The Debut was a very great film. It’s just how I want to see Asians portrayed in the media, to be honest – like everyone else.
OK, sure there’s several things that are unique to Asians and Filipinos – FOBs, overbearing fathers, titas that are larger than life, getting called a dog eater, and so on. However, you scratch out those parts, and you have a pretty classic teenager movie, a movie that anyone could relate to regardless of color.
Clint Eastwood, every now and again you remind me of how much of a badass you are.
The standard way to read this I’m sure would be to criticize the ‘white savior’ complex that abounds in the storyline. Only Mr. Kowalski can save the day. How convenient that the Lor family doesn’t have a father around. Blah blah blah blah blah.
What if there was another way to look at it? What if we saw the larger metaphor for the immigrant experience? Think about it. Mr. Kowalski is clearly other Americans, Thao is the immigrant, Spyder is the troubles that immigrants face in their journey to the country and their acculturation, and the Gran Torino is the promise of the American Dream. Sure, the racism is there in America. Nobody’s doubting that. Yet, begrudgingly if nothing else, America gradually brings new people in the fold. And in the final scene, we see the reward passing over the people who constantly criticize it and take it for granted and instead awarded to the people who cherish it the most, who have had to fight tooth and nail to get it.
It’s certainly not the movie I thought it was going to be, and I’m very glad for that.
You go, girl. (Click the pic for the full cartoon; NSFW)
This might sound jingoistic, but I think that my obsession for the quarter is going to be America. Love it or leave it.
A British-American commentator once wrote that “… the most vital of arguments goes on… Are races be equal?” Why? “Americans believe that these debates can never become tired, and that their resolution still matters, because what happens in America still matters in the broader world.” And it does still matter, because we have not only made a promise to the world that “All are created equal,” but by and large we still believe that today.
This is not to gloss over that we’ve been perfect in that aspiration. We have a lot of original sin in our founding myths. It is important to acknowledge and examine the bad parts of our history, to inform the debate of today. And a lot of what I want to examine is going to keep referencing this.
But I refuse to stop at that. To conclude that we’re a hypocritical, racist country is to take the easy way out. It does a disservice to those who’ve risen through the ranks. And it closes off the conversation about where we go from here.
So these are the questions I want to examine through the pop culture lens. Do we still believe in the melting pot? Is the Pan-Asian idea more of an American phenomenon, or can it be applied to Asia as well? And are these things uniquely American?
Let’s talk.
Oh hi, Keanu Reeves. What are you doing in my movie?
I think that this movie is a great way to underscore one of my beliefs: some parts of culture don’t translate well to other cultures.
Now, the original legend of the 47 Rōnin is pretty cool in my book. My dad explained it to me as more of a psychological thriller than anything else. It might be telling about our culture, but I’m hard pressed to think of any American equivalent legend – the closest I can come is the Battle of the Alamo.
So how do you make it palatable to an American audience? Apparently you add Keanu Reeves and a love story. And this is where it all goes wrong.
Suddenly, the story changes to something about an outcast willing to do anything for his love. It feels like someone just stapled the two plot lines together, as if they thought the sum would be greater than the parts. It’s so obvious that you can’t suspend your disbelief to get lost in the story, like someone just yelling plot at you or something.
I’m willing to give people lots of credit when their heart is in the right place. Sure, some of the costuming is wrong. Sure, there were some Asian-y elements to the story as opposed to specifically Japanese parts.
But when you delete so much (my on-screen count never got higher than about 20 ronin, for example), I have to say that it sucks. And apparently I’m not alone in thinking that.
This movie is a very interesting American interpretation of a Japanese legend. How true will it stay to the original story, and how much will be edited for an American audience? Well, Keanu Reeves stars, for one, so who can say.