American Born Chinese is a 2023 fantasy action series developed by Kelvin Yu and executive produced by Yu, Jake Kasdan, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Gene Luen Yang, loosely based upon Yang's graphic novel of the same name. It stars Ben Wang, Jim Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Daniel Wu, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, and Ke Huy Quan.
The series follows Jin Wang, an Asian-American teen struggling to fit in, as he is drawn into a struggle of mythic proportions with the arrival of a new foreign exchange student. The series premiered on Disney+ May 24, 2023. In January 2024, it was announced the series was canceled after one season, with the creative team planning to shop it to other outlets.
Previews: In Production Featurette
, Locker Reveal teaser, Worlds Collide teaser, Official Trailer
American Born Chinese includes examples of the following:
- Actionized Adaptation: The original comic was largely introspective and contained relatively little action, while the series has a heavy focus on martial arts and a war between gods.
- Actor Allusion: Jamie Yao was an actor who gave up acting and started working behind the scenes, much like Ke Huy Quan did for several years.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: With her increased prominence, Amelia now has issues struggling with her Stage Mom's visible interest in pushing her daughter into acting regardless of her wishes and relates to Jin's own parental angst.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the graphic novel, Wei Chen was sent to live among humans without sin for forty years to train him to follow in the footsteps of his father, Sun Wukong. After his falling out with Jin, he abandoned his mission out of disgust for humans' self-centeredness. In the TV series, Wei Chen ran away from home and now hides among humanity because he had a prophetic dream about a divine uprising and thinks Jin can help him stop the coming war.
- Adaptational Nationality: Wei Chen's human identity, originally a Taiwanese national in the source material, is now identified as a Chinese national instead.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Suzy is an activist type and is the leader of various school clubs who will stand up on lunch tables to deliver impassioned speeches that embarrass Jin greatly, whereas in the comic she was a very subdued girl.
- Adapted Out: Chin-Kee, the extremely stereotypical Chinese cousin who turns out to be the Monkey King in disguise, is absent from the series. Instead, his broader role as a microcosm of anti-Asian racism in western media is filled by Freddie Wong, a character from a Show Within a Show who serves as an in-universe equivalent of Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles (i.e. a stereotypical fictional Asian who inspires racist insults from white fans).
- Advertising by Association: The Worlds Collide trailer proclaims the series is "From the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings".
- All Part of the Show: The climactic battle between the Bull Demon and Wei-Chen takes place in front of an audience at a soccer game. Everyone thinks it's an opening act put on by the cosplay club.
- Ascended Extra: Jin's parents were barely present in the original graphic novel, but here get more focus and characterization.
- Aspect Ratio Switch: In the first episode, the Heavenly Realm is portrayed in 2:35:1, Earth is in 1:85:1, and the in universe series Beyond Repair is in 4:3.
- Awful Wedded Life: Jin's parents. Christine is frustrated with Simon for his timidness and reluctance to ask for raises and promotions. Simon resents the criticism from someone who has no job at all.
- Big Bad: Season 1 has Niu Mowang, the Bull Demon and the former Best Friend turn Arch-Enemy of Sun Wukong who wants revenge on him and Heaven for denying him the position of Great Sage. The Sequel Hook sets up Mowang's wife, Princess Iron Fan, being the one who kidnapped Jin's parents.
- Big Good: Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, who supports Wei-Chen on his mission to find the Fourth Scroll.
- Bilingual Bonus: In the first episode Jin hears his parents arguing over "fried squid" in Chinese. The term for fried squid (炒鱿鱼 or chǎo yóuyú) is also an expression for getting fired. This is mentioned by Wei-Chen later in the episode, but eagle-eyed Chinese-speaking viewers may pick up on it earlier.
- Catch the Conscience: Bull Demon is a shapeshifter hiding in a crowd at a soccer game, so Jin and Wei-Chen draw him out by putting on a play that depicts him in a very unflattering light, provoking him into revealing himself.
- Canon Foreigner: Anuj, Jin's primary friend before the start of the show, is show original to inform Jin's updated interests and demonstrate his self-absorbed tendencies over his insecurities from being a Chinese-American Closet Geek.
- Company Cross References:
- Baby Yoda (Grogu) is mentioned in episode 2.
- Jin calls Ji Gong "Chinese Jack Sparrow".
- Some Marvel Comics can be seen in the background of Jin's room, though interestingly, DC Comics, Image Comics, and manga are more represented.
- Condescending Compassion: Principal Finney starts out by pronouncing Jin’s last name as “Wang” rather than Wong, she pairs up Jin and Wei-Chen because they “have a lot in common”, and then in episode 7 when Jin’s parents are called in for a meeting about him getting into a fight with the school mascot she blatantly uses cultural misconceptions to describe her theory about Jin’s predicament at home.
- Coordinated Clothes: Subverted. Jin wears the jean jacket he shoplifted to school the same day Wei-Chen wears an identical one. The latter draws attention to it, making the former feel embarrassed instead of cooler like he wanted it.
- Creative Closing Credits: The end credits of each episode feature a montage of Gene Luen Yang’s sketches of characters from the graphic novel.
- Cultural Cringe: Jin towards Chinese and other Asian culture. He doesn't bring Chinese food to school and doesn't discuss manga in front of white people. So he's very uncomfortable when the principal pairs him with Wei-Chen and when the Culture Club shows support to him after Greg posts the racist Freddy Wong meme on him.
- Dragon Their Feet: After the climactic battle at the soccer game, Jin comes home only to find Princess Iron Fan on his couch. She reveals she's kidnapped his parents.
