Better Luck Tomorrow

Let me preface this blog by saying that I was really captivated by this movie. I thought that it was extremely disturbing, but at the same time it provided a different look into Asian American life (through a lens that would be interesting to teens/young adults- thanks MTV). What’s even more disturbing is that this film is loosely based on true events, dubbed “The Honor Roll Murder.” In this case Stuart Tay, a 17 year old student, was killed by five other students- three of whom were Asian Americans. Just like in B.L.T. these kids were regarded for their top grades and achievements. I guess they all just thought that they didn’t need to follow the rules, and could make up their own. I thought that out of everyone, Daric was the most manipulative and calculated. Everything he did was self serving and he was the one that forced everyone into his plan to teach Steve a lesson. All that he was concerned with was succeeding, and it didn’t matter who he had to step on on his way there. In fact, he even used Ben in order to further himself along- his “expose” on Ben’s “token-Asian” role on the team won him an award, despite his lack of journalistic integrity (he chose to omit the coach’s interview because it didn’t conform with what he was trying to say). If anyone deserved to be “taught a lesson,” it most definitely had to be Daric. He was, after all, the one to put the final nail in Steve’s coffin. Although he disguised this as saving and protecting Ben, in the end he was the one afraid of getting caught. It seems like Ben was his pawn throughout the entire movie; the cheat sheets, the article, the murder. What I don’t understand is why Daric chose to act this way. Was it out of boredom? a need for power? to stroke his own ego?

A lot of questions were left unanswered in the end. As the film closes Ben and Stephanie ride off together and he states that for the first time, he doesn’t know what the future holds. And the viewer is placed in the same position- not knowing what’s going to happen to these characters. Even Virgil’s fate is unknown and the last time we really see him is in the hospital room. When everyone is taking their yearbook pictures he is notably missing, and his cousin, Han, is notably upset. His freshly shaved head signifies grief/mourning (as we discussed in class). Once again, as a viewer it is difficult to determine what has happened- is Virgil dead or has Han just had a change of heart? I guess we’ll never know.

Asian American Film

I think that this article was somewhat difficult to read because I was unfamiliar with almost every film mentioned. I guess it was hard to make connections when I had very limited knowledge (pretty much just what the author gave us) to go by. But anyway, I thought that Peter Feng emphasized the idea that Asian Americans had to distinguish themselves from Asian film. Oftentimes the two groups are lumped together due to their racial identities. In American cinema Asian American films are typically independent and not shown in the mainstream theaters. They often focus on the identity crisis many go through- trying to find the happy medium between Asian and American. On the other hand, “prepackaged Hong Kong” films, like Rush Hour, become hits in American (and abroad as well), yet they typically don’t touch on the stories of Asian Americans. Therefore, it makes sense that some Asian American filmmakers would choose to abandon their “Asian” label and make more American films. Not only does it garner them more success, it also allows them to step away from the label that they were thrown under.

Filmmaker Chris Chan Lee combined his art with real life when he filmed scenes for Yellow from his parents’ grocery store. He had helped to rebuild this store after it was destroyed in 1992. As a class we’ve become really familiar with the L.A. riots and the problems between Korean Americans and African Americans, so I could relate to this portion of the article. However, through his film Lee puts a different spin on the riots and calls these tensions “more media construction than reality.” He chooses to address the “misperceptions” through his filmmaking. I thought that this was a really interesting concept, and it gives us yet another view on what happened in the riots.

Margaret Cho

After viewing the videos and our class discussion, I still think that it was extremely strange that the people in charge of Margaret Cho’s show would hire an Asian consultant. I don’t think we really came up with a concrete explanation as to why they’d do this. My thinking was that they either tried to make her more “authentically” Asian, or more stereotypically Asian. In the first case, they may have wanted to make the show more real and to show others how Asian American families really lived (with some situational comedy mixed in). In the second case, a more stereotypically driven show may have been more accessible to the mass audiences. If peoples’ (mis)conceptions were justified by the show, they might be more inclined to continue watching. Another strange idea was that Margaret had to lose weight in order to play herself. I think that this is one of those situations that crosses racial lines and impacts most actresses. This is probably how she could gain such a varied group of fans- not just Asian American ones. However, it was a bit absurd that magazines would come out and say that she lost her weight through a special “Chow like Cho” fish-and-rice diet. This plays up another stereotype that Asian Americans stay thin and delicate because their ethnic diet is composed of just rice and fish.

