In the TV show Fresh Off the Boat, set in the mid-1990s, Eddie (the main character) is a Taiwanese teenage boy who moved from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida with his father Louis, his mother Jessica, his two younger brothers Emery and Evan, and his grandmother. Honestly, it’s almost as if the writers of the show sat with us in ENC2305, took notes, and went ahead and made Fresh Off the Boat because the show in its entirety is an absolutely blatant depiction of several concepts discussed in class. 

One idea discussed in class that Fresh Off the Boat emphasizes is that tiger mothers are not just very conscious about their kids’ academic success, they demand that their children be elite! In this particular excerpt from the show, Eddie celebrates his successful quarter at school after realizing he had achieved straight As. Eddie, thinking his mom would be happy, is in disbelief when his mom heads to the school principal’s office and not only demands that school be more challenging, but also that Eddie be enrolled in “extra school” at a Chinese Learning Center (CLC). The episode then proceeds to show the logo of the CLC institution which appears to be a doodle of an unhappy kid with Cs for eyes, an L for a nose, and A pluses on its head. This temporary display of the logo is important because it’s a quick portrayal explaining that the current unhappiness of the children lead to great results, thus summarizing the entirety of the tiger-mothering ideology which is that temporary unhappiness for children equals to their long term success. We are then shown the children inside of the learning center, most likely put there by their tiger-mothers, who all appear to be absolutely miserable. Keep in mind that it’s not called a learning center, but a “Chinese” one, which reinforces this concept even more. Jessica’s demand for more schooling despite her son’s success, the Chinese Learning Center’s symbolic logo, and the children’s misery at the learning center all show that Fresh Off the Boat reinforces concepts discussed in class about tiger-mothers.

Another concept discussed in class that Fresh Off the Boat reinforces is the ideological contrast between eastern and western parenting. These two forms of parenting are different from their very core, and we discussed how western parents tend to take into account different personal traits and emphasize “being the best you can be” whereas eastern/Chinese parents explicitly demand academic success from their children regardless of individuality. In the beginning of this excerpt from Fresh Off the Boat, Eddie was standing with a neighbor waiting for their report cards to be delivered. Eddie’s neighbor had a report card with straight C’s while Eddie had a report with straight A’s, and their reactions to their drastically different report cards were two equally resounding yeses. Eddie’s neighbor is white and is assumed to be raised under western principles which means that when he brings that report card home, his parents will assume he was the best he could have been for that quarter and then they’ll maybe suggest that he tries even harder next time. Eddie on the other hand is raised under eastern parenting principles and was happy because he had reached strict pre-established expectations. The episode then proceeds to show Eddie’s younger brothers showing their colorful, sticker-filled report cards to Jessica and talking about how their “school doesn’t give out grades” because “it fosters unhealthy competition.” These two report card scenes, show how eastern parenting emphasizes “excuseless” maximum potential and how western parenting take individual feelings into account and emphasizes individual potential instead. 

In the TV show Fresh Off the Boat, set in the mid-1990s, Eddie (the main character) is a Taiwanese teenage boy who moved from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida with his father Louis, his mother Jessica, his two younger brothers Emery and Evan, and his grandmother. Honestly, it’s almost as if the writers of the show sat with us in ENC2305, took notes, and went ahead and made Fresh Off the Boat because the show in its entirety is an absolutely blatant depiction of several concepts discussed in class.

One idea discussed in class that Fresh Off the Boat emphasizes is that tiger mothers are not just very conscious about their kids’ academic success, they demand that their children be elite! In this particular excerpt from the show, Eddie celebrates his successful quarter at school after realizing he had achieved straight As. Eddie, thinking his mom would be happy, is in disbelief when his mom heads to the school principal’s office and not only demands that school be more challenging, but also that Eddie be enrolled in “extra school” at a Chinese Learning Center (CLC). The episode then proceeds to show the logo of the CLC institution which appears to be a doodle of an unhappy kid with Cs for eyes, an L for a nose, and A pluses on its head. This temporary display of the logo is important because it’s a quick portrayal explaining that the current unhappiness of the children lead to great results, thus summarizing the entirety of the tiger-mothering ideology which is that temporary unhappiness for children equals to their long term success. We are then shown the children inside of the learning center, most likely put there by their tiger-mothers, who all appear to be absolutely miserable. Keep in mind that it’s not called a learning center, but a “Chinese” one, which reinforces this concept even more. Jessica’s demand for more schooling despite her son’s success, the Chinese Learning Center’s symbolic logo, and the children’s misery at the learning center all show that Fresh Off the Boat reinforces concepts discussed in class about tiger-mothers.

Another concept discussed in class that Fresh Off the Boat reinforces is the ideological contrast between eastern and western parenting. These two forms of parenting are different from their very core, and we discussed how western parents tend to take into account different personal traits and emphasize “being the best you can be” whereas eastern/Chinese parents explicitly demand academic success from their children regardless of individuality. In the beginning of this excerpt from Fresh Off the Boat, Eddie was standing with a neighbor waiting for their report cards to be delivered. Eddie’s neighbor had a report card with straight C’s while Eddie had a report with straight A’s, and their reactions to their drastically different report cards were two equally resounding yeses. Eddie’s neighbor is white and is assumed to be raised under western principles which means that when he brings that report card home, his parents will assume he was the best he could have been for that quarter and then they’ll maybe suggest that he tries even harder next time. Eddie on the other hand is raised under eastern parenting principles and was happy because he had reached strict pre-established expectations. The episode then proceeds to show Eddie’s younger brothers showing their colorful, sticker-filled report cards to Jessica and talking about how their “school doesn’t give out grades” because “it fosters unhealthy competition.” These two report card scenes, show how eastern parenting emphasizes “excuseless” maximum potential and how western parenting take individual feelings into account and emphasizes individual potential instead.

Conclusively, the idea of tiger mothers being demanding and academically oppressive, along with the concepts of eastern vs western parenting are very explicitly portrayed in Fresh Off the Boat. This particular excerpt from the show is richly infused with themes related to tiger-mothers and parenting in general, and there are many more underlying ideas left uncovered.

- Marc Desire

*Images: Screenshots from ABC.com