ABSTRACT
This chapter observes that the representation of East Asian-Germans on their home country’s television screens has been scarce, generally informed by Asian stereotypes, and that they are typically coded as foreign Others rather than as citizens. Digital media, however, has leveled the playing field and the second generation of East Asian-Germans has taken to YouTube in embracing a powerful new medium of self-representation since the millennial turn. This chapter analyzes the pop cultural formats and aesthetic strategies deployed by the first cohort of East Asian-German YouTubers in negotiating their positionality in the German nation. The analysis elucidates how their use of parody and comedy aims to debunk Asian stereotypes circulating in the majority society. A detailed discussion of the mockumentary Planet Supreme. King of Westberg, featuring the Korean-German YouTuber Joon Kim and employing North Korea as a foil, assesses the critical potential of these strategies, especially if they are incorporated into public television. The mockumentary was commissioned by https://funk.net" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">funk.net, German public television’s own YouTube channel, which began broadcasting in October 2016.
