First off, I was surprised to have read that there is a website called “alllooksame.com” and that there is a test that requires the user to guess if the photographs of Asian faces that are shown are Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Well I took the exam just to see what it was about, and it was very difficult to be able to distinguish whether or not the face is of Chinese, Japanese or Korean descent. I started thinking…what about the other ethnic groups of Asia? Those were left out of the exam. I just thought it was interesting to have a test, I mean what does that say about the world?…The fact that people feel that we have to have this test. Furthermore, after having to read over the term “Asian American” made me think of why is the term so generalized when there are a variety of groups within the Asian race. Shouldn’t we cherish the uniqueness of each ethnicity within the Asian group? Especially within America…as it is supposed to be such a huge melting pot with so many different cultures, races, and ethnicity.  Is that what makes it hard for America to really get past this never ending cycle of racism?

“And if you’re wondering whether or not to take offense, remember:alllooksame is not a statement. It’s a question.” p. 265

I thought this was powerful because first of all, the phrase “alllooksame” is controversial because of the way that it is written. This reminded me of the book Orientals by Lee and how it was discussing the stereotype of the way Asians pronounce certain words and phrases. As opposed to placing the alllookTHEsame and inserting “the” in the website name was done purposely and could also be looked at as a way of embracing ones identity. Furthermore, this reminded me of the film “The Slanted Screen: Asian Men in Film and Television” and how one of the actors talked about how to effectively create change, and if that means to play the stereotype for the time being to pass through then so be it. Secondly, the fact that the emphasis is placed on stating that it is a question is powerful because it makes you think one: about the statement and two: about the question itself.

After watching the film I was able to make a few connections that grabbed my attention. One connection was the fact that Rizwan Khan was diagnosed with having Asperger’s syndrome, which is, “an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors and interests.” More of the film revealed that Rizwan had this special ability to fix any machine that is not working properly or broken. The special attention that Rizwan received from his mother led his brother to be very jealous of him. I felt that this part of the film was very emotional because it was difficult for others to relate to him, and understand why he was so different. Many people could think of this as a weakness, rather than cherishing him for his uniqueness.

Another emotional part of the film was how there was a huge change up in the Khan’s lives. The September 11 attack on the twin towers created post 9-11 prejudice in their community. I had so much empathy for Rizwan because it was difficult for him and his family to be treated like terrorists. This alone proves why there was so much tension throughout the film. It was extremely sad yet powerful when Mandira blamed Rizwan for Sam’s death stating, “He died only because his name was Khan.” I know this had to have created such a strong feeling of blame and humiliation for him. I felt that the schoolyard fight was a representation of true racism and unfairness.

Another powerful part of the film that grabbed my attention was that Rizwan asked Mandira what he needed to do in order to be apart of her life, and he basically had to tell the people of the United States, and the President that, “his name is Khan and that he is not a terrorist.” This part of the film was emotional because I could feel that Rizwan was trying to take the load of representing his Muslim heritage meanwhile creating this journey to regain respect and trust that was broken and held by discrimination against them from the US after the 9-11 attack. It was also sad when Rizwan was arrested because he joined a crowd to meet President Bush and kept repeating, “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.” It was cruel to see that he was tortured because he was a terrorist suspect. During this time of the film it was upsetting to see that he was misinterpreted and misunderstood. The FBI treated him as if he was inferior; it was very degrading to watch. He was clearly discriminated against and already a target with just being a Muslim, damn…where’s the justice?

Although, so many unfortunate events happened throughout the film, I did feel at peace near the end when Rizwan finally meets President Barack Obama when he says, “Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist.”  This was very heartwarming because it was finally known that Rizwan accomplished his goal, when he very well could have lost hope because of everything that he had been through. This definitely illustrated the type of person he was throughout the film. He went through many trials and tribulations that were difficult for him to overcome, yet he still complies. His autism was just a part of the journey while he went through the rose bushes. Although, he dealt with so much discrimination and racism, he kept his faith in order to accomplish his goal. I feel that he made a huge global impact for not only his culture, but for Americans as well. He was able to finally meet President Obama, and that alone was a very heartfelt part of the film. It was very inspiring that Rizwan was able to overcome all of what he did.

After watching the film, it re-iterated the same issues we still deal with today when traveling in the airport. Although, 9/11 happened in 2001, about 13 years ago, the pre-construed racism we carry as Americans is still clear. For instance, when a Muslim walks into the airport and has to go through security, just as an outside view, I notice that people stare a lot and start to pay closer attention, even the security as well. How can we change this if it is so deep embedded within our nation? This goes for racism towards blacks, Asians, and other minorities as well when we look back in time; the history is too deep rooted so we can never get past the issues we have dealt with in the past for a better future.

