Fresh Off The Boat Reflection

Throughout our class discussions I was very interested in many of the reflection paper ideas. I decided to watch Fresh off the boat which is a television show is about a Chinese family who has moved to the suburbs to live the American dream. The father, Louis Huang feels that his children deserve to be Americanized. Although his wife, Jessica, still believes in the Chinese culture. She is having a much harder time adjusting, as are her two youngest sons. The eldest son has exemplified assimilation meaning he has completely forgotten about his Chinese culture. The first episode of this series opened with the eldest son dressed as a rapper. He and his mom were out shopping for back to school clothes. The boy walked out of the dressing room …show more content…
It showed the true power struggle the mom is having with American culture. The three boys were standing outside by the mailbox, as was the little boy who is their neighbor. The middle son yelled across the street asking if he was waiting for his report card as well. The neighbor laughed and responded that he was waiting for his birthday card. The three boys could not understand why they were the only ones waiting for the report card. After, the report cards came and they showed their mother she freaked out. The eldest boy, Eddie, received straight A’s therefore she felt school was way to easy. The youngest son who is in Pre School received stickers instead of letter grades. During this exchange the mother was upset that Emory received a cloud he told his mother a rain cloud is good and the mothers response was what are you, a farmer? (IN TEXT CITE). Having this exchange with her son really showed the focus on school in the Chinese culture. It was very known that the boys were used to doing homework all time and receiving the grades their parents expected. Having a different grading scale in the American culture made it seem that school is not as important to us. It is yet, another cultural aspect that is difficult to adapt too. The exchange between the mother and their son exemplifies deep culture. It is obvious that the mother is struggling with the new school system and cannot wrap her head. She is depicting the …show more content…
While viewing this episode it came across that the mother was having a harder time with the idea of culture shock than any of her children. The mother could not wrap her mind around the new education system. She stuck with the stereotypical strict Chinese culture. The two youngest sons were following in their mothers’ footsteps as well. The two accepted change but still stuck strongly to their known culture. The eldest son, Eddie, has adapted the best to this new culture. He seems to fit into the integration and acceptance phase since he understands the culture. Eddie is excelling in school academically as well as socially. Throughout to the episode he is constantly hanging around with friends, which really bothers his mother. The father is on the verge of accepting this new culture. He is accepting of the differences and is trying to live out the American Dream. Just this short episode was eye opening to see what it is like coming into a new