‘Fire Island’ star Bowen Yang on how LGBTQ spaces can be unwelcoming for queer Asians
The Asian American queer rom-com “Fire Island” spotlights the power of queer Asian friendship — particularly in spaces that aren’t always inclusive of LGBTQ
The Asian American queer rom-com “Fire Island” spotlights the power of queer Asian friendship — particularly in spaces that aren’t always inclusive of LGBTQ people of color.
Actors Bowen Yang and Margaret Cho, who star in “Fire Island,” said that the getaway in Long Island, New York, is meant to be an inviting hub of queer joy, but it's been criticized for its increasingly exclusive wealthy and white patronage. It's an undercurrent theme in the film, but they hope the rom-com, which premieres Friday on Hulu, can show just how important their queer Asian friendships are in allowing them to feel a sense of liberation that the island doesn’t always foster for all.
“It’s a really tough place to navigate if you’re not a specific mold of a gay person,” Yang said. “And yet if you find that corner of the island that is for you and your people, then it’s the best.”
The film, a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” revolves around the enduring friendship between commitment-phobe Noah — played by Joel Kim Booster, who also wrote the film — and his best friend, Howie, played by Yang, a hopeless romantic.
Their dispersed friends group reunites for an annual week of summer freedom and debauchery on the island. But the stakes feel particularly high on this trip, as it’s revealed that lesbian matriarch Erin, played by Margaret Cho, with whom the friends stay every year, is losing her vacation home.
Rating: 5