Jessica Huang from Fresh Off the Boat
With the release of Crazy Rich Asians, there was one name on everybody's lips: Constance Wu. And that was as good a reason as any for me to seek out Fresh Off the Boat, the sitcom that was her first big break.
I remember the show making quite a splash on Tumblr when it premiered in 2015, and it was the family's matriarch Jessica Wu who dominated the GIF sets that were circling at the time. Despite this show ostensibly centring on her son Eddie, she was clearly the star.
Aside from the fact that Asian-American women don't get much attention on television (the show itself points out that this is the first American sitcom to feature an Asian family since Margaret Cho's All American Girl in 1994) Jessica is also a unique sitcom mum.
Strict and overbearing – sure, we've seen that before. But Jessica's desire for her children to be successful and to remain in touch their Taiwanese heritage are presented as intrinsically Asian qualities that provide much of the familial conflict (and sitcom fodder).
After the Huang family move from Chinatown in Washington DC to Florida, she struggles more than anyone (except her eldest son Eddie) to assimilate herself within her new community. Yet though I'm a sucker for women who are tough on the outside, vulnerable on the inside, Jessica doesn't have time to feel sorry for herself or get insecure about what the neighbours think.
She knows who she is and what she wants – it's just a matter of making sure the rest of the world isn't going to get in her way.
It makes a nice change from the usual brash battle-axe or mousey housewife that usually dominates American family sitcoms. Jessica is a grown woman who can handle a career in real estate and raise three children, and if other people find her too domineering... well, that's definitely their problem.
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