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All in all, the media (and movies, especially) has affected the way we see different cultures and why we put certain demographics into boxes. Although, if we continue the normalcy of cross culture cinema, similar to what we saw through Always Be My Maybe, the stereotypes will be resolved, and American cinema will draw a greater variety of audiences.

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Marcus punching Keanu Reeves was a cross-culture phenomenon. There is also a song called “I Punched Keanu Reeves” on the soundtrack to Always Be My Maybe. The soundtrack itself enhances the modernity making it overall more appealing to mass audiences.

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Casting Asian Americans as the leads of a romantic comedy is usually rare, but for what reason? Always Be My Maybe shows that it is only beneficial to think outside of the box and try new casting and cultures out within traditional plot structures.

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Sorry, I popped off.

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Picture a Rom-Com, but Asian, and Done Right

During Hollywood’s breakthrough for Asian American representation (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians) the film Always Be My Maybe maintains the trend of cross culture cinema. What differentiates this romantic comedy, however, is that it is directed for older audiences. The film does not consist of the typical Asian American casting; the exclusivity of Asians hanging out with Asians, or the Asian girl ending up with an American man. This romantic comedy allows for the Asian American community to be represented as… normal. Always Be My Maybe effortlessly breaks the dynamic that Hollywood has structured for Asian American representation with inclusive casting, switch in gender roles, and not allowing for the cultural aspects to be the whole plot of the movie. Always be my Maybe is an example of how Hollywood has been rapidly updating movie characters to change up the original Hollywood stereotypes, especially in regard to Asian American characters and gender roles of Asian Americans on film.

The film Always Be My Maybe includes many features that Hollywood hasn’t done yet; casting is one of them. Within mainstream Hollywood, it is very uncommon, if ever, that Asian Americans are cast as leads for a romantic comedy. Asian Americans are usually cast as extremes, either as too loud or too quiet, too overpowered or too sidekick, but Always Be My Maybe shows Asian Americans as real people; the people next door, the people you went to school with. By normalizing this cross-culture phenomenon, rather than depending on it for the plot, this helps improve the global enterprise and fix the thought that movies come from America. With Schatz and Perren’s article about Hollywood, the article explains the standard procedure that happens when producing mainstream films. The attributes to a mainstream film consist of exposition, complication and resolution; a goal-oriented protagonist who has objectives and obstacles, and American actors and actresses. Although, the casting of Always Be My Maybe is effective in breaking the stereotype, they do not change the mainstream film standard procedure. Instead, they apply it to their own culture, promoting transnationalism. As Schatz and Perren discuss how Hollywood casts white people more than the minority, the Asian American characters of Always Be My Maybe going through similar obstacles and having similar relationships as the typical American film shows how the Asian American community is more mainstream than Hollywood has made it out to be. The film also shows how different people have different personalities because of their atmosphere, and not because of their ethnicity. Different Asians are cast in different lights, for example, the character Marcus Kim, played by Randall Park, plays in a band with no other priorities other than smoking weed. These types of males hardly exist in movies as well, even though there are so many of them, this type of male actually consists of more than half the population at this point. Ali Wong’s character, Sasha Tran, also refers to Marcus Kim as a regular guy, because he exhibits very common attributes with the American men demographic in society today. There is also a conversation between Sasha Tran and her white assistant where she looks at her dish and says, “Add some rice paper, white people eat that shit up,” and her white friend agrees. This comic relief is a subtle hint of satire on the stereotypes Hollywood has created for the Asian community within mainstream Hollywood films. Schatz’s and Perren’s article refer to a quote by Seldes saying, “When one considers the widespread appeal of Hollywood movies and thus the colonization of cultural consciousness on a global scale, it is worth noting that the term Hollywood becomes increasingly conflated with the notion of “Americanization” (Perren, 497). Although, the film Always Be My Maybe addresses this issue that has been shown throughout Hollywood, by casting Asian Americans in roles that are common throughout mainstream Hollywood, it shows that race does not affect the lifestyle when multiculturalism is involved. The civil rights and the feminist movement helped encourage minorities to feel like they had a say in how they were represented because they insisted on the different cultural constituencies within other aspects of Hollywood, hence the birth of Always Be My Maybe.

