How Juniper Lee Gave Me A First Proper Taste Of Asian Feminism

And so did real-life heroes like Michelle Yeoh, Sandra Oh, Blackpink and fictional ones, Rukia Kuchiki, to the point that I am creating one of my own: Anya Hilliard-Kurosaki.

Although I had grew up with mostly feminism in my whole life, it was mostly Juniper Lee, from The LIfe and Times of Juniper Lee (and of all of the other Asian heroines) that had exposed me to Asian feminism and had helped me to feel seen, as an Asian girl. Photo source from Judd Winick and Cartoon Network/ Warner Bros Television(2005). Image source from the author.

Back then, when I was a young six-year-old girl, my first exposure to feminism was through Kim Possible from the titular Disney Channel animated series of the same name, as well as Alex, Sam, and Clover from Totally Spies, and also Ginger Foley from the Nickelodeon animated series As Told By Ginger.

And also in my preteen years, which were when I was nine years old, was Violet Parr from the 2004 Disney/Pixar movie, The Incredibles. Although I had considered this Pixar magnum opus a direct masterpiece and my first love as to why I even want to considered creative writing and filmmaking to a direct career path (until my mother had told me that it was very unrealistic for me to fulfil this career path as either both drawing, filmmaking and writing get me nowhere-right until now when her intended intentions of me into going into the education industry did get me clearly nowhere as I’ve been blacklisted for the best reasons, that will lead me back to where I wanted to be at), especially with how they had been able to utilize these strong female characters-even and especially the heroic Parrs matriarch, Helen Parr or superheroically, known as Elastigirl, the aforementioned Violet Parr, and even the sleek and nuanced femme fatale villain, Mirage.

However, these heroines, whether it is Kim Possible, or even most of the girl members of the Totally Spies, or even Ginger Foley and even Violet Parr, had this one thing in common.

That they are all fair, pretty, standardised, White and Caucasian girls.

Which had made me feel very resentful of them whenever they appear on the screens- whether it is the small cuboid box of my television set back then in the early to mid 2000s or even in the silver screen, as they were therefore afforded the best of the White privileges, and the supportive and loving parents or family members that I was unfortunately deprived of and was unable to have, especially coming from a fully Chinese Malaysian, and Asian household where to be an Asian young girl, is to eventually fit the mould- being submissive, not being opinionated, or to follow everything with your parent’s wishes as part of filial piety and to pay honour or respect to your elderly relatives when they do not even value your stance as a human being, and even especially being a coloured girl, who was a bit more tan skin and slightly brown hair (to the point that people had asked me the validity of my ethnicity of whether I had some Causasianism in me), and to add things worse, being neurodivergent- I was starting to feel resentful that many of the female Asian characters, whether it is Trixie Tang from Nickelodeon’s The Fairy Odd Parents, Numbuh 3 from Codename:Kids Next Door, or Julie Yamamoto, Ben Tennyson’s love interest in the Ben 10 franchise, were either been seen as pretty yet submissive, nonconfrontational, outspoken or even worse doormats, in order to suppress themselves to fit into that society that could help benefit them.

And even so, especially when I was also a child, growing up with Mulan from the titular 1998 Disney film, was not enough to console me, that I was good enough and that I was able to find my place and to navigate as an Asian woman, who does not look pretty Asian enough. Although it had helped expose me to Asian feminism, with strong female characters that are strategic thinkers and who can make an impact in their community, while being respected as their male counterparts, it was not enough to console me and to make me feel that I was therefore seen, and to fit into the Asian mould, I was therefore required to submit into many of my elders expectations, which had brought so much of personal grievance and resentment into me. However, when I was younger, and being a Malaysian Chinese, I was able to find my solace in another real-life Asian feminist icon, who looks like me and who came from the same homeland as me: (Tan Sri) Michelle Yeoh.

Other than the fictional hero, Juniper Lee, it was also my real life heroine (Tan Sri) Michelle Yeoh that had made me felt seen and validated as an young Asian girl, back in the 2000s. Photo source from Getty Image. Image provided by the author.

