The film “The Debut” was a film that followed a young high school senior by the name Ruben (Ben) Mercado, and his struggles finding his identity. As a Filipino American you see Ruben go from rejecting his culture and in a sense being ashamed of his heritage, to seeing him realize he should take pride in the cultural traditions which he was observing during his sister Debutante birthday party.

However there was this connection I noticed within the film and the readings we were assigned from Ronald Takaki’s book, “Strangers From a Different Shore.” In Takaki’s book he explains how many Asian American students were often pushed towards college degrees in fields such as engineering, the medical field, and architecture. These careers were found to be prosperous and not a, “waste of time.” However many of these young men and women would possibly be more interested in earning degrees in the Arts or Social Sciences, but due to there parents ideals of seeing these career choices as unsatisfactory in terms of economic prosperity in the future, they are pressured away from other career fields that they may be passionate about. So what does this have to do with the film, “The Debut,” and the main character Ruben?

In the movie Ruben is being pressured by his father to take a scholarship to UCLA in order to pursue a career as a Doctor. However Ruben without telling his father decided to enroll in an art school, which his father believed was a pointless hobby. Later on Ruben found that his father also had a history as a musician and had to give up his music dreams due to Rubens birth. Furthermore his father was also seen as somewhat of a disappointment to his own father (Ruben’s Grandfather) because he had, “wasted his time” with music as a young man and now is a Postman, serving mail to others. His fathers job as a worker in a job providing a service can also be related to Takaki because a lot of first generation immigrants had to accept employment in jobs that were service related, such as in the restaurant industry or as janitors. This idea of the older generations in Asian American society, pushing their children towards careers as professionals, and away from careers that the child may be passionate about is perfectly depicted in this film.

However I feel for both sides, both the child and the parent. It would be hard to go through college and later moving into a career that you may have zero passion or interest towards in order to please your elders. There would always be this sense of what if? What if I had followed my dreams and became a musician, or a painter, or cartoonist? However I also understand the parent’s point of view. As first generation immigrants, in an American society with a long history of racial tension and unequal job opportunities. Where they had to work jobs that were, labor intensive, and service related, for the hopes of providing a better opportunity for the next generation. I can see why they would push their children towards an education and career where they had better chances of improving their economic standing, and position in society. Either way it is sad that these children are placed in this position especially because America is always described as a place where anyone can become anything. A place where one can follow their dreams, and pursue their interests, whatever they may be.

In the film at the very end, Ruben finally comes out and tells his father that he had already enrolled in Art school and had taken out all of his savings in order to pay the first years tuition. After showing his father his portfolio of  his artwork with which he had sent to art school and his acceptance was based upon, as well as showing him a picture he had created of his father, his grandfather, and of himself, we start to see acceptance of Ruben’s decision creep into the face of Ruben’s father.

Overall this film can be connected to may issues related to what we have learned in our A-Pop program and in Asian American studies in general. Such as the loss of language seen in the later generation of immigrants, such as the frustration depicted by Ruben’s grandfather in his not taking the time to learn Tagalog which is spoken in the Philippines. The racist stereotypes being depicted by a white girl at a high school party where she indicated Ruben and other Filipino’s, “ate dogs.” Throughout the film these connections of the struggles faced by immigrants and their children in, as Takaki would describe, “As being from a different shore,” are very apparent and eye opening.

Trying to follow what our Professor Chico has been passionately conveying to me and my fellow students the past two quarters, I really tried to make connections from the readings. The connections I noticed were in regards to common themes seen throughout the assigned readings of Ronald Takaki’s book “Strangers From a Different Shore” and even links I noticed from the book in regards to my own life.

The most common reoccurring theme I noticed in this book was the constant oppression people place upon their fellow man. As Asian Americans came to this country to fill the White mans need for laborers in the fields of agriculture, the building of railroads, factories, and other labor industry jobs, it was impossible not to notice the owners and those in a position of power always seemed to utilize there position to keep these “strangers from a different shore” from being able to advance themselves economically in society. Also they constantly used the tactic of separating the different nationality groups from uniting. From this I theorize that yes, appearance and ignorance and hate of any race that is not white caused the hostile feelings whites have exemplified in our countries history toward the Asian community, I also feel a bigger factor is greed. Businessmen utilize the cheap labor of new immigrants, however whenever these new ethnicities start to improve their economic situation in this country they see them as a threat and become even more hostile towards the Asian American population. One example of this that surprised me was in the realm of education. As Takaki shows on page 479, “…Asian American “success has been accompanied by the rise of a new wave of anti-Asian sentiment. On college campuses, racial slurs have surfaced in conversation on the quad: ‘Look out for the Asian Invasion.’” Other comments depicted on the page are even more offensive such as, ” M.I.T. means Made in Taiwan.” All of this is derived from the fact that Asian American are working hard to obtain an education and are seen as excelling and thus are believed to have taken enrollment spots from white college bound young adults. I had previously knew of the hate created by competition in the work force, but it is even more disheartening for me to hear that it is occurring in schools.

