Monday, June 1, 1998
Adventerous little Asian girl
ANIMATION: Lela Lee has lied about attending UCLA, married
herself and animated her own cartoon – all in the name of art and
independence
By Stephanie Sheh
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
She’s little. She’s Asian. And she’s angry! She’s Angry Little
Asian Girl. Be wary of telling her she speaks good English, because
this cute little champion of the disenfranchised will get quite
offended and say, "I was born here you stupid dipshit. Don’t you
know anything about immigration? Read some history books you stupid
ignoramus!"
Angry Little Asian Girl is the main character in Lela Lee’s
short animated films of the same name. They were recently shown at
the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival and have
received sparkling reviews from LA Weekly and the Los Angeles
Times.
"I’m actually not really angry," the actress and filmmaker
admits. "It’s just that the instances and the situations of a
person’s life can make you get pissed off."
From her cell phone in the bathroom of some club, Lee doesn’t
sound pissed. She postpones the interview until the next morning
since there is only one toilet and "all these people keep knocking.
I think they really have to go pee."
The next morning Lee continues to talk about her project, which
is inspired by personal experiences.
"I never have the guts to say these things back to people when
they humiliate me, so the character is everything I wanted to say
when it happened," Lee says. "But now I’m beginning to be more
expressive about things, but not exactly cussing people out."
It is hard to picture her cussing someone out. Abe Ferrer, Asian
Pacific Film and Video Festival co-director says, "If you met Lela,
she comes across as the sweetest person in the world. But then you
watch this piece and then you’re like, ‘You have to think twice
about this one.’"
Growing up in San Demaswent and attending an all-girl school,
Lee says that she had a fairly sheltered childhood.
Just as one might not expect Lee to be cheery, Lee did not
expect her films to garner so much attention. After all, for four
years the films sat in her "archives of stuff that wouldn’t go
anywhere."
It all began when Lee’s friend took her to an animation
festival.
"I was just like, ‘Oh my God! The production value is so low. I
could do this stuff,’" the 23-year-old remembers. "And my friend
was like, ‘Yeah you should do a cartoon about yourself.’ And I was
like, ‘Yeah, OK, whatever.’"
That night she started drawing cartoons. She shot it on an 8 mm
and used equipment her video class provided.
At the time, Lee says she was angered by the things she learned
at Berkeley where she was a rhetoric student.
"I took a women’s studies class … all these billboards with
half-naked ladies. You might know that it’s kind of wrong, but you
don’t know exactly why. Then when you start reading the reasons why
and what happened it just makes you really upset that you’re even
part of this society. You’re like … I didn’t have anything to do
with this.’"
And so the films continued to sit. That is until a friend showed
her a bootleg tape of a racy cartoon going around Los Angeles. It
was "South Park."
"So then I’m watching it and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, this is
kind of like my cartoon.’" Lee recalls. "So I went home. I picked
up my tape and went, ‘Hey, look at this one.’
Some compare her cartoon to "South Park," which she feels is a
compliment. Although Lee admits that she has only seen two episodes
of "South Park," she feels that they both share an adult humor that
is off the beaten track.
Lee also veers off the beaten track. A year shy of graduating,
Lee moved to Los Angeles to explore acting, but told her parents
that she transferred to UCLA.
She lied for a year until she had an epiphany and felt that she
needed to return to school. Lee was driving one day when she
suddenly went home.
"I was like, ‘Mom! Dad! I have to tell you something! I really
wasn’t at school and I’m really sorry.’ And then my mom looked at
me and said, ‘I knew that Lela.’"
She returned to Berkeley and finished school. Lee now works as
an actress in Los Angeles where she lives with her sister, a UCLA
graduate student. Lee was in "Shopping For Fangs" and can also be
seen in "Yellow," which opened Friday.
The actress says that her cartoon has helped her acting .
"Because I have this other thing I don’t really get worried when
I get called to do something," Lee explains. "I don’t fret over it
like, ‘Oh my God, I hope I get it.’ Because if I get it, I’m like,
‘It’s cool, but I’m too busy.’ When you have that attitude
everybody wants you."
With that same philosophy, Lee bought a $98 ring and married
herself, because she got really sick of men. Now her phone is
ringing off the hook.
But things were not always this good. To pay for the bills her
first year as a struggling actress, Lee worked at Cowboy Sushi and
the Mann Theaters in Westwood.
"The first year, anybody who comes to Los Angeles to act has to
learn how it works," Lee says. "You have to get lost whenever you
go to auditions. I got lost so many times."
Lee says acting was hard initially because she didn’t see other
Asians doing it. That changed when she took an acting class at East
West Players where she was encouraged to create non-stereotypical
Asian roles.
Since then, Lee has been steadily writing scripts and short
stories.
"You’re only angry when you feel powerless," Lee explains. "When
you empower yourself with writing or with any kind of creative
outlet you start feeling that you can do stuff."
Right now Lee is working on more characters for her cartoon.
"I’ve got my little Muslim girl, a black girl, a Latina and a
Jewish girl," Lee says. "She’s got girlfriends and they’re going to
take over the world."
Although MTV passed on her cartoon, Spike and Mike’s Sick and
Twisted Animation Festival just picked it up. The festival begins
touring the nation in June.
Lee says that after the festival she will start shopping her
film to other networks, but if all else fails she will sell her
episodes on the Internet.
"There’s an artistic confidence that comes with knowing that you
have this capability inside of you," Lee says. "This cartoon has
given me more than I could ever imagine, things that you can’t even
buy, things that you can’t even articulate."
FILM: For more information on "Angry Little Asian Girl," go on
line at www.angrylittleasiangirl.com.
Photo Courtesy of Lela Lee
The Angry Little Asian Girl goes to her first day of school.
Lela Lee’s cartoon has been picked up by Spike and Mike’s Sick and
Twisted Animation Festival.
Photo courtesy of Lela Lee
The Angry Little Asian Girl and her friend, who wants to be a
girl, walk to school. SAG/AFTRA
Actress Lela Lee is the filmmaker who created "Angry Little
Asian Girl."