After reading this section, one concept was Hollywood’s representation of creating this monopoly capital based on the Fordist-Keynesian model. It was interesting to read about how Hollywood used this model in order to create this power of controlling the capital of the working class on both production and consumption.  The book states, “In other words, the Fordist-Keynesian regime’s relentless pursuit of economic growth, through harmonizing of the interests of public and corporate sectors, critically depended upon the growth of living labor’s productivity and purchasing power,” (p. 77). This quote stood out to me because I was so intrigued about how Hollywood was able this power dynamics in order to create so much of their capital. Another quote that the book states is, “Hollywood’s representation of the virtual power apparatus endowed with a high concentration of capital intensive technology…Rather, it is the representation of the inevitability of technological development and its implicit autonomy from the sweat, blood, and tears of living labor that gives the image of the power apparatus’s strong sense of stability and permanence in the realm of the unconscious,” (p. 79). The concept of how Hollywood was being represented at this time of utilizing labor from other countries and changing this to, “servitude of slave labor”. During this time, Hollywood revealed how they were a monopoly by controlling the production and consumption of capital. They used the Fordist-Keynesian model and used the idea of recruiting labor workers from Asian Third World countries to create this labor intensive yet low wage jobs for the workers. It’s clearly unfair to do this but it is the only way that the organization achieves capital; taking advantage of the workers, and not paying them enough for their hard work. However, this isn’t something new. Throughout history, we have seen this happen to many groups, even looking back to the Slave Trade, although slaves were not paid at all.

Another point that caught my attention is the cultural movement between Jimmy Hendrix and Bruce Lee. For example: the cultural movement from Hendrix. A quote states, “Part of Hendrix’s ambivalence with the Black Panthers and Black Power movement may be due to his strong identification with his Cherokee heritage, which was nurtured through his close relationship with his grandmother in the reservation. The Native American’s struggle for decolonization developed side by side with the civil rights and the Black Power movements,” (p. 90). Hendrix created such a huge cultural impact on the United States at this time; he incorporated the struggles between his African heritage and native heritage to represent them both in his music in a positive movement. Moreover, “His engagement with the social and historical context of being Cherokee and African seems to be done most effectively through poetic and shamanic or transcendental means, rather than through a direct social political commentary. As Hendrix himself admits, his engagement is not through protest but through seeking a solution,” (p. 90). This quote was very powerful because Hendrix was able to combine pieces from his Native and African culture to make a great impact within the society. He gained so much publicity and representation for his heritage and incorporated an alternative idea of seeking a solution through his music rather than protesting. This also reminded me of last quarter and the beginning of this quarter when we discussed the meaning of the program’s title “Asian/American: Pop Culture Crosscurrents” and how the slash between Asian and American could be taken. Furthermore, thinking about how two different cultures can be combined together to make another third culture. In addition, last quarter when we watched the film doubles could also be related to the impact of having a double identity because you are mixed with two different cultures, it was uniting rather than divisive.

An example of the cultural movement created by Bruce Lee comes from his efforts of gaining publicity for the rise of kung Fu movies. A quote from the book states, “Specifically, the rise of kung Fu movies in the international market unequivocally meant an influx of a rebel culture born out of the reality of global capitalist contradiction in the Third World, (p. 101). Bruce Lee created a cultural movement that helped gained representation for his heritage as well. He was able to expand kung Fu movies internationally in a more global impact.

One concept that I found interesting was how Lee’s Game of Death helped pave the way for hip hop aesthetics to rise, and the correlation of how both share this, “sublimation of violence,” (p. 176). A quote from the book states, “Both represent a dead end paradigm mired in the plethora of destruction. In this context, Bruce Lee’s Game of Death helps to articulate the alternative to the ‘death’ paradigm that is integral to the constitution of the hip hop aesthetics: Lee’s kinetic philosophy of liberation, for instance, shares hip hop’s aesthetic sublimation of violence, which is exemplified by the pioneers such as Afrika Bambaata” (pgs. 175-176). This quote proves that Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, really helped represent that, “alternative of the death paradigm,” which connects with to the strengthening of the rise of hip hop during this time.

Another concept that grabbed my attention was the theme of stylistics evolution between Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and hip hop aesthetic. The quote, “In both Jeet Kune Do and hip hop culture, creativity arises from the autonomy of self-expression…Hip hop comes from funk, rock, r&b, or reggae, but its free from any genre boundaries. So is Jeet Kune Do: it incorporates different styles into an open-ended system that is not institutionalized by any styles,” (p. 177). The quote represents how both are able to utilize self-expression, and that there are no boundaries. In Jeet Kune Do and hip hop culture, they are both able to signify creativity and innovation to allow people to express individualism. Another quote states, “The theme of stylistics evolution through flexible adaptation of other styles is a fresh concept in the paradigm of the kung Fu cultural revolution, which tends to conserve stylistic boundaries. In hip hop aesthetics, however, the stylistic forum in a competitive milieu comprise with the foundation of the collective stylistic innovation,” (p. 197). Furthermore, it was interesting to read about how the kung Fu culture also relates to the hip hop culture because of how both of them draw from other styles to create a, “collective stylistic innovation” to motivate others and create a bigger impact during this time. I definitely thought this is impressive because both cultures express that there are no limitations, and creativity is also encouraged for others.

