Chapter4 -Model Minorities Can Cook

 ” ‘Chef Floyd Cardoz’s menu is a perfect example of what is so great about New York dining- its ethnicity, its diversity.’ ……the notion that it is truly ‘American’ because it melds the immigrant plate to mainstream tastes.”(Dave, p72)

 I agree with that because I have felt familiar to many variety of cuisine since I came to the USA. People mostly say that it is not truly original cuisine but Americanized cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese,Mexican and so on and sometimes these are mixed up. By touching cuisine culture, I also feel like knowing these countries. Food may be a chance for me to start to understand its country and culture.

“Rather, text produces a flexible, transnational narrative marking Padma Lakshmi’s emergence as a cosmopolitan and mobile South Asian American subject who travels easily between culture and nations.”(Dave, p.79)

Although Padma Lakshmi is seen as the main ingredients of the show and exotically sexualized objects, she seems to break down national boundaries. Her appearances lead consumers to think about other ethnic groups and feel familiar to them throughout fusion cuisine.

Chapter13 -”Alllooksame”? Mediating Asian American Visual Cultures of Race on the Web

I am often mistaken as Chinese and Korean though I am Japanese. It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish among Asians as Alllooksame.com researched. Thus, it was very interesting to read how much people can distinguish Asians’ races.

“What is my point you ask? Well… None of these groups are ‘pure’, nor are they homogeneous.”(Dave, p.266) 

 I like this part because not only this is true but also this explains why Asian countries such as Japan, Korea,and China are called ‘Asia’ and put together.

“…..race is detached from biological bodies and reassigned to realm of the cultural, political, and geographical.”(Dave, p.267) 

Chapter17 -Secret Asian Man

 ”Expression of anger in popular texts are interesting not only because of their narrative weight and cinematic value but also because the right to express one’s grievances explicitly is a privilege.”(Dave, p.340)

 It reminds me of differences between the films “Gran Torino” and “Come See the Paradise”.  In ”Come See the Paradise”, the story is described as sorrow through Japanese war experience. On the other hand, in ”Gran Torino”, Thao who is Walt’s Hmong neighbor expresses his anger when his sister is used violence by gang members. Also, the gang group consists of Asian Americans and they express their thereat against Thao, his family, Walt and so on.

Reading this chapter and watching the music videos, I was surprised because they sang about themselves. As an example, in “Sci-Fi Wasabi,” she sang “I’m Miho Hatori….” I don’t know about Hip Pop well, but I don’t think they’re made only for money. Listening to their songs, I deeply understood what they wanted to tell us. I suppose the reason why, even when they are singing about themselves directly, they can became popular is that they are in America. In Japan, most of them are the same race and they don’t like to be highlighted. Japanese don’t often tell their opinions in front of people. So, I really like this American culture which people can say anything without caring, and I am glad that Asians also can tell their feelings through this culture.

In addition, I was actually excited to discuss about the meaning of “kawaii.” I couldn’t say anything in the class, but since I came here, I found that “kawaii” became like one of English words. This is because “kawaii” in English doesn’t have the meaning “kawaii” in Japanese. I felt the same strangeness as in this chapter, “the Japanese term kawaii translates as “cute” and is used to describe a gendered aesthetic style that melds the image of the underaged, sometimes coyly innocent nymphet with the pleasures of consumer capitalism.” (Dave, p295) Sometimes I heard “kawaii” from some people, but I couldn’t agree with them because the meaning of “kawaii” is changed from Japanese language. So, I considered about what “kawaii” means exactly. Then, I found that Japanese “kawaii” has many meanings. For example, in Japanese fashion on clothes, there are plenty of kinds. So, depending on the fashions, it is different that people say “kawaii.” In my opinion, “kawaii” in English is only used in anime, so people misunderstand the word is only for them. I want people who don’t know the meaning exactly to know that “kawaii” is not only for anime, and also it depends on the tastes.

I researched “kawaii” on Google image.

And also I did “可愛い(kawaii in Japanese) ” on the same way.

Which one is your image closer against “kawaii?” For me, the image of Japanese kawaii is similar of my image. There are people, babies, animals, and no characters. I hope my posts will make more clear what “kawaii” means.

