Asian American Literature Association (AALA)
November 2023
Dear Friend and Supporter of AALA,
Best wishes,
Valerie Lombogia
Founder and President of AALA
Highlight Titles of the Month
Other Resources from Last Month
Our Recent Meeting
In our last meeting, we discussed the Netflix series BEEF, written and produced by Lee Sung Jin. The story centers on the lives of Amy Lau and Danny Cho as they became embroiled in a cycle of revenge after first encountering each other in a road rage incident. We analyzed the show’s portrayal of Asian American experiences and more specifically, its themes of rage and trauma. We reflected our own personal sources of rage through a mind-map activity and how our Asian American identities relate to those emotions. Here are some of the questions we discussed relating to the show:
-
What is significant about the portrayal of Asian American experiences in BEEF?
-
Who is your favorite character and why? Do you relate to these characters and their experiences in any way?
-
BEEF was extremely popular even among general audiences; viewers related in particular to the themes of anger and trauma. What makes this story and the experiences of the characters uniquely Asian American? How would the story be different if the main characters were white?
(Left photo) AALA members Andrew Nguyen, Luke Gustafson, and Nina Vo during our meeting on BEEF. (Right photo) Valerie Lombogia leading a discussion and activity.