Better Luck Tomorrow (22) November 20, 2008

Overall I’d say I really enjoyed the movie. From the opening scene of Ben and Virgil relaxing on the lawn chairs and finding the dead body, I was interested in the plot and what was going to happen. I liked how the director used different ways of filming and portraying the film as well. I also liked the use of the SAT words to sort of structure the film and show the viewer what point of Ben’s life was in the next scene. I think the director did a great job of keeping the viewr interested in the film.

There were many different Asian stereotypes and issues that came up throughout the entire movie. Ben faced the typical teenage boy problems – girls, school, fitting in, getting into college, etc., but the director put the twist of making the problems stem from the newspaper article, which I feel really emphasized the plot of the movie. I think this was mentioned in class as well. Ben asks Derek why he wrote the article about him being the ‘token Asian’ on the team. Up until the article, Ben seemed like your typical high school senior. The article is this sort of downfall we watch Ben get into. He felt he was on the team because he was skilled in basketball, but derek being the downer he is in this film, brings up the token asian idea. I think the characters were interesting and each played an important role in the plot as well. We went over this in class so I won’t address it again here. Ben is confused with who he is after the article. It seems like he doesn’t want to be the ‘token Asian’ anymore. He rebels with the cheat shhets, drugs, etc. and unfortunately snaps at the end by beating Steve with the bat. Maybe he was envious of Steve for being so ‘perfect’ in a way. The beating with the bat was interesting in a sense that it relates to the Vincent Chin story. Vincent Chin was just minding his own business. Ben was too, then Derek had to write that darn article – the article being a metaphor for the bat maybe?

Peter Feng article (21) November 16, 2008

The Peter Feng article on Asian American film was pretty interesting. I hadn’t really known anything about it or heard of those movies before – I guess that’s one of the points of the article – Asian American film hasn’t really reached non-Asians. The article was about creating a sense of community for the Asian American film makers and viewers but states that “maybe the film world isn’t ready for community – and that may not bode well for Asian American filmmakers…” (Feng, 24). I found it interesting when Feng writes that Asian Americans are continually asked to choose either an Asian or an American identity – so Asian filmmakers have either disguarded their Asian identities to make white American films or they have added Asian ‘flavor’ to the film (Feng, 21). Yet either way, if the film cast Asians in it, the film was automatically rendered an “Asian film”. One of the 5 films mentioned, Sunsets was not supposed to fit into the Asian American film category but because the film cast the stereotypical Asian guy (collegebound when his friends were the total opposite), “very few non-Asian film festivals reviewed the movie” (Feng, 22). After reading the article, it seems as if casting more than one Asian in a film will almost automatically deem it an Asian film.

Oh and I also wanted to mention something that has nothing to do with the readings. This weekend my boyfriend and I had a movie marathon and we watched 3 movies Saturday night (aren’t we cool? haha). Anyway I noticed some Asian American stereotyping in 2 of the 3. In “Fargo” there was the Asian guy who kind of stalked the cop Margie – he was, of course, an engineer - I thought it was interesting what Professor said about her experience at Notre Dame and how registrar assumed she was an engineering student. I probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to this small detail in the movie before, but now that I’m taking this class, I find myself paying a lot more attention to any Asian stereotypes I hear or see….. And now that I want to write about it tonight, I can’t think of the other stereotpye I noticed. If I can think of it I will come back to the blog. Anyway, my point was that after watching 3 movies in a row, I find it interesting that 2 of them included an Asian stereotype.

Margaret Cho (20) November 13, 2008

I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to be posting on Margaret Cho and the youtube videos, so that’s what I’m going to do! I thought her act was pretty funny – she brings up a lot of good points relating to the Korean American culture. I loved her impression of her mother and I think it is interesting that she chooses to use her parents as a key point in her routine. She acts like her mother in a way that I don’t think anyone who is not Asian could get away with without being, I guess, not PC. The whole idea of her being ‘asked’ to lose weight in order to play herself for the TV show is just ridiculous. Hollywood is so hung up on the perfect body image for women, but it was okay for Drew Carey to be bigger – and of course he replaces her show after it gets cancelled. Also the fact that the network people kept saying her face was too round – that is just how her face is, and it’s been that way her whole life! It’s upsetting how much the network wanted to change her even though she was playing herself on the show. The simple fact that they hired an Asian consultant – who hires an Asian consultant to consult an Asian person? I think Cho does a great job in her routines of addressing the situations she’s been involved in and in a way overcoming them. On The Cho Show, she accepts the Korean of the Year award. I know she’s been very proactive in the Asian community as well as the homosexual community so it was nice to see her finally being accepted for who she is.