This movie was interesting, yet deceitful. This movies story was crazy in thinking to myself does this really happen in the world today, I’ve heard of it in some places, but not something like this. Where this fake marriage to make your parents happy and off your back and to live your life at ease. I’ve never heard of it in this case where the intended wife becomes pregnant and the husband is a homosexual. I’ve never heard of that. This world is full of people that can do what they want, when they want and with whoever they want to do it with. This is 2014 and the world isn’t the same as it used to be, but in some places it may take longer than others, but sooner or later everything will fall in place. In this movie with family traditions being a crucial part of Wai-Tung parents life and not to be different would be disgraceful, but later in the movie whenever the family of Wai-Tung found out from Simon and had that moment by the water and that relief and reaction of the father was a surprise to me and was joyful to see that from a Asian American culture and to see that in a movie is remarkable and should be awarded not just nominated. I would award it because there are some of these cases around the world just cause we don’t see it, doesn’t mean its not there hiding in plain sight. In the crisis aspect of the family where the father sicken and fighting through these strokes and seeing his son become a man. It was great to see that and not have a sad ending. It was a good ending and I really like that movie.

Info on movie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wedding_Banquet

Check out the trailer and watch this good movie

In connection with todays film, The Wedding Banquet, I decided to  talk about chapter 16 of Dave.

In the film, Wai Tung’s character is a gay Chinese male who has been in a long time relationship with his partner Simon, who is Caucasian. They have been with each other for five years. Keeping his sexual identity a secret from his mother and father, Wai’s parents are under the impression that he lives a straight male lifestyle. Wai’s mother sends him match-maker forms to find him “the impossible” Chinese girl. In the mean time, Wai is happy with Simon, but obviously feels a lot of pressure from his mother and father to get married and have children and to fulfill his cultural tradition.  Simon is a very busy business man and is also a land lord. Wei Wei…who is one of his tenants, is a Chinese girl who is desperate to get her green card [citizenship]. Simon comes up with an idea to have Wai and Wei Wei get married so that they both benefit from the marriage. Wei Wei gets her green card and Wai gets married to relieve they pressure from his parents. Of course pretending to be married doesn’t last long and Simon and Wai’s relationship is at a stand still. Wai’s father and mother eventually figures out what happened and accepted the fact that their son is gay and has a baby on the way with his fake marriage with Wei Wei.

In relation with this, in Dave in chapter 16 talks about Apu is wanting to obtain an illegal I.D. card because Springfield wanted to deport illegal immigrants. Dave discusses how all immigrants feel like Apu, or have been through what he is currently going through; Apu feels “culturally pressured to assimilate, to act and speak and buy or sell “American” without being able to express their own native origins in order to not stand out.”(pg.313) Wai Tung is feeling culturally pressured to marry a Chinese woman and have children. But on the other hand he feels immense pressure from his partner and himself to embrace his sexuality and his assimilated lifestyle in America. Of course Wai is going through a cultural self identity crisis and an assimilated American who is gay and Chinese.

“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

Apu; The Simpsons

The essay, Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian Accents, is the reading that I really enjoyed. Its focus was on the voice of The Simpsons Indian character, Apu– voiced by the non-Indian Hank Azaria. It connected well with the preceding one, Secret Asian Man, which focused more on the visual through a comic strip of the same name. Both concerned with the importance of representation– one being the aural, the other being the visual.

Our movie of the day was the Wedding Banquet. I watched this as a cinematic representation of both essays. The dialogue between the Asian actors on the screen was in Chinese, while the dialogue between the Caucasians and Asians was presented in English. Visual representations were more complex than the typical stereotypes. For instance, the rule of thumb in film is the Caucasian male romancing the Asian woman. The Wedding Banquet employed a unique twist by adding a homosexual element to the two main characters; the traditional male hero role was represented by a gay Asian male, and the usual female object of his affection was a gay Caucasian male.

The father in the movie makes a comment to his son’s gay lover when he reveals he knows about the relationship; “I watch. I listen. I learn.” So it is with the audience of concern in the essays. Readers of Secret Agent Man are made aware of stereotypes and generalizations of, and anger/ frustration within the Asian communities. These concepts are all embodied in the comics lead character, Sam. Apu as presented in The Simpsons is a contradiction between being from Inda, or Pakastan. The speech inaccurate patterns of the brown-voice are oblivious to those from each country.

Hank Azaria– voice of Apu & many, many others

While it is unlikely Hollywood will establish a policy that voices in animation must be voiced by those of the portrayed nationality, it is important to recognize their misrepresentation as such, and view the shows, movies, etc. with a grain of salt.

