Fresh Off The Boat Summary

The Huang family: What it means to be American

In Herman Grey’s, The Politics of Representation in Network Television he examines the history and portrayal of African Americans in television. Grey concludes there are three identifies in which African Americans are represented in television, multiculturalist pluralist and assimilationist. In his writing he mostly reflects on television shows from the mid 1920’s to the 1990’s. However many of these ideas still hold relative to modern day shows featuring minorities. ABC’s Fresh off the Boat is a comedy which centered around an Taiwanese American family trying to chase the American. The show follows the family as they try to adapt from living in a predominantly Chinese community to moving to all white community in Orlando Florida. The

shows characters include, Louis and Jessica as the parents, their three boys and grandma Jenny.
Fresh off the Boat is best identifies with Grey’s multiculturalism discourse.

Multiculturalism represents shows that are told from the view point of African Americans, including the struggle they face within the community. Fresh off the Boat’s main characters are all minorities however the format matches those of white family shows just as the early African American shows. “In style and form, the show operated from the normative space of largely, black, often multicultural world that paralleled the of white.”(Grey 89 ) The core values and context are that which appeal to audiences as universal truths and experiences about domesticity. Another factor and appeal of the show multiculturalism is the diversity within the cast in terms of character personality. Huang family members all adjust to their new surroundings differently. They struggle to become more American while also holding on to their Taiwanese traditions. As these stories are told from the vantage point of a Taiwanese family they are more truth to the immigrant experience. These are all which align with “black Americans as the authors and participants in there own notion of America and what it means in America.”(Grey

89)
As characters work to find their place a face personal contradictions and ways to assimilate. In one instance Jessica gets upset as neighbors referring to her and her family as ‘plain old Americans’. She worries her family is become to white and throughout the rest of the episode she comically attempts to make her family more Taiwanese by removing things she deems are too American. At the end of the episode she realizes that she enjoys both American and Taiwanese lifestyles. All Other instances of playful mention of race is when Louise suggests having a white host at their restaurant to attract more customers versus a Chinese host. Another instance of rejection and except acceptance when Eddie comes home asking his mom to pack a , white lunch, lunchables as opposed to this noodle dish. However later on he finds himself defending that very culture he rejected to his peers. Struggling between both worlds is a reflection of African-Americans and their experience with their “notion of American and what it means to be American" (Great 89). Fresh off the Boat unapologetically brings the struggles to the surface in order to showcase what it means to be an immigrant trying to live the American experience. “Viewers encounter complex even contradiction contradictory perspectives and representations of black life in America” most characters in African-American shows share this experience just as the Huang the family.
Fresh off the Boat is considered multiculturalism it has aspects of pluralist and assimilationist. As the show uses comedic overtone to glows over race aspects as well as the characters desired to assimilate into her community,. Fresh off the Boat is a win for the the Asian American community which is heavily under represented especially on the entire family. The shows themes echos African American desire to be represented in television and a non- stereo typical way with three-dimensional characters and with diversity within the African-American community.

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