‘The Love Hypothesis’ adaptation faces criticism over Pinoy representation - Interaksyon

A newly released American romantic comedy drew criticism for allegedly misrepresenting Filipinos through one of its character.

The film adaptation of the bestselling novel with the same name, “The Love Hypothesis,” premiered on Prime Video on September 23.

The romcom stars Lili Reinhart as Olive Smith, a Ph.D. candidate, and Tom Bateman as Dr. Adam Carlsen, a strict professor.

“The Love Hypothesis” follows Olive and Adam as they enter a fake relationship to test their theories about love.

The film also features Anh Pham, Olive’s bestfriend.

Anh’s name is Vietnamese, but the film implies that she is Filipino by having her eat adobo and celebrate a Filipino Christmas.

The novel does not state that Anh is Filipino.

The change has drawn criticism from Filipinos and Vietnamese people, with concerned audiences urging Hollywood to provide “better” representation.

“I realized that as a Filipina, I actually need to call out the misrepresentation of Filipinos in The Love Hypothesis movie. Two big things: 1. Anh Pham was Vietnamese in the book but they switched her ethnicity to Filipino in the movie, except they didn’t even change her name to reflect this,” an online user said.

The Threads user also called out a scene in the film, noting that flying lanterns is not a Filipino cultural tradition.

“2. We don’t fly lanterns to remember our dead loved ones in the Philippines. I’d say that’s more Thai, Viet, [and] East Asian. Southeast Asian cultures are always so BUTCHERED in media. Please do better,” the Threads user added.

Other Threads users echoed similar sentiments.

“Oh my gods, louder! I had to pause the movie when I heard them mention adobo and Anh was suddenly a Filipino,” another viewer commented.

“Then they should [have] changed her name to Anne/Ann/Anna/Ana. The name Anh isn’t Filipino. You can’t put adobo and a parol in the scene [and] tell Asians to believe that’s Vietnamese,” another wrote.

“Filipino here and I agree! I felt that her name spelling was the first thing I noticed that felt like stolen identity, and then the lantern thing is definitely not a Filipino tradition,” Filipino-American author Victor Cabinta wrote.

“I would have loved it more if they showed Anh doing atang, the practice of leaving food aside for the dead. I think that would have been more impactful for the scene and context of Olive’s story with her mom and accurate to our culture. Missed opportunity, honestly,” he added.

“This! I was so surprised when Anh said she was Filo!! IMO [In my opinion], I think they changed it because they wanted to get better ratings for the show, ’cause you know us, Filos — we’re more likely to watch something if there’s a Filipino involved, so I feel like they knew that would attract more Filipino viewers too!” another commented.

“I just watched this tonight and said these exact things! Anh?? That’s not a thing! My Mom named me Grace Ann. Calls me Ann. Conveniently also short for ‘anak’. But none of that is Anh. And we Filipinos do not fly lanterns! Especially in densely suburban housing where they can catch on someone’s roof or electrical lines,” a different Pinoy wrote.

Other online users who identified themselves as Vietnamese also chimed in.

“As a Vietnamese, I’m wondering why they had to change a Vietnamese character to a Filipina character to begin with. It’s not like we are overrepresented or anything, and then go and add insult to injury, and do it WRONG. I mean, fine, change the character, but then, at least do it right!” another wrote.

Some speculated that the change may have been made to align with Rachel Marsh, the Filipino-American actress who plays Olive.

“I saw an interview where it was a deliberate choice, maybe brought upon by the casting of Rachel Marsh, who is Fil-Am. (She’s wonderful) why couldn’t they have transformed the name as well? Make her Anne Paredes. Don’t flatten distinct SEA cultures into one homogeneous culture, please,” a user said.

Rachel said in past interviews that the film features “Filipino representation” through scenes showing her character eating adobo, a well-loved Pinoy dish and spending time with her extended family, a dynamic familiar to many Pinoys.

She said filming those scenes “was so fun,” adding that they reminded her of Christmas with her own family “in a lot of ways.”

“That’s also what I was drawn to about Anh: she notices people who are alone, especially another woman like herself, and just wants to make her feel included. That’s very much a part of Filipino culture, bringing people in and wanting them to feel included,” Rachel previously said.

“I’ve experienced that in my extended family at home, and it was cool to get to do that on film. When we shot that scene, I think it was the last or second-to-last day that I was there. So it was a really fun ending because it was Christmas, which is my favorite time of year, with fake snow in Montreal and a ton of people, a lot of Asian faces,” she added.

“It just felt very nostalgic in a way. That is part of why I love doing movies. It’s movie magic,” the actress said.