Also I noticed that many of the Asian American communities that have a longer history of immigration to the United States such as the Chinese, Japanese, Asian-Indian, Filipino and Korean immigrants had similar experiences after the second big wave of Asian immigration following the 1965 Immigration Act. This second wave of immigrants were made up of many highly educated professionals who due to their race, lack of language skills, and the ignorance of a still young and ignorant American society had been forced to downgrade there positions as professionals in their homelands, to jobs such as, shopkeepers, janitors, and other non-professional jobs in America. Furthermore even the sons, daughters, and grandchildren of these Asian American immigrants found that even though they were American citizens and highly educated in Universities in the United States, had a “glass ceiling (476)” placed above them where they were unable to advance to managerial and decision making postitions due to their ethnicity. However with that being said it is good to know that in the past few decades Asian Americans are beginning to speak out against such awful discrimination and are beginning to find their voice.

I have also made some connections with some of my own life experiences and the experiences of my relatives. Though I am white, I come from a lower middle class background and some of my relatives, such as my Grandfather could be considered having been raised as downright poor. One example of a connection I have with the readings is the sacrifice and hard work of the first generation in the hopes to better the futures of their children. I myself grew up without a silver spoon in my mouth, but my parents worked hard in the hopes to give me an education and a life that they were not able to achieve for themselves have managed to put both my sister and I through college and made every possible effort to improve our odds of success in life. Their sacrifices have not gone unnoticed in my eyes and I am even more aware of the sacrifices they made due to reading of Takaki’s book.

Another connection I noticed involved my Grandmother. Many Asian immigrant women, especially the Chinese American immigrants who worked in the garment industry were responsible for contributing to the families income along with raising children and performing household duties. My own grandmother was in the same boat, and oddly enough her job was as a worker in a sewing factory. She too had to come home after work, cook, clean, and take care of three daughters. Her decision to work was out of necessity and shows that people from all races and ethnicities whether European American, Asian American, or African American have had to put in long hours and dealt with an exhausting workload in order to provide for those they love.

Overall this weeks reading has been both eye opening as well as improved my knowledge of the struggles that Asian Americans have faced and still face in the United States today.

Ring, Ring… Ring Ring, was the sound in the opening scene of the film, ¨Better Luck Tomorrow¨, where two of the main character, Ben and Virgil, trace the ringing to a grave of an unknown person barried in the backyard of a seemingly quiet suburban house. These two seemingly innocent young men who were talking of their college applications and futures, coincidentally had a lot more to do with this dead body that one would think they unexpectedly came upon.

First off I must say the film, ¨Better Luck to Tomorrow¨ was a fantastic story that was comical at times and dark at others. It was by far the most surprising movie I have seen of late. From the opening scene I would not have expected the movie to twist and turn into such a dark place and at the end left me with my mouth hanging wide open in surprise.

The film follows four main characters the narrator being the character Ben. All of which are bright students with bright futures. They excel in the classroom, and have seemingly bright futures. However their extra curricular activities are dark and surprising, ranging from planning and executing multiple scams, the selling of drugs, and eventually murder.

Furthermore in regards to this class and Asian American culture I found that this film did a great job of taking the theory of Asian Americans being stereotyped as the ¨Model minority¨ and playing and twisting this idea. Yes, these students were Asian Americans, and were brilliant hard working high school students, however their lawbreaking deeds in which they used their whits and cleverness to pull off, shows that you cannot always judge a book by its cover, and make claims of a person based upon stereotypes. Everyone regardless of race or creed has their own personal problems, aspirations, and personalities, and by stereotyping people you can miss the person behind the mask.

First off if you haven’t seen this film, “The Beautiful Country” then you must rent it and watch it. It was a touching film that was both interesting and moving, hitting on many emotions ranging from sad to happy. It also was very educational and eye opening. Before this film I never thought much on the subject of the children fathered by American GI’s during the Vietnam War. This film gives insight to the struggles these children faced, and the hate they endured by their fellow Vietnemese citizens, as they were seen has having the face of their enemy since they were the product of their American fathers.

Furthermore, I had a few question regarding this film and on the children who were ostresized due to being half American and half Vietnamese. The first question is in regards to Bihn and his father Steve. What was the reason for him not coming out right away and telling Steve that he was his son? Especially after he waited so long and endured so much to finally reach his father.

Secondly, I wondered what happened to Bihn’s mother after Bihn and Tam left? Did she survive. Was she imprisoned? It is a piece of the story that was left untold and is a question that would be impossible to answer, but definitely made me curious of her fate.

Overall I found this movie extremely enjoyable and loved the way the plot moved along throughout the movie. Even better I loved the fact that the movie had a Happy ending with Bihn  building a bond with his father Steve. Yet again this is a must see film.