American Born Chinese Series Review
Disney +'s adaptation of the fantasy book "American Born Chinese" starts with the introduction of an awkward Chinese American boy named Jin Wang. Jin Wang is a highschooler who plays soccer and dreams of fitting in with the other popular kids in his school. In these modern times, Jin meets the struggles of bullying and microaggressions through technology and shows. Jin meets another Chinese boy named Wei-Chen. Wei-Chen suddenly appears and immediately sticks to Jin following him around the school and joining him in his predicaments. Wei-Chen was on a mission, and he decided that Jin would be his guide. The two go through many ups and downs as they continue their searches.
The set and costumes for the actors were well made and they encapsulated the time period and the setting perfectly. Each character's style in clothing was believable and complemented the emotions and characteristics of the character. While the set and costumes were flawless, some of the characters lacked realistic interactions and emotions in a high school setting. Some scenes were used to continue the story line, but they brought the view out of their immersion due to the unrealistic actions taken by the characters. Although most movies and shows placed in a high school setting are unrealistic to true highschoolers, there could have been more of an effort to veer away from the basic high school stereotypes. This is to be expected since the show puts an emphasis on the fact that this was based in modern times with modern technology and presumably students of the younger generation.
Comparing this series to the original book is very difficult due to the vast differences in plot. The book was able to easily represent the three story lines and their connections through telling while the series relied on showing leaving room for misunderstandings and confusion on the viewers part. A prime example of this is the Danny story line in the book and the sitcom in the series. The book's story line made sense and ended up contributing to the overall story in many ways, on the other hand, the sitcom in the series didn't make sense to those who had not read the book or had not connected the story lines and its message was not as clear as the book. The series did its best to bring the 3 different timelines from the book together in an interesting way, but the message could have been portrayed in better ways than what the series went with.
Overall, I would give this series a 3.5/5 due to its interesting plot, lack of sticking to the original story line, and its ability to convey the message that the book wished to convey. The series pushed the storyline into modern times at the expense of the cohesiveness of the original story.
The set and costumes for the actors were well made and they encapsulated the time period and the setting perfectly. Each character's style in clothing was believable and complemented the emotions and characteristics of the character. While the set and costumes were flawless, some of the characters lacked realistic interactions and emotions in a high school setting. Some scenes were used to continue the story line, but they brought the view out of their immersion due to the unrealistic actions taken by the characters. Although most movies and shows placed in a high school setting are unrealistic to true highschoolers, there could have been more of an effort to veer away from the basic high school stereotypes. This is to be expected since the show puts an emphasis on the fact that this was based in modern times with modern technology and presumably students of the younger generation.
Comparing this series to the original book is very difficult due to the vast differences in plot. The book was able to easily represent the three story lines and their connections through telling while the series relied on showing leaving room for misunderstandings and confusion on the viewers part. A prime example of this is the Danny story line in the book and the sitcom in the series. The book's story line made sense and ended up contributing to the overall story in many ways, on the other hand, the sitcom in the series didn't make sense to those who had not read the book or had not connected the story lines and its message was not as clear as the book. The series did its best to bring the 3 different timelines from the book together in an interesting way, but the message could have been portrayed in better ways than what the series went with.
Overall, I would give this series a 3.5/5 due to its interesting plot, lack of sticking to the original story line, and its ability to convey the message that the book wished to convey. The series pushed the storyline into modern times at the expense of the cohesiveness of the original story.