Happy Cleaners: Religion, Family, and The Asian American Dream with Charles Ryu, Yeena Sung, and Kat Kim - a podcast by Sean Niu

Welcome to Season 2! Happy Lunar New Year! 新年快樂! 새해 복 많이 받으세요 ! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới”!

After reflecting for a few weeks I decided to dedicate more time on the show talking to AsAm/minority creators and focusing the conversation around their journeys and experiences. I hope this helps you understand about how to pursue your own creative passions and furthers the conversation beyond variations of “what did you think of seeing someone that looked like you on screen?”

In Episode 34, I’m joined by Actors Charles Ryu and Yeena Sung as well as Writer Kat Kim from the Korean American movie Happy Cleaners. We start at (8:54) by talking about their memories of Seollal, or Korean New Year. Next (14:47) my guests share their varied journeys to become the creators they are today. Charles and Kat figuring out how to integrate acting/writing into their lives as preacher and lawyer, while Yeena pursuing a full-time acting career from a younger age.

Happy Cleaners is a movie that proudly displays its tight-knit Flushing community roots, and at (28:51) Kat elaborates on how their community was the driving force to enable the film. At (34:01) Charles and Yeena give us insight into how their family experiences influenced the characters they portray (father, daughter) in the film. Finally, Charles and Kat highlight the subtle thread of religion that ties the family dynamic together (44:24) and at (52:26) Yeena and Kat explain how their idea of the Asian American Dream influenced the ending of the film.

Notes
Happy Cleaners is out now! It can be streamed on Apple TV, iTunes, Amazon, Youtube, and Vimeo and was produced by [https://koreanamericanstory.org/]
DONATE so we can improve the show at [https://ko-fi.com/electricimageexpress]
Learn more about what is being done to prevent further Asian Elder violence: [https://rb.gy/uno8of}
E-mail us at electricimageexpress@gmail.com
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