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To fight against discrimination, Sesame Street has a muppet of Asian origin

2021-11-17T06:15:50.012Z


Ji-Young will make an appearance during the Thanksgiving holidays. Of Korean origin, it symbolizes the show's desire to “respond to the present moment”.


Is a puppet the best way to fight discrimination?

For the American program

Sesame Street

,

broadcast in France from 1974 to 2007 under various names -

Bonjour Sésame, 1, rue Sésame, Sésame ,ouverture

and

5, rue Sésame

- the answer is yes.

On the occasion of the Thanksgiving holidays, the program will unveil its new muppet, dubbed Ji-Young, as revealed by the Associated Press.

Read also

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 : Kermit and Piggy separate

The new character, an American of Korean descent, made her television debut on the

Today program on

Monday, November 16.

“You know, what's really cool about

Sesame Street is

it doesn't matter what you look like, or how you play, or where you come from.

You are part of the show and it's really cool, ”

launched the puppet to the cantonade.

Ji-Young's passions?

Wiggle your hips on your electric guitar and skateboard.

In Korean, the two syllables mean "intelligent" or "wise" and "brave", "courageous" or "strong" respectively.

But - the height of ecstasy - Ji also means "sesame".

Ji-Young's puppeteer is partly behind its creation.

Kathleen Kim, 41, is also an American of Korean descent.

Accepted in 2014 in one of the workshops organized by

Sesame Street

, she finally joined the team the following year.

Nice little story for the one who grew up watching the show.


"I feel like I give weight to these lessons"

on "living together" and

"to be this representative that I did not have when I was a child,"

she told the 'Associated Press, alluding to the absence of an Asian puppet on the show.

"Respond to the present moment"

The creation of Ji-Young is the result of the events of 2020, where the death of George Floyd and the anti-Asian hate incidents brought special attention to issues of discrimination and racism. Like many businesses,

Sesame Street

has been thinking about how she might

"respond to the present moment

,

"

Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creation and production for Sesame Workshop, told US news agency. , the non-profit organization behind the children's program.

Kathleen Kim also explained that it is crucial that the puppet does not represent all people of Asian culture.

“It's something that all Asian Americans have experienced.

In a way, we want to group ourselves into the “Asian” monolithic category.

So it was very important

[that Ji-Young]

was specifically American-Korean, and not just "generically" Korean.

She had to be born here. ”

See also In New York, red carpet for the

Muppets

Thus, Ji-Young should teach children to be more vigilant regarding offenses against people of Asian descent. One word is placed at the center of this objective: “upstander” (which can be translated as “megaphone”).

“Being an 'upstander' means reporting things that are wrong, or what someone is doing or saying that is based on a negative attitude towards the person because of their skin color, tongue or origin. We want our public to understand that they can stand in solidarity ”

with people who are discriminated against, explained Kay Wilson Stallings.

Sesame Street, a

children's television program, first aired in November 1969. The episode "See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special", which airs on Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, will officially introduce Ji-Young to fans. of the show, starring actors Simu Liu and Padma Lakshmi, and tennis international Naomi Osaka.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-11-17

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