Note: Transcript fully created by automated AI
[00:00:00] Jesse Lin: Hi everyone. My name is Jesse Lin.
[00:00:02] Angela Lin: And I’m Angela Lin. Welcome back to another episode of, but Where Are You really from? Welcome back for our next batch of episodes. Something new that we’re introducing. In addition to kind of the way we’ve been running things thus far is we are now introducing a new format for the show called Mini.
Um, the kind of like idea behind this is that we know not all of you have that much time to listen to our full episodes all the time. We hope you still come back for those and we’ll still be doing full episode. Mm-hmm. Deep dive topics, but there are also topics sometimes that we wanna cover, but we know cannot fill like 40 plus.
Worth of talking, um, that we still wanna give attention to. So these minis, you’re gonna see them. Uh, we’re gonna try out kind of alternating between minis and full lengths every other episode, and they should be hopefully between like f. Anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes. Right. That’s kind of what we’re shooting for.
Yeah. Yeah. The little snack bites for you.
[00:01:04] Jesse Lin: One of the things we wanted to talk about is what is a Jimbo, and so if you’re familiar with the word bimbo, actually I think not a lot of people are, because I recently had this conversation with people, they’re like, what’s a bimbo? Right? For those of you who don’t know what a bimbo.
A bimbo is basically the female version of like a dumb blonde slut kind of thing, person who gets around, but you know, they’re not super intelligent. I would say like Anna Anna Nicole Smith is the personification of a bimbo. We really want to talk about this idea of a Jimbo, which is the male version of this, so a dumb slut.
Male version of a bimbo because we think it’s been really interesting that there has been this like, rise of Asian representation for guys in the form of a Jimbo. Mm-hmm. . We actually got this, I I, I saw this thing, I think it was on npr and they just, it was
[00:02:04] Angela Lin: pbs cuz I
[00:02:04] Jesse Lin: rewatched it. So they were doing this like summation of like representation of Asian male characters throughout the history of cinema.
And of course like at the very. Time periods, you had basically not even Asian people playing these Asian people, and it’s always in the form of like very like neutered villain kind of format. And now you have kind of what you see in Crazy Rich Asians or the Good place where you have this very.
masculine slash slutty representation of Asian men. And so we really wanted to talk about that. Cause I think it’s super interesting to see that evolution over the past few years, especially the last, I wanna say like five years. Mm-hmm. , it’s gotten a really quickly. Bringing that kind of character to life in different film and tv.
[00:02:58] Angela Lin: Yeah. I’m kind of curious how it first came about because it does feel like a bunch of Asian jimbos just like appeared on the Hollywood market like around the same time. Yeah. Um, like. , I never watched this show, but I think the first, first, like main one was, um, crazy. Ex-girlfriend had a, a hot Asian dude as like the main crush or a love interest for her.
Mm-hmm. and I, I never watched that show, but I just remember from like all the commercials, he was featured a lot and he was definitely like, Super dumb, but like portrayed as like highly desirable. And then, I don’t know in reference to that, how many years apart or whatever, but the Good Place ca has had been on air for like Jason Mendoza final time.
And yeah, Jason Mendoza, um, appeared around the same time. And then it was just kind of like this, like snowball effect because crazier Asians we’ve talked about with that like really intense shower scene. I’ll always remember that. So hot. Um, so yeah, I don’t know. It, it’s almost like Hollywood kind of like secretly whispered to each other that now’s the turning tide for, for Asian men to like start portraying them this way.
[00:04:05] Jesse Lin: Well, I think it’s a money thing, right? Like once they sh once they had like a cast of characters that were not traditionally portrayed in that fashion and it like, worked out. Then they were like, oh, this is like, maybe this is a winning formula. Like let’s try this again. And I think that it’s gone to the point where, , it’s proven to be successful in money making and that’s why they have these characters in place.
And personally, I like to think that audiences are bored of seeing the same trope of like masculine. White guy with like unattainable body like Chris Hemsworth and Thor, not that in saying that all of these Asian jimbos have attainable bodies, it’s like also like, no, like most people don’t look like that.
But I, I feel like there’s a certain level of like boredom with this, like same look and people are interested in seeing different kinds of hot. Portrayed.
[00:05:01] Angela Lin: Yeah. I think it’s a similar conversation that we’ve had before about media representation in general, that it’s all kind of like baby steps because it’s nice now that we get to see, yes, Asian men who have been traditionally like DMAs.
Masculinized, how do you say whatever that word is. You can say like, feminized. Feminized. But it’s not fre. It’s, yeah. Neutered, neutered, um, portrayed as like totally unattractive, sexless and like nerdy and blah, blah, blah. And now being seen as like super hot, but they’re all super dumb, is like mostly how they’re portrayed and that that’s why the Jimbo term came around.
So it’s like it’s baby steps. Cause I don’t think this is the end goal at all. Like for now, it’s fun. No to like drool over Jason Mendoza type characters. But the hope is that in the future it can evolve so that they can be both seen as attractive and intelligent or complex, you know, like not one dimensional.
Buts .
[00:06:03] Jesse Lin: My feeling is that they’re like really dialing into this like hotness aspect of it, because I think in the portrayal of Asian men, even though in the past they were portrayed as sexless or neutered, there was still this element of either villain, which with within that villain there was cunning or some level of inte.
And so it is always kind of like, given that the Asian character has intelligence, but never given that they had like anything else, it was like a Ken Doll. That’s smart. So I think they’re really dialing into this hotness aspect of it because it, it kind of flips your idea of what that character would be at first glance.
