Similar to The Black Eyed Peas band, Cibo Matto also uses music to “reclaim subjectivity on their own terms” (Dave, p. 299).

“Through its musical and visual style, hip hop gives these Japanese youth a tool with which to critique the dominant culture and to construct a future wherein they might reclaim subjectivity on their own terms” (Dave, p. 299).

For instance Cibbo Matto “attempts to negotiate the double legacy of racism and sexism in the American popular music industry” (Dave, p. 293). They combat the racism and challenge stereotypes through self-identifying as Asian American.

“By doing so, they challenge the traditional idea of Asian Americans as individuals born in the United States who have assimilated culturally and can speak English fluently. They point instead to a new kind of “Asian American” represented by the growing number of transnational immigrants from East Asia who seem to be able to negotiate and bridge more easily the “Asian” and “American” elements of their identity’s.” (Dave, p. 298)

Cibbo Matto also combats the sexist American popular music industry by identifying as feminists, never categorizing themselves as a female band, and verbally pointing out in interviews the sexism in which they face.

And as for the Black Eyed Peas, they fight against racism through their lyrics, music videos, and priding themselves on being a multi-ethnic band. For example, in ”The APL Song” music video, an older Filipino man is in an American nursing home grieving over the loss of his family and culture. In the Filipino culture putting a family member in a nursing home is considered un-loyal and should never even be thought of. However, in western culture it is seen as normal. Therefore, this man clearly lost a huge part of his culture and family.

“What are the terms on which Asian American subjects such as Padma Lakshmi and Ming Tsai are represented in the popular media? And would either Lakshmi or Tsai enjoy such levels of popularity without their youthful “exotic” good looks?”  (Dave, p. 84).

The way that Asian Americans have to be represented in a certain way reminds me of how gay couples usually have to be portrayed in the media in order to be accepted/watched by American society. Padma is of Indian descent, considered “beautifully exotic,” by a white audience, with light skin and long flowing hair, and Ming is the stereotypical “model minority.” Both of these T.V. personality’s have been caricaturized and assimilated into what Hollywood thinks is the ”acceptable” American society. Why? To draw in a larger audience. Now let’s connect the idea of caricaturizing and assimilation to broader Hollywood.

In my opinion I think that The Wedding Banquet film is an “exception” in Hollywood; kind of similar to the “exception” mentioned in the film, The Slanted Screen. From what I’ve seen growing up in American society, gay male characters in T.V. shows and movies are normally portrayed as white, and are in actuality more bi-sexual than gay. Like in the popular T.V. show Will and Grace, the character Will is portrayed as a gay white man who still might one day be sexually attracted to the female body (Or at least that is what the show wants the audience to think). Influenced by Dave’s question listed up above,”Would the T.V. show Will and Grace have been just as popular if Will was portrayed as a gay man who had no hopes of ever being sexually attracted to women’s bodies?” I don’t think so…because just like Padma and Ming, Will’s character was carefully constructed to be assimilated into “acceptable” American society. Why? Once again, to draw in a larger audience. The Hollywood studio producing the show feared not enough people would watch the show otherwise. And it seems the studio’s idea of assimilation worked. The T.V. show Will and Grace “was, during its original run, the most successful television series with gay principal characters. It still enjoys success in syndication.”

Quote taken from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_%26_Grace

Chapter 6:

“To the casual observer who is even mildly aware of recent social and cultural transformations, the sodomitical implications of “within each crack/a story” are not lost. This phrase would not escape the snickers of Bevis and Butthead, who have been so oddly influential in the queering of popular culture” p. 118 – Is this true about Beavis and Butthead? Are there other ways in which Beavis and Butthead have been influential in the queering of popular culture or even Asian American pop culture? Has the show ever played a role in Asian American stereotyping or has it been against the stereotypes?

“In spite of these transformations and recognitions, a relatively new question has been heard with increasing frequency and loudness; How, if at all, does queering productively intersect with critical race theory and historical materialism?” p. 119

“Even with Asian American studies, the conception of Filipinos as forgotten, and forgetful, is canonical. It has customarily and persuasively been argued that this amnesia is an epiphenomenon of the amnesia around U.S. colonialism in the Pacific at the turn of the century” p. 123- Why has Filipino and Filipino American history been forgotten/overlooked?

Chapter 10:

“Starting in 1935 in Los Angeles, the Nisei Week Festival added the Nisei Week Queen Pageant to draw more people into the festival. The addition of the Queen Pageant reflected the larger goals of the festival, namely, to ease the mounting economic and social tensions between Japanese Americans and the larger white community while trying to bolster the ethnic economy of Little Tokyo” p. 205 -Interesting that the Japanese American community used beauty pageants as a tool to gain a larger audience for the Nisei Week Festival, ease social tensions with whites, and bring in a heavier income for Little Tokyo.

- What were some of the drawbacks of these pageants  for the Japanese American women? and how did the pageants help them?

