COMM 380: Media Criticism
...Or, White Convenience?
by Jihye Rhodes, '22
Major: Communication, Public Relations
In the new media age where proper media representation is the new demand, many shows and movies have appeared that revolve around Asian culture. “Fresh of the Boat” and “Crazy Rich Asians” are examples of America’s attempts at diversifying the screen. Growing up as a Korean America, I would never have guess there would be a television show that revolved completely around Korean immigrants. “Kim’s Convenience” is a CBC sitcom that follows a Korean Canadian family living in Toronto, Canada. The show has garnered a strong following through Netflix and has become a breakthrough show for CBC. While “Kim’s Convenience” is a win for Asian diversity and representation in media, the depiction of the Korean immigrant family manipulates and unfairly criticizes Korean culture.
The Kim family owns a convenience store called ‘Kim’s Convenience’ – hence the series’ title. Umma and Appa run the store. “Umma” translate to mother in Korean and “Appa” translates into father. Umma and Appa have very overexaggerated, unnecessary, and incorrect Korean English accents. Inkoo Kang states, “” Kim’s Convenience” is undeniably a North American translation of Korean immigrant culture. Sometimes quite literally” (2018). The accent used has been molded to be easily understandable while still sounding foreign. While the accents are initially amusing, it connects to the bigger issue of systematic oppression to foreigners. Accents should not be used for comedic value; they represent people who are learning a brand-new language and who are typically immigrants. There is constant mockery of an Asian English accent and it only further marginalizes and separates Asians from the rest of North America.
Beyond the accents, Umma and Appa are also forced into the role of stereotypical Asian parents. Umma is polite and reserved to the customers and at her Korean church but is strict with her children, almost falling into the ‘tiger mom’ role. Appa, on the other hand, is stern and stoic. As the head of the family, he runs the store with a firm fist. Both are notoriously stingy and cheap, boasting about never closing the store early in the past 20 years. However, there is no depiction of the struggle of coming to a new country and opening a business. The grueling hours of work and struggle to run a convenient store and support a family of four and put their daughter through college is never mentioned. Somehow, the family has simply ‘made it’ amidst the hardships of immigrating to a new country and running a business – dismissing the actual struggles of someone in their shoes.
Janet, an art student at a nearby university, lives with Umma and Appa while helping them run the store. Jung, the older son, has been estranged from Appa for the last decade and rarely is in touch with the rest of the family. Both Janet and Jung are completely accent free, most likely due to primarily growing up in Canada, while occasionally saying Korean phrases that sound authentic to a non-Korean audience but is complete nonsense. Their parents struggle with them both: Jung went to juvie for theft and dropped out of high school while Janet is going to art school (and not aiming for a more prestigious future). Humor is found in this apparent struggle: the children have been deemed “not good enough” by Asian standards and the parents obviously have an issue with this. But the constant push for them to be better fits into the Asian stereotype and seems to be played as a joke about Asian parents who want too much from their children.
Jung’s Korean roommate and long-time friend is the most confusing attempt at ridiculing Korean culture. His friend’s name is Kimchee. As in the popular Korean dish made of fermented, seasoned cabbage. An equal comparison of this would be if this show was about an Indian family and the friend’s name was Curry or if the show was about an African American family and the family friend’s name was Watermelon or Fried Chicken. No actual Korean person would go by the name of a popular food dish – but it’s funny and amusing to people outside of the culture. Leila Lee states in her article regarding the show that “KC’s [Kim’s Convenience’s] sense of humor appeals to the perceived otherness of Asians, and at the time, acts out caricatures of the Asian Canadian. Jokes are inflated and placed out of context” (2016). There are other instances where a small part of the culture is taken and twisted. There is an episode where Jung ‘ddongjjims’ his friend, Kimchee. Equivalent to a playful, schoolyard wedgie, Kimchee experiences agonizing pain that is unrealistic and uncharacteristic of a ‘ddongjjim’. However, to people who are unaware of this act, it turns into a reduction of Korean culture. It turns a harmless act into a foreign act that seems outrageous and bizarre.
“Kim’s Convenience seems to almost perform Asian stereotypes for people outside of the Asian culture. In a Ricepaper article, the anonymous author states, “In the attempt to get out a laugh, the show exaggerates the immigrant experience that is beyond recognition, missing out on an opportunity to discuss the complexity of people with dual backgrounds.” The characters on Kim’s Convenience simply fail to capture the complexity of immigrant lives and the difficult process of navigating life between two different cultures. Foss defines ideology as “a pattern of beliefs that determines a group’s interpretation of some aspect(s) of the world” (2009, p. 209). To view “Kim’s Convenience” with the ideological criticism method, “Kim’s Convenience” becomes a show about how white people view the Asian, immigrant community. Leila Lee explains what “white people” mean in this instance: “Here, “white people” does not refer to a biological notion of race but a cultural currency in which people have accepted the idea of a post-racial society where whiteness is believed to be irrelevant and racism gone” (2016). “Kim’s Convenience” is a sitcom made by white people for white people at the expense of the Korean culture.
Inkoo Kang explains that “to watch Kim’s Convenience as a Korean American is to witness the immigrant culture in which I grew up strained through the cookie-cutter mold of the family sitcom genre” (2018). The twisting and adjusting of Korean culture to be funny or amusing is glaringly apparent and ignorant to the vast, rich culture of the Korean people. While it is amazing to witness a show about a Korean family in North America, we can do better. It should be possible to have a diverse, realistic representation in the media without marginalizing and degrading an entire country and culture. “Kim’s Convenience” has amazing potential and should not minimize the Korean culture for the convenience of others.
References
Foss, S.K. (2009). Rhetorical criticism: Exploration and practice (4th ed). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Kang, I. (2018). Netflix has made Kim’s Convenience a word-of-mouth sensation. Retrieved fromhttps://slate.com/culture/2018/09/kims-convenience-review-netflix-cbc-sitcom-series.html
Lee, L. (2016). Kim’s Convenience from a critical race perspective. Retrieved fromhttps://ricepapermagazine.ca/2016/11/kims-convenience-from-a-critical-race-perspective/