The Wedding Banquet?

I’m not entirely sure why we have watched two movies that explore the process of coming out to your family as a semi positive experience. I say ‘semi positive’ because in the end, everything is better at the end and the families in both ‘The Wedding Banquet’ and ‘Saving Face’ accept their child’s homosexuality.

I’m not trying to make a generalization here though, I don’t want to state that all families would be much harsher towards their children if they were to come out of the closet but I can say from my experience that the Japanese side of my family would never be accepting of this if I were to ever come out of the closet. The times that I have told my mom about different friends coming out of the closet, she was always very quiet about it and would occasionally make a remark on how unfortunate that must be for my friends parents.

I would have liked to see a film that didn’t have so much a happy ending.

However, like I wrote about in my previous post about ‘Saving Face’, this  movie also explores the pressure that Asian American kids feel about the obligation to their parents. It’s really hard to just live freely in America when you know that at the end of the day you need to be faithful to your family and to make sure that you meet your families needs and expectations.

Better Luck Tomorrow

Feb. 4- I’ve had this post in my drafts for a while now because I really don’t like how I’ve written it. However in the spirit of re-analyzing and reviewing, here is what I have to add.

Love triangle? Stupid. Better luck tomorrow? For who? No one, they’ve potentially ruined their lives. Since the film plays off of stereotypes, rather than a specific race, the characters are presented as a “default” pan-Asian. Possibly one of the best things is checking out the IMBD page for this film and seeing everybody theorize that this Han is the same Han (both actor and character) from the Fast and the Furious and trying to place this film within the chronology.

Understandably, as a film about breaking stereotypes the characters would be played in extremes. But why did they go this far? Why did they turn to drugs, violence, and partying? Scamming is one thing, but prostitutes and cocaine is a totally different one. The film is loosely based off of the Stuart Tay murder.

Jan. 16- I thought the film was very strange and disturbing. I never imagined that the dead body from the beginning to be the victim of the main group. I liked the use of text on the screen paired with the situation of the character of Ben.

Ben is portrayed as fairly plain. He doesn’t have the same sort of presence the other characters do.  He seemed to have the strongest morals of the group, but he is the one that beat Steve to death. He eliminated his opposition in the love triangle.

The character of Virgil was too wild. He seemed too highly excitable and easily angered. His behavior seemed unintelligent, but he is portrayed as a highly intelligent individual. From the start of the film he didn’t seem too bad, a bit of a pervert, but nothing particularly harmful to society. By the time that the group started gaining notoriety, you could see him becoming too drawn into the greed and power. The scene where the group had beaten up the jock at the party and were driving away, Virgil showed such a big change. Going from pumped and excited to scared and crying.

Han doesn’t reveal much of himself in the film. Mainly he is a bit violent towards his cousin Virgil, but he didn’t join in the beating of the jock at the party. In fact, he is the one that pulls Virgil away from the violence.

Deric is originally shown to be the model student, president of every club and the boy who can do no wrong. So when he is the one to bull Ben into the cheat sheet scam, Ben is really surprised. He is initially the most willing to set aside the illegal activities when Ben decided he has had enough. He is also the one who takes charge and ends Steve’s life after he’s been beaten. After this event, he becomes the loose cannon of the group, wanting to tie up all the loose ends in order to protect his future.

Gran Torino

Gran Torino was titled after the car which plays a surprisingly small, but integral role.

Before I watched the film, all I had really known about it was that there was a grumpy old man who sat on his porch and threatened some people with a gun. Watching the film, I realized it was exactly that and more. It’s really about a man who finds a family to belong to and making amends to the wrongs that he felt he committed in the war.

Walt Kowalski, a retired and recently widowed veteran of the Korean war, has a horrible family. One of his sons, and his family, tried to send Walt to a retirement home so that they could have his home and possessions. His granddaughter (after having been very inappropriately dressed for her grandmother’s funeral), rather bluntly, asked for his Gran Torino when he dies. They despise talking to him, whether in person or on the phone. The only time Walt is seen to really try and connect with his son is after his hospital appointment, and his son brushes him off.

