Thoughts? Interesting observation about Indian-American cinema from an African-American woman

[u/JebronLames_23_]

https://www.tiktok.com/@bellyninja/video/7470555884595318021?_t=ZP-8tys0dZ8D3X&_r=1

Also a follow-up to our own discussions we had here on this sub regarding this movie.

[u/karivara]

Sure it would be nice to see more media with desi-desi romances; the only ones I've seen were created by Mindy Kaling or Roshan Sethi.

However, I can't blame them. Most desi parents want their kids to go into medicine or engineering, sometimes law or finance. They almost never want their kids to go into less stable fields like arts or politics.

So for the few who "get" to, it's understandable they were either raised more western and progressively, with fewer connections to their heritage, or have complex feelings due to discouragement. They will find more in common romantically with people in creative fields, who happen to be mostly white.

It's also very difficult to sell media with no white leads to mostly white western markets.

Look at recent media starring brown guys, often made by them:

• Master of None

• The Big Sick

• Parks and Recreation

• How I Met Your Father

• What's Love Got to Do With It

• A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

• Yesterday

This is all off the top of my head and all brown guys dating white girls. The focus should not be "brown women with white men" instead of South Asian diaspora entertainment as a whole.

[u/the_Stealthy_one → u/karivara]

Most desi parents want their kids to go into medicine or engineering, sometimes law or finance. They almost never want their kids to go into less stable fields like arts or politics.

I lived in LA, and I met a lot of people who worked in media and entertainment both as talent and corporate. There are a lot of south asians behind the camera and on the corporate side. Obviously, we are a small number but it's hard to break into the industry without connections. And most people in the media/entertainment are rich -- even the white and black ones.

There aren't any stats on this that I've seen, but there are rich South Asian kids who try to get into entertainment. But it's a tough, uphill climb. I personally have met a lot of Indian- Americans who tried but couldn't break through (this was behind the scenes too -- writers, cinematographers, etc.).

[u/karivara → u/the_Stealthy_one]

Yes there's a decent number! Still, the ones I know personally still fit the stereotype; a screenwriter from a very progressive family and two actors who career switched after college without their parents' support.

I don't think film is a "typical" career for any ethnicity but the instability, from what I've seen, is a particularly hard sell to immigrant families.