Chapter 14:

“Race and sexuality seem to cancel each other out in both the popular imagination and the zero-sum world of identity politics” p. 275- Thought provoking quote.

Crisis of Identity:

The Slanted Screen: Asian American actors are always trying to destroy or break away from film stereotypes.

Saving Face: Wil is trying to come to terms with her sexual orientation and being comfortable expressing her feelings for Vivian in public. Throughout most of the film she is also trying to gain enough courage to tell her mother that she is gay.

Lee: “She is the symbolic of the deeply contradictory and contested representation of the Asian American as permanent resident alien: both model minority, productive and acquiescent, and yellow peril, the Viet Cong, invisible and destructive” p. 180. During and after the Vietnam war white American culture decided to focus their stereotyping antics on Vietnamese women.  More than often, Vietnamese women were stereotyped as young, extremely intelligent, and having the mission of killing the white American “hero” soldier.

Another stereotype that plagues many Asian Americans to this day is the ”model minority myth.”  “The myth presents Asian Americans as silent and disciplined; this is their secret to success. At the same time, this silence and discipline is used in constructing the Asian American new yellow peril” p. 190. Because of this myth, as also mentioned in The Slanted Screen, a good majority of Asian Americans feel torn about their cultural identity’s. They either feel like they need to live up to this myth, rebel from it, or somehow use it to their advantage (the advantage part can be somewhat seen in the film Better Luck Tomorrow).

Crisis of Economics:

The Slanted Screen- Film industry makes money off of Asian/Asian American stereotypes.

Saving Face- Wil’s grandfather is angry that his 48 year old unwed daughter has become pregnant. He yells to his daughter that he didn’t leave his homeland in order for her to put herself in this situation and that she is a disgrace. The reason I am connecting this to an economic crisis is because it can be assumed that when Wil’s grandfather left his home country, he was also leaving his job, which meant he was taking an economic chance. And if his plan failed then he would of had for sure been in an economic crisis.

Lee: “The year 1974 encompassed Watergate, the OPEC oil crisis, and the fall of Saigon” p. 180. Right before the “model minority myth” became popular, the mid-1970s crisis called for a global restructuring of capital and the development of “de-industrialization.”  Fordism was replaced by flexible accumulation. And with the “de-industrialization” came America’s hope for a return to hegemony “in the global marketplace through discipline, obedience, and return to family values” p. 182-183. This is when the use of the”model minority myth” blew up.

What are some of the stereotypes that haunt and affect Asian Americans today? Well some of the most obvious are “the Dragon lady,” “the exotic Asian woman who lives to pamper her husband,” “the sexy but submissive Asian woman,” “evil, devious, and sneaky” Asian characters, “trustworthy Chinese peasants,” all Asian women are “passive and docile,” Asian women are “spoils of war,” the “Connie Chung” Asian American newscaster,” and most recently “the model minority.” Now with that reminder, where did all these stereotypes come from? This question can be slightly answered after one reads Lee and watches the films Slaying the Dragon and The Joy Luck Club.

Both Lee and Slaying the Dragon suggest that many of these stereotypes were invented by the American film and music industry in order to spread racism, oppress people of color, and yet at the same time make massive profits. So first lets look at the American film industry. As another reminder, the American film industry was born in the early 1900s, at a time when a dominantly white America felt threatened by the Chinese Americans and wanted them gone. And what’s one way America oppresses people of color? Trough spreading the word or in this case an image of why the group under attack is “bad,” “alien like,” and should leave. With Americans fascinated by the cinema, movies were one of the most recognizable ways to oppress the Asian/Asian American people and their cultures through stereotyping.  A quick list of films where Asian or Asian American characters are stereotyped include, The World of Suzie Wong, Flower Drum Song, early Anna May Wong movies, Flash Gordon, Walk Like A Dragon, and a handful of American films produced during the Vietnam War. To answer the question “Where did Asian American stereotypes come from?” in depth, we must now examine these films more closely and delve deeper into America’s history of racism.

To start, the first stereotype of Asian American women was “the Dragon Lady.” Anna May Wong, the first ever Chinese American actress, and first Asian American actress to gain international fame, was portrayed as “the Dragon Lady,” during the 1920′s “Yellow Peril.” “Six images- the pollutant, the coolie, the deviant, the yellow peril, the model minority, and the gook- portray the oriental as an alien body and a threat to the American national family” (Lee, p. 8).

Next, we have Flash Gordon from the 1930s, stereotyping Asian American men as “evil, devious, and sneaky.”

1937 (to 1945)- the Second Sino-Japanese War begins, transferring the Japanese and Chinese stereotypes. Instead of the Chinese being the bad guys, the Japanese now become the devious ones. This is when the stereotype of “Trustworthy Chinese peasants,” forms.

1949-  Communist takeover in China. Chinese and Japanese images are switched once again.  Japanese become good, Chinese bad.

Soon after geisha films are released, the stereotype that Asian women are “exotic,” and “only live  to please men,” can be seen.

1950s- With the Korean War, international relationships between Asian women and white men first take place on the screen.