He forms an odd friendship with Sue after saving Thao from being taken by Spider. She brings him into their home and introduces him to the Hmong culture. While at first, when Walt wants nothing to do with them, the offerings left on his porch are bothersome and inconvenient. He quickly becomes drawn to Hmong cuisine when she lures him in with the promise of food and beer. After-which the doorstep offerings were quick to enter the house. I think Walt’s and Sue’s bond is the best thing about the movie. He is really heartbroken that so much has happened to her.

Walt’s time with Thao is spent in a mentorship type of role. He gets him into doing construction around the neighborhood and eventually get him a job. He gives Thao advice on how to be a man, and deals out dating advice so that “Toad” and “Yum Yum” can start dating. He really takes care of Thao and his family, as well as he can, as the initially reluctant hero of Hmong community.

I am really glad that Mr Kowalski give the Gran Torino to Thao. I thought it was sweet. He gave it to someone who would really take care of the car, and isn’t a total shark like his granddaughter.

I also thought it was a bit cute that Clint Eastwood got his sons involved in the film. One of his younger sons played Sue’s date when she was being manhandled before being rescued by Walt. His oldest son did the musical score for the film.

Takaki 10-13

Chapter 10 - Watershed is also a term used to mean a major change or turning point. So for the title of Watershed of World War II means the changes occurring during the war era.

One of the things that was happening was that each of the races took to wearing buttons indicating their race. Another major issue that the United States was undergoing was the conflict of racial discrimination. On page 369, “It [the US] could not oppose the racist ideology of Nazism and also ‘practice’ racial discrimination. America had to put its ‘principle of equality’ into its laws and policies.” I thought that this was a great quote because it really showed the parallels between the continents where there were groups of people wearing identifying markers of a certain society and being discriminated against. Even if changes only came about to avoid being hypocritical, it possibly opened eyes to the utter bad-ness of the situations.

Chapter 11 - What made the second wave immigrants “strangers?” It’s so upsetting that highly educated individuals that immigrated were unable to get jobs that they trained for. They had to work in stations far below their abilities in both their home country and America. However, by moving to America, it would give their future generations a chance to prosper in ways that they would have had no chance to do in the home country.

Chapter 12 - I think that it’s really great that so many people took a stand to break the “model.”

Chapter 13 - I’ve never really heard much about the Los Angeles riots of ’92. I knew they happened. I knew they were bad, but to what extent and the specifics, I had no idea. I really enjoyed the quotation “There are no Asians in Asia, only people with national identities, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, and Filipino. But on this side of the Pacific there are Asian Americans.”

Saving Face

628x471

I liked this movie. It touched on so many different issues. Specifically, some that I can personally relate to. One thing that grabbed my attention after pondering about the movie was the irony throughout the movie. More specifically, the fact that here is Wil’s mother being unaccepting that she is a lesbian, meanwhile she is pregnant at an old age with a male who she is not married to and who is also a lot younger than her. We see them both struggling, yet instead of embracing the struggle and dealing with them together, they are pushed further away from each other until near the end of the movie. This was where Wil finally straight up told her mother that she was a lesbian and although her mother did not want to hear it, she still realized she had to accept it. In the end, they both learned from each other’s experiences.

The Generation Gap between Wilhelmina, her mother, and Wil’s Grandfather was obvious through the series of events as well. The fact that her mother was nearly disowned by her father because she was pregnant and not married was an embarrassment to her father. When it is pretty common now days with younger generations to have children and not be married yet. However, her father took this as a slap in the face. Moreover, Wil’s mother had married once to please her father and was about to marry again for the same reason. Wil’s girlfriend taught Wil the importance and power of love which then transferred to a lesson taught to her own mother. Happiness is what is most important, regardless of the situation.

 

 

 

East Main Street’s Reading Ch. 9 – 17

Chapter 10 – Miss Cherry Blossom Meets Mainstream America

Interesting chapter in that these Japanese American beauty pageants started out as a way to show they’re just as American as everyone else, yet later on it develops into its own kind of pageant by only allowing those with Japanese ancestry to participate and removing some aspects of the typical American beauty pageant, such as the swimsuit portion and the question and answer bit. The fact that these pageants were criticized by feminists must mean they’re American enough to be targeted. One thing I’ve been wondering about the chapter is what happens to the winners. Are they inspired or urged on to participate in mainstream American pageants?

