I'm sure that this had been brought up before, but the title really bothers me. The parents are far too assimilated and modern to be considered "fresh off the boat." A FOB looks like someone who just arrived off the boat, as in wearing traditional clothes, hardly speaking English, only eating their food, knowing nothing about American culture, etc.
They should've called the show Growing Up Chinese or something.
In the early episodes, they were new to Orlando. Jessica was used to urban life and only having Chinese friends. Eddie was very American, but also had never lived in the suburbs and felt like the new environment wasn't his thing. He also felt strange being the only Asian kid in school.
Louis, on the other hand, was always yearning for every aspect of the American Dream and thinks their new life is great. There were a lot of scenes in the first several episodes where it got Jessica and Eddie's feelings of discomfort across. They felt like they were FOB even if they really weren't.
Eddie's awkwardness at school went away too quickly. Jessica still does pretty much live outside the mainstream with her friend Honey helping her negotiate the challenges. The show should have kept all the neighborhood women that she doesn't fit in with as recurring characters.
Ok, so they were immigrants who seem to have gone to college in America. Still not what I consider a "FOB."
I am a child of immigrants who only have Indian friends, but I wouldn't call them FOBs since they have assimilated properly. But I have met a LOT of non-assimilating FOBs and they are very different. As an Indian FOB, they only wear saris, still wear bindis on their head, only eat Indian food, and they often only speak their language at home. These people will never assimilate even after 30 yrs.
For a Chinese example, see nearly anyone in a big city's Chinatown.
Yea, I definitely see what you're saying. My point was that the title is used kind of ironically and as a joking metaphor for when they feel like outsiders.
It's not that they're actually supposed to be or even seem FOB by any standard.
I see it as very vaguely similar to when actor and comedian Maz Jobrani plays around with Middle Eastern and Muslim stereotypes which clearly don't apply to him.
If you're not familiar with him, look him up; he's very funny.
So sick of this topic!
I'm Blade brown, the Dopest, illest,hypest brotha, on the block!
The assimilation you are talking about is vastly different for immigrant groups, depending on where they come from. Many countries with little or none existence interaction with the world around them (meaning cultural interaction) tend to have great difficulties to adjust and assimilate in a new country.
You see this in both US and European countries. For example people from most Arab countries, Turkey, India, Pakistan, have these difficulties to adjust, Because these countries have had almost a none existent cultural/economical exchange with the outside world. So they tend to keep whatever culture they have in the new country. That is why you see some people, even after 30 years in the new country, look and behave like they just arrived.
But the main problem starts with their children, who don't get accepted in their environment since their parents never adjusted and never could teach these children to embrace the new culture. They grow up feeling not at home and rejected by both cultures.
But if you ask people from these countries, they have a strong belief that they are a very modern and international group of people. But for everybody else it's very clearly that these people have almost zero ability to adjust and integrate in a different culture.
To assume that all Asians have little interaction with the outside world is a bit ridiculous. I'd say the inability to assimilate is true of every non-European immigrant. But you can't say that they all remain FOBs.
I am a child of Indian immigrants and I never had a problem being "accepted" by Americans. Frankly, I probably embraced it too much so that Indians didn't accept me. I also never met a FOB that thought they were "modern and international." That sounds goofy. But I guess they ARE more modern than the people that stayed in their country.
I did not say that. I said some of these countries have had very little or no cultural/economical interaction with the outside world, which is true. The vast majority of people in those countries have been poor and could not interact on the global arena. When you have the economic abilities you then have a stronger culture that gives you the chance to interact with other cultures and thereby grow and easier adjust or assimilate to a new culture.
For example it's just recently that countries like India, China or Russia have had something of a middle class. The very few rich does'n count, but if the middle class has enough economic power, then it creates the chance and possibility of cultural exchanges via traveling, books, TV-programs and a hole lot of other bits. All of which results in growth of their own cultures and easier assimilation. Otherwise you are in a stagnating culture. Which many of these countries have been in. At one time in history all these countries were LEADING cultures, but during the last 1 or 2 centuries they have been stagnating.
When a person doesn't have the ability to adjust or assimilate to a new culture, they grab holed on their own culture even more. It's simply a matter of survival and having some sort of belonging. It results in these people being outside of society in their new countries, which creates all the problems with groups of immigrants not being a part of their new home land. Some of their children might embrace everything the new land has to offer and try to replace their parents culture with the new one, which might create it's own problems, but the parents will be outside the society all their lives in the new country.
If a huge number of these parents are outside the new countries society then it's very easy for the people of that country to see everybody from that country as outsiders. Even the children that can adjust and assimilate. They might not say it to your face but it's what they are thinking.
New to Orlando, but not new to US. You don't go from DC to Orlando by boat. ;)
I don't know about real Eddie's parents, but Louis and Jessica went to college in the US and met here, which means that they have been in US for almost 20 years now.
