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alice wu, the half of it, saving face
hnnnnn i Do Not know what I am doing this is my first time on dw actually doing anything but reading thru ppl's journals pls forgive me if this is incredibly incorrectly formatted (but hopefully if i screw smth up majorly i can go back and edit)
anyways
i watched saving face (2004) a few months ago, then the half of it (2020) maybe 3 days ago? then decided i needed to rewatch saving face. and. i don't think i've ever felt so seen?
ik ppl talk about representation, and honestly i was kind of satisfied w what i had? like yeah, it's shitty, having like 3 asian characters ever (esp in american animated stuff) but they were all just... physically asian, yknow?
russel from Up (2009) was 1/4 of the human characters and also a kid--- he could've been korean, or japanese, or chinese, or taiwanese, but he was just /asian/. there wasn't actually any mention of it; he could've been white, or black, or anything, and the story would've worked just the same. hiro + tadashi hamada, gogo tomago--- loved them (esp gogo. i walked out of that theatre so down bad) (can they be considered asian-americans? where even was san franokyo?) but that was a fun adventure story, not rlly responsible to give asian-american experience. ok and also violet parr. she is Not Asian but i legitimately thought she was for the longest time. i was headcanoning characters in elementary bc there actually weren't asian characters in the stuff i liked watching. anyways that's sad for me but let me stop complaining. also thank you rea for letting me know abt cuts i am going to abuse my power now
they were happy films, where asian americans are ~just like you~ and heroes and stuff (which i guess is good?), and tbh i was ok w that. idk. guess it's easy to feel satisfied w a tiny bit when your expectations are low. but like maybe it's growing up and the passage of time? that makes me want more? anyways representation actually changes lives
(and kpop is fun but like i am Not that pretty and i am also not korean nor do I actually relate(?) to it?)
and then comes alice wu.
(also i am perhaps overreacting a little but taiwanese!!! represent ✊) (also michelle krusiec + lynn chen also being taiwanese :))))
and saving face made me want to cry bc my parents would probably react the same way, even if they didn't say it to my face. also when wil's mom hugs her at the airport while she cries? maybe this is repressed i-want-my-parents-to-be-proud-of-me-and-show-it
this was a whole film!!! for the sapphics--- not just queer coded but like in a relationship and we are gonna talk about it ROMANCE
not just like 10 min of a background couple in an entire season of a tv show or smth the fandom is basically carrying
and it's so unabashedly chinese (ok detouring for a moment to say that i don't like china since i entirely do not agree w its one-china ideology but it would be inaccurate to say taiwanese here bc it is flushing, after all. but yeah. also they are somewhat culturally similar.)
actually yk what i am too uncomfortable saying chinese so i am going to just change it to taiwanese; ik it's not correct but this is for me so
taiwanese-american lesbian films!!! r made for me
maybe i haven't looked hard enough, but i don't think i've seen... any(?) taiwanese-american shows/movies, or happy ending lesbian ones? and alice wu just comes along and drops these 2 masterpieces and it's like everything i've wanted
also dressing in a tomboyish way but not like a fashionable one rlly spoke to me... ellie chu wil peng thank you (like granted this is when i had hair long enough to tie, but i had the same ponytail and clothing-type for actual ages. also the ellie chu glasses.)
thoi: i think ellie's english teacher is so funny i wanted to see more of her
that one photo of alexxis hugging leah in the spring was so !!!!
when ellie asks if that's the boldest stroke aster can make i wanted to cry
also sapphic hs coming of age movies with happy endings are my lifeline
my hs ~experience~ is nowhere near romantic, spent like half of it virtual, and also i'm not allowed to go places or have ppl over anyways but thoi gives me hope, yknow? like some girl like me is out there falling in love and working hard and is deserving
safa: hopefully it doesn't take me until my late 20s to have my first romance but yk
also would prefer the taiwanese mom association not to be discussing my relationships but whatever ig haha (hsldkfj i am gonna rank so low whatever ummm)
was kinda comforting to see vivian's dad kind of support her love life even if he was not a fan of her dreams
also joan chen is so so so pretty
when she winks at vivian's mom at the end when they freaking set their daughters up?@#$%#$% she looks so good
the half of it ao3 is decently healthy but pleaseeee saving face ao3 is holding on by a thread
also did u know younglegends wrote for safa? i screamed when i realized
full circle haha
i need to post this before i chicken out and/or add a bunch more incoherent thoughts; i've had this draft open since 10 am... it is now 2 pm 🙄
also please... if u have any recs for asian sapphic stuff pls lmk
anyways
i watched saving face (2004) a few months ago, then the half of it (2020) maybe 3 days ago? then decided i needed to rewatch saving face. and. i don't think i've ever felt so seen?
