Asian A.V. Club newsletter #6
'American Born Chinese' author Gene Luen Yang talks about translating his novel to screen. Plus what was Cannes Film Festival like for filmmakers Anthony Chen, Amanda Nell Eu, Tang Yi and more!
Award winning graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang has spent decades captivating readers with his thought-provoking works that explore themes of identity and cultural assimilation amidst the superhero framework.
One of his most successful books is ‘American Born Chinese’, a complex story that incorporates a retelling of the Chinese mythological hero The Monkey King, a Chinese teenager named Jin Wang who struggles with his Asian identity and an all-American boy who’s embarrassed by his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee.
The creative interweaving of plot lines not only garnered Yang a 2006 National Book nomination but also the coveted Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album the following year.
When it was announced in 2021 that Disney+ ordered a series adaptation, many were skeptical that the graphic novels central portrayal of Asian-American self-loathing would end up being smoothed over on to screen. It took many conversations with Emmy Award-winning writer/producer/actor Kelvin Yu (Bob’s Burgers (EP), Master of None) to convince Yang that his story was in good hands.
Featuring a star studded ensemble led by Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh (Guanyin) and Ke Huy Quan (Freddy Wong), plus Asian superstar Daniel Wu (Monkey King) with newcomers Ben Wang (Jin Wang) and Jimmy Liu (Wei-Chen) as our central heroes, American Born Chinese ends up being an exhilarating adventure rooted in it’s exploration of Asian identity, but thrown into a colorfully imagined world like no other.
A few weeks back, we got to speak to Yang on the eve of the series release.
Asian A.V. Club: Like every creative hero, especially one who created the graphic novel for American Born Chinese, we’d love to hear your origins story.
Gene Luen Yang: Well, I started drawing when I was two, my mom tells me I started making comics when I was in the fifth grade. I used to make comics with my friend Jeremy Kuniyoshi, and we would take our pages that we wrote and drew together, give them to his mom, and then his mom would Xerox them for us at work. And then we'd staple these Xeroxes by hand, and we would sell them. So that's how my comic book career started. Eventually, as an adult, I knew I wanted to make comics. Not necessarily pursuing a career, I didn't think it was possible for me full time, and I began self-publishing my comics in my 20s. And that's kind of how all this happened,
Asian A.V. Club: What do you think the allure was for you to draw and tell stories that existed in these little square spaces?
Gene Luen Yang: I think there's something very intimate about reading a comic. I used to read comics in my bedroom and there's just something very personal about it. I believe that a well-crafted comic, can feel almost like you're reading a page out of somebody's diary, because you're seeing hand drawn images. So that's definitely a part of the appeal, another part is that you just have full control over your story. It's a lot of labor to put together a comic, but it's still manageable enough where a single person can control all the story and all of the art.
Asian A.V. Club: Is it true that you wanted to be an animator for Disney? What was it about Disney that was so interesting to you?
Gene Luen Yang: Well, the art and animation of Disney has always been stunning to me. Not just the drawings themselves, but even the way they animated them. The way they were able to capture these nuances in in movement was just really astounding. And I think the second thing that really appealed to me was that Disney seemed like they're like the keeper of American fables. These Disney movies are modern America's version of mythology, so there's something really appealing about that.
Asian A.V. Club: A lot of the themes of you write about is connected to Asian identity. Was that something you wanted to talk about in your work from the get-go or did you start off just telling superhero stories? And when did you start telling the stories that you’re now associated with?
Gene Luen Yang: When I went to our local comic bookstore, the only comics that were available to us were all superheroes stories. Those comics that I did as a kid were definitely all about superheroes because that was what I was surrounded by. But I went through a cultural awakening in college where I began thinking about my own Asian American identity and began accepting a lot of the pieces of myself that I had been embarrassed when I was younger. After I graduated college, I would have these Asian American protagonists in my comics because I wanted the characters to look like me. But it wasn't until 2000 when I did American Born Chinese, where I really wanted the story to be about being Asian Americans.
Asian A.V. Club: Did you grow up hearing stories about Sun Wukong (The Monkey King)?
Gene Luen Yang: My mom was the one that introduced me to the Monkey King. She would tell me stories at bedtime, but the ones of the Monkey King were my favorite. I remember going to Taiwan when I was a kid and there was a Monkey King cartoon on TV, and I just loved it. There’s so much that’s appealing about him. I don't think I'm unique, I think most of us who are of Chinese descent have a special place in our hearts for the Monkey King. There's a reason why he's probably the most popular Chinese mythological figure ever.
Asian A.V. Club: As a kid reading stories of The Monkey King, I always found him so naughty!
Gene Luen Yang: I think you are more of an obedient child (laughs). He was like a superhero to me! Yes, he was naughty, but he had all these superpowers. But I guess the naughtiness appealed to me because he was able to break rules that I was too afraid to break.
