Category Archives: paper

Strangers From a Different Shore: Book, page. 1-75

“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?”

The Beautiful Country – impressions

Just some quick impressions about The Beautiful Country -

First of all, the movie was a decent flick. Very artistic, slow and demands some patience, but altogether I enjoyed it. The film does not pull any punches when it comes to showing how miserable these people’s lives can be and I thought it was interesting how it didn’t offer closure or happiness for everybody – Binh loses his little brother Tam and Ling, despite ending up in America, continues her life as a prostitute. Binh and Ling’s relationship was very interesting as well as they are two outcasts clinging to one another in a world of strangers. I had half expected them to stick together until the end, but there really isn’t a happy ending here – they go their separate ways with the feeling of so much left unsaid. I also enjoyed the ending very much. In a Hollywood ending, you would probably see the son reunite the father and the mother or something, but I love how it just ends with the two joking around with each other. To me, this had more heart than the traditional happy ending because it kept it very simple.

Two more observations -

- Movie felt very episodic, with each part having it’s own feel, characters and scenario. Binh is the only constant of course, but the story goes through different chapters – Vietnam, the Refugee Camp, the Ship, New York City, Binh’s Journey to Texas, and ultimately that Texas Ranch or whatever. When I saw Nick Nolte and Tim Roth’s names, I expected them to be more frequent through the movie, but was surprised to see them really confined to a single scenario of Binh’s life. You could really take each chapter of Binh’s journey and analyze it on it’s own because they are very distinct.

- I have to ponder this one for a little longer but I felt that “shoes” were an important, recurring image throughout the film. There are numerous shots of people’s feet throughout the film as well as references to Binh becoming a shoemaker or something like that. Binh is a barefoot servant in Vietnam with his mother, and I remember a shot of him looking at people’s shoes in the Big House. I think shoes can be seen a sign of status or class, and perhaps serve as a metaphor for who we are? Or perhaps the phrase “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” plays a role here?  At one point in the camp, Binh is looking at Ling’s dressy shoes, but then when he sees her barefoot when they are working (I think it’s when it gets all muddy or something) he says he sees who she truly is. I dunno, just something I picked up on. This movie definitely has a thing for shoes.

here comes the sun

The Beautiful Country

One of the first things I noticed about Binh, early on in the movie, was that he had a tendency to slouch. In a world where he towered over most people around him, had to duck in market places to avoid hitting his head of knocking down any of the coverings, Binh slouched. Of course, it may have been a habit for him to do so, after living in a place where he was generally too big to most things.

Binh’s tale was a sad one, to say the least. Despite this, Binh wanted for very little himself. He never even really said that he didn’t deserve to be treated the way he was by the family he “lived” with early on in the film. Binh never complained, and only when he realized he would have nowhere else to go did he even ask about his origins.

This is especially evident as the movie goes on. When he loses that place, he finds one with his mother, Mai, and his half-brother, Tam, though it’s short lived. When he loses that place as well, he goes to the next one he can think of. The one where his father might be. But even as he tries to find that place, he loses the one he had been given and asked to protect. Despite his best efforts, Tam dies of illness and malnutrition.

It’s only then that Binh loses his cool. It’s only then that he lashes out, and we realize something else about him. He gambles, a simple game of exchanging English words, and we see that for how little he speaks, Binh knows more English than most anyone else on the ship, save for the actual crew of the ship. Binh, who has been mistreated most of his life, is very intelligent. And it would seem he made a point of learning as much English, and as much about America as he could with his limited resources, because it’s where his father came from.

He makes it to America, where he realizes not only does the woman he love not love him, but that – being the son of a GI during the war – he could have flown to America for free. He leaves then, because by all means he’s a US citizen, and he hitchhikes to Texas. He meets his father, and for the first time since Tam’s death, though it takes some time, Binh seems happy again.

As the film began to draw to a close, I realized Binh didn’t really slouch anymore.