The End of Native Speaker

So at the end of Native Speaker Henry and Lelia got back together and lived happily ever after. Ok, maybe not exactly. But the two did move back in together and it’s clear that they wanted to work on and mend their relationship. However, it’s also clear that they hadn’t gotten over Mitt’s death (and may not ever completely get over it). Per usual Change-Rae Lee brought the reader back into the past and revealed more clues to Mitt’s childhood. I thought the most interesting bit was the fact that Henry was afraid to read to him, “I feared I might handicap him, stunt the speech blooming in his brain, and that Lelia would provide the best example of how to speak” (239). Once again we see his obsession with language/speech, and that it even affected how he raised his child. How often do you hear a parent say that they can’t read to their kids because it will “handicap” them? It’s another instance of Henry feeling guilty because of who he is (or isn’t). It’s strange that he allowed Mitt to talk to his grandfather, who probably had the most obvious accent in the family. I guess Henry just didn’t want to be the one personally responsible for negatively impacting his own child. It’s almost sad that all of his strange efforts were futile in the end since Mitt’s life ended before any of these things could really affect him. In the end I feel sympathetic towards both Henry and Lelia. They may not be my favorite characters, but as I reader I felt sorry for them. Losing a child must bring unimaginable pain, “I watch my wife go out every morning to wander about the grounds of my father’s house… as if to follow his last tracks” (248). Lelia clearly could not let go, and Henry probably felt not only his own pain and sadness, but also that of his wife.

Zia Class Discussion

So after our class discussion I saw how Kwang was the typical politician, but how he also strayed from the typical stereotypes of Asian Americans. His extreme charisma and ability to act as leader and unify people were the first, positive sides we were shown. General stereotypes paint Asian American men as “geeks” (Zia) and timid. However, he was able to deliver powerful speeches and gain a variety of supporters that would do just about anything for him. His staff “love” him, the people look up to him, even Henry starts to become fond of Kwang. However, he also appears to have a darker side (like many politicians we have come to know). Specifically, there was the scene where Henry saw Kwang yell at his wife then nonchalantly step out as if nothing had happened. It’s as if he has an on/off switch where he can go from loved and envied leader to violent and bad tempered man. Henry is in a similar situation because his job forces him to have multiple personalities. With each “mission” he needs to shed his real personality and put on his fake mask. Unfortunately for him and Lelia, Henry appears to have lost himself between these fabricated personalities.

Native Speaker pt2

In this section we meet Henry’s housekeeper, not-so-affectionately referred to as “Aunt Scallion.” It’s difficult to understand the relationship between her and Henry’s father. While he maintains that she came only to care for the house and to be home for Henry, there also seems to be more to their relationship. After Henry caught her sneaking into his father’s room, and then again when he saw them working together in the garden, he must’ve begun to suspect something. This was probably why he answered “maybe” when Lelia asked if the two could be lovers. I think that this need to cover up his true feelings says a lot about Henry’s father (and Korean customs?). He’s constantly putting up a facade to protect his pride. Even when his wife passed away he remained calm and stoic, not showing one ounce of sadness in Henry’s presence. This made Henry wonder if his father was truly upset, but just chose to grieve in private in order to keep up his strong facade. Perhaps it was also the reason why he chose to hide his true feelings for the Korean housekeeper.

So in this section of the novel it’s also revealed how Mitt had died. First off, I thought it was ironic that he passed away in his grandfather’s backyard- a place that Henry and Lelia had deemed as safe. This was especially true when compared with the city, where they felt that danger loomed everywhere. This was why they made a special point of visiting Henry’s father; to give Mitt a place to play safely. In the end, however, this didn’t save the little boy from being crushed. The details of the event were extremely sparse and it seemed like everything happened in a whirlwind. This marks one of Lee’s writing styles, and I suppose it would make sense for him to write this scene this way because it must’ve been how the characters felt in that moment… like everything happened in a flash.

Native Speaker

So, this will be my second time reading Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker. It should be interesting. I’m just trying really hard not to reveal any vital information in our class discussion because I’d hate to ruin the book for anyone. I feel like I’m detached enough that I don’t remember everything, but I remember enough to make new connections or pick up on things I missed before. Unfortunately I can’t really blog about all of these things without giving away certain information and plot points… ah what to do, what to do?

