This film was really interesting because it showed the home life of a Filipino American family and how their Filipino culture affected their son named Ben. For example, Ben feels embarrassed about his Filipino culture. When Ben comes home with his two white friends, one of the friends has to use the bathroom. Ben comes up with excuse after excuse about why they cannot come inside. Finally they do go inside and are somewhat taken aback to the household’s Filipino decorations. Ben is even further embarrassed when his family warmly asks his friends to stay and try the food. Clearly Ben cares very much about how other people view him. It’s not until Augusto tells Ben that he’s a sellout does it finally click for Ben that he’s been acting distant/rude towards his family. Another turning point for Ben is when a girl at a party taunts him with racist slurs.

I think that the idea of a young adult/teenager being embarrassed or ashamed of their background, whether it’s to do with culture, race, generational differences, or class, is quite common. Last quarter we learned of how the Nisei felt embarrassed about their Japanese heritage. And it wasn’t usually until later in life did they become proud of their parents culture. Going off of that, it’s my opinion that class can also make a person feel embarrassed or ashamed. Like if someone comes from a lower-income background but attends a prestigious school there probably is going to be some shame or embarrassment down the line. Basically this film helped exemplify the connections to be made between class, race, gender, generational differences, and culture.

In March of 1997, yes 1997! President William Jefferson Clinton, first lady Hilary Rodham Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore, were all presented on the cover of National Review in yellow face. The three were also dressed in stereotypical Asian clothing, and drawn with caricatured features such as buck teeth and slanted eyes. I know that I’ve said this in a past blog, but I feel it is appropriate to say again; What does this say about our society? “What does yellow face signify? Race is a mode of placing cultural meaning on the body. Yellow face marks the oriental as alien” (Lee, p. 2). This cover was only from 17 years ago. I guess this proves just how far America has come into putting a stop against Anti-Asian actions and beliefs; not very far.

Another thing I’d like to mention is, racism towards Chinese Americans and capitalism seems to be connected. “Chinese immigration became a metonym for the collapse of time and space produced by a transition to industrial capitalism, a collapse that constituted a boundary crisis within the symbolic or ideological structure of American society. This boundary crisis demanded the transformation of Chinese cultural difference from exotic to pollutant” (Lee, p. 32).  Since the mid-nineteenth century Asian Americans have been seen as a pollutant. This is because the white settlers (mainly in California) felt threatened by the Chinese Americans success and numbers. So in an attempt to lower the Chinese Americans status and quality of life, the white settlers spread lies and racism through song-writing. For example, the song “California As It Was And Is,” blames the Chinese Americans for economic decline and social disorder. The connection between capitalism and racism goes even deeper when one examines the entertainment/music world of the  mid- late 19th century America. During this time period songs were not meant to be just listened to; they were intended to be sung in large groups where the song would then be passed onto a new audience.  This is important to note because not only is this a tactic to spread racism orally around the United States, but also songwriting was a huge profit for it’s white writers. Hence, my connection between racism and capitalism.

(Image found from: http://yellow-face.com/yellowface-politics.htm)

Sue talking to Walt- “The girls go to college and the boys go to jail.”

Walt watching gang go by- “This kid doesn’t have a chance” (talking about Thao).

Walt has more fun with his hmong neighbors than his “own spoiled rotten family.”

It’s quotes like the ones listed above that showcase Walt’s transformation into a more empathetic character towards the Hmong people; specifically towards Thao. Over time Walt begins showing empathy and kindness towards Thao and his sister Sue. Some ways he does this is through saving Sue from a gang, spending time with Thao even when Thao doesn’t need to work for him anymore, teaching Thao to talk “like a real man”, letting Thao borrow his tools, giving him a construction job and paying for his gear, trying to keep the gang away from Thao, letting Thao use his gran torino car for a date, and sacrificing himself to save Thao and Sue from the gang.  In my opnion the movie was really beautiful especially because of the ending. Knowing what it feels like to live without peace, Walt realizes Sue and Thao will never have peace until the gang is gone. The movie tricks the audience into thinking Walt and Thao are going to murder the gang. However, Walt locks Thao in his basement telling him he doesn’t want Thao to live with blood on his hands like the way he does. This is when the audience is tricked once again into believing Walt will murder the gang. But instead, Walt goes to the gang member’s house and waits until there are witness to fully antagonize the gang. The gang then shoots Walt dead believing him to be pulling out a gun. And because of the witnesses the gang members go to prison. Finally Sue and Thao are free of the gang. As a final act of kindness Walt leaves his gran torino to Thao. Not only was the film about redemption, but the film was also about self-realizations, and acts of selflessness. Another important piece of the film was the characters other than Walt. For example Sue never judges Walt for his racist remarks, she only see’s his inner kindness. Without Sue, its hard to tell if Walt would soften as much as he did towards Thao/ the Hmong people.