The Beautiful Country

The Beautiful Country poster

I was really nervous when we began the movie. This photo (above) was the first image of the movie we were shown and so I immediately made my assumptions about what the movie could possibly be about. Looking at the image now, I still feel like this does not sum up what the movie is about. I’m not really sure why Binh is essentially the smallest person in this image especially when he was the protagonist of the movie. It’s also really weird seeing Ling wearing a fairly revealing dress when there was another dress in the movie that she wore more often than the one in the poster (but hey, sex sells right?!) Do I even need to point out the obvious about the two white characters who were probably in the movie for a total of 30 minutes having the largest images? Gross.

The movie was beautifully tragic. There was heartbreak left and right and I didn’t know what to expect next. I was on the edge of my seat and would gasp when something I wasn’t expecting would happen. I cried a total of two times but came close to crying a few other times. I really appreciated that the movie shows the struggle between those who are mixed breed and the struggle that they face when neither country really acknowledges or accepts you.

I am also really glad that they made Tim Roth’s character (the captain) an evil white man instead of a white savior, and I am also glad that we were not shown to pity him.

The big question that a lot of us were left asking ourselves was: “did Binh’s father realize Binh was his son?” My answer? Totally. The scene where his father touches his face a couple times in silence was when I felt that he realized it. I loved that there was no dramatic mention from Binh saying things like “CAN’T YOU SEE I AM YOUR SON?!” (yes, I know, his dad is blind), it was subtle and unconventional. I loved that they ended the movie with Binh cutting his dad’s hair and that he was asking questions about sweets in Vietnam. It makes me think that they did this on purpose as a way to showcase what Binh’s father and mother’s meeting was first like. “What goes around, comes around” in essence.

– 47 Ronin review

 

I appreciated watching this movie with our class because I have learned from the previous quarter to view movies while being consciously aware of the intrinsic and extrinsic view. I’d like to write about the ‘differences’ and the ‘Japanese characteristics’ in this movie. First, in this movie there were a lot of differences between what Japanese people made and American’s interpretation. In the movie, the clothes, hair styles, and even the wedding entertainment were a little odd to me. I had never seen the kimono which Mika wore, and also the hair style too. Shown below are two images: usually in history dramas in Japan, they wore kimonos without a neckband, and all their hairs were up except when they went to bed. Through this movie, I didn’t want everyone who watched it to think that this movie accurately portrayed the Japanese historical style, because it was so different.

篤姫image

↑This picture was from Japanese historical drama talked about “Atsuhime(1836-1883) broadcasting 2008 in Japan.

47ronin

↑This picture was from “47 ronin” advertisement.

On the other hand, this movie included many Japanese impressions. The movie was filled with a lot of beautiful colors; clothes, cherry blossoms, and so on. Especially, I have never seen so many swords in one movie. They were shown me that how important they were to connect with Japanese history. Through this movie, I’m glad to know how American people thoughts about Japanese history, because I could find Japanese wonderful culture and what I should be proud about with my history.

 

 

Follow up on 47 Ronin (my thoughts)

The film 47 Ronin in my book had many pros and cons. In terms of if the film was enjoyable and entertaining to watch, I would have to say in my opinion it was. However to go further in depth I would like to share with you one of the pros and one of the cons I did have with the movie.

To begin I feel like I should first discuss the bad parts of the movie, as when asked if I want to hear the good news or the bad news first I always ask for the bad right off the bat. It gives something to look forward too in my opinion. The main problem I had with the film and almost any Hollywood blockbuster that is based on a true story is the way in which they deviate from the original story to such great lengths. In example yes the whole storyline involving the witch and the demons and mystical creatures was entertaining but I feel may be stretching a little far from the real story of the 47 Ronin.