Obviously we have seen that suicide is one of the main issues thus far throughout the reading. However, as I continued to read more into part one of the book, I read over Ruth searching about suicide and the website she came across that belonged to Dr. Rongstad Leistiko. The letter that was written to him by his informant Harry caught my attention. Specifically, this quote:

“Throughout history, we Japanese have always appreciated suicide. For us it is a beautiful thing that gives meaning and shape and honor to our lives forever. It is a method to make our feeling of alive most real. For many thousands of years this is our tradition.” p. 87

Initially, after reading the beginning of the book and how Nao was so quick to talk about exiting her life, I was surprised and didn’t realize the difference between American and Japanese culture and how the two culture’s views on suicide are very different. American’s view suicide as very shameful because you would rather take away your life rather than dealing with what life has presented you with. Suicide is also looked down upon within certain religious views. It is looked at as a sin within the Bible. Meanwhile, suicide within the Japanese culture is viewed as an honor. Furthermore, It wasn’t until after I read over this quote where I made the connection thinking back to the beginning of this quarter when we saw 47 Ronin and the end scene in the graveyard, the Samurai were forced to commit “seppuku”, an honorable form of death.

Moreover, the quote “Death is certain. Life is always changing, like a puff of wind in the air, or a wave in the sea, or even a thought in the mind. So making a suicide is finding the edge of life. It stops life in time, so we can grasp what shape it is and feel it is real, at least or just a moment. It is trying to make some real solid thing from the flow of life that is always changing.” p. 87 This made me think to myself, since death is certain, why are some people so quick to leave, when at some point you will die anyways…at the end of the day, it is your life, so no one should really stand in the way of what decision you make on whether to end your life or not…but are we just living to to live and go through the motions, or are we just waiting to die? As the famous Hip Hop artist Tupac stated in his song Runnin ft. Biggie Smalls “Why am I dying to live, if I’m just living to die?”

There’s so many connections within this book that can be related back to what we are studying this quarter: Pop culture. Branching off of that, we can fill in the Asian American experience and connections as well, which I think is what makes pop culture so powerful because it really is always around us and it will always be around our lives.

GROUP 5

Chapter 1:Goa trance is inspired by ignorant appropriation of Indian culture by hippie-tourists.

Chapter 2: The arrival and immigration of the Vietnamese to the US after the influence by exile and anticommunism has initiated the production of Viet Kieu, which has now formed and evolved in multiple ways. With the enthusiastic individuals of Vietnam and the advances in all different forms of technology the Vietnamese have formed a “special blend of nostalgia that appeals not only to the members of the diasporic communities but also to the residents of Vietnam, ultimately evolving Viet Kieu over time.

Chapter 5: Due to colonization, Languages have affected one anthers meaning and created new words and meanings for existing words. It has led to a sense of privilege in some cases due to education and has influenced popular music by being able to have double meanings and be interchangeable in language.

Kato: Hollywood has a desire for the kine-aesthetic and per formative narrative in the forms of Samurai and Kung Fu films, which the art is born of reclamation of culture from post-colonialism.

I knew nothing about Bruce Lee before this class. Having read From Kung Fu to Hip Hop I’ve learned why he was so important to minority communities. I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but I looked up how Lee died (I know, I knew that little about him). I had no idea that he died while filming Game of Death. Seriously, if that isn’t ironic then I don’t know what is.

Something that I really liked about Game of Death was that the final showdown would be between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbal. When we watched Enter the Dragon, I later found out that the final fight sequence was supposed to be Lee and Williams but of course Williams died and the white guy fought alongside Bruce. So yeah, it would’ve been cool to see two men of color as the good guys BUT having the two being the strongest fighters, pitted against each other? Still pretty cool.

Some could still argue that the black man was the villain. But I’d take a ‘villain’ like Kareem over a gangster like villain any day.

Something that stuck with me in this reading was the idea of death. Not in a morbid way, but more of a spiritual way like the book explains. “To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday…” (pg. 194). I guess not fearing death is the ultimate expression of freedom. It’s funny that death is the only thing that is guaranteed in your life. Nothing you have today was promised when you were born. The only thing we all really know is that we’ll die someday. Yet death is something we all fear. It’s something that is held over our head on a day to day basis. Think of all the risk you didn’t take because you could’ve died. That was Kareem’s advantage. He didn’t think about things as trivial as life and death. He focused on the now. Maybe we start out with simpler things, like not caring what others think of you and eventually work your way to not fearing death. Think of how life could be if you didn’t fear anything?

On a side note though, reading this chapter also made this episode of Spongebob make sense. I remember seeing the episode but I had NO IDEA that it was based off a Bruce Lee movie! See, this class has done wonders for me.

**Also, the music doesn’t link up with the video and you should just mute it**