“A year later, Chinese-Communist intervention in the Korean War set off hysterical anti-Chinese reactions in the United States. The new peril was seen as yellow in race and red in ideology.” p. 415.

When this happened the Chinese Americans once again had to prove to the American government they were not a threat. This time it was because of Communism.  If the Chinese Americans were not careful they could also be thrown into concentration camps, just like how the Japanese Americans were during World War Two. Near the end of the year 1950, the McCarran International Security Act was passed by Congress, which provided for the imprisonment  during a national emergency. The Chinese Americans then began their quest to prove they were anti-Communist. One way they did this was through forming anti-Communist campaigns, such as the Anti-Communist Committee for Free China, and the All- American  Overseas Chinese Anti-Communist League. But then unfortunately in 1955, the American Consul in Hong Kong said that Chinese Communist parties spies “could use fraudulent citizenship papers to secure American passports and enter the United States” (p. 416). As a result, the secret Chinese American paper families were forced to come clean to the American government . Luckily, in return for a confession the government would give the confessor legal status  if they were not involved in subversive activates. 99% of the confessors were allowed to stay in the United States.

I felt this section and quote from Takaki was important because it shows how even up until the 1950′s the Chinese Americans were being discriminated against. The American government would always find a reason to exclude them and some people might even argue that the government does to this day. This passage is also interesting because just a few years earlier during World War Two the American government had declared the Chinese Americans to be loyal and should be considered friends to “white America.”

This film was unique, dark, and had humor to it about suburbia and cultural stereotypes. Throughout the film, especially the first half, Asian American stereotypes were either happening or being mocked. And the interesting thing is at least one of the Asian American characters was using the stereotypes to his advantage. A few that I saw included:

1. Deric, who is Asian American, writes an article about Ben, who is also Asian American, stating that affirmative action needs to take place for Ben. Deric tells Ben to his face that he is the “token Asian” and that’s why he was allowed to join the basketball team. The article also makes Ben popular among his classmates. However Ben becomes angry about the article and tells Deric he didn’t think it was right. Deric laughs and tells Ben he shouldn’t care about what other people think. This is partly when Ben’s life begins to spiral out o f control.

2. All the main characters who are Asian American are the stereotypical “smart Asians” who are trying to get into Ivy League colleges. Ben memorizes and recites a new SAT word every night, all characters take extremes to study, and are overall “perfect.”

3. Whites stereotype Asian Americans in the film: a white male high school student mocks the characters for their “perfect” image, and the basketball couch only has Ben on the team to look good.

4.  Han (I think) who is Asian American made a joke out of the stereotypes.

Overall I think this film is very important because it layers yet meshes the Asian American stereotypes from the perspective of Asian Americans themselves.

In my opinion the film was beautiful yet simple.  I really appreciated this movie particularly because of Binh. I think it would have been easy for the writers to make Binh aggressive, revengeful, and have more of a common talkative attitude. So I love that the writers made Binh have the characteristics of someone who grew up as a “Bui Doi”. When Ling asked Binh “why you look at me like that? Why won’t you look at me?” Binh said because he was never allowed to play with children growing up and so he doesn’t look at anyone. He has “the face of enemy”. To me that scene was arguably the most impactful compared to the rest because it was at that moment the audience learned the truth about the consequences of the Vietnam War.  The ending of the film was very impactful as well; more so for Binh’s character than the audience. A few important details that happened to Binh included:

1. Ling confessed she didn’t love Binh in return. And it is implied to choose to marry a much older richer American man.
2. While gambling Binh learns any Vietnamese child of an American soldier and Vietnamese mother can fly for free.  This makes him feel even guiltier for his brother’s death. Because that means he never had to die.
3. Escapes debt for his passage to America because he is U.S. citizen.
4. Finds his father and learns the truth about why he left/abandoned his mother.  While married to Binh’s mother, he was blinded at work one day. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in a Maryland hospital bed with no vision. He couldn’t go back to Vietnam once the war had ended and he didn’t want to go back anyways because as a blind man he thought Binh’s mother was better off without him.

Binh’s father implies that he knows Binh is his son and that he’s glad Binh is with him now. The final scene ends with the two laughing and joking as Binh cuts his father’s hair. It seems that by the end at least some of Binh’s anguish and pain is beginning to heal.