The biggest pro I saw in the movie besides some pretty decent cinematography was that some of the Japanese and Samurai traditions were shown. Such as the ritual of seppuku (suicide by disembowelment) which allowed the 47 Ronin Samurai to die with honor. Due to this option of death being granted to the 47 Ronin in the film I realized that though it wasn’t the American idea of a happy ending with the Ronin dyeing at the end, it still allowed these great samurai to die with honor and dignity opposed to the other option of dyeing by execution which would have stripped them of their honor which they worked so hard to obtain throughout their lives.

Overall 47 Ronin was fun to watch with plenty of action, great depictions of the discipline of the Japanese people and the dignity to which they live and die by, but without a doubt could have stuck more closely to the historical portrayal of the 47 Ronin.

one more spoon of cough syrup

Post-watch impressions of 47 Ronin

Something that struck me while watching this film was the accuracy of it, from what I know of that time period and many traditions that were held at the time. I was very impressed with how traditional it was, the detail it went into, and the depth of the characters that were set up at the start of the film. Kai’s boundless devotion was admirable and heartbreaking, but perhaps more than that, so was Oishi’s.

Oishi spent the better part of a year in solitary confinement, in a pit that he had no way of even hoping to get out of. He was visibly weak when he was finally free, but he wasted no time at all. He spent no time in recovery, and instead set out immediately, leaving his loving wife behind so that he could find Kai, right his own mistakes to some extent, and save the girl he had sworn to protect, along with the legacy she carried. His character arc was absolutely splendid, and it is often rare that one has the opportunity to see so much growth.

On a more technical note, some of the cinematography in the movie was stunning, and the makeup on many of the actresses was incredibly well done. I was amazed at the transformation of Rinko Kikuchi in the film, so much so that I didn’t even recognize her until the credits were rolling and I saw her name.  Her acting was superb and made the film a delight to watch.

Impressions on 47 Ronin

After seeing 47 Ronin in 2D before, seeing it in 3D did not change much. Aside from the 3D effects at some points, the visuals were good for the setting of feudal Japan. The plot mainly followed the story of the real 47 Ronin, but with some fantasy elements thrown in such as witches and bird-eyed magic monks. The comedy relief for the movie, according to the audience, was the fat man of the group, who also earned a dramatic on-screen death later on. The thing that stood out the most though was Keanu Reeves role in the movie. I don’t know if his role was actually in the story or not, but he does play the role of the white hero who saves everyone. This reminds me of another movie called The Last Samurai in which Tom Cruise plays an American soldier who is captured by a rebellious Shogun and raised in the ways of the samurai, finally to the point where he fights alongside them and restores their honor in the end.

Despite as being flashy and having all these fight scenes, the movie was okay. Nothing too spectacular, but nothing too insignificant. Cast was alright, but the acting was a little odd at some parts. Despite the fantasy elements adding a sort of flare to the movie, it maybe could have done well without them anyways. Besides the visual entertainment, I did find the music intriguing enough for me to look up some of the songs to listen to. Strangely, the ones I found fascinating were the ones that played on both seppuku parts, which is probably due to those moments being the “powerful and dramatic” parts of the movie. Other than that, I did like the fact that this showing actually showed a trailer of Godzilla. The first one I went to showed the Hercules movie trailer first instead.

 

Note: I’m not a qualified critic.

– 47 Ronin Impressions

 

I heard this movie was released in Japan first, because it’s about Japanese history.

It’s about Japan but It’s from Hollywood, so I’m interested in the movie.

Pre 47 Ronin

Last night while puppy sitting a for a friend I watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The movie is essentially about two teenage boys who are given a time machine and travel back in time to kidnap famous leaders throughout history and interview them so they won’t fail the class. Not that any of this matters for this specific post except that Keanu Reeves plays Ted.

I don’t watch many Keanu Reeves movies nor do I know the legend behind 47 Ronin. However I haen’t heard many good reviews from either. I’m excited to see it but I don’t have the highest expectations either. I’m trying to go into it with an open mind though :)