Photo courtesy of Peter Phung
Funny Asian Women's Kollective
While the spring semester is winding down at the University of Minnesota, students are already planning for the next one. Chances are, these undergrads will have to take at least one class they're dreading, one class with a textbook that breaks the bank, and if they're lucky, at least one class they think will directly apply to their future careers. This fall, though, students with a few extra credits available also get the chance to do something that might give them a little joy: May Lee-Yang's English writing course, "Writing K-Dramas."
"We're teaching people how to write [in our university classes]," says Lee-Yang. "But in our regular life, we read a bunch of other stuff, so in a university, it would be so great to write what we love, and get critical feedback, and hold those genres to a higher standard. There's an assumption with romance, for example, that if you're writing romance, the quality is going to be bad, but I'm like, you still need to have really good, quality writing."
Lee-Yang's resume includes being a co-founder and comedian of the Funny Asian Women's Kollective (FAWK), playwright, poet, community artist, speaker and teacher, and an MFA recipient in creative writing. Perhaps the most important qualification to teach this class is her hardcore obsession with Korean dramas and Korea. (In case you're wondering, her No. 1 recommendation for newbies is My Love from Another Star.)
The Nuance of K-Dramas
According to Lee-Yang, many Hmong people first got hooked on Korean dramas, or K-dramas, in the early 2000s due to a very abridged, Hmong-dubbed version of Autumn in my Heart. That wasn't Lee-Yang's start, though. Her start began in 2012 when new duties in her family caused her to be homebound. She needed something to do that could also be, as she says, a form of self care.
Yet what some see as binge-worthy indulgence is also a valuable culture touch point across nations.
"I love the way in which Korean dramas seamlessly talk about… They do love stories, and then you learn about the spiritual realm or whatever, and then you also learn about the Korean culture, and all of that just lives in harmony," Lee-Yang says. "They're not there to educate the masses because they're catering to Korean audiences. And so they're centering Korean stories. And I think that those are lessons really good for us as Asian Americans and whatever marginalized identities you may hold. It's good to look at how people tell stories without compromising any of that stuff so that we can also figure out how to center our stories."
So while the class will be playing around with the basics of writing fiction and screenplays—Korean dramas in particular have specific tropes and rules—Lee-Yang will also be talking about the context in which these stories are written.
There's South Korean history and current events, as well as K-dramas' slow but growing willingness to look at marginalized topics such as violence against women or queer love. There's the build-up of the Korean wave starting in the 1990s, leading to high profile new material such as Netflix's Squid Game. But then there's also the subtle interactions that any Korean drama will have between its characters, the nuances about intraoffice or familial relations that non-Koreans may not fully understand without more cultural knowledge.
Creating a Home for BIPOC Artists
FAWK Super Show… AGAIN!, all the comedians unapologetically talked about… well, anything they wanted to in front of an audience of more than 600 at the Ordway. The acts included jokes about hoeing around, cultural misogyny, BTS, the reality of disabilities and transsexuality, and having the hots for the OG enemy—that would be the Japanese for comedian Naomi Ko, in case you're wondering.
Courtesy of Xu Yang
May Lee-Yang
FAWK has carved out space for itself and others to be blunt and unfiltered, but they want a physical space to do so, as well. Enter the dream they're shepherding in: the Asian American Center for Media and the Arts, where FAWK and other BIPOC artists can nurture their work and hold performances, gatherings, exhibits, and more on the east side of St. Paul. The collective is seeking $1 million from a state bonding bill, and if they receive that and secure the remaining funding, it would be the country's first Asian American women-led performing arts and multimedia center.
"What happens to so many of us, especially Asian American communities, it that we're always guests in someone else's home and we need our own space," says Lee-Yang.
She adds that St. Paul, particularly the east side, has been underserved in arts accessibility and programming space. "When FAWK was curating its comedy series at Indigenous Roots for a whole year, some people came in, and that was their first time in the East Side. A lot of people were really excited, saying, 'Hey, five-minutes—10-minute drive. I finally don't have to leave.'"
Asian Obsession and Asian Hate
In some social circles, Asian culture seems to be hot, with a proliferation of international celebrities, K-pop, manwha, K-dramas, anime, an explosion of boba tea, and more. At the same time, hate crimes against the Asian American community have increased 339% in the last year, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. The deaths of Michelle Go and Christina Yuna Lee have shaken many Asian American women to their core. Casual racism sparked the #VeryAsian movement, and celebrities like Suni Lee have discussed the racist attacks they've faced.
When I ask Lee-Yang her thoughts about these two realities, she says, "The U.S. has never really been interested in Asian American stories or actors or artists, but they have always been fascinated with Asians from Asia like Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, Japanese anime. … Ideally, the next steps are that the United States should produce more Asian American stories."
As of late, we can point to Everything Everywhere All at Once and Turning Red for Asian American and Asian Canadian stories. However, it was only four years ago that Crazy Rich Asians was groundbreaking. True representation for all of the ethnic communities under the Asian American umbrella has a long way to go as well, and a few examples does not mean a changed status quo (for now).
FAWK and Lee-Yang's Korean drama writing class are just two more steps toward centering and understanding Asian and Asian American experiences.
"We can consume what we want from Asia, but I also want to have fun [with Asian American stories]," Lee-Yang says of her K-drama class. "I don't want to go see more Asian American stories that are depressing about being caught between two cultures. I'm like, sure, be caught within two cultures, but can we do something more fun, something more nuanced in all of this?"
"I think that Korean dramas have captured many peoples' imagination because they break boundaries. They're funky," she adds. "Asian Americans need that space to play in, instead of just to educate."