Which was really a validating point considering that we were both Chinese Malaysians, and also, we were Asian females who were trying to navigate our land. With Michelle Yeoh, the trailblazing Asian actress, who was known for several Hong Kong films, such as the Police Story franchise, which my mother and my aunt would watch on Celestial Movies or TVB at our home channel, or even the third instalment of The Mummy franchise, or the drama films back then, whether it is The Lady, and Memoirs of A Geisha, I had often felt a comforting solace whenever I see her on screen as I wished that I would be able to be in a level where she would therefore acknowledge my crafts, even to work together in a film project. Also, in an environment when I had therefore felt the terrible dysfunction of my family environment, the internal school bullying from my teachers and my classmates, and the brokenness of my parent’s separation, I had therefore found a lot of comfort in watching many of Michelle Yeoh’s films, and seeing it as a route of escapism for myself.

Which was also between 2003 and 2005. Although I had also grown up with either Lucy Liu’s roles, or even Sandra Oh’s character, Dr. Christina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy from the late night airings on NTV7, and although I had watched a glimpse of it as part of my Asian experience, I was always caught off guard with Michelle Yeoh’s varied performance, that I had therefore seen her roles as a source of comfort in my growing real-life dysfunction, like a real life family or mentor figure in my life when I was craving supportive figures to help me to feel validated and belonged.

However, there was another Asian feminist icon, and although fictional, that had eventually played a huge role in showing me a clear picture of the essence of how Asian feminism should be like. Not to mention, helping me to eventually feel seen. That character’s name: Juniper Lee from the Cartoon Network television series, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.

There are many Asian characters that are created, but out of the many, Juniper Lee had clearly stand out- especially for me growing up as a young Asian. Photo source from Cartoon Network/ Warner Bros Television. Image source from author.

Although it was created by a White creator, Judd Winick (which I was fortunate to be in touch with him on my personal Instagram account, where he had interacted and had followed me three years ago, after I had drawn my version of Juniper) who was also a legendary comic book writer too, I was eventually very much aware that his inception to this fictional pioneering trailblazing Asian feminist icon was eventually a love letter towards his wife, Pam Ling-whom they were still happily married till today, which makes him indeed a honorary and true White ally in the Asian community. Eventually, with the whole plot line about a young preteen girl, named Juniper Lee, who is an all-Californian girl forced to accept and to fulfil her destiny as the successive Te Xuan Zhe from her grandmother, Jasmine, after her father, who was the epitome of a successful all Asian American dream, was therefore skipped from his bloodline. Although I had been able to watch only a few episodes of The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, as my mother had eventually prevented me from watching mostly Cartoon Network, and rather more of Disney Channel, which I was also exposed to another Asian American cartoon, which was American Dragon: Jake Long (and which also had made me felt validated too as an Asian- and also as a probably and speculated biracial), it was rather Juniper Lee that had eventually made me even more validated and properly seen as a young Asian girl, while she tries to navigate into her entire world of White America as a fully Asian American girl, without compromising most of her strong, determined, independent or feisty street smart traits to appeal to her world- and our world, while being a very pretty and intelligent all-rounded Asian person, which had then, deepened my deep love and interest into Asian feminism, as well as to either witness from afar or to create internally, more fictional Asian heroines who look like me, as much as they would look like Juniper.

Disney had also created another cartoon that features an Asian lead, American Dragon:Jake Long , which is also groundbreaking and monumental, although it validated the (positive) aspects of the biracial Asian experience. Photo source from Disney (2005). Image provided by author.

Which additionally had also led me to being exposed to other Asian heroines (and although fictional) growing up, especially in my teens. Especially when I was immersed in the world of Japanese anime and manga as a teenager in the late 2000s and the early 2010s, my first and extended knowledge of the idea of Asian feminism was therefore Rukia Kuchiki from the Bleach series. Although I had been able to connect with its central male lead, Ichigo Kurosaki, due to the experience of being possibly biracial and not fitting into the traditional Asian lines: whether it is by our looks or even our hair colour, it was eventually Rukia that had helped me to eventually feel validated of how it is to be a strong, Asian female heroine, that is trying to navigate in her all male world of being graceful and eloquent, and yet firm, warrior like and feisty (as like Juniper) without being too submissive, while also, fitting neither standards of Asian beauty-especially with her slight wavy short hair and her blue eyes, which had made me felt additionally validated in my (possibly) biracial Asian experiences, although it was pretty much intended by Tite Kubo. And because of that, I was eventually compelled to have my hair curled or even let my natural waves flow proudly-even though in my short medium length hair, because of Rukia, who had helped me to feel very much validated. Additionally, I had also been able to see another solace of my Asian experience from Misaki Ayusawa, from the popular anime series, Kaichou Wa Maid Sama (which was aired simultaneously on Animax, way back in 2010) which had helped me to empathetically understand and navigate with the challenging and dysfunctional family background (considering how my father had put us into debt which was the cause of my mother’s emotional turmoil) and also on how to be a real feminist by being a central girl’s girl and fellow defender in an all male world, which was all written in a much more realistic and grounded manner as compared to the high fantastical world of Bleach. In a world where I was trying my best in navigating between my teenage years, and my young adult years, and as an ambitious creative, Misaki had stood out towards me- clearly because of her firm and empowering role as being a class president, and also because of her yellowish brown eyes-that had helped me to feel seen, as this was also part of my other non-Asian features, according to most of my friends and my church community.