I guess I’ll discuss John Kwang because I definitely see a connection between him and Locke (who was mentioned in Zia’s Asian American Dreams). Both are extremely popular with the people, and they each use their abilities to gain success and rise up in the (political) ranks. The main problem that some people have with Kwang is that he allegedly “tries too hard to be all things to all people” (33). I think he especially tries to cater to minorities because he is one himself. Unlike Locke, who said that people didn’t see his race, Kwang uses it to his advantage. He is able to pander to Korean grocers and dry cleaners for contributions in order to benefit his cause. This also parallels Henry, who uses his nationality to get closer to his Asian marks. After all, people are more likely to trust and support one of their own. I think this is interesting because in previous works we read a lot about Asian Americans being held back because of their race. Now we see a novel where being from certain countries brings certain advantages.

The End of Zia

The beginning of chapter 10 outlined the differences in Hmong culture verses American culture. For example, marrying early and “selling” the bride to the husband’s family were customary practices. They posed legal problems (brides being married before they were old enough to consent) and moral problems for Americans that didn’t understand the Hmong rituals. These practices were a huge part of the Hmong culture, and they were difficult to change because it was all that their people were used to. And it had worked for them, but things in American became different and the Hmong were increasingly pressured to assimilate. This is when “clan” leaders took initiative and encouraged their people to maintain their culture, but while staying within the laws. I think it would be such a “culture shock” to find out that rituals that were normal in your old country were now looked down upon (or illegal) in your new country. This must’ve been extraordinarily difficult to adapt to for the Hmong people, and I thought it was interesting that many still chose to practice these rituals (“selling” the bride) despite it being looked down upon by some. They valued their culture enough to keep it alive, but they also respected US laws and followed; adapting and reinventing
their culture.

Chapter 11 talked a lot about representation and what it means. For many Asian American children it was a difficult concept to grasp because in their family the father and mother had control and say. And within society they found it difficult to find a voice and represent themselves, “To have a say means that you are being heard. To be heard would suggest that you are also seen. I never saw or heard any Americans who looked like me in the news. Never. It was as though we didn’t exist” (282). Because Asian Americans were unrepresented in the media, they felt as if they were unrepresented in American society. It was a struggle to find their voice because oftentimes they weren’t even seen by other Americans. And because Asian  Americans were prevented from becoming citizens for much longer than other Immigrant races, they had a
slow start in getting to participate in American government and politics.

Wiki Presentations

I thought it was really interesting to hear about everyone’s topics during the class presentations. I think that I learned a lot more than just from reading Zia’s book. Don’t get me wrong however, I thought she did a great job of covering each of these topics, but there’s only so much she can include in her chapters without becoming painfully long. The presentation on the taxi cab strike was especially helpful for me because I had forgotten a lot about it. It was interesting to find out how much solidarity there was between not only cab drivers, but also other drivers in the city. I think that they understood how important it was to stand up for each other so that there was the possibility of improving work conditions for everyone (fixing the cabbie’s problems would also allow the entire city to improve). The same-sex marriage presentation was also especially illuminating. I still haven’t gotten a chance to thoroughly read this chapter so I learned a lot from that group’s work. For one, I see how a fight for rights, be it racial or not, should include all kinds of people. And if you want to be equal based on gender, race, etc. why wouldn’t you want people to have equally based on their sexual preference? I also found the statistics interesting and was surprised that Asian Americans were pretty much split on this topic.

The Wiki… Oh The Wiki

So first off, I think some of these groups have had a more difficult time finding information than others. I think this is the case for the Filipino Cannery workers. I tried to search through all the key terms we came up with and I only found minimal useful information. It was really frustrating to request “full text” articles only to receive links to incomplete ones. I guess I’m not thoroughly thrilled with the library’s online databases, at least for this project. Another problem was that I couldn’t find any images or videos that pertained to the topic… and when I did there was no copyright information provided for them. As far as the actual wiki site goes, I think it’s easy enough to figure out (even if it has to be done through trying random things or trial/error). We ran into a bit of a roadblock in the collaboration portion of the project because our entire group wasn’t together to work on it. We also weren’t sure what kind of format to use/how to consolidate all of our different sources and information. I think there was some difficulty in trying to tie everything together- and this was only exacerbated by the fact that we couldn’t find many sources and weren’t sure if we had enough good information to begin with.

Over the course of this research I’ve learned that the Filipino canneries weren’t a huge focus of the media’s attention- especially when compared with the LA riots, Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Vincent Chin. I think a part of that is due to the lack of visuals. Those other events were heavily covered, photographed, and videotaped. The Filipino cannery workers’ plight wasn’t. It’s also interesting to see that Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo’s murders received some of the greatest attention when it came to the Filipino cannery workers (while the cases took a backseat). I guess it goes to show that violence and death are more interesting than Supreme Court cases, at least for mainstream media.