Chapter 11 – How to Rehabilitate a Mulatto: The Iconography of Tiger Woods

The chapter focused on Tiger Wood’s claim of being a “Cablinasian”, a mix of Caucasian, black, Indian, and Asian. In regards to his ethnicity, Nike used him to advertise a commercial where children said “I am Tiger Woods” rather than say they want to be like him. Children featured in this commercial were of different races and in different areas, some where it looked like it was poverty stricken. It’s interesting that Tiger Woods has gained this type of iconography, rather than other multi-ethnic stars like Mariah Carey. It probably has to do with his career as a professional golf player because when most people envision pro golfers, it’s mostly wealthy Caucasian people that come to mind. Also the term Mulatto is for someone born from a white parent and a black parent, but that’s not really the case with Tiger Woods.

Chapter 14 – Guilty Pleasures: Keanu Reeves, Superman, and Racial Outing

Did not know that Keanu Reeves was part Asian until last quarter in Asian American History in the Pacific Northwest, where I saw his picture at the Wing Luke Museum in a section dedicated to famous people of Asian descent. I liked how they used Smallville to depict a person of two worlds trying to survive in one. I’ve heard of Smallville, but I have never watched it because live-action series are not usually my thing. Even the use of the infamous Kryptonite, both red and green, played a role in “depicting” the different reactions of Clark and how they relate to an “alien” trying to fit into a culture that would probably hate and fear him if they found out his truth.

Chapter 9 – Whose Paradise? Hawai’i, Desire, and the Global-Local Tensions of Popular Culture

This one was kind of a disorienting read. I can’t believe that the media, and probably the people on the U.S. mainland, want Hawai’i to keep up this false image of a paradise with “white sands and swaying palmtrees”. The one thing I remember the most from this chapter is the short-lived series The Byrds. It talked about a family that moves to Hawai’i after the mother died and tries to establish a new life there, learning about the true people living there and the traditions they still hold dear. The Byrds did what no other media series has done at the time and depicted Hawai’i as it really was, no “paradise” image but a place where people lived and worked hard, often relying on pidgin in most of their tasks. Despite this realistic view, the show had low ratings due to no depiction of paradise, but in Hawai’i it was popular.

Chapter 16 – Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian Accents

The fact that Apu from The Simpsons is voiced by a white man reminds me of Cleveland Brown from another adult cartoon called Family Guy, where a white man voices for a black male. The section talked about how the voice actor, Hank Azaria, established this “South Asian accent” that is now affliated with South Asian Americans. The show even took the character Apu and developed him along the way, resulting in exploration of his culture and lifestyle. Apu is probably the most famous South Asian American character in the media, or at least animated media, so far.

Chapter 17 – Secret Asian Man: Angry Asians and the Politics of Cultural Visibility

I’ll admit, when I first saw this title I kept hearing “Secret Agent Man” playing in my head. Anyways, it seems I can’t stop hearing about Abercrombie and Fitch. First I hear about the CEO having an issue against overweight people and now the whole marketing towards Asian Americans via shirts like “Two Wongs can make it white”. The reading also tells how anger and grief from Asians are used to finally have a voice for once. It was also depicted in some media, for example the scene from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story showed a young Bruce Lee go to a theater with his future wife Linda and they watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s, up to the part where the movie depicts a Japanese man via yellowface. Disgusted, Lee doesn’t laugh with everyone else in the theater and Linda finally understands and prompts them to leave. Also from this reading I found Tak Toyoshima’s satirical comics quite entertaining and educational. They point out all the things that I’ve seen happen at least once before, with the last one being true as we watched Better Luck Tomorrow a few weeks ago. One thing that made me laugh a bit was the comic strip “Hollywood Thanks” where everyone but the Asian male gets the lady at the end. That’s such a downer to young Asian viewers when they see this kind of thing. I hope it’s not the reason behind why events like this happened.

Cartoon Comparisons!

