The Claudia Kishi Club

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The Claudia Kishi Club
Film poster
Directed bySue Ding
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10)
Running time
17 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Claudia Kishi Club is a 2020 short documentary film directed by Sue Ding.

Background and synopsis

The Claudia Kishi Club revolves around

Claudia Kishi, a character from Ann M. Martin's novel series The Baby-Sitters Club. A Japanese-American, Claudia was a notable exception to a dearth of Asian-American characters in children's literature, particularly a character that had a large reach as a part of a popular series and often resisted stereotype.[1] Sue Ding told the Daily Bruin that in 2013, she noticed an outbreak of content from Asian-Americans about Claudia;[2] in 2018, she successfully crowdfunded a documentary project.[3]

In The Claudia Kishi Club, director Sue Ding interviews multiple Asian-Americans who grew up with The Baby-Sitters Club, discussing the impact Claudia had on them as a child.[1] The interviewees include Naia Cucukov, producer of a 2020 TV adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club; Sarah Kuhn, a sci-fi novelist; Gale Galligan, a graphic novelist; C. B. Lee, an author; Phil Yu, a blogger known as "Angry Asian Man" who circulated memes of reworked covers of The Baby-Sitters Club such as "Claudia and the Racist Little Shits"; and Yumi Sakugawa, an artist who created a 2013 zine titled "Claudia Kishi: My Asian-American Female Role Model of the 90's [sic]", which was noticed by Ding in 2013 and featured in the documentary.[1][3][4]

Release and reception

The Claudia Kishi Club premiered July 10, 2020.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Tang, Terry (July 9, 2020). "Asian American girls saw pivotal icon in Baby-Sitters Club". Associated Press. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  2. ^ Mazzucato, Olivia (July 10, 2020). "The Claudia Kishi Club explores cultural impact of Asian American representation". Daily Bruin. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Makalintal, Bettina (July 9, 2020). "An ode to Claudia Kishi, the coolest kid in The Baby-Sitters Club". Vice. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Yu, Yi-Jin (July 10, 2020). "The Claudia Kishi Club is a love letter to the beloved Baby-Sitters Club character". Today. Retrieved November 6, 2023.

External links