‘Sesame Street’ launches first Asian American muppet
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What’s in a name? Well, for Ji-Young, the new muppet resident of “Sesame Street”, her name is a sign that she was supposed to live there.
âSo in Korean traditionally the two syllables each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or brave and strong,â Ji-Young explained in a recent interview. . “But we were looking for this and guess what? Ji also means sesame.”
At just 7 years old, Ji-Young made history as the first Asian American muppet in the “Sesame Street” canon. She is of Korean descent and has two passions: swinging on her electric guitar and skateboarding. The children’s TV show, which first aired 52 years ago this month, gave The Associated Press a first glimpse of its adorable new occupant.
Ji-Young will be officially featured in “See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special”. Simu Liu, Padma Lakshmi and Naomi Osaka are among the celebrities appearing on the special, which will premiere Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, âSesame Streetâ social media platforms and on local PBS stations.
Part of Ji-Young’s personality comes from his puppeteer. Kathleen Kim, 41, Korean American, started puppetry in her 30s. In 2014, she was accepted into a âSesame Streetâ workshop. This evolved into mentoring and became part of the team the following year. Being a puppeteer on a show Kim watched growing up was a dream come true. But helping to shape an original muppet is quite another feat.
âI feel like I have a lot of weight that I maybe put on myself to teach these lessons and to be that representative that I didn’t have as a kid,â Kim said. But fellow puppeteer Leslie Carrara-Rudolph – who plays Abby Cadabby – reminded him, “It’s not about us⦠It’s about this message.”
Ji-Young’s existence is the culmination of much discussion after the events of 2020 – the death of George Floyd and the incidents of anti-Asian hate. Like many companies, âSesame Streetâ has been thinking about how it might ârespond to the present moment,â said Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creation and production for Sesame Workshop, the organization at nonprofit behind “Sesame Street”.
Sesame Workshop has established two working groups – one to review its content and another to examine its own diversity. What has grown is Coming Together, a multi-year initiative focused on how to talk to children about race, ethnicity and culture.
One result was Tamir, 8 years old. Although he was not the first black muppet in the series, he was one of the first to talk about topics like racism.
FILE – Sesame Street characters (LR) Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby attend the HBO premiere of The Magical Wand Chase from Sesame Street at the Metrograph on November 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images for HBO
âWhen we knew we were going to do this work which was going to focus on the experience of the people of Asia and the Pacific, of course we knew we had to create an Asian muppet as well,â Stallings said.
These new muppets – their personalities and their looks – have been remarkably constructed in a matter of months. The process normally takes at least two years. There are outside experts and a cross section of employees known as âcultural trustâ that weighs in on every aspect of a new muppet, Stallings said.
For Kim, it was crucial that Ji-Young was not “generically pan-Asian”.
âBecause it’s something that all Asian Americans have been through. They kind of want to put us in this monolithic ‘Asian’,â Kim said. “So it was very important that she was specifically Korean American, not just generically Korean, but that she was born here.”
One thing Ji-Young will help teach children is how to be a good âstarterâ. âSesame Streetâ first used the term on its âThe Power of Weâ TV show last year, which starred Tamir.
“Standing means that you are reporting things that are wrong or something someone is doing or saying because of their negative attitude towards the person due to the color of their skin or the language they speak or ‘where it comes from,’ Stallings mentioned. “We want our audience to understand that they can be honest.”
In âSee Us Coming Togetherâ, Sesame Street prepares for Neighbors Day where everyone shares the food, music or dance of their culture. Ji-Young gets angry after a child, offscreen, tells him to “come home,” a common insult to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. But she feels empowered after fellow Asian American residents of Sesame Street, guest stars and friends like Elmo assured her that she belongs as much as anyone else.
The fact that Ji-Young was created to counter anti-Asian sentiment makes her more special to Kim in some ways.
âI remember the Atlanta shooting and how terrifying it was for me,â Kim said. âMy only hope, of course, is to help teach what racism is, to help kids be able to recognize it, and then speak out against it. But my other hope for Ji-Young is that it normalizes. just see different kinds of watching kids on TV.
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Vanessa Leung, Co-Executive Director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, is excited about Ji-Young. The organization was not involved in the creation of Ji-Young but has previously consulted on anti-racist content for Sesame Workshop. This is important when Asian American families, especially many of whom are immigrant families, can see themselves reflected in an institution like âSesame Street,â Leung said.
âIt arouses curiosity and early understanding of the diversity of our community, the beauty of the diversity of our community,â said Leung.
Ji-Young will be very present throughout the series’ 53rd season next year, Stallings reassured. It will also not be used solely for content related to racial justice. She will appear in various digital, live and animated programs.
As a new kid on the streets, Ji-Young is eager to show his friends and neighbors aspects of Korean culture such as food. She loves to cook dishes like tteokbokki (soft rice cakes) with her halmoni (grandmother). And she already has a friend from “Sesame Street” who wants a sample.
âI’d love to try it out,â said Ernie, who joined Ji-Young’s interview. “You know, I tried the bulgogi. I really like the bulgogi. I guess maybe my old buddy Bert hasn’t tried Korean food.”
Having already made several famous friends on âSesame Streetâ, is there anyone Ji-Young really wants to meet?
âThe Linda Lindas because they’re so cool,â Ji-Young said, referring to the teenage punk rock band. “And they’re awesome and they’re cool girls and most of them are Asian. They’re my heroes. If we could have the Linda Linda’s on ‘Sesame Street’ I’d show them around.”
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