From romantic love stories to animated films, expressions of APIDA (Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi American) power in film have become far more centered around the value of the character over anything else. In the past, we have been given characters that fall within a limited scope of stereotypes.…
I still remember the first time that I saw Mo, or Mohini Banarjee, on Disney Channel’s Lemonade Mouth. This was the first time that I ever saw an Indian character on television who was not the socially awkward, nerdy sidekick of the white main characters. She was confident;…
In the early 2010s, APIDA representation in the media was‒frankly‒non-existent. It was nearly impossible to see somebody of APIDA descent in a major Hollywood film or in other forms of mass media. This lack of representation made many in the APIDA community accustomed to a mainstream culture dominated…
Gonjiam – Haunted asylum from Cinapse.co *Spoiler alert Gonjiam is a found footage horror film by the South Korean director, Jung Bum Shik. The story begins with two high school boys who experienced spiritual encounters – sounds of a pingpong game though the hospital had been abandoned for…
The past two months have been a great time for movies. With all of the winter blockbusters and the Sundance Film Festival wrapping up this past weekend, I thought I’d compile a short list of movies with positive APIDA representation that I either enjoyed or am looking forward…
Even as American audiences gush over “Slumdog Millionaire,” some Indians are groaning over what they see as yet another stereotypical foreign depiction of their nation, accentuating squalor, corruption and impoverished-if-resilient natives. READ MORE