Mika Ellison

According to the UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report for 2025, 22% of leads in streaming films were multiracial.

That's the second largest share behind white people.

And that includes other types of multiracial people, of course.

But the share of non-mixed Asian leads was 2%, which is obviously way, way lower.

Right.

And also at the same time, I think a little Asian-ness is kind of palatable for white people, actually.

K-pop is huge.

Squid Game was huge.

Anime is huge, even on the culinary level.

And this is my own opinion, but I feel like Americans are not as afraid of Asian foods and ingredients.

And they're even kind of trendy.

I think that discourse was embarrassing for everyone.

But anyway, going back to Waysians on screen, I feel like on one end of the spectrum, you have a character like Shane Hollander, who's shaped somewhat by being Waysian.

And then on the other end of the spectrum, you have Waysians on screen that are just kind of there.

Here's Jacob Campbell, a graduate student at The Ohio State University, who studies higher education and representation.

And you might say, okay, why does it matter?

We have Waysian people on screen, and it's great.

Does every story need to be about being Waysian?

And, like, the thing that happens when you don't acknowledge Waysianness is that more often than not, these stories end up treating Waysian people exactly like white people, with all of the attendant privileges.

Like in The Summer I Turned Pretty.