I just want to start off by saying I really enjoy Fresh Off The Boat. I only started it recently but I’ve been watching at least a few episodes every day, after work. Despite my dislike of ABC taking a memoir and completely changing it, the show’s attempts to tackle the realities of an Asian, immigrant family living in a western country is admirable.

Before you proceed, spoilers for some episodes of Fresh Off The Boat. But no details.

I’m not Taiwanese American but I am a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Australia. And despite the fact that I’m an Australian citizen and have spent more of my life in Australia than in Bangladesh, it doesn’t change the fact that I was not born in Australia. And I very much do not look like a white Australian.

And there is something so uniquely isolating about being an immigrant who adapts a little too well. You would never know from my accent that English is my second language. But just like the Huang family, most people can’t pronounce my name and so I started going by “Meem”. And for the most part, I come across as the ideal immigrant. But I’ll always be a foreigner. At the same time, my years of living in Australia has meant that I’ll always be considered too Western for Bangladesh.

In some ways, I have adapted too much to truly fit in either space. And that experience has been so well represented within Fresh Off The Boat.

I Love The Kids

Eddie, Emery and Evan may make mistakes. They might be disconnected from their culture but they’re also authentically, immigrant children. Eddie struggles with a desire to belong and a desire to preserve his cultural identity.

Sure, he might protest against picking China for a school project but he’s the loudest voice when it comes to defending it. And while he may have lied about his culture many times to get his way, he’s also trying very hard not to fall into stereotypes. In fact, this is one of the biggest conflicts when Emery starts middle school.

Emery and Evan are more traditional, Chinese immigrant kids. But they’re not trying to fit stereotypes. They are being their authentic selves. And unfortunately, as they’re some of the few Chinese children in the area, they’re treated as representatives of the entire culture.

Emery should be allowed to follow his interests and eat what he wants to eat. But Eddie knows what it feels like to be the first Chinese kid at a mostly white school. He understands the prejudice and isolation that follows from being the odd one out. He’s not trying to ruin Emery’s life. He’s simply trying to break stereotypes. But in doing this, he holds his brother to unfair standards. And it takes Evan telling him off for him to realise it.

At the end of the day, they’re children and they shouldn’t be seen as representatives of anything, let alone a whole culture. But the very fact that they are different means they’re held to different standards. They have to be better just to end up in the same space as their white counterparts.

I Hated The Parents But Mostly Jessica Huang

Fresh Off The Boat does a little too well of putting a mirror up to society. And unfortunately, Jessica Huang is a mirror to the worst of society. She is stubborn, selfish and hypocritical.

From not doing something as basic as a credit check before renting out property to forcing her way into being a jury spokesperson and causing a mistrial. She is constantly making life harder for everyone around her and she never apologises for it.

And I don’t think you’re supposed to root for her or assume she’s in the right. If anything, the way her actions are framed make it very clear she’s in the wrong. When she refused to allow Honey to have any input or take valid concerns into consideration, she almost lost Honey and her mother in law money. When she decided to blame immigrants for her struggles and called Immigration on her own husband’s restaurant, she found out that she was also an illegal immigrant.

And the worst part is, I don’t think she ever truly learns any lessons. Sure, she will come around by the end of the episode and soften. But she always reverts to her selfish and hypocritical ways in the next episode.

And then you have Louis, a man who should be good but he’s so easily swayed by his wife. He takes vacations in secret and yet, doesn’t allow his own employees to take any. He lets his wife convince him to keep his restaurant open during thanksgiving, forcing his employees to work without any extra pay.

Even when he protests against his wife, he doesn’t really do anything.

These parents set a terrible example for their children. They teach their children to lie and cheat their way out of taking accountability. And all the while, Jessica looks down on the very people responsible for giving her kids an education.

I genuinely hate them both.

Final Thoughts

The characters may be flawed and the background of creating the show may be shady but it does an admirable job of portraying the struggles of an immigrant family. Even when the characters act hateable, they serve a purpose. Which is to expose the hypocrisy of anti immigrant sentiment, especially for America, a country built by and off the backs of immigrants.

Honestly, Jessica railing against illegal immigrants not paying taxes while unknowingly being an illegal immigrant herself is very true to life. Unfortunately, people would much rather target the people in a more vulnerable position than recognise the root cause of their troubles.

And that’s entirely by design. Countries like America and Australia need the underpaid labour of immigrants. But they also tend to be terrified of immigrants. I guess that’s what happens when you rape and murder your way into a country. You assume that every immigrant who comes after you will do the same.

That’s colonisers for you.