Source: MSNBC.com, July
10, 2012
"K-Town" Seeks
to Shake Stereotypes
By Fallon Okwuosa and Angie Crouch
A reality show based in
Los Angeles’ Koreatown will be released on YouTube’s Loud channel this month
and some locals are not happy about the unscripted show that depicts Korean
Americans partying in the Southland.
“They make K-Town look
glamorous I guess, or trashy,” said a resident.
The reality show, which
airs on July 11, has been talked about for two years and dubbed the next
“Jersey Shore” – the popular MTV show that follows eight 20- and 30-somethings
as they party through their way through the summer.
Unlike the MTV show,
K-Town was not picked up by any networks. The trailer for the show describes it
as “the reality show no TV network could show you.”
While the show has stirred
up controversy, producers praise the project as a way of exploring what it’s
like to be Asian in the 21st century.
“Asians have always been
viewed through the media as either exaggerated stereotypes or the
one-dimensional model minority. K-Town is a celebration of what it’s like to be
a young Asian in American today,” executive producer Mike Le said in a statement
on the show’s website.
Singer/actor Tyrese Gibson
is the creator and executive producer of K-Town. Gibson partnered with Ben
Silverman’s multimedia entertainment studio, Electus, which owns Loud, their
new pop-culture channel.
“Loud is the perfect
platform for chronicling the social rituals of this unique Asian American
subculture,” Gibson said in a statement on the show’s website.
Producers said they
realize some people in the Asian American community view the show as shameful.
“I think a little shame is a
good thing at this point,” said executive producer Mike Le.
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