This chapter made me complicated, because I could not say I knew about Asians really well, after I checked “alllooksome” and watch this movie.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How do you think about this movie? Do you already know where they are from? I could say correct answers for all of them. So, after I watched it, this movie made me angry. This is because people mixed about Asians completely. In my opinion, these people were famous all over the world because I heard their name in news, on TV, and so on in Japan. I noticed there were some people who knew well only by Asian areas. However after that, I took the test which I had to answer where people were for the pictures, and I was surprised how difficult to know their roots even I’m an Asian. I just figured 8 people out of 18 people. So, until now, I’ve got angry when somebody talked to me in some Asian languages except Japanese, but I won’t be able to do because I also can’t distinguish Asians exactly. In addition, before I watched this film; “The Wedding Banquet,” I had never known how wonderful the Chinese wedding was. Every time when I got new knowledge about Asian culture, I was glad to know it. But, at the same time, I was embarrassed because I also noticed that I just know about very few Asian culture. This chapter and today’s movie reminded me that I needed to know more about Asian culture.

In The Wedding Banquet, a homosexual Thai man and his partner pull out a fake marriage in order to convince his parents that he is becoming everything they wanted. Of course it works out, but it takes a toll psychologically on all the participants in it. Unable to hold up, Wai-Tung confesses to his mom about his real relationship with Simon, which is somewhat of a shock to his mother. Wai-Tung’s father on the other hand knew all along and accepted it by giving Simon the wedding money. Wei Wei decided to keep Wai-Tung’s child, with Simon as the other father, and Wai-Tung’s parents leave deriving some happiness from their experiences before being scanned by airport security.

Themes in this movie that were covered over the reading in Dave’ and books before were present in this film. One such theme was the Dragon Lady trope, which was played for a bit. Needing a green card, Wei Wei agrees to Simon’s plan on convincing Wai-Tung’s parents that he is getting married and going to live up to the deal of providing a grandchild. Wei Wei takes this opportunity to feel like she is with her family again. She goes too far when after the wedding, she participates in some adult games with Wai-Tung and “overpowers” him through her “liberation”. The Dragon Lady bit ends after that since she basically realizes this afterwards, leading to uncertainty thereafter.

Another theme implemented in the movie was the “Hulk” imagery mentioned in the last chapter of Dave’. Wai-Tung is trying to keep everyone calm and happy so he can keep his secret safe without letting anyone else but Simon and Wei Wei knowing. Unfortunately an unintentional action leads to a breakdown between the trio, resulting in accusations and curses being thrown back and forth. After Wai-Tung’s father suffers a minor stroke and his mother believes he is going to raise a boy, Wai-Tung loses his cool and reveals his secret to his mother. All the pressure of having a fake life and the damage it was going to his and Simon’s relationship finally caused him to “hulk” out basically, to let everything loose in a frustrated conversation. He doesn’t return to his calm self until he spilled every secret he had kept from his mother.

Final theme I noticed is actually a connection I’ve been seeing lately in the movies we watched so far. That theme, although not a major one, was that the parents of these Asian protagonists wanted a grandchild from their sons and daughters. I’m not surprised by that theme though because it relates to me in that my parents, particularly my mother, asks if I’ll ever give her a grandchild. I always throw that “expectation” to my brother since he’s currently dating, but I feel that pressure is something the protagonists don’t really want to think about at the moment. Just the thought can be frightening, just imagine the costs and resources. Thankfully my mother understands…for now.

In both The Wedding Banquet and East Main Street: Chapter 4, the typical Asian stereotype is being broken.

In the book for this weeks reading, I focused mostly on Chapter 4: Model Minorities Can Cook, because I found it the most interesting. After reading about Ming Tsai and Padma Lakshmi, I would really like to watch both of their shows. They both have their own show on the Food Network, and they are famous for their fusion cuisine.

Ming Tsai focuses on combining the Eastern and Western world. ¨fusion cuisine, defines it as a harmonious combination of foods of various origins. Offering more precise term that circulates in the restaurant industry, Andrew Dorenburg and Karen Page define fusion as a ‘melding together of the cuisines of more than one country in a single dish.¨ (p.75) Ming Tai is also known for being very hot… which is interesting because at least in films, according to The Slanted Screen, Asian men are usually desexualized. ¨ Ming Tsai is not the bumbling idiot who prepares egg foo yung and chop suey and cannot speak English…He is presented as the future of America”(p.78)

Padma Lakshii is also not the typical Asian American cook that you would think of. She is from South India and is very popular for her sex appeal and sensuality, along with her exotic cooking.

In the Wedding Banquet, the stereotype of Asians are broken during the scene of the big wedding ceremony. The two white men in the room look at each other in shock and say”Geeze, I thought Asians were just quiet math wizzes.” This is while the whole room is partying, and drinking a ton! Also, they have a huge party in the newlyweds hotel room.

Overall, these few examples show that the stereotypes for Asians are not always the case.