Always Be My Maybe also represents a shift in gender roles and relationships, as we witness the female lead as a strong woman who can also be vulnerable, and how the Asian male has a good relationship with his father. Also, the Asian father does not have the stereotypical Asian accent but is very Americanized. The change in gender roles and relationships helps stray away from the same structure that Hollywood has used for films about the minority and basic romantic comedies. For example, in Walter Metz’s article, “Love The House and Hate The Work,” he talks about the traditional gender roles within the television series Bewitched. Samantha, the female lead, has a lot of power but uses it to do housework rather than doing the “mortal way” because she wants to fit the housewife role alongside her husband, who is the working man. The analysis of Bewitched shows, “a woman with unimaginable power and she uses it to shore up her husband’s ego, make him look good, help him keep his job, beat down his enemies” (Metz, 166). The analysis of Bewitched contrasts the gender role dynamic Always Be My Maybe transitions to. In Always Be My Maybe, the female lead, Sasha Tran, is the working and successful one while the man is okay with being on the side. Toward the end of the movie, the male lead, Marcus Kim, even professes his love by offering to be “the guy who holds her purse”. As Bewitched consists of the traditional gender roles within the show, the show itself can not fit the formula of mainstream Hollywood that Schatz’s and Perren’s article explains because of the contradictory styles within its series and how contemporary American culture is overshadowed by the typical gender roles. Since Always Be My Maybe addresses content while also displaying the characters in a different role than they would usually have, the endorsement of alternative lifestyles is more impactful within society. This breakthrough is scene through Sasha’s breakdown when venting after her breakup, “They want a cheerleader, not a powerful woman,” is how the gender roles within Bewitched want society to think and are making the powerful woman during Always Be My Maybe think. This shows how the traditional gender roles from the past still affect the present, even though we have moved forward from this in society. Sasha is not only an example of a powerful woman, but her ability to relate to all women audiences within the romantic comedy demographic provides comfortability with an Asian American as a female lead, and the woman being the working one within the relationship. The transition within gender roles and family relationships help normalize Asian Americans within mainstream Hollywood, helping the film Always Be My Maybe support and convey transnationalism.

Within the same era as Crazy Rich Asians, Always Be My Maybe provides a more familiar type of romantic comedy while still promoting Asian culture without depending on it for the plot. The way this is presented is through the concept of framing. Within Kitzinger’s article regarding frame analysis, he talks about how “frames are ways of organizing reality. They invite particular ways of understanding the world”, and Always Be My Maybe helps present the understanding that Asians are just like regular people, not as a separate culture (Kitzinger 149). By airing the film on Netflix, rather than making the concept of Asian leads in a romantic comedy a big deal in theaters, normalizes the multiculturalism making it overall more impactful. Some stereotypes were still present within the film Crazy Rich Asians, because of the way different frames are identified with different perspectives. A similar comparison was made to the days before gay liberation. Before, there was a debate on whether homosexuality was a sin and whether it should be punished, but the realization through a social movement proved how homosexuality was an undesirable aberration which is similar to how audiences did not recognize they were stereotyping Asian Americans in mainstream Hollywood until the civil rights and feminist movement (Kitzinger 22). The civil rights and feminist movement encouraged the differential casting in Always Be My Maybe, improving the points of each protest. There are subtle things within the film that break the Asian stereotype, such as how Marcus’s dad dates a Diana Ross impersonator or how the music score is modernized. The film Always Be My Maybe still includes Asian culture as they talk with Chinese waitresses in restaurants or how they routinely take off their shoes off before they go into a house. As the mainstream elements of the film might make it seem like the film is straying away from Asian culture, a comment about Sasha straying away from Asian culture is made by Marcus about her restaurant, “You’re just catering to rich white people, Asian food isn’t that small,” is also subtly reminding the audience that this film is still supposed to emphasize that a culture should not completely convert to satisfy mainstream audiences. As some stereotypes are true, they are usually way more subtle, and the film Always Be My Maybe exemplifies this beneficially for both cultural perspectives. Framing is the process where reality is organized and controls the information presented to the audience. Since frames carry some meaning and have an impact on audiences, the subtle focus on Asian culture still includes the Asian American demographic in the narrative but also fixes any stereotype that says Asian Americans, or any specific demographic, have to be cast in a certain way.

Within the original structure of mainstream Hollywood, the film Always Be My Maybe fixes stereotypes in regard to Asian American characters through the normalcy of Asian culture and adaptation to modern gender roles. By presenting the understanding of intermixing cultures, Always Be My Maybe is a great example of promoting transnationalism and normalizing Asian Americans within the mainstream film industry. Media has affected the perception of certain cultures and is the reason why certain ethnicities are limited to certain opportunities, but if Hollywood progresses with the normalcy of cross culture cinema, similar to what is shown through Always Be My Maybe, stereotypes will become less of an issue and American cinema will draw a greater variety of audiences.

        Bibliography

Always Be My Maybe. Dir. Nahnatchka Khan. Perf. Ali Wong, Randall Park, and James Saito. Good Universe, May 29, 2019.

 Crazy Rich Asians. Dir. Brett Ratner. Perf. Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Gemma Chan. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2018.

 Fink, Kathryn. Romance and Representation: ‘Always Be My Maybe’ And The Future Of The Raunch-Com. 1A. June 3, 2019: Issue 2.

 Metz, Walter. Bewitched. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007. Project MUSE, 2007.

 Perren, Alisa and Schatz, Thomas, “Hollywood” (2004), pp. 495-515. Communication Faculty Publications. 2. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_facpub/2

 Kitzinger, Jenny. 2007. Framing and Frame Analysis. Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates, London: Sage, pp. 134-161.

 Khosla, Proma. ‘Always Be My Maybe’ Shines When Its Weirdest. Mashable. May 31, 2019. https://mashable.com/article/always-be-my-maybe-review/

 To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Dir. Susan Johnson. Perf. Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, and Janel Parrish. Overbrook Entertainment, August 17, 2018.