You know, like when you first see Jason Mendoza in the Good Place, you’re like, oh, a Buddhist monk. Like, you’re sold, right? You’re like, okay. Like I believe that because that kind of fits within that archetype. And then they flip it where like they’re like, oh, actually he’s a moron. Like a really hot moron.
Yeah. And you’re like, oh, like I’m very interested now it’s different from what I’ve seen before and I think that characterization is like what’s drawing people in. But I also agree with you like that’s definitely not where we. Stay. Like we want the character to be multi-dimensional, right? They can be intelligent, they can be stupid as well.
Uh, they can be hot, they can be ugly, like, but all of these things play into, I think, how likable a character is. So I think that it’s definitely not where we wanna stop and it’s like where we wanna continue forward.
[00:07:38] Angela Lin: Hey listeners, wondering how you can support us. The biggest way is by increasing our visibility by following us on Instagram at where are you from?
Pod on TikTok at, but where are you really from? Subscribing to our YouTube channel Under, but where are you really? From podcast rating and reviewing us on Apple Podcasts and telling your friends, the more people we can get to listen to the show, the more we can continue spotlighting different perspectives and.
And if you feel so inclined, we’re also accepting donations at buy me a coffee.com/where are you from? Thanks. If anyone actually watches the p b s thing that we were talking about, the, like, what is an Asian Jimbo, uh, little video. It’s like 10 minutes-ish. It’s, it’s worth watching, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Um, one thing I felt like they really left out was the influence of K-pop and Korean dramas and why Asian men are seen as desirable right now, because mm-hmm.
I noticed this huge gap in their analysis. I was like, uh, the guys. People who are attracted to Asian men right now think are most attractive are like BTS and like Korean drama leads. Because if you watch any social media of people like drooling over Asian men, it’s usually those guys and not. . Mm-hmm. , not just the Jason Mendozas, because that’s still relying on kind of like mainstream western media featuring those people.
Yeah. Versus like, Korea really exported this like huge, you know, wave of like potential people to love. And that’s interesting because, um, even though we talked about this Jimbo being kind of like, or the Asian Jimbo being leaning into like highly masculine. We’ve talked about before that like Korean representation of men is often a little bit more fluid.
Like yes, they have beautiful skin cuz they, they know how to do their skincare. They like, they wear makeup. They wear makeup. Yeah. And they, they can look, they can be attractive not being like highly masculine, but actually having a little bit of like, feminine, um, charisma. And it’s been interesting to see, like whenever I’m watching.
Tos or whatever, and people are like, um, over romanticizing Krama leads where they’re like, basically they’re like watching Krama and having unrealistic, uh, expectations of men to come into their lives based on the way that the Krama men are behaving. I’m like, how is this being completely ignored as to like, there has to obviously be an influence of like that huge kind of like, Getting used to seeing Asian men and finding them attractive and kind of influencing why Western media might start portraying Asian men.
You know this
[00:10:24] Jesse Lin: way. Yeah. I think the PBS thing is like really focused around like film and tv, but I totally agree with you that like what’s represented in film and TV may not be necessarily what the general public is interested in. And that totally backs your point of like a lot of people are interested.
Different look that Korea exports and it’s not this like westernized Americanized like mask dumb Jimbo thing that is in film and film and tv.
[00:10:56] Angela Lin: I think another like interesting direction that things are going in is like, um, yes we have the Jason Mendozas and the crazy ex-girlfriend and whatever portrayals of like, that’s kind of token Asian Jimbo, right?
Because the rest of the past is usually white. Yeah. Um, Something I wanna point out is that usually those shows are not run by Asian people. Right? And so one kind of, um, nod in that, or two nods in that direction. Uh, we talked all about everything ever all at once. And you talked specifically about how you loved wan’s character when they did the kind of like, , one of the multiverse options where they were kind of in like glam, like tuxedo and like, yes, yes.
And, um, evening gown dress. And he was really hot. So that’s one portrayal. And at the same time, turning Red came out that, uh, Disney, the Pixar movie. Yes. At The Red Panda, which I freaking loved. Um, and that boy band that they were all obsessed with, one of the characters was like, K-Pop boy band type.
Um-huh . And so, and everyone was like fawning over all of them, but like, they, you know, he’s one of them. And so both those were created by Asian people. Well, at least half the Daniels are Asian in, uh, everything Everywhere. Yes. And Turning Red was, was created by an Asian Canadian filmmaker. So I think also like as Asian people become more integrated into the, And the like.
Content ideas behind movies and TV shows will also start to see a more diverse portrayal of attractive male Asian characters, whether they be stupid or s smart, but like I, I like that we’re starting to see kind of this like evolution of different ways that they can be attractive. I just think, yeah, again, still baby.
Okay, so the way that we wanna close these minis is we want to hear from you guys. So why don’t you drop in the comments your favorite Asian Jimbo that you have seen across anything. One thing we didn’t mention is also, um, Fuck, what’s a bling empire, right? Like Kevin is obviously, oh my godly an Asian hio.
He like milks a shit out of his gosh. Sex factor. My gosh. So there’s a whole range, right? There’s like reality tv, there’s fiction tv, film, krama K-Pop. Who’s your F favorite Asian hio? Drop ’em in the comments. We wanna see who’s everyone’s favorite.
[00:13:26] Jesse Lin: All right. Well thanks for joining us. Listeners, come back next week for another fresh new episode