Gabe, Elijah
Gina, Kevin, Jude
Kaida, Sachi,
Alec, Dakota
Molly, Sunset, Jessica
Emily, Becca, Gabby
Raven, Lisa
Julia, Greg
Kameo, Randy, Yuka
Kento, Terri, Imani
Randi, Kristen, Amy
Ashley, Amanda
Category Archives: scissors
Week 4, Thursday. Talking points (fri seminar)
Chapter 6.
Other than discouraging male Asian American immigrants to stay in America by not allowing female immigrants to easily join them/their communities, in what other ways did this set Asian American men and their self-created communities up for queer discrimination?
Influenced by quote on page 124: “Until the post-1965 era, Filipino American communities were not exactly conventional domestic units” (Bascara).
Chapter 10.
“With the increase in multiracial participants, people’s attention was drawn to the issue of who, racially, could claim to speak for or represent the [Japanese American] community as a whole,” (page 215, King-O’Riain).
In this context, the focus is on beauty pageants, but on a broader scale: is there ever one perfect-fitting representative for any oppressed minority/community? And who gets to choose these representatives vs. who gets to choose if these representatives are accepted (both within and outside of the community)?
Chapter 14.
How do we, as a class looking at Asian Americans represented by others and representing themselves in pop culture, begin to look at those in the media who are passing white but multiracial (such as Keanu Reeves). How do we begin to interrogate our ideas of “what an Asian looks like” vs. begin to look at possible privileges of those who are passing white, multiracial people?
Influenced by quotes on page 284: “Is [Reeves] Asian because he ‘looks Asian’? Or Asian because he self-identifies as Asian? Or simply Asian because he has Asian blood” (Nishime) and, “Yet the two issues cannot be separated since Reeve’s stardom may depend on his ability to pass as white in the majority of American theatres” (Nishime).
Talking Points – East Main Street 1/30/2014
- The Evolution of Beauty Pageants: What were the stark differences between the early (1930s-1950s) period of Japanese American pageantry and the modern era?
- In the early years, why did Japanese Americans find it so important to bring a bi-cultural element to the pageants, despite the racist attitudes against them?
- There was a definite evolution of identity throughout the three eras described in the chapter The early period is very much the need for Identity – to blend in, to be absorbed, whereas the later period is dominated by the need to preserve identity and culture. I think the evolution of identity is something that appears in pretty much all our work, as well as the ideological battle of conformity vs being unique. Are there any parallels one could draw between the changing identity of the beauty pageants and other works we have examined?
- Smallville and/or Superman as a metaphor for race relations and immigration. Agree or disagree?
- Also if anyone has seen the show, does viewing Clark and Lex’s relationship through a homosexual lens change how you yourself view the characters? Can you apply this to any other character relationships seen throughout entertainment history? One that I come back to a lot is the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Watson, something which actually they poke fun at a lot in the BBC Sherlock series.
January 30, 2014 Notes
-Boundary crisis (social, political, emotional, etc.)
-Do reading, prepare “Talking Points” on blogs-The Slanted Screen meanings on title
+”Slanted” eye or epicanthic fold
+Also “slanted” as in skewed or distorted
-Emily Dickinson’s Tell It Slant…
+”Tell the truth, but tell it slant,
Success in circuit lies”
-Sessue Hayakawa an early “sex symbol”
+Opened his own Japanese and English theater
-Asian American actors were chose to play Japanese soldiers in propaganda movies
-Bruce Lee’s role in movies made Asian American men more confident
- Most Asian lead roles in the past were played by whites
+Most mimicked fashion of Fu Machu
-Charlie Chang considered the “good” Chinese
-Bad guys had to be Asian, not white
-Asian male roles were supressed
-Asian male sexuality emasculated through media
+American media not used to seeing them as romantic leads
-Asian Americans affected by depiction of Asian male leads
+Some have self-hate or did not associate with other Asians
-Asian males either “nerdy or Kung-Fu”
Random Thoughts on Slaying the Dragon and “Orientals”.
After watching Slaying the Dragon, I immediately connected back to the part of the book which talked about the stereotypes of Asian American male actors and how the independent woman was a threat to the idea of the traditional family unit. While the film focused on the female Asian American stereotypes – the dragon lady, subservient, lotus flower etc -, I thought it was interesting the parallels and differences drawn. In early cinema, the male stereotypes for Asian characters were much more antagonistic and threatening – particularly to white women. In The Cheat for example, Tori is very possessive and dominating over Edith, to the point of even branding her like a slave. In the contrast, Asian American women are seen almost like trophies to white male soldiers – not threatening like the Asian male, but submissive and obedient. They are desirable mates but taboo and social conventions hold any real relationships behind. I also felt that many of the same stereotypes and blanket statements painted about Asian American women are very similar to the ways America has stereotyped women in the past – house-bound, held back from careers because of their gender – stereotypes that still rear their ugly head to this day, even if it isn’t as prominent.