This is when the dynamics between Asian women and white men started to change. It wasn’t until this time period could a white man and Asian woman be seen kissing on screen. And this is also when Asian women started to become objectified, when white men could have free sexual desires for women of color, and when white men were viewed as the “manly man; the white hero.”

1960- In the film, The World of Suzie Wong, actress Nancy Kwan unknowingly begins the “sexy but submissive Asian woman,” stereotype which still exists to this day.

Film industry uses “passive” Asian American stereotypes to counteract African American civil rights movement.

1970s-  Vietnamese women are “spoils of war,” in films like the Rambo series.

1980s- “The New Yellow Peril,” begins when Asian American women become newscasters. This started the “Connie Chung,” stereotypes that Asian American women newscasters need to have their hair a certain way and wear “exotic” makeup.

Film industry continues to use Asian Americans as scapegoats because they know any other minority group would rebel; according to Slaying the Dragon.

Clearly, everyone knows the film industry is a powerful machine that can easily manipulate and influence the minds of it’s audience. And because of this, it’s been used as the perfect tool to make immense profits and oppress different groups of people. So what’s the result of all these stereotypes? What impact does it have on American culture and it’s people? As can be seen in the film Slaying the Dragon, a quite popular assumption made by many white American men, is that they can get the perfect “submissive, pampering wife,” from an Asian American woman. Another troubling affect is, some Asian American women believe that white men are just like the ”white hero’s,” they see in the American films.

Ok, now strictly moving on to Orientals, Lee mentions how during the mid-late 1800s the American music industry spread and profited from racism towards the Chinese Americans. “Like California As It Was And Is,” a score of popular songs published between 1855 and 1882 portrayed the Chinese immigrant as an agent of economic decline and social disorder of free white working-men and their families” (Lee, p. 17).  And who wrote these songs? White American men who felt threatened by the Chinese Americans amidst the height of the gold rush. “Popular songs were not meant to be passively consumed in the listening, but were intended for singing around the campfire, in the boardinghouse parlor, in the saloon and music hall, and at the political rally” (Lee, p. 17). Not only was singing/songwriting one of fastest ways to spread discrimination, but it was also a conveniently good way to make money. Sort of disturbing? Yes, yes it is.

And lastly, let’s take a look at The Joy Luck Club. I honestly did not see that many connections to be made between this film, Lee or Slaying the Dragon. I did notice two things though. 1. One of the children sang “I enjoy being a girl,” which was also sang by Nancy Kwan’s character in Flower Drum Song. And 2. Nearly all of the women in the film did not want to talk about the bad things which had happened to them, similar to how the survivors of the Japanese American concentration camps did not want to talk about their experiences.

On page 52 of Lee, there is a picture of a five white people inside of an attic. One of them is a woman, laying down on a bed, smiling, with the upper half of her body propped up looking straight ahead. Next to her is another women, sitting down on a stool with her face buried in her hands. In front of them is a man laying on his back, who seems to be relaxed, with a bottle in his hand. Then inside of the attic’s doorway is a police officer holding a baton, trying to catch a seemingly younger boy. Interestingly enough, outside of the attic’s window is a view of a four story building, which contains a laundry business, a sewing machine store, a cigar manufactory, and another unidentifiable store. Inside of the unidentifiable store is a man standing with the window open, looking down as a man falls directly beneath him. As this is happening two men are walking out out of the building. And then right next to these two is a dead body on the sidewalk. So my question is; what is the meaning of this picture? Is the younger boy in the attic guilty of the person’s death? Is the woman crying the younger boys mother or sister? Or perhaps she knew the person who died? Who really committed the crime? Did the man looking at the person falling push him out of the window? Are the two men walking out of the building trying to catch the falling man? Or maybe he isn’t falling but instead is looking at the dead body? And why are two out of five people so calm in the attic?

Besides the picture, connections between the reading and the film 47 Ronin can be made. For example, on page 82 “Despite his intelligence and beauty, his half-breed racial status makes him a permanent outcast and dooms him to a life of criminality. Of the terrible product of “miscegenation,” Beck concludes, “In all fairness, such a man is better dead.” First of all I want to break this quote down. Let’s start with the first sentence. Actor Keanu Reeves, aka Kai in the film, is a “half-breed,” is intelligent, many of Reeve’s fans find him “beautiful,” and so does his love interest, and because he is a half-breed/raised by demons, he is doomed to forever be an outcast and criminal. Like when Kai was smart enough to know how to kill the creature at the beginning of the film, he got no credit for it because the man who witnessed his accomplishment did not want to admit his own incompetence. Or when there is no samurai to fight in the arena, Kai with persuasion from Chikara, fills in the empty spot. Unfortunately when his samurai head gear falls off the audience then knows it was Kai fighting all along. Despite Kai’s bravery and loyalty, he is severely punished like a criminal, simply because he is an outcast. Now looking at the second sentence, there were many times throughout the first half of the film where someone told Kai he should have never been saved, or allowed to live.