Asian American Representation in Media

In an online semester, it is easy to feel alone and isolated especially when studying in your room late at night. After two months of struggling to stay motivated, I turned to an interesting resource: Twitch. With the growing popularity of Among Us, a game in which the “crewmates” try to survive and kick the “impostors” out of their spaceship, streamers like Disguised Toast and Sykkuno stream daily inviting others to join them. Recently, many Asian Americans singers and Kpop stars have joined them including Jae Park or eaJ from Day6, mxmtoon, Mark Tuan from Got7 and his brother, Keshi, and Sam Kim.

Growing up in America, I never really saw Asian Americans in the media or on television, and the only place I saw Asian people in entertainment were the Bollywood movies I watched with my family. In high school I saw Grey’s Anatomy and The Office for the first time and began listening to Kpop. It was particularly refreshing seeing Mindy Kaling not play a very stereotypical Asian American role on The Office. Listening to Asian singers and watching Asian American actors were new to me and it felt like these entertainers were looked up to not simply because they were Asian but because they were good.

Prior to this school year, I had never watched a Twitch stream nor did I watch Asian American YouTubers. Seeing all the representation of Asian Americans now feels unreal compared to the past, and while much more is yet to be done, it's a major increase from when I last checked out YouTube/other platforms. I am hopeful that in the future, we will see more Asian American entertainers and see those who are already well-known branch out into other industries and lead the path for future generations. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to support Disguised Toast, Sykkuno, and all the other streamers while I sit alone at home doing my homework.