Within the model minority rhetoric, Asian Americans are represented as โgoodโ minorities and African Americans are represented as โbadโ minorities. Here, the achievements of Asian Americans are used to discipline African Americans. As model minorities, Asian Americans achieved the status of โhonorary Whitesโ. Again it is important to point out that the honorary whiteness of Asian Americans was granted at the expense of Blacks. It is also significant that as โhonorary Whites,โ Asian Americans do not have the actual privileges associated with โrealโ whiteness.
Jennifer LeeThe philosophy I always have is what's the sentence that would tell me about each shot. If I can't read why the shot's there, what is the story trying to say?
Jennifer LeeLet your heart beat for music. Don't be a DJ for the wrong reasons, do it because you have a passion for it.
Jennifer LeeIf you wanna do a film where you have a big scope, you've got to make your characters relatable and genuine.
Jennifer LeeThe main joy I have in owning or being a part of my own label is the platform I've created to really push other artists and this other kind of musical muscle I get to exercise, it's not just me as a creator of music but me as a curator. That's been really exciting and I do get to have the autonomy and control and all those things with my releases, but now I get to go and find artists that I really love and like and share them with the world too.
Jennifer LeeDon't lose faith in what you are trying to do, even though you will get pummeled emotionally left and right. There are a lot of "nos" to any "yes." And that's OK.
Jennifer LeeIn deference to American traditions, my family put our oven to rare use at Thanksgiving during my childhood, with odd roast-turkey experiments involving sticky-rice stuffing or newfangled basting techniques that we read about in magazines.
Jennifer LeeI'm always open to questions asked, and it will be up to me at that moment to decide if I want to answer or not. I've always been the kind of artist that wanted to focus so much more on the music than all these other things. For example, "what does it feel like to be a female in a male dominated industry"?
Jennifer LeeI think if you create well balanced characters that are well represented, boys and girls relate to them whether they're boys or girls.
Jennifer LeeThere's a lot of responsibility involved in sharing a very personal story with a lot of people, and it's easier for others not to know about things - and I know that. But in terms of the general climate, socially, these are things people have to deal with on a daily basis. We hear so many negative stories but rarely do we get positivity. We have memes of cute cats and puppies and things like that, but if they didn't exist, people would be a lot more unhappy. We need more things like that.
Jennifer LeePeople are funny. They often don't mean to be, and that's what makes it even more endearing.
Jennifer LeeIf I learned one thing, it is that self-doubt is one of the most destructive forces. It makes you defensive instead of open, reactive instead of active. Self-doubt is consuming and cruel. And my hope today is that we can all collectively agree to ban it. .โ.โ. Think to the moments of your life when you forgot to doubt yourself. When you were so inspired that you were just living and creating and working. Pay attention to those moments because they're trying to reach you through those lenses of doubt and trying to show you your potential.
Jennifer LeeChinese cooking is noisy - a multitasking activity that requires constant vigilance. There is no downtime.
Jennifer LeeI like to say, Chop sueys the biggest culinary joke that one culture has ever played on another, because chop suey, if you translate into Chinese, means tsap sui, which, if you translate back, means odds and ends.
Jennifer LeeWe might be shifting away from a Eurocentric view of the United States into something that's much more multicultural, multinational, and Chinese food is just one slice of that.
Jennifer LeeI'm aware of what I am, but I focus so much on myself as a musician and as an artist that I don't even notice that I'm the only female on a festival bill. I'm just like "oh I'm playing this festival."I haven't been very deeply involved in this greater outreach because my approach to equality is integration. I'm not into separatism, or an all-female festival. It's good and empowering but it doesn't allow for the bigger picture to get accomplished. We all need to be at the same festival - that's always been my approach.
Jennifer LeeWith a film, things constantly have to go up in the story, and you're constantly putting pressure on the main character. It allows to go really deep into what its relationship is.
Jennifer Lee