Bling Empire and Americanness
- nunezv
- Feb 26, 2021
- 1 min read
In my Moodle post this week I talked about how the decision in Bling Empire to portray the Asian American community outside of model minority, the exotic Other, and trauma narratives can be seen as a subversive move; however, I think, it has a less radical purpose. I argue that Bling Empire tries to make these wealthy Asian American people blend with the wealthy white America through the "subversion" of these narrative stereotypes. In other words, the series was created to make the Asian American community seem as American as possible. Although this point seems to conflict with what the series does throughout the eight episodes, constantly showing the exclusiveness of these Asian American people, what they are truly doing is making them palatable for American consumption.
This is a really astute observation and I think it points to the ways that the Asian American population can be drafted into performing as a "racial bourgeoisie" as one of the readeings labeled it.
I agree that this show was meant to make the cast seem as American as possible but also make America look fun and luxurious.
I definitely think that overall the show does do Asian Americans justice by subverting popular tropes, but this is a really good counterpoint. The show does definitely give in to direct parallels to shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians. I do feel like broadening how Asian Americans are portrayed is good overall though, because some Asian Americans do definitely live like this.