by Ravi Chandra, MD
cartoon graphic courtesy of Lela Lee

Did you even think someone could make a career out of being angry?

How about an Asian American woman?

Lela Lee has capitalized on anger, much to the joy and empowerment of girls and women across the country. She created an animated cartoon and comic strip, Angry Little Asian Girls, after—yup, you guessed it—after getting pissed off at racist and demeaning cartoons at a Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation. Her outrage fueled her creativity, and her first animated short screened to much laughter and acclaim. In it, the Angry Little Asian Girl (ALAG) hums sweetly on her way to school. All seems fine until her teacher and classmates make derogatory comments about her eyes and ethnicity (“You could blindfold yourself with dental floss,” for example). She explodes in expletives then hums sweetly all the way home. The ALAG won’t put up, shut up, or give up.

Angry Little Asian Girls grew into Angry Little Girls, and now features girl characters of all ethnicities united in anger. They are sisters in the struggle, divas of destruction, sandbox superheroes, wondergirls of the wordfist, the kick-ass answers to Hello Kitty. The girls have their own personalities, from the original angry girl to gloomy, disenchanted, fresh, and crazy girls.

The Angry Little Girl website includes links to cartoons, a discussion forum, and quite a selection of merchandise, from Angry Little Girl T-shirts to tote and messenger bags, videos, mugs and mouse pads. There are bold and vibrant gifts for every sparky and angry girl in your life.

Lela Lee’s creation empowers as it informs, and entertains as it lights a flaming sword. She shocks some and excites others by turning the stereotype of the submissive (Asian) woman on its head.

Now personally, I’ve never known a submissive Asian woman. Strong, dynamic, principled, energizing, quietly capable, easygoing—but never submissive. But I do know that anger and dissent are looked down upon in many Asian cultures, and accommodating to the family or group will is preferred and even enforced. Women feel this pressure even more than men. In America, as minorities, there is even more pressure to blend in, assimilate, to go unnoticed, and to keep silent. Sticking out risks disapproval from the majority group, with potential consequences.

But this is also a land of extreme emotions and individuality, in which the pursuit of happiness and identity can lead the individual to butt heads with disagreeable opposing forces. This is certainly what Lela Lee faced when she saw those demeaning cartoons in college.

We construct our identity around race and ethnicity, gender, class, occupation, immigrant status, sexual orientation, disabilities or illness, and our achievements, etc. Imagine someone being contemptuous and dismissive of any of these traits, and it’s easy to see how identity issues can stoke anger.

We live in a culture that can marginalize and deride us as Asian Americans. Senator McCain’s use of the slur “gook” a few years ago is but one example. Many of us feel injured when these things happen. We’ve been slighted. When our identity is slighted, we feel disrespected and diminished. The end result of diminishment and scorn in our minds is non-existence: death itself. Slights can seem like death threats to our survival instinct. Underlying our anger is fear, usually fear of loss or death.

Lela Lee resonates with so many Asian Americans because she advances the image of strong and independent girls (and women) with powerful voices. She makes this palatable by letting cutesy, disarming children say the most alarming things. And by doing so, she protects and promotes the identity and equality of women. Hopefully, her work will result in empowering the identity called “Asian American Woman”, as girls and women proudly wear their Angry Little Girl T-shirts and gain courage to respond to demeaning situations. We all need that encouragement and bonding to build self-confidence and appreciation of who we are as individuals.