The trailer for the Netflix adaptation of Jenny Han's YA novel, "To All The Boys I've Loved Before," has fans excited, especially because an Asian woman is in a lead rom-com role. But within Asian American spaces, there has been a lot of discussion over how progressive this movie actually is when it's yet another story about an Asian girl obsessing over mainly white boys. Is media rep for POC always to be unquestioningly celebrated? Can we freely talk about the problems of idealizing white love interests? Joining Jess and Oxford, male model Kevin Kreider offers his insider knowledge of the racist hierarchy in the modeling/entertainment world to highlight why this is an important issue that is much more than about movies and TV.

Intro: "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" Trailer

Outro Song: "I Like Me Better" (Instrumental) by Lauv

TWITTER:

Jess (@cogitatotomato)

Oxford (@oxford_kondo)

Kevin Kreider (@kevkreider)

KEVIN KREIDER LINKS:

"The Ugly Model" documentary: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uglymodeldoc/the-ugly-model-a-documentary

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAJJBY9sSThM02XLsfb3U3A

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevin.kreider/?hl=en

The Disappointing Reality of Dating as an Asian-American Man: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/youre-really-good-looking-for-an-asian-guy_us_5b33ccdee4b03b6966b99426

REFERENCED RESOURCES:

Some People Are Upset There’s No Asian Male in Netflix’s New Film With Lana Condor: https://nextshark.com/people-upset-theres-no-asian-male-netflixs-new-film-lana-condor/

Hapa actor Charles Melton cast as full-Korean male lead in "The Sun Is Also A Star": https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sun-is-a-star-riverdale-star-charles-melton-joins-yara-shahidi-1116216

Jesse Wiliams and Light-Skinned Privilege: http://blackyouthproject.com/why-we-need-to-talk-about-light-skinned-privelege/

Amandla Stenberg turned down "Black Panther" role because she felt she was too light-skinned: https://rollingout.com/2018/03/01/amandla-stenberg-rejected-black-panther-role-light-skin/

Alicia Vikander and Riley Keogh to star with Naoki Kobayashi in Netflix's "The Earthquake Bird": https://www.empireonline.com/people/alicia-vikander/alicia-vikander-riley-keough-starring-earthquake-bird/

Justin Chon and Ellie Bamber to star in "Taipei": https://variety.com/2016/film/news/justin-chon-ellie-bamber-romance-movie-taipei-1201931718/

The pursuit of white women: Brown actors like Aziz Ansari have reduced brown women to a punchline: https://qz.com/1016554/aziz-ansari-hasan-minhaj-kumail-nanjiani-brown-actors-have-reduced-brown-women-to-a-punchline/

I’m Tired of Watching Brown Men Fall in Love With White Women Onscreen: https://themuse.jezebel.com/i-m-tired-of-watching-brown-men-fall-in-love-with-white-1796522590

The Problem With How Some Brown Male Comics Portray Brown Women In Films And TV: https://mic.com/videos/7577/pr-0037-brownwomeninmedia#.EtZwAvyr9

Does Anyone Have The Right To Sex by Amia Srinivasan: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n06/amia-srinivasan/does-anyone-have-the-right-to-sex

You Need 20,000 Followers to Even Look at This Instagrammable Mural in L.A.: https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/instagram-famous-art-mural-los-angeles

"To All The Boys I've Loved Before" Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTLc_RzqaJc&t=2s