The heroine, Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach had further validated my experience of being an Asian young girl, and also had also, perceptively extended everything I had knew about Asian feminism. Photo source from Tite Kubo/ Shueisha/ Studio Pierrot (2023). Image provided by the author.

And so did Misaki Ayusawa from Kaichou Wa Maid Sama, and though was not an action female heroine, but had shaped my perceptive on everything I should know, realistically of being an Asian woman, and how does Asian feminism should properly work. Photo source from Hiro Fujiwara/Hakushensha/ JC Staff (2010). Image provided by author.

Additionally in the media landscape or a world, especially in the late 2000s to the early 2010s where Asian women in the Japanese anime and manga scope, where they were either been seen as too submissive for the favor of their White (or Asian ) male counterparts like Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan, Lenalee Lee from D.Gray Man, or even Sakura Haruno from Naruto, or either hypersexualized in it its worse possible way, like Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell (and its successive series, Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex) just to blend and command respect from their male counterparts, I was fortunate to feel seen by the characterization of both Rukia Kuchiki and Misaki Ayusawa, who are just ordinary girls, trying to find their place as Asian women, and who are ambigiously mixed, which is possibly based on the manga artist character design.

However, as an adult in the 2020s, I was fortunate to see much better representation in the Asian feminist scope, especially with the rise of multiple Asian films and television series like Everything Everything All At Once (where I was squeeling in joy when I had learned that my childhood heroine, Michelle Yeoh, was playing as the complex matriach, Evelyn Yang), or the heroic and yet ordinary fictionalized Nobara Kugisaki from Jujutsu Kaisen and Momo Ayase from Dandadan, and also the rise of Hollywood female actresses, who are known for their nuanced and firm Asian roles, especially Gemma Chan, Lana Condor, Stephanie Hsu and also Anna Sawai. All compared to the scarcity of strong and calibre Asian female representation in either real life or fictional back then in the 2000s and the 2010s, and whether it is to the likes of fictional characters like Rukia Kuchiki, Mulan or Juniper Lee, or real-life heroines like Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh.

Michelle Yeoh’s award winning role as Evelyn Yang, a headstrong family matriarch who runs a laundromat business and was dealing with both her daughter’s growing rebellion and also the personal family trauma had deeply impacted and resonated with me as an Asian person. Photo source from A24 Pictures (2022). Image provided by author.

The global popularity of Anna Sawai, who was prominently well known for her perfomance in FX’s Shogun had been a result of Asian feminism fought hard by those before her. Photo source from FX and Walt Disney Television (2024) . Image provided by author.

And, music was also no different too as my only exposure to Asian feminism in music was either Jolin Tsai or S.H.E, whom my much older cousin will either blare their music from their surround hi-fi speaker system in my aunt’s house back then, which leads to my only recognisation in Asian Cantonpop music, where I would otherwise grow up listening to the likes of Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Beyonce back then in the 2000s- and where the pop scope was either dominated with mostly bubblegum pop White singers and Black singers who are forced to fit the mould, who hardly look like me. Which is why I had navigated mostly into listening to Japanese Pop and City Pop in the 2010s, where the world will either listen to Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande or Rihanna, where my other exposure to Asian feminism is by Scandal, Lisa (not that Lisa Manoban from Blackpink), and also Aimer, other than the older J-pop singers like Chisato Moritaka and Junko Yagami. It was not until the pandemic, where concerts were therefore dead and the world was forced to be in shutdown- especially in the early 2020s, where I had discovered a group of cool, girlie edgy, badass, and in-your-face Asian feminists pop powerhouse that are also around my age range, and which we all know today as who they are.

The global rise of Blackpink — which consists of four feisty and daringly hyperstylish and ambitious young women:Jennie,Lisa, Rose and Jisoo, was a result of a hard fought victory of defining the true essence of Asian feminism. Photo source from Getty. Image provided by the author.

