney23 this weekend. And I now know why it's called Disey23.

[Drunk Monk]

Ya I’m just catching up with the trailer/teaser drops now…

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

Full trailer. Airs May 25

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

Waiting on a belated work call from YMAA, and then the press junket for this. 

It kinda backfired on me. One of my first tasks for Den was to interview Daniel Wu because one of the editors came with me to Ireland/Badlands - which is how I got the position there. He discovered that I knew Daniel and asked me to do a video interview with him. That was early in the pandemic - one of the first times I used zoom. 

I reached out to Den a bit ago in anticipation of ABC offering to reach out to Daniel, and it took them a while to get back to me. In that process, they signed me up for the press junket which is not only Daniel, it's Gene, Ben & Sydney, plus Melvin Mar (executive producer who I have no questions for). I get 5 mins per session, and it's paired except for Daniel. Had I stuck with the plan, I would've just made a personal contact with Daniel, but there are channels, ya know? It's all very MercNRet.

I'll be jumping in the virtual green room soon.

[Drunk Monk]

5 mins is way too fast. Plus the internet led me wrong about Ben - he's not ABC, he's Beijing born. 

Good to chat with Daniel again. He gave the best excuse for skipping TCEC ever - "I was at the White House"

Glad Gene recognized me. It was unnerving having the same name as the author in the virtual green room because I kept hearing my name. Virtual green rooms are funny because all us reporters are just hanging out and waiting. Always interesting to see other reporter backdrops and which outlets are covering it. 

I had more questions for both Daniel & Gene but 5 mins...

[Drunk Monk]

BTW, I reread the original graphic novel. I'd forgotten how existential the ending was. It was an enjoyable read and some of it totally nails the Asian American High School experience. Not sure how they will expand it into 8 episodes. Also how Chin-Kee is handled will be delicate because he's a parody of Chinese stereotypes. Out of context, he's incredibly offensive.

[Drunk Monk]

Disney made the screeners hard to unlock. I struggled with it for about an hour today before finally breaking through. They had this extra authentication step that required me to download another app. Feckin annoying.

But I have the entire season now.

E1 opened with Daniel’s take on the Monkey King. He’s playing an older version dealing with a rebellious son. He only speaks mandarin so far. I don’t see Sun Wukong yet. I just see Daniel playing him. Michelle is luminous as Guanyin. It’s a good role for her.

Ben Wang plays Jin Wang and does a decent job of the alienated youth trying to assimilate. I like what he’s doing. Jin is the alter ego of Gene. Gene the author of ABC, not me. Jin/Gene - it’s very close. In fact, I got a note at one of my Kung Fu schools under a PRC master addressed to Jin Qing. I liked that name so much it became one of my pen names. I wrote a few articles as Jin Qing. 

Amelia, who I also interviewed, is the perfect high school crush. Wei Chen is less awkward than in the original comic. That spoils the character a bit, but his big reveal is already leaked from the start in this adaptation. It was a solid mcguffin in the book.

Not sure how well it’s working yet. Perhaps I’m too close to this one to be unbiased.

[Drunk Monk]

Eps are only 30 mins

The jttw Easter eggs are solid. E2 introduces pigsy who is disguised as a janitor raking leaves.

E3 had Daniel & Michelle at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant. And the monkey king’s son wears feiyues!

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E4 was set in heaven. The gathering of the gods. It’s almost entirely in mandarin. It also references the jttw gods - iron fan, jade emperor, guan gong, but you have to be quick to catch some - like Nezha is only mentioned. Wukong & the bull demon are buds. It takes a lot of liberties with the original story, but it’s a very amusing ep. I suspect a lot of it will be lost on those who don’t know jttw. But it’s not an objectionable twist like the new bbc Great Expectations.

The show isn’t blowing me away but I am enjoying it. It has a lot of moments that I get knowing the culture - subtle details are on point. But I wonder if it works for anyone naive to the references. 

Im now at the halfway point of the series. I’ll finish it soon - perhaps with one good binge tomorrow.

[Drunk Monk]

My editor liked my piece so much that he had me split it into two shorter articles and bumped my pay up a bit for the two. 

I have enough to write another piece or two, but my timing is rough. With Cali Roots next weekend, I won't have the time to write them. I'm already too busy with my regular job(s).

[Drunk Monk]

Seen.

Ultimately I loved it. But I feel that you really need to know Journey to the West to fully appreciate it. All the nods to JttW were solid, but without that context, this might just be a confusing mess.

It’s very disneyfied. I was ok with it until the kiss. That didn’t happen in the graphic novel and didn’t need to happen here. Sorry for that spoiler.

I should mention that the fights are entertaining. It’s a lot of effects and wire work, but they pull off some decent action sequences. 

Ronny Cheng was a decent Jigong. Michelle nails Guanyin. Daniel portrayed an older more mature Sun Wukong which I’m still resolving a bit. James, Stephanie and Brian have minor roles, but Brian is a good Pigsy. I didn’t like the sex change for Sandy (although that did happen in the book) - her crescent moon blades were cool but an odd nod. There’s a big article to decode all the mythic figures here - one that would be a fun write but I haven’t the time.

Ke surprised me again. He took a caricature character and then flipped it towards the end to deliver an extraordinarily genuine heartfelt scene, one that taps the very soul of this story. 

Recommended for D00M sinophiles. I’m really curious to know if this works for non-Asians and those unfamiliar with JttW.

Ends with a cliffhanger, but if you don’t know Princess Iron Fan, it won’t tease s2 like it does of you do.