Native Speaker (19) pp.203-end November 9, 2008

Well where to begin. I feel like there is so much to talk about after finally finishing the book. I’ve been reading on and off all weekend so some things may be gone from my memory by now. I’ll start by saying that I enjoyed the ending of the book and I think that Lee did a good job of finalizing Henry’s story – with a pretty happy and somewhat peaceful and lingering ending, for Henry at least; something I don’t think the class expected. I thought it was really interesting the way the book ended – for what started as an almost downfall in their relationship, their language ended up being the one thing that brought them closer and allowed Henry and Lelia to work together on her speech therapy. Henry accompanied her on her visits and after retiring from his job, was a part of her curriculum. Instead of focusing on speech therapy, Lelia works as making the American language more enjoyable for the young English language learners. A quote I found interesting on the last page regarding the children reads “they are just the size I will forever know, that very weight so wondrous to me, and awful. I tell them that I will miss them” (Lee, 349). Because the sutdents are young, around Mitt’s age, it is as if Lelia and Henry are living vicariously through them as Mitt.

There were also many references to the American language, Korean culture and appearance and Henry’s own issues with identity. I tried to focus on this during my reading. On page 220 Lelia describes Henry’s similiarness to his mother’s Korean features. On page 234 Henry speaks of his errors in speech which he suffered from when he was younger when other kids would call him “marble mouth”. On occasion Henry uses his Korean appearance to pretend he cannot speak English such as on page 250 when outside John Kwang’s after the bombing. Yet at the same time, Henry will purposefully not speak any Korean because he was afraid he would be emabrassed, such as in the Korean restaurant (p. 315). Henry jokes that he knew he was American for the amount of Chinese food he ordered when with Janice……. Okay now it just sounds like I’m rambling but there seems to be too much to write about. Maybe I should stop now!

I think the book does a good job of really letting the reader into the personal story of Henry. His fear of his own speech, his too Korean looking son and the sadness he thought Lelia felt for this, his unemotional relationships with his parents, his relationship with John Kwang and how Eduardo was too close to him and that was the reason he was killed – I found that ironic because of Henry’s closeness to Kwang; could he have been  killed if he was any closer?, and finally his relationship with Lelia, which the class thought was doomed from the start and happened to end up with them still together and working together – language bringing them back to one another.

Native Speaker (18) pp.131-202 November 6, 2008

After doing some group work yesterday in class, one thing really stuck out in my mind about the similarities in the readings about the Asian American identity. On page 195, there is a quote from Henry to John Kwang, “It’s still a black-and-white world” (Lee, 195). The use of the phrase ‘black and white world’ has been used continuously in our readings. I think it is something that all Asian Americans have felt and may still feel today. Being a minority was a major issue for Asian Americans throughout history and fitting into the black-white paradigm was almost never seen. It was difficult to feel included many times. Kwang goes on to tell a story about a time when he was younger. When he was younger, Kwang was approached by a woman who said he was very light-skinned and that orientals were okay in those parts. The ignorance of people back then is sort of interesting to think about; especially now that we just elected a black President. It’s nice to see the progress we’ve made as a country from the civil rights era, as mentioned in Lee’s book, to now.

Native Speaker (17) October 31, 2008

As I begin reading the next few chapters of Native Speaker, I already noticed a trend. So far we know that Henry hates his father and I find it interesting that after describing him, he creates not so much a list, but a set of words that describe him. “I would see him as a kind of aging soldier of this life, a squat, stocky-torsoed warrior, bitter, never self-pitying, fearful, stubborn, world-fucking heroic” (Lee, 48). Very loving words I know (sarcasm..) A kind of list like Lelia creates for Henry. He even states that “Lelia’s own eventual lsit was probably karmic justice for what I made him endure those final nights…” (Lee, 49). The use of the English language and the lists that the author comes up with may have something to do with the fasination that Henry feels towards it.

