The Bachelorette is known as a reality TV mainstay, but it’s hardly known as a beacon of diversity and inclusion, especially when it comes to its lead casting. The show’s 21st season, which premiered July 8, saw Jenn Tran make history as the first Asian American to play a lead role in the franchise. Since news of her casting broke, the 26-year-old Vietnamese-American sanitation worker has been the target of racist remarks and microaggressions, but she’s also paved the way for people of Asian immigrant descent.
There is now cautious optimism about what Tran’s season has in store.
Grace Wang, an associate professor of American studies at the University of California, Davis, told Yahoo Entertainment that Tran’s choice was “pretty groundbreaking” because it’s still rare to see an Asian American woman at the center of her own narrative. Wang said she watches a lot less reality TV these days, in part because of the “frustrating” way Asian Americans are portrayed. Still, she was proud to hear of Tran’s choice and will be tuning in to show her support.
“It sends a clear message that an Asian American woman can be the lead character in a mainstream television franchise, and an entire season can revolve around the hopes and desires and feelings of an Asian American woman,” Wang said. “I really applaud Jenn for putting herself out there, because being the first in anything is the hardest part: you get the hardest hits, the most backlash. She may feel added pressure to represent Asian Americans in a positive light.”
This pressure is a topic Tran has addressed before.
“Being the first Asian-American Bachelorette comes with a lot of responsibility,” she said during the season premiere. “I want to be able to make everyone proud and, you know, proud of my heritage. I think what really matters is that I just have to be myself and do the best that I can.”
Veronica Fitzpatrick, assistant professor of modern culture and media at Brown University, is a “huge fan” of Bachelor She also acknowledged the inherent “whiteness” of her audience. While Tran’s role as Bachelorette is historic, Fitzpatrick, who is Filipino-American, remembers a time when people of color could exist on screen without having to represent their entire culture in an “educational capacity” for white viewers.
“It really reduces people to sort of characters or tokens,” she told Yahoo Entertainment.
The growing expectation that Asian Americans must teach others about their heritage in an engaging and compelling way is what Fitzpatrick sees as one of the downsides of how “reality TV has tried to diversify.”
Tran made her Bachelor Nation debut earlier this year, when she was cast as one of 32 women vying for the affections of The single person’m Joey Graziadei, the heroine of season 28. She made it to the final six roles before being sent home.
What sets Tran apart from previous Bachelorettes is her openness about growing up in an immigrant family. On Graziadei’s season, she opened up about her upbringing and how she wasn’t raised with a healthy understanding of romantic love. Tran’s parents immigrated from Vietnam, and she cites her Vietnamese culture as a reason her mother continued to “serve” her father despite their volatile relationship. Tran hasn’t had any contact with her father since college.
“My mom was like, I think she grew up in a different culture in Vietnam where women cook, clean, do everything for their husbands,” Tran explained on the June 26 episode of Call her daddy“And then they started fighting, but my mother always did everything for my father.”
Being the first Asian-American main character comes with its risks. One, for example, is that Tran may be subject to the “model minority” expectation—that her home life is stable, structured, and secure; that she comes from the perfect Asian nuclear family.
“It’s important for AAPI (Asian and Pacific Islander) viewers and children of Asian immigrants to see a family dynamic like Jenn’s because there’s no one way to love (or not love) your family,” Natasha Jung, founder of Cold Tea Collective, a platform that highlights the experiences of the Asian diaspora, told Yahoo Entertainment. “There can often be a lot of shame and ‘saving face’ in AAPI cultures when it comes to how our lives are perceived outwardly.”
Wang echoed Jung’s sentiments and spoke of the shame that can result from failing to conform to certain stereotypes.
“I think there’s a prevailing perception that Asian immigrants have ‘strong family values’ or that the children of Asian immigrants are godly toward their parents. The idea that immigrant children have a strained relationship — or are estranged from their parents — complicates that image,” she said. “It shows the diversity within our group and humanizes Asian American families.”
Ideally, Fitzpatrick said, the show would reference Tran’s Vietnamese culture, but not be an acknowledgement aimed exclusively at a white audience. If the show were to adopt this “educational tenor,” it could be an alienating experience for Asian and, particularly, Vietnamese viewers.
“I think the question is how does a show like The Bachelorette “I know how to acknowledge heritage without forcing it or dismissing it,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s going to be about knowing when to name things as being due to Jenn’s heritage or as reflecting her heritage without sacrificing the specificity of her story and without needing to speak for every Asian American or every Vietnamese American.”
Wang also argued for intentionality when representing Tran culture on screen.
“I hope that Jenn is desired and talked about in a way that acknowledges her Vietnamese heritage, but doesn’t make it a determining factor in how her suitors (and) viewers understand her,” she said. “A lot of reality TV pigeonholes people into pre-existing types rather than allowing us to see the complexity of who they are.”
She added: “I hope having an Asian protagonist for a full season of The Bachelorette will allow us to see the multiple facets of his character and a more complex and humanized representation.