Asian A.V. Club: When did you decide to incorporate this iconic figure into the stories you wanted to write?
Gene Luen Yang: When I started doing comics in my 20s, I wanted to do some kind of adaptation of his story. And originally, I was just gonna do a straight adaptation. But then I realized, there's so many adaptations of Journey to the West into Chinese comics, that I didn't feel like I was adding anything into the world. Here were all these artists from Asia who are way more talented than me that had already done it. So, in the end, I hit on this idea of using the Monkey King as a way of exploring the Asian American experience. I figured none of those Asian artists could do that same thing. And that's what my version of the Monkey King was.
Asian A.V. Club: Your original graphic novel consisted of three different tales which eventually merge at the end. How did that change when it came to adapting American Born Chinese into a tv series?
Gene Luen Yang: The idea underneath both the show and the book are that both feature different worlds; a mythological world and there's a more naturalistic world. Basically, there's the world of Heaven and the world of Earth. And then for the series, there's this third world of the sitcom called Beyond Repair. So, the idea of characters moving from heaven in the show to Earth is sort of like a metaphor. A super powered version of that metaphor. (laughs)
Asian A.V. Club: What were some of the other kinds of conversations that you had? The show really feels like you gave Kelvin Yu (showrunner - far right) the freedom to take what you wrote, strip it down and then rebuild it to screen.
Gene Luen Yang: That's exactly how we talked about it. We talked about taking the book, boiling it down to its essence, and letting it expand into the shape of an eight-episode season of television.
We also talked about how the book is vaguely set in the 80s, 90s and how the television show was going to be in the 2020s. And once that re-expansion happened, it had to reflect the changing nature of the conversation about Asian America.
Kelvin is definitely the leader of the crew that created the show. But my contribution was only to chip in when I could. So, we have become pretty good friends and he would often use me as a sounding board, which I really, really appreciated.
Asian A.V. Club: Can you talk a little more about the experience of growing up Asian in America, which is such the essence of this story.
Gene Luen Yang: As an Asian American, sometimes it feels like you're living in between different worlds. When you move from school to home, you're moving from one world to the other. When I was growing up, I had one name at home and another one at school, I spoke one language at home and other one at school. And even though the rules around how you're supposed to conduct yourself, it felt like they shifted when you move from home to school.
Some of it is also this feeling of embarrassment, or this lack of competence. I think most Asian Americans have gone through a period of our lives, where we're kind of embarrassed about the food that we eat at home, about our parents’ accents. And, and there's a lack of confidence that comes out of that embarrassment. So that was really important to reflect in the show.
Asian A.V. Club: I read that the first time you saw our two leads Ben Wang and Jimmy Liu do a scene, it was a carbon copy of what you drew. Were there any other nice moments where you saw things from your drawings come to life?
Gene Luen Yang: The very first page of the book is set in Chinese heavens where there is a huge dinner party. And what Kelvin and his team did was they took that one page and expanded it into an entire episode! [episode 4] I remember stepping foot on the Chinese heaven set and just thinking it was completely wild. I mean, it's like a significantly more complicated version of my one little drawing, but it was a very surreal moment, as well.
Asian A.V. Club: You mentioned the sitcom Beyond Repair being this third world in the series. Watching it exist in the background with its catchphrase ‘what can go Wong’ got increasingly excruciating as the series progresses. Can you talk a little bit about the decision of that baseline story and what it means to be able to have it even exist in a superhero show like American Born Chinese?
Gene Luen Yang: Beyond Repair expands the nature of a character in my book called Cousin Chin-Kee who was the embodiment of all of the negative Asian American stereotypes that I grew up with. I grew up in the 80s and early 90s, at a time of 16 Candles and Long Duk Dong. I remember when that movie came out, my classmates would come back to school and start calling me Long Duk Dong. So (Beyond Repair’s) Freddy Wong is kind of the embodiment of all that.
Some of the elements of (Beyond Repair) also comes from Kelvin’s own experience as an Asian American actor. When Kelvin broke into Hollywood in the late 90s, early 2000s, his very first role was a two-dimensional stereotype, and the whole point of his character was comic relief. The comedy didn't come out of any sort of character development, it was purely let's laugh at this Chinese guy up on the screen. And that character's name was Freddy Gong.
In the book, what happens to Cousin Chin-Kee is that he gets beheaded, and it was a very satisfying way to draw that on the page. (laughs) But the way the show and how Kelvin and his writing team ‘behead’ Freddy Wong is by swinging the camera around so you can see the three-dimensional character human being behind the two-dimensional character. I actually think of that scene [episode 7] as the heart of the show. It’s the piece that undergirds everything else and I’m incredibly grateful that Ke Huy Quan said yes to that. Initially he had said no to Freddy Wong because he was just really freaked out about it understandably and we had to convince him. So, I'm very thankful that he said yes.