Native Speaker (16) October 29, 2008

Lee’s Native Speaker is an interesting book so far. I like the Narrative aspect of it and the fact that there is dialogue (unlike Zia’s). So far we haven’t read anything with dialogue in it, so a nice change! Anywho, I thought the fact that Henry was so attracted to Lelia because of the way she talked was sweet. After class today I realized a little more as to why this was true. I wonder if he is attracted to her this way because of his own speech. And as professor pointed out, the way they started their relationship isn’t too promising. Lelia is already nitpicking on Henry’s speech right from the beginning. It seems like she can figure him out by the way speaks already. Maybe this is a little foreshadowing to the list she creates about him. I am interested to read more and find out what’s going on!

Wiki Presentations (14) October 22, 2008

I learned a lot from the Wiki presentations. I had never heard of the NYC Taxi boycotts until the reading in Zia, but I was aware of the boycotts that took place more recently. It was interesting to see how the cabbies stuck together even though they woul’ve made a lot of money if they hadn’t went on strike. it shows how much it really meant to them. The same-sex marriage wiki also made me ralize how difficult it must be for people to live with so many negative attitudes towards them because of who they are. It’s not fair and it’s sad that the negativity is still present today. The LA Riots had a bigger impact than Zia mentioned. It seems like Zia focused mostly on the impact it had on Korean store owners and the injustices they suffered. But the riots impacted everyone in the area, no matter their race. I also didn’t realize the amount of songs, poems, spoken word, etc. that came out of the riots. Oh and the little fact about the spelling of Latasha Harlins name was interesting – I wonder if that had any significance – Is justice really being served when people can’t even spell her name? As mentioned in the Twilight video and the presentation, it was interesting to hear the different ways in which people responded to the riots, such as Elvira Evers and Reginald Denny, innocent victims, who were thankful that they were still alive and that nothing worse happened to them. I had heard the term yellowface before, but I hadn’t seem any pictures of actors in ‘yellowface’. I can’t believe that they thought this was ok, and they could pass for Asians… As for the Filipino cannery workers, I find it ironic that they migrated here for an opportunity to work and were subjected to such discrimination and aweful conditions. The disrespect that they suffered was so sad and it was interesting to see the difference between the two major advocates for the cannery workers; one being highly educated and one who started working in the canneries at the age of 14. All of these issues and presentations show that no matter what the cause, people will come together and work towards a resolution no matter what it takes – whether it be a strike, protest, riot, or creating their own works (plays, songs, etc.) about it – people converge.

wiki work (13) October 15, 2008

While working on the wiki, I’ve learned a few things. I did work on a class wiki in another AMS class but it wasn’t as involved as this one. People would just post stuff about the assigned topic – everyone wrote the same things and it wasn’t organized at all. I feel that in this class, the wikis will look much better and be a bit more organized since only a few people are contributing to it, rather than the entire class. So I’m learning how to make it more organized and trying to filter through the stuff we may not need, but for a start, I think it’s looking good. I’m not sure if I did the hyperlinks correctly but they aren’t taking up three lines so maybe I did?!

For my portion of the wiki I had to look up reliable online text sources and from the information the librarian gave us, I didn’t find too many sources in that field. I found the youtube video which Courtenay posted was pretty interesting. It showed you how to tell Asians apart  which correlates with the Vincent Chin killing being that he was mistaken for being Japanese when he is really Chinese American. Allison also posted a good article which went into detail about the murder and the trial. I think we have some pretty good information and when we meet to organize it, it will turn out nicely.

The only problem with working with groups is actually finding the time to meet. With different schedules, it’s difficult for everyone to agree on a good meeting time. It’s also difficult writing emails because no one checks their email every 5 minutes. I will try to meet whenever possible and also do work on my own in order to contribute to the wiki.

Wiki Project (12) October 10, 2008

So far, my contributions to the wiki project are to look up 2 reliable, online text sources on vincent Chin, while the other two group members look up print journalism and an article from a scholarly journal. All 3 of us will be looking up a relevant picture/graphic to use in our wiki. I’m sure we will find a video as well. I’m interested to learn more about the Vincent Chin trial because all we know about it is what Zia referenced in her book.