Hiro, the Lovable Hero

I had no time this semester, so I finally caught up on all my "Heroes" Season 2 eps this past week, thanks to my brother's Tivo.

Alas, the second season wasn't that great.

I was especially annoyed with Hiro's storyline, because it dragged on and on. (Well, the whole season was sort of like that, with lots of filler in the middle. Was it the actor's strike that pushed things along in the end?)

Hiro was one of my favorite characters, who gave us both comic relief and moments of thrilling bravery. And I like his moral code. He was the underdog, the geek, the office drone...yet he ended up helping to save the world; I think that's why so many people like him. (well that, and his Star Trek references, hehe!)



But in the second season, he doesn't get much action (and I mean, actual action, not girl action...although he doesn't get that either. Argh, why does this sound dirty? Anyways...) I get that they're doing the Cyrano thing, and sacrificing yourself for the good of the space-time continuum is a noble (and Asian) thing to do, but... c'mon, Hiro! We need to see some more Asian American male kicking ass, not playing second fiddle to cutie white British boy! Oh wow, that made me sound racist...then again, like the Avenue Q song goes, "everyone's a little bit racist"...

(Hey, as an aside, I ran across a cool Asian American blog called "Disgrasian", and among their list of things they didn't want to see again in 2008 (go to "New Year's Resolasians")was white samurais...thoughts, anyone?)

Actually, a few months ago I ran across some blog post or comment criticizing the Hiro Nakamura character's portrayal of Asian Americans as derogatory. The person asked why the creators of the character had to make him speak broken English, and be sort of a bumbling fool... I hadn't thought of it that way. I felt like, wow, have I been supporting stereotypes?

But you know what? I disagree. Yes, they could have made him a fluent English-speaking ABJ (does anyone even say that? I've only seen ABC...hm) like Dr. Suresh, but it wouldn't have been as interesting. The point was to show the transformation of what people normally see as the underdog (and who better than an Asian male comic-book geek?) into a tough hero. Plus, they did show him speaking fluent English as the Hiro from the future. And in many ways, he has one of the most interesting and potent powers (along with Peter and Claire's...and Matt Parkman, after you find out that he can not only read minds but control them).

For me, the bottom line is that as a minority, it will take a while for Asians (especially East Asians) to get more culturally sensitive and non-stereotypical portrayals in mainstream media. I think it's great that we're already getting more of them: Daniel Dae Kim in "Lost", Masi Oka, Lucy Liu (has anyone seen her new show? is it any good? The girls on "Disgrasian" didn't think so), Keiko Agena in "Gilmore Girls", etc.

I think it'll just take a while to get there.