Mika Ellison

We're not new, but we've been kind of incognito.

That's Leilani again.

In her research, she found mixed Asians have often just kind of assimilated into whatever category people decide they look more like.

But what feels newer to me is that we have characters and stories now about people who are specifically Weijin.

Like all of the sisters in the Netflix movie to All the Boys I've Loved Before and the spinoff show Exo Kitty or Hudson Williams in Heated Rivalry.

Oh, yes.

I've seen all of these things.

Check, check, check.

He did Rivalry specifically.

Huge for Waysians.

Like, I really think I started seeing all this stuff, all the memes about us, when the show came out.

And I can't say for sure which, but Hudson Williams playing Shane Hollander either precipitated or accelerated this focus on Waysia.

Yeah.

For me, it was one of the only times that I've seen a show, like, care that a character was Wajan.

Hmm.

Though his story did fall a little bit into that stereotype that Leilani was describing earlier about this privileged, rich Waysian.

But anyway, even though I personally have enjoyed the Waysian label, seeing all the Waysians come up in culture, I think there are some people who still see casting Waysians as kind of a cynical ploy.

In terms of streaming, it's again, you're trying to capture every piece of the pie.

That's Samantha Texon, a PhD student at USC who studies streaming platforms and representation.

And that kind of bears out in the data.