- Disney Death: Jin performs a Heroic Sacrifice to prevent the Iron Staff from connecting Heaven with the mortal realm. He survives, most likely thanks to being the Fourth Scroll.
- Ethnic Scrappy: Like Chin-Kee in the original comic, the character of Freddy Wong from Beyond Repair is an intentional reference to characters considered this in universe.
- Everyone Has Standards: Ji Gong helps Wei-Chen escape after being disgusted by Bull Demon's unnecessary brutality.
- Former Teen Rebel: Present-day Sun Wukong is a member of the Jade Emperor's inner circle and is a stern, mature father. He's very different from the rebellious prankster we see in the flashback and the original stories.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: During the reunion episode of his Old Shame sitcom, Jamie Yao gives a monologue saying he hopes Asian kids watching know that they don't have to be jokes and hopes for better representation in the future.
- Living MacGuffin: Jin is revealed to be the Fourth Scroll in episode 8.
- Official Couple: Jin and Amelia become this after much flirtation in the Season Finale.
- Only in It for the Money: The reason Jamie Yao agrees to do a reunion episode of a show where he played an in universe Ethnic Scrappy.
- Otaku: Jin is shown to decorate his room with anime and manga merchandise and has a knowledge of popular manga. He is out-geeked by his friend Anuj who is part of the Cosplay Club.
- Plot Parallel: Wei-Chen and Jin's increasingly tense friendship is reflected in the Monkey King and Bull Demon's own fractured relationship with an assertive headstrong man and his more introverted and awkward friend. The second pair serves to show the worst possible outcome for the two teenage boys who come to know each other over the course of the show. This is best showcased in the finale when Jin acting as the Bull Demon makes a speech about his flaws and insecurities that could easily as well apply to him.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The series only carries over the characters and initial premise of the original graphic novel, with the story being substantially different. According to an article from Time magazine, the radical overhauling was done in order to reflect how much American society had changed since the book's publication in 2006, with the new story aiming to recontextualize its core ideas for an audience nearly 20 years removed from that of the source material.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sun Wukong gives one to the gods and smashes the Peach of Immortality. Ao Guang admires his courage and makes him the Great Sage.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Wei-Chen is the more energetic and confident Red Oni to Jin's more reserved Blue Oni. This becomes a major source of tension.
- Retraux: Sun Wukong's flashback about his past with Bull Demon is presented as a late 70s TV show, including a title sequence and credits and effects and framing more like a television production from then.
- Sequel Hook: After Bull Demon's uprising is stopped, Jin comes home to find his parents missing and Princess Iron Fan revealing she kidnapped them.
- Setting Update: The original graphic novel was set contemporaneously to its 2006 publication date. The TV series, accordingly, bumps up the time period to its own contemporary era, The New '20s.
- Shout-Out:
- Jin's room is filled with pop culture ephemera, such as more Pokémon merchandise, figurines of (Injustice) Superman and Batman, and various comic books and manga including volumes of Ant-Man, Spawn, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Captain America, Attack on Titan, and all the volumes of Amulet.
- Swamp Thing comics are mentioned in episode 2, with artist Mike Perkins being explicitly mentioned. Jin's father is also revealed to be a big fan of Bon Jovi.
- Jin is shown wearing a Pikachu hooded onesie in episode 3 as part of his soccer team hazing. He's also made to sing "Despacito" while in it.
- In Episode 4, Sun Wukong's extended flashback is a tribute to Monkey, right down to starting with an "intro" that copies the show's imagery and uses a similar song.
- Anuj cites Dragon Ball and Saiyuki as examples of how Sun Wukong's story has been adapted countless times in comics.
- Show Within a Show: Beyond Repair, an old sitcom about a man who runs an apartment building and his tenants.
- Soapbox Sadie: Suzy Nakumura and the Culture Club, who lead protests about a video of Jin that became a racist meme, much to the introverted Jin's displeasure.
- Social Media Is Bad: An old 90's sitcom becomes a racist meme on social media. Jin is later the target of one of those memes.
- Some of My Best Friends Are X: Amelia's friend tries to assure Jin she can't be racist because she's a fan of BTS. Amelia quickly tells her to stop.
- Stylistic Suck: The old sitcom Beyond Repair is presented as being very hackneyed. In-Universe, the main reason it's gone memetic online is solely because of the character Freddy Wong, a Chinese stereotype who serves as the show's Butt-Monkey and suffers numerous Amusing Injuries.
- Unwanted Assistance: After an embarrassing incident in episode one is turned into a racist meme, the culture club attempts to rally around Jin in episode 2, much to his chagrin.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Yeoh’s character mentions that “dark forces” are approaching in the Worlds Collide trailer.
- We Used to Be Friends:
- Kicked off with Jin and Anuj, the latter of which distances himself from him after Jin did nothing to stop Travis from pulling a cruel prank on Anuj. They reconcile in the later episodes, and Anuj goes as far as to help Jin and Wei-Chen stop the Bull Demon in the Season Finale.
- Sun Wukong and Bull Demon were once supportive best buddies before the former was named the Great Sage.
- Wire Fu: In the Worlds Collide teaser, Yeoh’s character is seen gliding into a forest, like a character in a Wuxia film.
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: Wei-Chen returns to Heaven with his father but leaves after a day. Jin tells him that he's been gone a whole month.
- You Answered Your Own Question: When Jin tries to defend himself after he questions Anuj for distancing himself from him, he basically tells him he "didn't do anything" regarding the cruel prank that Jin's soccer teammate, Travis, did to Anuj. Anuj points out those Exact Words to him: he didn't do anything, as in he didn't do anything to stop Travis from bullying Anuj.
