The city of Cupertino is 70.9% Asian. A new TV show set there ignores this

lawsthro0532•18 minutes ago

Better Luck Tomorrow is the only depiction of high school I've seen that looked like anything I recognized. And I grew up where it snows for months.

It's sad they aren't doing better.

janalsncm•about 2 hours ago

We are used to this when Hollywood depicts exotic foreign countries but the Bay Area is a one hour plane ride away.

The blame here lies squarely with the writers of the show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_and_Michelle_King

Dig1t•about 2 hours ago

In 2000 it was 44% Asian. In just 2 decades (less than one generation) it completely flipped.

Demographic replacement in the USA is so fast and extreme that it’s difficult to keep up with it.

A TV writer who started their career in 2000 and visited Cupertino a few times would be forgiven for not understanding that the demographics of that place have been completely rewritten within their lifetime.

Expecting media to keep up with the exact demographics of the USA when the rate of change is so drastic, is a pretty high bar.

OJFord•7 minutes ago

> Expecting media to keep up with the exact demographics of the USA when the rate of change is so drastic, is a pretty high bar.

They don't have to 'keep up with' it all the time though, is 'do your research' and 'maybe visit the place' for the show you're writing about 'a pretty high bar'?

(I'm not even sure I agree it's important to reflect, or at least not that it's always necessarily required, but I certainly don't think it being difficult is the reason not to, because I don't see how it is.)

lern_too_spel•26 minutes ago

If the cast were 44% Asian, there wouldn't be an issue. It's less than 10%.

Dig1t•15 minutes ago

In 1990 in was 20% asian, in 1980 in was 7%. The representation of the show is still realistic for one person's lifetime, in my opinion.

Indeed the creators of the show were full adults in 1980, a time when the USA was still nearly 100% white in most areas.

tsss•about 1 hour ago

African Americans are noticeably overrepresented in contemporary American media, while Asian Americans are underrepresented. In the UK it is even worse where at least half of the actors will be Indians, Pakistanis and so on when the majority of the country is white. This is, of course, on purpose.

porkpieshoe•about 1 hour ago

What (if any) data are you using? Because at a glance, both halves of your initial claim appear to be false.

Roughly 14% of Americans are black, and the measures I've found put black representation between 8-16% depending on which measure is used.

And roughly 7% of Americans are asian, and I'm seeing figures from 5% to 18% depending on measure used.

The city of Cupertino is 70.9% Asian. A new TV show set there ignores this

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion (8 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews