“An Asian American told an interviewer: “I am a second generation Korean American without any achievements in life and I have no education. What is it you want to hear from me? My life is not worth telling to anyone” (Takaki, p. 9).  I felt this quote was important because it shows how Asian Americans are clearly stereotyped. Typically the stereotype is Asian Americans are extremely intelligent when it comes to math and science. But like the quote shows if an Asian American doesn’t have a significant amount of education then society  views them as not worthy of pretty much anything.

Why had I left home?” a newcomer asked. “What would I do in America? I looked into the faces of my companions for a comforting answer, but they were as young and bewildered as I, and my only consolation was their proximity and the familiarity of their dialects.” They could feel the liminality of the land awaiting them. Would everything be “familiar and kind”? the newcomers wondered. Or were they merely seeing illusions, harboring hopes that would “vanish,” too?”  (Takaki, p. 74)

I believe this quote is also important because it shows the feelings and emotions of the Asian immigrants. I think the key words within the quote are “liminality,” “companions,” “young,” familiarity,” “kind,” “wondered,” “hopes,” and “vanish.” When I read this it was a lot easier for me imagine myself in their shoes. It’s really sad and compelling to read what their first thoughts were when they arrived. Like how the person is looking for any comfort, but they cannot find it because everyone around them is in the same situation. And then another important section of the quote is the last part: “the newcomers wondered. Or were they merely seeing illusions, harboring hopes that would “vanish,” too?” To me, I translated this as “Is America really all it’s cracked up to be?”

Today I saw the film 47 Ronin. In my opinion the film had many problems. I really expected more from the film, but it just didn’t do anything special for me. And here’s a list of why the film didn’t work:

1. Keanu Reeves didn’t fit in with the storyline.  I mean don’t get me wrong, Keanu Reeves is a great actor, but it was clear his part was “added” for that grand Hollywood effect. Except in this case Keanu was part of the problem.  His part just felt so random to the film and was irrelevant. The only reason he was needed was because of his special fantasy abilities. Ok… but isn’t Oishi supposed to be the main character? See that’s another problem. I just didn’t know who to focus on in the film.
2. There were no rules in this “fantasy” version of 18^th century Japan. This ultimately left more questions than answers by the end of the film.  For example; how old was the witch? Or how powerful was she truly? Why were the demons hated for their beliefs? And what were there beliefs, besides that “the only thing this world has to offer is death”?
3. No character development. What was Lord Kira’s background that made him evil? What were the personalities of the main characters?