Fresh Off the Boat struggles with a great many issues that Asians have had to face, and continue to face today. While the perceived benefits of assimilating into White culture are displayed extensively throughout the show (social acceptance, business success, and less judgement received from white neighbors) the Huangs have to constantly battle within themselves to determine their identity in a rapidly globalizing world today. This struggle is especially highlighted in the episode, “So Chineez,” in which Jessica observes just how far their family has changed to fit in with their whitewashed surroundings as she finally becomes close with her neighbors and Louis considers joining a country club. The conflict of this episode revolves around the Huang family’s appreciation of the American culture that they have assimilated into, including both the luxury and the leisure of life in the middle class, against Jessica’s desire to reconnect with the Chinese culture that has defined both her and Louis’s work ethics. As Louis begins to enjoy his visits to the country club both for its luxury and for its business opportunity, he and other family members begin to resist Jessica’s push to maintain Chinese culture because the life that they have fallen into in Orlando has become one that they are both comfortable and accepted in.
Jessica attempts to reconnect with her culture by donning some traditional Chinese garb.
Throughout this episode Jessica comes to the realization that it is nearly impossible to live in a white suburb without assimilating into their culture and discovers a certain middle ground in which one can both assimilate into a culture while respecting and understanding one’s historical roots. This establishes a key concept throughout the show of the Asian-American intersectionality in which Eddie is not entirely Asian, and not entirely American, but has pieces of his identity within both cultures. What Eddie tries to convey in his memoir that this show is based off of is that this is what separates Asian Americans from Asians and Americans.