Asian A.V. Club: I realized that your dreams of wanting to draw for Disney is kind of having a full circle moment with your creation now on their platform. How surreal has it been for you to go through all of this?
Gene Luen Yang: When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a Disney animator. And then as I got older, my dream was to tell stories about Asian America. This project is like those two things coming together. It just feels surreal. It feels like I’m someone else and I’m not living my own life. It feels so weird. (laughs)
Asian A.V. Club: I think it’s beautiful and I’m so happy I got to talk to you about this wonderful show.
Gene Luen Yang: Thank you.
This year, between May 16-27th, tens of thousands descended into the South of France to celebrate the biggest film festival in the world. With over 100+ films playing between various sections, the Cannes Film Festival 76th edition brought back massive names to the Croissette (Leonardo DiCaprio! Jane Fonda! Harrison Ford!) alongside respected auteurs with their new work (Wes Anderson! Aki Kaurismaki! Todd Haynes! Martin Scorsese!)
Asian creatives found much to celebrate this year as French/Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung picked up best director in his food based competition film The Pot-Au-Feu. Iconic Japanese actor Koji Yakusho picked up best actor award in Wim Wenders Perfect Days. Yuji Sakamoto took home the best screenplay for Monster, by two time Palme D’or winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda.
We reached out to 5 friends of the Asian A.V. Club who attended Cannes Film Festival this year and got the inside scoop on what their festival was like.
Anthony Chen, Director - The Breaking Ice (Un Certain Regard)
“What was so memorable for me this Cannes was to premiere my 4th feature The Breaking Ice on the same Sunday date exactly 10 years ago when I premiered my 1st film Ilo Ilo.”
”It’s always nerve wracking and most demanding. Most attendees are largely industry and press (who can be) a critical and sometime brutal audience. But I always love Cannes. It’s a mecca for cinema and it’s the pilgrimage that all filmmakers will always want to make. And ONLY in Cannes will you have Kore-eda turn up at your premiere and join in the standing ovation to celebrate your movie!”
Amanda Nell Eu, Director - Tiger Stripes (Grand Prix winner, Cannes Critics Week)
“"It’s surreal to win the Grand Prix, we never expected this. I already felt like we won by being in competition for La Semaine but this is just incredible. It’s a big deal for us and a big deal for South East Asian cinema. It was a good year for Asian cinema in Cannes this year!"
Tang Yi, Director - 2023 Résidence of the Festival de Cannes (2021 Short Film Palme d’Or winner)
“I’m developing my debut feature with La Residence, so I moved to Paris in early March. It’s nice to be back to Cannes. We did a pitch for CNC (The National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image), I tried to watch as many movies as possible, and of course, seafood! My fellow resident Laura Samani (Small Body) introduced me to Ruben Ostlund (President of the Jury of the 76th Festival de Cannes, two time Palme d’Or winner) and he wished me good luck with my script!”
Michaelangelo Masangkay, Producer - Trigger (Marché du Film) /Raven Banner Entertainment, General Manager
“This 76th edition of Cannes Film Festival marked my 13th Cannes since 2006 when I unknowingly chanced upon this industry as a glorified marketing coordinator hired with questionable graphic design skills and now having maintained my tenure for 10 years as the General Manager of genre film sales, distribution and production company, Raven Banner Entertainment.”
“This year though hit me in a very different way. This edition of Cannes saw me as the co-producer of my own film, TOPAKK (Trigger) by Richard V. Somes, a filipino action film that's back to it's roots in the 80s when Philippines was often subbed in for all Vietnam War films. The film has been postured for as prime a positioning that a foreign language gore actioner could ever hope for.
While in my annual decompression phase, I look back one week ago realizing that in fact this year's Cannes was an exhibition of excess not seen in many years even prior to the pandemic. It was a return to people in person with little to no masks being worn, longer lasting hugs accompanied by longer lasting days and nights fulfilling the yearning for human contact.”
Liz Shackleton, Journalist - Streamlined / Deadline
“This was the first Cannes ever where I was too busy to watch films or party, but what made it all worthwhile was talking to a bunch of women much younger than me who blew my mind with their talent & passion: first time director Zoro Purevdash (If Only I Could Hibernate) raising finance in Mongolia & shooting her debut in minus 42 degrees; Chinese actress and star Zhou Dongyu (The Breaking Ice), humble, funny and massively talented; producers like Apoorva Bakshi working between US and South Asia & pushing Pakistan’s 1st hand-drawn animated feature; and where to start with Southeast Asian directors like Amanda Nell Eu (Tiger Stripes) and producers Foo Fei Ling, Si En Tan, Yulia Evina Bhara and Meiske Taurisia.
Sorry guys - there’s a place for you in the future, but when it comes to Asian women, the world better watch out !!”