Below Empire

Director / 2023 / Comedy & Parody / Performance & Short

In Below Empire, two main characters resemble Jamie and Anna from the Netflix reality show, Bling Empire (2021-2022). The older blonde is Annie and the younger girl is Janie, an almost mirror image of the Asian characters depicted in the original show, Bling Empire, except with a twist. The ethnically distinct reality show’s parody, Below Empire, works to undermine the picture-perfect lives of the wealthy, immensely successful, and luxurious lives in which the Asian American characters lead in the original show. 

In the actual show, Annie is Anna who is the daughter of a billionaire, inheriting hundreds of millions of dollars, and living life financially free and successfully as an Asian American, often battling with other wealthy Asian elites in Beverly Hills and the rest of Los Angeles. Below Empire, instead constructs an image of two women talking about their real-life struggles as a college dropout, local pet store worker, and gig economy worker, just like the many Asian Americans out there who struggle to make ends meet, ensuring an ever-continuing struggle and battle of falling into poverty, as discussed in Kent A. Ono and Vincent Pham’s reading covering Asian Americans and the Media: Chapter 5, “Threatening Model Minorities: The Asian American Horatio Alger Story.” Not only that, Ono and Pham also claim that there is a lingering “Model Minority” myth of Asian Americans on television, media, and social media, as indicated by Bling Empire. The original show focuses on the financially successful Asians, the extremely rich ones, lacking representation of all of the other Asians who are struggling financially. 

To combat these stereotypes, Annie and Janie continue to speak on their financial and social struggles as not being able to afford even the cheapest of things, like a Starbucks drink. These two characters, instead, bring a new set of ideologies to the television table, where talking about how poor or broke you are is “okay” and that there is no shame in being honest. By creating media that deconstructs the “Model Minority,” we can build a more inclusive, accepting society for future generations and students.

Another key reading I covered in my small theater skit, is Jo Light’s “What Is the Bechdel Test and How Will It Help Your Writing?”. In what is described as the Bechdel test, there must be a conversation between women without speaking a word about men, in which this skit passes. With women in focus, the two main characters are developed through comedy and mainly dialogue, bringing up topics about work, hustle culture, school, and life. Here, we are given the opportunity to see through the complexities of the female characters, their desires, and their personalities, indicating their lack of reliance on men, unlike the depiction of most women on many television shows, especially those before the 21st century. In Bling Empire, contrastingly, female characters constantly gossip and talk about each other, especially about men and their “hotness,” in which was completely removed from this parody, alternatively opting for stories about their lives without male dependence.

Through my own experiences as an Asian American and through the guide work of the scholarship/readings, Below Empire, the title alluding to the bottom of the Empire, works against Bling Empire, instead focusing on cheap fashion trends and work struggles that aren’t about modeling for big agencies, running a plastic surgery clinic, buying out luxury stores, or talking about male characters for hours.