Bowen Yang may play a rat in the new animated film The Tiger’s Apprentice, but he’s actually a horse.
“My first memories are of my mom telling me how horses are strong and they work hard,” Yang said in reference to his Chinese zodiac sign. “So much of the zodiac informs your identity if you grew up in some sort of diaspora household, if you’re Asian. So I think the zodiac is this enduring thing that…binds this culture together in a very meaningful way. The thing that gets me emotional about Lunar New Year every year is that we all come together. Every culture has its own version of it, but it’s all kind of under the same idea of celebrating and being among among people you love and red envelopes, dumplings and all that.”
In The Tiger’s Apprentice, Yang plays Sidney the rat, an animal that is represented as sociable, expressive, hard-working and a perfectionist. The horse, on the other hand, represents power, beauty and freedom though it has a quick temper. Though Yang identifies closer to his actual zodiac sign, he feels there is a lot to admire in Sidney’s personality.
“I am expressive, I’m quite resourceful as well the way that Sidney is and the way that a lot of rats are,” Yang said. “I think maybe it ends there because I’m through and through a horse. Beyond the expressiveness of Sidney, of rats, I like to be still. I like to sleep on my legs and just chill out until the time comes when I need to ride and I need to gallop. That’s the duality of horses that I really relate to. But with Sidney, I mean, he’s just so lovable. He’s so loyal to his friends in a way that I think is very inspiring. I think it’s a good model for me, and I hope that I can be as loyal to my people the same way that Sidney is.”
Beyond the lessons that its characters teach, The Tiger’s Apprentice provides positive representation of Asian Americans culture through its characters, cast and cultural exploration. While Asian Americans can obviously benefit from seeing themselves and their culture on screen, Yang also feels like the movie can be relatable to people of all backgrounds.
“This is certainly not my first time working in an Asian cast or creating an Asian American story, so what I’ve learned from that experience is that the specific is the universal,” he said. “If you can get something granular to that level, and I think this movie does that in spades, it kind of loops back around to being for everyone…On its surface seems like a very specific story, but in fact, it’s quite universal and human.”
That being said, Yang is happy to see the celebration of Asian Americans in media as authentic stories, characters and actors become more prominent. He cited the numerous awards won by the Netflix series Beef as a sign that Asian content has finally become mainstream.
“I think we’re seeing it now because we have been very fastidious, and I think our stamina has been very good in terms of waiting to chip away at things and sculpt the media landscape…It was just about breaking through it first,” he said. “It’s almost kind of there, but we just need one last push. I feel like Beef been winning so much acclaim after it’s been released in the wake of award season, no one really thought of it as like an Asian show even though it is absolutely that, and people behind and in front of the camera or Asian. It was just this impactful limited series that didn’t really land in the culture as this show for or by Asian people.
“I think we need like three more things on that level to break through and then I from there it’ll be a whole new frontier. What can we do with this? What hasn’t been told yet? It’s always about excavating the next thing.”