I try to make the kinds of things I want to see out there in the world, and hope they end up resonating with other people too.
I was the biggest Harry Potter fan. I read all the books. Ron was always my favorite character, because I feel like I relate to him, like weve both got red hair, we both like sweets, weve both got lots of brothers and sisters. Ive got one brother and three sisters, and both scared of spiders.
People who supported Obama felt like they formed a relationship, that they were being spoken to. The way that campaign worked and the way he's worked during his first term is to make people feel like he's grasping their hand, whether it's by tweeting or email, moments after an event, sometimes during an event. It makes people relate to him.
It's important for Asian American kids to see themselves in stories and to feel seen. They need to know that their stories are universal, too, that they, too, can fall in love in a teen movie. They don't have to be the sidekick; they can be the hero.
Once, when I was about eight, my mum handed me a sandwich, and I remarked: 'What are those weird things on your hands?' I was referring to the visible pores, which were such a contrast to my own alabaster-smooth skin. My mum looked mortified, while my grandma laughed and said: 'They're nothing - look at mine!'
Peter Parker is probably the most relatable superhero - maybe ever - because he goes through something that basically everyone has to go through. Whether it's puberty or talking to girls or doing homework, he does it in such a human way. That's why he's such a beloved character: because so many people can relate to him.
Sometimes there's these things in life that hit at the right time, and it connects with people in the right way.
Stories teach us empathy. They reveal to us ourselves in the skins of others.
Everything is an open book. I don't speak on other people's hardship, but if it happened in my life or something that has been an experience on my particular journey, I'm going to talk about it. That's what my fan base appreciates the most. I'm universal. You can relate to the things I say or that I go through.
People identify with me - everyone does - African American women, Caucasian women, they all identify with me because I'm ethnic.
He that pitties another, remembers himselfe.
Pippin chooses love and finds a greater sense of himself at the end of all the madness. I relate to him in many ways. I have been through stuff, thought I knew best, and often been proven wrong.
I guess I'm trying to write stuff that I, as a viewer, would connect to.
I had this wild thought that he was the only one in all this chaos who was just like me, and that was comforting and profound all at once.
We're all human; we all have weaknesses.
I would say I'm an inspirational guidelines book. You can take my life story or scenarios or songs and relate to them and apply them to your everyday life.
This office is smaller than the last one I had. I'm not trying to impress people. I want to be close to them.
The hardest thing for - not only an artist but for anybody to do is look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge, you know, their own flaws and fears and imperfections and put them out there in the open for people to relate to it.
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me!
I hope I can just be a regular human being to people.
I'm a working stiff, baby, just like everybody else.
I think we all feel geeky at times, don't we? Isn't that all a part of the wonderful tapestry of life?
I realize I have a lot of amazing opportunities, but I don't know how you can play a human being going through real human experiences without being able to walk down the street. If you can't live a real life, how do you play a real person? It always confuses me when actors work back-to-back-to-back with no break. If you live your life on a film set, how the hell can you relate to real people? You don't know what its like to not have people fussing over you all day, and that's not life - that's silly movies. I will always want to take breaks and I wouldn't be OK with losing that.
You were able to sing something they related to instantly, because it was part of what you felt. It was part of what you had already traveled through. It's part of the people you were associating with daily. It was all of that.
I am very, very painfully human.