They are Blackpink, a K-pop girl group, which consists of four ambitious and unapologetic-natured girls: Jennie, Rose, Lisa and Jisoo- a watershed result of a hard fought victory of redefining Asian feminism in a world shattered by the #MeToo movement that had constantly subdued or fetishizes Asian women to fit the male gaze, and which embodies everything that I had eventually seen in all of my childhood and teenhood Asian female heroines- either fictionalised or real life. Whether it was the sassiness and the outspoken nature of Juniper Lee or Rukia Kuchiki, the fierceness of Mulan, or even the girls' empowering and influencing nature of Misaki Ayusawa or Sandra Oh, and even Michelle Yeoh and their streetsmart, fashionable sense of Lucy Liu, their highly vigerous and often ambitious song and dance routine mannerisms and their high octane stage presence had eventually help me to view myself much more positively as an Asian young woman, and also someone who can contribute to the Asian representational society by creating characters that truly helped my inner child, and other young girls and anyone to feel seen- which is why Angelus Destiny had even existed and was conceived in the first place. Especially, in a situation when it is either me or anyone else who had either to be forced to suppress our values in an all White environment and to be hurt by it, when we do not give in to their fetish advances, it is up to us to empower our girls of our ethnicity, which I am contributing much of my purpose to it after being hurt and betrayed by the very educational environment that had supported the voices of the Whites, than the minorities- especially young Asian women.

Which is also why, my own created character, Anya Hilliard Kurosaki, a young teenager who was a clear Wasian (White Japanese) and who does not fit in the mould of being fully Asian with her red Princess Ariel-like copper red hair, her freckled face and her fair yellow eyes- while navigating the struggles of being the appointed Angelus Destiny to lead the group of young antiheroic former bullies, to fight against the greatest evil was eventually conceived. Additionally, one of my characters written in this fictionalised young adult novel was the initially antagonistic Rumi Cheng, a Malaysian Chinese teenage girl, an alpha mean girl who was the head of a school music club, but who was forced to team up with Anya together with her other girl posse to fight against the greatest evil out there while navigating in their place of being Asian girls in a all White, and complicit world where they might be either been exploited due to the power struggle of protecting their fantasical realm and also navigating the early fame of the often corrupted music industry.

It was all thanks to my growing exposure towards Asian feminism, particularly starting with all of Mulan, and Juniper Lee as well as Michelle Yeoh and Sandra Oh and Lucy Liu, and additionally with Rukia Kuchiki and Misaki Ayusawa, and later on as an adult, with the likes of Blackpink, Anna Sawai, Gemma Chan, Nobara Kugisaki and also Momo Ayase, as well as Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh’s character) from Everything Everywhere All At Once. It is also solidified from my personal experience as a 28-year-old adult back then in 2023, and right after Michelle Yeoh’s historic win for her aforementioned role as Evelyn Wang, in meeting her, with her finally telling me that she liked my artworks and had told me that we are indeed fated to meet each other, after telling her that my dream was to meet her as a young child, alongside with her accepting my drawing that I had just drawn for her.

My experience of adoring many of my female heroines, especially Michelle Yeoh had came to a standstill in April 2023, where I was been given the opportunity to meet her in person, and to come across her- who was as graceful, empowering and mentoring as her on screen roles. Photo source by the author.

And also so did my online encounter with Judd Winick that same year, especially when I had therefore written on how much Juniper Lee had meant to me, especially as an Asian young woman growing up in the late 1990s and 2000s when Asian representation was scarce. By telling him on how much his work had influenced and shape my perceptive on Asian feminism and how I wanted to emulate what he was doing in putting Asian women at the forefront, I had also had felt as validated as the positive fan experience that I had with Michelle Yeoh- which thus, the Universe had eventually reminded me that I had a part to play in representating and advocating my own Asianness in its own rightful , that I was slowly embracing it after supressing it for long just to cater for the fantasies and gaze of my former White colleagues. And not to mention, to aggressively fight to bring my own work Angelus Destiny to light, so that other young girls would feel empowered with both, Anya Hilliard Kurosaki and Rumi Cheng.

Which is why, without the influence of my real life childhood hero, Michelle Yeoh, or even my fictional childhood heroine, Juniper Lee, Anya Hilliard Kurosaki would not even had existed, or even stood a pretty chance.

If you want to keep in touch , you can also contact the writer, Charlotte Cheng at charlottejoancheng@gmail.com for tips and advice, as well as feedback and further collaboration on her works. If you would wish to make a donation or tip, you can do so via PayPal.