Been Thinking About Minari…

and how I feel guilty for not liking it and if I should always be rooting for everyone Asian

I can’t think of a movie I’ve wanted to like as much as I wanted to like “Minari.”

My family immigrated to Ithaca, a college town in upstate New York, in 1984. Like the family in the movie, we too are a family of four, with a son and daughter (except I’m the elder). My parents also moved to Little Rock, Arkansas (in 2010). The movie starred Steven Yeun, who in my eyes is the best Korean American actor working today. It was written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, a Korean American. Plus it was produced by A24.

On the surface, it had all the ingredients I’d been wanting in a movie about the Asian American experience. One that I hoped that I could relate to. But I struggled with it. Immensely. And a lot of it is my fault.

There is a sense of racial or ethnic FOMO. Sometimes there’s the, “You didn’t watch it yet?!” I can’t decide if, “You didn’t like it?!” is worse or not. Sometimes I feel a sense of racial duty or need to do something in the name of racial solidarity. I get enough shit for not listening to KPop or watching KDramas. Or maybe it’s me interpreting people being surprised that I don’t as them giving me shit.