![\"\"](\"https:\/\/demo.techsystintel.com\/press_kitchen_dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/jeannie-nguyen_photo-copy-628x348-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I learned early on in my filmmaking career that I needed to own my personal content and stories, working with partners aligned with sharing the same narratives. That career, by the way, started just five years ago, following a highly nonlinear trajectory of working in corporate commercial real estate and making dog hoodies before owning a creperie. The experience helped me build my business acumen and gave me the windfall to explore filmmaking with my own finances when it came time, which lent me freedom few filmmakers experience.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It became clear this boon helped me avoid the red tape many AAPI creators face in Hollywood. While there has been a shift in the kinds of content made today and plenty of milestones achieved in media representation, I still question the motives and unconscious biases of many decision-makers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I chose to create my own work because I didn\u2019t see the types of Asians I grew up around represented on screen. I wanted to explore another layer of what it means to be Asian-American. As well, my filmmaking peers faced too many questions and instances of needing to explain to producers why our Asian stories need to appeal to \u201ctarget audiences,\u201d when sadly the \u201ctarget audience\u201d structure still heavily leans on white, heteronormative viewers. I\u2019m sure they don\u2019t intend the dog whistle. They\u2019re businesspeople and likely assume (white or Western) audiences \u201cwon\u2019t understand\u201d Asian stories. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s true. Picture me, raised not on AAPI stories by other Asian creators, but on white-centric Western \u201890s content. I understood Western content just fine, despite not growing up around their cultural touchstones. Why couldn\u2019t Western audiences do the same?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hollywood gatekeeping by its original power players–white straight men–harkens back to the industry\u2019s first films. Based on the 3-5 act play, a film\u2019s own bones limit the potential for boundless creativity if another perspective dares pitch a film outside its format. Inspirational filmmakers like Tsai Ming-Liang, Bela Tarr and Apichatpong Weerasethakul all break this mold with their creations. Whereas Hollywood, aka the exhausted Eurocentric cinema, mistakes archetypes like the 3-5 act structure, a plot hook within X number of minutes, an inciting incident, or a turning point, as required components to the formula of the \u201cright\u201d or \u201csuccessful\u201d movie. These factors limit the intelligence of the audience as if they wouldn\u2019t be able to follow or engage with anything different. This limiting viewpoint already restricts what filmmakers can explore. If we have to filter our perspective through the manufactured \u201ctried and true\u201d film structure (created by the dominant demographic), we\u2019re diluting our films in a way. They become less ours and more \u201cdigestible to the masses.\u201d I don\u2019t think we need to do that–to constantly assimilate and self-annihilate our works to help them understand us. Besides: if something isn\u2019t understood, why is that such a bad thing? This should be seen as an opportunity to learn something new. Wouldn\u2019t that be exciting?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
AAPI creators, in this instance and others, feel pressure to modify our perspectives to suit the Western palate. Sadly, beyond the boardroom of a major studio, Asian filmmakers often do this to themselves ahead of time. I\u2019m concepting a show that I began pitching to studios as an \u201cEast vs. West\u201d style plot: the Southeastern Asian cultural landscape versus the white Western archetype. But the show isn\u2019t even about that; it\u2019s a mother-daughter story. Why did I focus on the East vs. West element? I realized I held a subconscious bias that the story had to deal with whiteness, or include whiteness, to appeal to my mostly Western audience. When I realized it was enough to simply have a mother-daughter story, it made me question how many other Asian people lock themselves into narratives packaged with stereotypes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now with shows like\u00a0Squid Game\u00a0and films like\u00a0Everything, Everywhere All At Once\u00a0and\u00a0Parasite\u00a0making headlines, Hollywood is finally catching on to the truth we all knew: AAPI narratives and filmmaking styles can be attractive to the \u201ctarget audiences\u201d they espouse. But the Hollywood structure and limiting viewpoint of cinema still need massive adjustments to properly accept narratives of all shades, allowing more diverse content to grace our screens. As a start, executives require a solid understanding of how all films are made, on a global scale. So-called Third Cinema films uplift unsung communities with stories on social and political movements that often fall beyond the scope of Hollywood\u2019s purview. Streaming platforms can\u2019t be one\u2019s sole form of research or audience-interest temperature check. If the film industry expands its understanding of how films can be structured, let alone how many global stories are left on the cutting room floor, they can begin the work to support all creators in propagating enlightening stories they know to be true.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n