That's the point. The title is satirical.So..yeah no.Please stop being a dinosaur.
tl;should read:That's the point. The title is satirical. It addresses that crazy out-dated stereotype you got going. Besides the family is new to Orlando,living in a town ethnically and culturally different from their DC neighborhood. Its about culture shock-a very American sediment. Also "Growing up Chinese"?wtf.smh. They are growing up American. The parents came with their families at a young age. They are still first generation immigrants. Their children are the first generation born in America. Which honestly shouldn't even be the norm in the 90s. Chinese-Americans have been helping to build cities since the 1800s.
FOB is generally taken as derisive. Since it is born from racist campaigns like "yellow peril". Course I am not calling you racist (misguided maybe) since there is enough stink in the ether to blame instead like the 60+ years of government sanctioned mistreatment of Asians,illegal internment and the only US act to ban an entire race of people from living here that really never officially ended until Hawaiian statehood. The fact is most Asian-Americans(no matter what generation) are often presumed to be new/1st gen immigrants. That leads to the exact misconception that you just described;wearing traditional clothes, hardly speaking English, only eating their food, knowing nothing about American culture?! C'mon those are all stereo-types that are unlikely unfair and untrue. Traditional clothes? That one is just bonkers. I am not trying to set off a flame war so I am not gonna ask what you think is traditional Asian clothing in 90s 00s or today.
"FOB is generally taken as derisive."
Sure, no one wants to be called a FOB, but it's not racist. Asians use it to describe each other all the time.
"The fact is most Asian-Americans(no matter what generation) are often presumed to be new/1st gen immigrants."
I don't think that's true, especially in the 90s. I am an Asian born in the 80s to immigrant parents and have never felt like a FOB or new immigrant.
"wearing traditional clothes, hardly speaking English, only eating their food, knowing nothing about American culture?! C'mon those are all stereo-types that are unlikely unfair and untrue."
Sadly, this IS true for many immigrants. I have seen DOZENS of non-assimilating families from all kinds of countries. In Chinatown, for example, there are 2nd generation people that barely speak English because they've been living in their little bubble for so long. Chinese people do not have blatant traditional clothing, but surely you've seen plenty of Indian people wearing saris and salwar kameez? I know Indian families that appear modern on the surface, but still never eat non-Indian food at home, so much that they are completely unfamiliar with some American foods. My Indian parents wanted to assimilate and quickly adopted Canadian/American clothing, food, etc, but there are a lot of families that refused to, and they are FOBs.
I wouldn't be surprised if years from now. The producers regret using the name of the series. Even with lots of people saying no big deal, it's going to seem like those less offensive references which were allowed like Redskins or Darkies. I say keep it and people just shut up. Focus on more important things like the pollution in China. Far more injurious than an cute phrase. and now Tibet grasslands and streams are toxic to cattle and fish because of mining for metals used in cell phone and tablets. Direct one's fury thitherward.
shareBy the way, the definition of "fresh off the boat:"
The phrase fresh off the boat (FOB) is the term used to describe immigrants that have arrived from a foreign nation and have not yet assimilated into the host nation's culture, language, and behaviour, but still continue with their ethnic ideas and practices.
So what you deemed a racist stereotype is the definition of the word. My problem with the show title is that they do not fit this definition--they are very assimilated.
Of course they are assimilated. Most of the US would not watch a super accurate show that depicted real FOBs. You have to create tv that caters to the widest audience. My Asian friends love it just as much as me (white) so you need to get over such a minor technicality.
shareI enjoy the show, but I just think it should've had a different title. No need to "get over" anything.
shareWhen I think Fresh of the Boat I think somebody like Balki Bartokomous. He literally came by boat!
shareBalki is a great example.
I agree these are not FOBs. I've always suspected a conflict between producers and writers and something about racism and SJWs. Or there was some kind of deadline to push the show out and they were originally straight from Taiwan, but when they changed that it was too late to rename the show and redo the intro?
😕 Wait, the intro is crap...
What illegal internment? What race was banned? Traditional Asian clothing? In Korea - hanbok, in Japan kimono, in India sari, in Vietnam Ao dai. Even today. It would not be surprising that recent immigrants would wear such clothing particularly on festive occasions.
shareIllegal internment: Executive Order 9066
Ethnic group banned from immigration: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
>>>Illegal internment: Executive Order 9066
Not illegal. If you think so cite the court case.
>>>Ethnic group banned from immigration: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Chinese is not a race. Most but not all Chinese were impacted.
I understand the emotional basis of your claims but you do not do yourself or your position any favors by playing fast and loose with the facts.
The title is taken by Eddie Huang's memoir Fresh Off the Boat. In his memoir he talks about the cultural and generational conflicts he had with his parents who were immigrants and wanted their children to take the advantages that living in the US offered but to still remain culturally Chinese while Eddie loved and wanted to embrace American culture.
shareFresh Off the Boat means "new to Orlando" not "new to the United States". It was never intended to mean they are recent immigrants. That joke seems to be lost on many poster on this board.
shareThe parents went to college in the US at least. Probably high school as well. You are absolutely right.
share