FAKE RONJAN!!The four times I've felt seen on screen
My family comes from India, specifically the Bengal region, so I'm Bengali. I was born in New York and I grew up in the suburbs in Ohio. So that's the frame of my experience when I say I've felt seen on screen.
The first time I felt seen on screen: Apu from The Simpsons
This is kind of a fraught example, because in the 90s Apu was really the only Indian that I ever saw on television. So by default he meant something to me, and I looked up to him as somebody who was part of a community that wasn't particularly diverse. Even though I know it was a white man doing an accent, and how problematic that felt at my core, it was representation, and it mattered to me.
The second time I felt seen on screen: The Namesake
When The Namesake came out, in my mid-20s, that was the first time I ever saw a Bengali-American on screen. Not the more monolithic or stereotypical "Indian," but an actual Bengali. So they spoke the Bengali language, not Hindi, and I could see small cultural details that would speak only to a niche of the audience coming in. It meant a lot to me to see that on screen, raising the expectations of the audience, or alternatively saying, you know what, not every element of this film has to be applicable to "the mass audience". It's okay if there are small nods that only a few people pick up.
The third time I felt seen on screen: Master of None
Master of None was a revelation when it released on Netflix, specifically the episodes about parents and religion. The conversations that Dev was having with other characters in the show highlighted the nuanced, complicated second-generation experience. You really do feel torn between two worlds.
The fourth time I felt seen on screen: Never Have I Ever
I didn't necessarily identify with the main character Devi, although our suburban upbringing felt familiar. But I saw myself on screen through this show because of a specific scene where there's a Ganesh Puja, and it's happening on the weekend at the very high school that Devi attends. I had that exact experience, growing up in Ohio, going to a Durga Puja at my very own high school on the weekend, feeling like it was so bizarre that these worlds collided. Seeing that very narrow life experience reflected on screen was meaningful.
Why am I sharing this?
This is obviously preaching to the choir here, but Asian-Americans want to be seen. I'm not unique in finding those experiences meaningful, and our data at Nielsen backs that up. It's not entirely about vanity - we're not saying we only want to see Asians on screen, but we're saying that being invisible is not acceptable.