Debate Over ‘Girl’ Is Far From Over

I am writing in response to Gary Jacobs’ March 20 Counterpunch in the Calendar section, “In Defense of the ‘All-American Gi”

I found Jacobs’ reaction to the Korean American community’s widespread criticism of his show patronizing, arrogant and insulting.

Is Jacobs telling us that we should be grateful to him for putting Asian faces on television? Mr. Jacobs, I suggest your attitude is what led to the failure of the show--not our criticism. You were, in effect, telling us we should be happy to have been invited to the table. If we’re going to be served spoiled food, we’d rather not be invited to the table. That is the only apt analogy I have for your reaction.

I have lived in Los Angeles for 22 years and worked in Koreatown throughout that period. I am a Korean American wife, mother and working professional. My life touches on many segments of the Korean American community. I have yet to run into a single person who liked Jacobs’ show except young children who are happy to see any Asian face on television. In fact, considering the level of anger in the community about the show, I thought a March 11 Times article detailing the criticism of the show by Korean Americans was too mild (“ ‘Girl’ Undergoes Major Changes Amid Criticism”).

Jacobs said that there were three Asian American writers on the show and one of them was Korean American and also that there was an “expert” consultant in Korean language and culture whose job was to “review every script and every episode and let us know where we erred, and this he did unfailingly.” Really? We in the Korean American community would very much like to know who that writer and that consultant were and what were their qualifications. Why did they not have even a minimal knowledge of Korean language and culture?

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In most of the episodes I watched I could barely understand what the characters were talking about when they spoke Korean. In one episode, the color red was depicted as signifying good luck. Red may be a good luck color for Chinese, but not for Koreans. That may seem like a trivial point, but let me ask you this: Would you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with red, blue and white? The show also had Grandmother moving furniture--practicing feng shui --for good luck. This is not a Korean custom. A qualified Korean writer and consultant would have known that.

Had Jacobs and his team made an effort to reach out, they would have found many people in the community who would have been more than happy to volunteer their services to help make the show more culturally sensitive. They would not have had to resort to a non-Korean-speaking consultant, which I’m told, they did. If this information is wrong, I’d like to know.

I can understand the desire to produce a successful money-making show, but not at the cost of sacrificing Korean dignity. Until image-makers accept their social responsibility in multicultural America and extend decency and humanity to people whose cultures and languages they don’t know, stereotypes will persist. The issue that we in the Korean American community take with Jacobs is his chauvinism--and refusal to accept people who are not like him on their terms. That is a problem only he can solve. Step one is to say he’s sorry.

After that, we can continue the dialogue.