January 28, 2014 Notes and Small Group Discussion
-New York Times: Asians Too Smart For Their Own Good-Next Thursday: Chapters 1, 2, 15 (read all)
-Anna May Wong first Chinese lead actor
-Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon
+Fu Manchu, the evil scientist and symbol of “Yellow Peril”
-Leading Asian roles played by white actors (yellowface)
-After Japan invades China, Chinese images in media transforms to a sad and helpless image
+Japanese men and soldiers were now being depicted as cruel and lustful
+Chinese image shifted again during Chinese Communism rise in 1949
+Japanese became positive in portrayal while Chinese negative
-Interracial relationships restricted in movies until 1954
+White man and Asian woman was endorsed, but not the reverse
-Asian women in reality did not adhere to images portrayed in media, often finding it weird that men approached them because of this
-In 1960s, Asians were depicted in a more positive image
-Vietnamese became the new villains, prostitutes, and poor people in movies during the Vietnam War
-The female Asian reporter and newscaster stereotype known as “Suzie Wong”
-Asian men depicted in media as demeaning or “wimps”
Regarding the small group discussion, we discussed about the term “dragon lady” and explained to one of out group members the meaning of it. We also thought about movies where Asian men played lead roles that were not of the action genre, only to realize that only a few came up like the Harold and Kumar movies. One of us also made a connection with the characters in Broken Blossoms compared to the characters in Gran Torino and mentioned how some of the roles were simliar, such as Spider being like Batlling Burrows and Thao resembling Cheng in that he wants to avenge a woman after she has been abused. A topic we also discussed is how the media fluctuates on Asian portrayal depending on current events, like how now Middle Easterns are depicted as the antagonists in movies these days. In fact, we even discussed how at an anime convention that my friend was asked by an old man to have her picture taken, even though she was not in costume. She was half Japanese and half Filipino, but I guess she stood out from the rest of us because she was the only girl.
Orientals, Slaying the Dragon
A woman in Slaying the Dragon said that (in summary) passivity is the dragon that all Asian American women must learn to slay. I am not sure …
Because Buzzfeed
Buzzfeed is so addicting to me. Like this is what I do when I’m done with my homework but look! What I stumbled upon!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/after-being-denied-a-snow-day-university-of-illinois-student
Above you is a link to a Buzzfeed article that is talking about how students at a university got super racist and sexist because their female and Asian dean told them there would still be class on Monday despite the cold weather.
Connections people. Connections.
Rock Beats Scissors
I was quite excited the other day in class when this blog came up. I was introduced to it about a year ago with this awesome article, To (All) the White Girls Who Didn’t Get Into The College of Their Dreams, and at the time clicked around it, bookmarked it with every intention of going back to it and to start looking at it frequently, but it got lost among all my other awesome bookmarks. So I decided that this was the perfect chance to go and explore it.
t I looked at the recent posts and found this article, Race Forward Releases New Report On Media, Civic Activism + Race.Which is really cool and talks about the misrepresentation of racism. But the reason this article was cool was the video was by Jay Smooth which reminded me that I had this video, “All These Sexist Gamer Dudes Are Some Shook Ones” , in my awesome bookmarks. Which is good because I was searching for sources on gender and races in video games for my obsession and this video is about Anita Sarkeesian’s project on females in video games, so should be interesting to look at.
Week 3, Tumblr findings.
After watching The Debut I found the lead character, Dante Basco’s tumblr.
The name of his tumblr blog refers to two characters he’s played. The first being Rufio in Hook (1991). The second beingthe voice of Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation in Nickelodeon’s cartoon series Avatar: the Last Airbender. Being someone who invested a few months of time in watching the series once it came out on Netflix, I was excited about this connection and decided to do some link-to-link clicking and see what kind of connections I could make with the series and the Asian American community.
One of the first connections I found was within the theatre company the East West Players (EWP). From their mission statement on their website: “As the nation’s premier Asian American theatre organization, East West Players produces artistic works and educational programs that foster dialogue exploring Asian Pacific experiences.” Dante Basco is apart of this company along with many other voice actors from A:TLA. In fact, one of the founders and artistic directors of EWP also played Basco’s charcater’s wise Uncle Iroh in the first season– the late Makoto Iwamatsu.
Other connections led me to an old internet favorite of mine… LiveJournal. While LiveJournal has lost some of its popularity, it was once a head blogging site and place for people to form blog communities based on their interests (or disinterest). This was the place I entered my very first fandom and where my internet presence truly began. And as a current computer tech I have to honor the my first internet obsession. So I bring to you:
1. Specific posts from an older LiveJournal that criticized Paramount Pictures’ casting choices in the Avatar: the Last Airbender motion picture adaptation (2010):
This one has to do with the EWP and the white-washing within the film.
This one is a “visual essay” on the influence of the Inuit culture in the television series and the inappropriate choices of actors to represent that culture.
From these posts I was influenced to keep searching and found a new blog post that really beautifully illustrates the problematic aspect of whitewashing in media from a first hand experience. Here’s the beginning excerpt:
“When I first saw Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) on Nickelodeon, the first thing I thought was, “whoa…”
That was because the main character, Aang, had a skin colour that is similar to mine. Aang was not a stereotypical Asian. He doesn’t wear glasses or have tiny eyes. He has big eyes, like mine. That “whoa…” was one of amazement — because for once there was a character and a whole cartoon series that represents people of my skin colour and those darker than mine! Not only did the cartoon have representation I could identify with, but it is also a great series where the characters are not based on stereotypes.”
The rest of that entry can be found here.
I thought these posts and this subject really tied into this last week’s reading (post for that can be found here) because it involves Asian Americans (like Dante Basco) and the kind of work they are involved in currently which illustrates how appropriate representation (such as The Debut or EWP) and misrepresentations (such as the film adaptation A:TLA) have evolved.
And just for fun– Asian History Tumblr’s resource page.