So I was doing some research and looking up a whole bunch of cartoons that aired on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network and I came across this show called The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. At first I didn’t know what it was then I vaguely remembered it as something I’d watch if there was nothing else on TV. But to job my memory I watched the opening sequence of it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s basically about this girl (Juniper Lee) who runs around defeating magical monsters with the help of her wise old grandma. Sound familiar?

Okay, what about American Dragon: Jake Long. It’s basically about a boy (Jake Long) who run around defeating magical creatures with the help of his wise, old grandpa. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Both characters are Chinese American too…

Just interesting.

Children’s TV Characters

Okay, I know its kind of late but I’ve come to a conclusion about what I want to focus on for the rest of the quarter. At first I was going to do it on Asian/American characters in literature because I had that sudden remembrance of Park from Eleanor and Park because he Korean American and their parents met during the war. And i totally thought it’d be interesting to investigate other Asian/American literature characters. But what about characters in children’s sitcoms?

The way I see it (a probably like…everyone else in the world), kids are the future, right? Like right now, somewhere in our school system in our next President! They’re in some classroom, learning how to read and absorbing everything around them! What are they seeing on TV right now? What are their influences? What are their parent’s influences? And I mean, I don’t know about you but I watched a lot of cartoons and TV as a kid. Honestly, I did until a few months ago when I moved out and realized how expensive cable was.

Anyways, the three main channels that are aimed at children are Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. At first I was trying to think of how many Asian/American characters I could think of off the top of my head. I came up with Phoebe from Hey Arnold, everyone in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jake from American Dragon Jake Long, Kimmy from Rugrats. That isn’t a lot and while I’m sure I was missing PLENTY, it still worried me that those were all I could think of. Because of this I broadened my perspective and moved it to human actors too but even then I couldn’t think of too many. London Tipton from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody? Yeah…I got nothin

 

Murder Most Foul-The Strange Tale of Issei Sagawa

How does a convicted killer go from being declared legally insane in the membrane to becoming  a published comic book writer amongst other things in Japan? Easy.  Really helps too if you happened to have been a cannibal who because of some rather interesting legal issues checked himself out of the padded room in 1986 and has been a free man since. In the decades since he has become something of a minor celebrity in Tokyo,Japan so without further adieu let’s meet your freak of the week,Issei Sagawa.

The Crime: In 1981, while attending Sorbonne in Paris,France; he invited a classmate over on the pretext of discussing French literature instead he shot her with the intent of having lunch. She was to be the entree. While, the rest of the crime needless to say is too gory to discuss he was caught when attempting to dispose of the evidence in a lake simply because someone saw him.

The Celebrity: Because of a number of issues when he was returned back to Japan with the French paperwork there was no way to hold him legally in custody other than the metal hospital which he checked out of in 1986. He became a speaker on the lecture circuit strangely enough and even stranger than that is the fact he is a contributor to a food magazine of all things. In addition he has written books about what he has done, had a comic book issues, appeared in films of a decidedly sadist nature and as recently as 2009 he was documented on the History Channel. He is considered evil,violent, more than sightly crazy,but, people eat up what he has to offer hence the nickname ” The Cannibal Celebrity.” Why then does Japan have such an interest in this man? Well,he got away with for one thing and the other thing he has done the one thing that freaks us out as a public and that thing is cannibalism. It grosses us out. It gives the willies. We need a bath in bleach after hearing about the graphic details,but, we are again staring at the train wreck.

The train wreck that is Issei Sagawa was/is in the annuals of crime perhaps the most weird because of the amount attention he has gotten with only one crime,but, it is that whole creepy cannibal thing again. What is surprising is the amount of lectures he gives as well as the website he runs with oh so delightful artwork of ladies tushes. Which he seems to have a thing for and yet, Japan goes the lecture to listen to him speak about the crime that horrify us. My take on it is this,we rarely as a public get to hear a criminal speak about their crimes and never in such grisly detail either. He happens to be nuts and free which is,also, appealing because even rarer is a cannibal than is free to begin with. In Japan, considering how rare this type of murder is to begin with it would almost instantly elevate him to cult status. So the train wreck rambles on and it is the human condition to look  no matter which country you happen to be in.

For further reading:

http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sagawa-issei.htm