By Carina Nocon, AsAmNews Intern
A new comedy set in Queens, NY challenges Asian stereotypes and unveils authentic Asian tendencies on camera without apology. QUEENS the Series is about three, first and second-generation Asian American women who realize that adulthood is harder than what their immigrant parents prepared them for.
Three best friends– Sarah, Gia, and Kim– tackle relationship crises, entry-level job struggles, and what it means to be an adult. As the series follows their individual lives and friendships with each other, they represent what it means to be an Asian American in a way that highlights their Asiannes more than their Americanness with pride.
Actress, writer, and creator of Queens Cindy Chu based the series off of the lives of her and her two best friends. Chu said the representation of Asian American women in the film industry is lacking, which inspired her to create a series about what it honestly looks like to be an urban millennial, Asian American in the city of Queens.
“As far as female friendships goes, there’s Sex in the City, Broad Way Girls. There are a lot of White narratives, and there’s nothing about Asian Americans,” said Chu.
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Chu plays the role of Sarah, who dreads the moment she has to tell her immigrant mother that she has to call off her own wedding becauses she’s afraid she might bring shame to her family.
In between the laughs and the comedy, other scenes show Asian American tendencies and stereotypical jokes that Sarah, Gia, and Kim go through.
Kim, who is a paralegal, represents the people of color who are stereotyped and sometimes belittled in the workplace. In a couple of scenes, she receives a kung-fu jab and subtle race-based comments from her boss and co-workers.
In an interview with AsAmNews, Carolina Do, who plays Gia, and Zak Ma, who plays Jesse, shared their thoughts on what it’s like being an Asian in the film industry in America today.
Do mentions the large amount of bravery that it takes for a colored person to pursue a career in the film industry. She used her parents’ immigrant stories as an example of why she “thinks that there needs to be people out there who are brave enough to tell those stories so that we can fight and chip away at the stereotypes that have been put upon us.”
Ma said, “We’re tired of the same old stories. So we’re starting this artistic revolution, I would say, and that’s something that’s really exciting to me.” Ma adds that QUEENS breaks the Asian stereotype of being reserved because the lead characters Sarah, Gia, and Kim are not.
New episodes will be premiering this week on the QUEENS website, where cast and crew interviews can also be viewed.
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