Growing up watching a lot of shows and movies, there were rarely any girls, especially in romantic comedies, that looked like me.
While I did watch many Filipino soap operas, they were exclusively on The Filipino Channel, which we had to pay extra for. So shows that I grew up watching very rarely had Asian sidekicks either. Anytime I did watch anything with an Asian character, it was not often that they were "normal" and not the stereotypical kind of Asian like we see with Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
So even though "To All The Boys I've Loved Before"only has three Asian characters (the Song-Covey girls), this is definitely a win! To see a main character that looks like me and falls in love with a character that is not also Asian makes my heart beyond happy. TALTBILB is not only wonderfully cheesy but it appropriates interracial relationships, which I am 100% for, and I am in love with everything that is TALTBILB - so thank you, Jenny Han.
To see a girl like Lara Jean fall in love with a guy like Peter Kavinsky would have made me jump for joy as a 14-year-old (to be truthful, I'm still so giddy thinking about it), and it was also great to see his character really fall in love with Lara Jean. Please, please give me more rom-coms like this.
I love romantic comedies with all my heart, and "Crazy Rich Asians" put the icing on the cake for me.
Now, "Crazy Rich Asians" was a win for the entire Asian American community. This movie is everything I could have wanted and more. While my family is not from Singapore, I can relate to knowing how family is incredibly important when it comes to so many Asian Americans. Our culture, no matter which country we come from, is something we try to keep always. Not many movies show the importance of parental approval, which was a huge plot line that isn't usually the norm.
I cried about four times while watching this movie,and my sister and boyfriend couldn't stop laughing at me. To see a full Asian cast in a movie in theaters was a completely new experience that I think I could definitely get used to. At one point, a Filipino TV personality and actress that I grew up seeing made an appearance as a *princess*, and I kid you not, I screamed, "Kris Aquino!!" Thank goodness I was on the top row and did not notice anyone turn around and give me a glare.
Both of the movies are definitely great wins for representation of the Asian American community. Not only did "Crazy Rich Asians" do amazingly its opening weekend, but its sequel is also in the works!
My hopes for the cinematic future are that there are more leads that look like me and that more movies truly represent what it's like to be an Asian American in today's times! I hope that by the time I have children and they are able to watch television, there are characters that look like them and that they can relate to them culturally as well.