ik ppl talk about representation, and honestly i was kind of satisfied w what i had? like yeah, it's shitty, having like 3 asian characters ever (esp in american animated stuff) but they were all just... physically asian, yknow?
russel from Up (2009) was 1/4 of the human characters and also a kid--- he could've been korean, or japanese, or chinese, or taiwanese, but he was just /asian/. there wasn't actually any mention of it; he could've been white, or black, or anything, and the story would've worked just the same. hiro + tadashi hamada, gogo tomago--- loved them (esp gogo. i walked out of that theatre so down bad) (can they be considered asian-americans? where even was san franokyo?) but that was a fun adventure story, not rlly responsible to give asian-american experience. ok and also violet parr. she is Not Asian but i legitimately thought she was for the longest time. i was headcanoning characters in elementary bc there actually weren't asian characters in the stuff i liked watching. anyways that's sad for me but let me stop complaining. also thank you rea for letting me know abt cuts i am going to abuse my power now
they were happy films, where asian americans are ~just like you~ and heroes and stuff (which i guess is good?), and tbh i was ok w that. idk. guess it's easy to feel satisfied w a tiny bit when your expectations are low. but like maybe it's growing up and the passage of time? that makes me want more? anyways representation actually changes lives
(and kpop is fun but like i am Not that pretty and i am also not korean nor do I actually relate(?) to it?)
and then comes alice wu.
(also i am perhaps overreacting a little but taiwanese!!! represent ✊) (also michelle krusiec + lynn chen also being taiwanese :))))
and saving face made me want to cry bc my parents would probably react the same way, even if they didn't say it to my face. also when wil's mom hugs her at the airport while she cries? maybe this is repressed i-want-my-parents-to-be-proud-of-me-and-show-it
this was a whole film!!! for the sapphics--- not just queer coded but like in a relationship and we are gonna talk about it ROMANCE
not just like 10 min of a background couple in an entire season of a tv show or smth the fandom is basically carrying
and it's so unabashedly chinese (ok detouring for a moment to say that i don't like china since i entirely do not agree w its one-china ideology but it would be inaccurate to say taiwanese here bc it is flushing, after all. but yeah. also they are somewhat culturally similar.)
actually yk what i am too uncomfortable saying chinese so i am going to just change it to taiwanese; ik it's not correct but this is for me so
taiwanese-american lesbian films!!! r made for me
maybe i haven't looked hard enough, but i don't think i've seen... any(?) taiwanese-american shows/movies, or happy ending lesbian ones? and alice wu just comes along and drops these 2 masterpieces and it's like everything i've wanted
also dressing in a tomboyish way but not like a fashionable one rlly spoke to me... ellie chu wil peng thank you (like granted this is when i had hair long enough to tie, but i had the same ponytail and clothing-type for actual ages. also the ellie chu glasses.)
thoi: i think ellie's english teacher is so funny i wanted to see more of her
that one photo of alexxis hugging leah in the spring was so !!!!
when ellie asks if that's the boldest stroke aster can make i wanted to cry
also sapphic hs coming of age movies with happy endings are my lifeline
my hs ~experience~ is nowhere near romantic, spent like half of it virtual, and also i'm not allowed to go places or have ppl over anyways but thoi gives me hope, yknow? like some girl like me is out there falling in love and working hard and is deserving
safa: hopefully it doesn't take me until my late 20s to have my first romance but yk
also would prefer the taiwanese mom association not to be discussing my relationships but whatever ig haha (hsldkfj i am gonna rank so low whatever ummm)
was kinda comforting to see vivian's dad kind of support her love life even if he was not a fan of her dreams
also joan chen is so so so pretty
when she winks at vivian's mom at the end when they freaking set their daughters up?@#$%#$% she looks so good
the half of it ao3 is decently healthy but pleaseeee saving face ao3 is holding on by a thread
also did u know younglegends wrote for safa? i screamed when i realized
full circle haha
i need to post this before i chicken out and/or add a bunch more incoherent thoughts; i've had this draft open since 10 am... it is now 2 pm 🙄
also please... if u have any recs for asian sapphic stuff pls lmk