The second installment of The Dialogue Series was held on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015 to bring awareness about Asian Pacific Islander Month and focused around examining Asian Stereotypes portrayed on the new ABC series “Fresh Off the Boat.”

Asian Pacific Month is nationally celebrated typically in May, but since that month is wrought with a lot of stress due to finals and winding down the year it was celebrated early. This event wasn’t a lecture where a guest speaker talks to a crowd but rather along with a crowd.

Molly Berry saw the ingenious opportunity to have a discussion for Asian Pacific Islander Month and decided to sandwich it between the end of Hispanic Heritage Month and the beginning of Native American Month.

The discussion was about sharing the culture and indulging in the uniqueness and ethnic background of cultures outside of the majority being talked about. There was free food, fun discussion and Pandora blasting the likes of Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper and the band Boston (More Than a Feeling).

The topic being discussed was Asian stereotypes, whether they are positive or negative. Despite a stereotype being positive like “Asians are smart” that still carries immense pressure to live up to it, and if you don’t live up to it, it can carry a negative connotation.

Firstly, “Fresh Off the Boat” is a based off Taiwanese-Chinese-American chef and author Eddie Huang’s life and novel by the same name. According to ABC, “It’s the 90s and 12-year-old, hip-hop loving Eddie just moved to suburban Orlando from DC’s Chinatown with his parents.”

It’s a whole different way of living for immigrants Eddie and his family are trying to purse the “American Dream” in this land of “opportunity.” While the notion of pursuing the “American Dream” isn’t anything new, this show’s take to write and show the Asian-American story on pursuing the “American Dream” can be described as new and fresh, so to speak. As with anything going from book to screen, it becomes a different concept loosely based on the material it was founded on.

The question brought up at the event is has “Fresh Off the Boat” creators and producers taken the onus of writing Asian-American life and stories too far? Have they just decided just to write an amalgamation of Asian-American stereotypes to just gain popularity without being truly authentic?

At first glance, the “Fresh Off the Boat” series has packed a lot of Asian-American stereotypes into one giant bunch. The younger brothers of Eddie seemed to be completely focused and determined on winning the science fair. For them, second place isn’t sufficient. A grandparent also lives with Eddie and his family which reinforces the fact that in the Asian culture they take care of their elders and are very close. Even the background isn’t exempt, for this screaming family that has Asian roots the father wears Jade jewelry and the pillows on the couch have a seemingly cherry blossom motif and the shower curtain in the house has bamboo plants and the beds have oriental bedding. Even Eddie’s mother uses homeopathic white flower oil as a remedy to continually rub on her child who has the chicken pox. All these elements have roots in Asia, just not the part chef and author Eddie Huang came from. Now stereotyping a culture isn’t horrendously wrong or false, it’s just one narrative and not the full picture of one’s culture.

“Fresh Off the Boat” tap dances the line just so other shows can be created to show the authentic life of Asian Americans – hopefully without all the hodge-podged myriad of Asian influences portrayed.

The landscape is so diverse and is welcome to showcase more POC characters and stories. One thing is to be clear “Stereotypes are just one narrative and perspective,” Berry said. “It doesn’t speak for the whole culture. To treat them as speaking for the whole culture is a Complete Disservice to that Culture.”

Make sure you look out for the next installment of the Dialogue Series; you don’t want to miss it.