Based on the genre-hopping graphic novel of the same name by author Gene Luen Yang, the TV series American Born Chinese combines the Asian American experience with Chinese folklore. The coming-of-age story follows Jin, an average teenager relocating to a predominantly white school. As he struggles to fit in, Jin begins to learn what it means to be the child of immigrants and the importance of self-discovery.
Soon enough, Jin gets tasked with showing around Wei-Chen, a new student hailing from Taiwan. Despite Jin's reluctance to become associated with this new classmate, the two develop a deep friendship. As it turns out, Wei-Chen is the son of the Monkey King, a legendary Chinese figure of immense supernatural power. Eventually, Jin's mundane world collides with the impossible as he unwittingly becomes pulled into a battle between mythological gods. Yang and executive producer Kelvin Yu recently spoke with CBR about adapting and updating the graphic novel, cultural themes, and Simu Liu almost joining the series.
CBR: American Born Chinese came out in 2006. What about those themes, characters, and world still remain relevant today?
Gene Luen Yang: That's a great question because the show is actually set now, set in the 2020s. The book is vaguely set in the 1990s. We had a conversation about what is the same and what is different about the Asian American experience. I think being an Asian American still feels like living in between worlds. It still feels like you are caught in between two different sets of cultural expectations, sometimes between two different languages, and sometimes even between two different names. When I was growing up, I had one name at school and another at home. Kids today who are immigrant kids, that is still pretty common. That was sort of the core the entire show was built on.
Kelvin, the graphic novel beautifully depicted this tale. What about television is such a great medium to once again tell the story?
Kelvin Yu: That's a fascinating question to ask right now because what it means to watch television right now is not what it meant to watch television five years ago or 10 years ago. In some ways, this is such an important and wonderful piece of literature that you could have adapted it in 2007. You could have adapted it in 2012. We are really blessed to adapt it at this moment. I think audiences are smart. Audiences want you to break their expectations. They are tuning into the things they are telling each other about.
When we were first developing this years ago, Disney+ didn't even exist. Ke Huy Quan wasn't even acting. All of these planets are kind of lining up. Shows like Fresh Off the Boat and movies like Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi are sort of greasing the rails for us to really hit the gas and do our best. Then, on top of that, I think a kid going through adolescence issues but also race issues, it might be a lot more complicated and nuanced than it was 20, 30 years ago. That is to our benefit because the stories can be that [much] more interesting and exciting. We don't have to tell that same story over and over again. We can tell some new stories.
The graphic novel told three different tales, and everything came together at the end. It all tied together. How have you adapted this for the series' narrative? Have you kept the same kind of structure?
Yang: The worlds are there. There are three different worlds that are part of the television series, but they come together much sooner than they do in the book. Part of that is because of the demand of the medium. With television, with an eight-episode season, you need eight beginnings, middles, and ends. To pull them together a little bit earlier allows us to explore a lot more with those eight beginnings, middles, and ends.
Gene, you are a big comic book fan. What was it like seeing that representation come up in Shang-Chi? In your wildest dreams, have you ever considered having Simu Liu on the show?
Yang: Yeah, we did consider having Simu on the show. We talked to Simu. I think it might have been a scheduling conversation at one point, but Simu was definitely going to be on the show, at one point. He's good friends with director Destin Daniel Cretton. He knows a lot of us. Knock on wood, we can get him for another season if we get one.
Yu: Shang-Chi was stunning. That was the first movie I saw in the theaters since the pandemic. You are a long-time Marvel fan, right? Could you have imagined Shang-Chi on the big screen? Out of all of the Marvel characters that have been around, I would not have bet money on him, but he shows up on the screen, and it was an amazing experience. Part of it was because it was my first movie since the beginning of the pandemic, but part of it was also because of the talent.
How do you feel Asian representation has changed on the screen since the graphic novel came out?
Yu: I am an actor as well. I have lived it. We are definitely making progress. I used to say if you stacked 100 scripts on a desk and just looked at those scripts, how many roles in that stack could I play? When I first started acting in 2000, it was maybe one. In a good year, you might get five as the years went by. If you were a Caucasian actor, there were five in each of those scripts, if not 10 or 20 in each of those scripts. So, the numbers were not in your favor.
We are living in a different world, quantitatively, right now, and yet, I would say that the first phase of diversity is to get more color on the screen, get more faces on the screen. The next phase we are in now is what are you going to do with that platform, now that you are on there? How are you going to make those characters deeper, more interesting, and more human? Now that audiences are watching, you have the opportunity to tell different stories. We are trying to be part of that next wave where the stories are a little bit unexpected, and we are using all the tools in front of us. If people like Shang-Chi, and a lot of people did, they might tune into something like this. That means a lot.
American Born Chinese will stream in 2023 on Disney+.