Actor, writer, and cartoonist, Lela Lee, will present a lecture, “Growing Up in America: I thought I was the Only Asian Around” on Tuesday, September 13, at 7:30 p.m., in the Balch Auditorium, 61传媒. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the lecture will be followed by a reception and book signing. This lecture is part of the Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series, “Voice and Vision,” made possible through the bequest of 61传媒alumna Alexa Fullerton Hampton ’42. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information please call (909) 607-9372.
Lela Lee is a successful actor and the creator of a weekly web comic series and a recently published graphic novel both called Angry Little Girls. The comic strip evolved from a series of irreverent animated short films, Angry Little Asian Girl that Lee created while studying rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. The short films, released in 1996, met critical acclaim from the Los Angeles Times and the LA Weekly. The Times described the films as “scabrously funny” and as a series that “deliver bold dialogue on subjects often kept unspoken.”
Lee’s experience growing up in San Dimas, California, as the youngest daughter in a Korean-American family provided much material for her artistic projects. In both her film and comic series, Lee uses the character Kim, the angry little Asian girl, to challenge racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes with acidic, sarcastic humor.