Tag Archives: Week 8

Mississippi Masala

I really liked the film, I thought that it was a great story that transcends boundaries that so many other films don’t even consider crossing. I think that the ending with Mina choosing to runaway from her family to be with her love is one of the things that is so American about her. A proper Indian daughter would have never run away with a man. Since her mother seemed to be so alright with it shows that she also has a more Western mind than a traditional Indian mother.

As for Mina being a “darkie” daughter, since she doesn’t fit the Indian ideal of beauty, she wouldn’t have been able to find a good match of an Indian or Indian American husband anyways. Mina and Demetrius, whether they worked out in the long run or fizzed out as a youthful romance, I don’t know. I really enjoyed the very ending clips with them in cultural costumes. I thought that was sweet.

Yellow Apparel: When the Coolie Becomes Cool

Click here to view the embedded video.

In my first year at Evergreen, when I was frequently involved in the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition’s student group activities, one of the documentaries we viewed was Yellow Apparel: When the Coolie Becomes Cool.

It’s been a favorite view of mine for a while. I think that it’s just a great documentary. It was produced in 2000, so it covers the major commodification of Asian styles/items/symbols in American fashion that was highly present in the 90′s. It deals with the question, is it appropriation? The documentary shows multiple perspectives of the issues at hand, and rather than resolving the issue, the film mainly highlights the situation.

Unlike my previous posts have been, this documentary takes a look at Eastern fashions utilized in the West, as opposed to Eastern fashions being Westernized.

I think that everyone in the Asian field of cultural studies should view this film at least once.

Ozeki – Environment

Environment was such a major part of the novel. Ruth and Oliver were staying on a island, and they were surrounded by the ocean. The Pacific ocean plays such a huge role. The tsunami and flooding that occurs in Japan is the vessel that brings the lunchbox to the beach where Ruth and Oliver find it. The ocean also brings with it the storms that knocks out Ruth’s power, keeping her from her search for the truth. Nao spends time in the Japanese countryside with Jiko, where she is told to fight the waves.

The novel also touches on the real life events of the nuclear radiation, and global warming.

The animals present in the novel are the cat, the crow, whales, and barnacles, bugs are also mentioned. Pesto is the family cat. The crow is a native Japanese species that follows the current and debris across the ocean. The whales are mentioned to have been killed for their blubber, and also bombed. The barnacles clung to the plastic bag the Hello Kitty lunchbox was in, they died. Bugs were a hobby of Nao’s father.

Ozeki – Family

I think that family and familial relationships are huge. In Nao’s family, the mother is rarely seen, she’s very absent. Nao’s father, though still physically present, is mentally absent. He no longer lives within the family mindset and seeks various methods of suicide. Though we are shown, through Oliver, that he tried to be a good father to Nao and purchase her panties to prevent anyone else from deriving a sick pleasure from them. I think that Nao realized her father isn’t alright, but does nothing to help him, though she does push him to try not to fail suicide again. Nao, tries to appease her mother and be a good daughter, but whether this is sarcasm or genuine, the result seems mixed. Jiko’s mere presence is enough to elicit real and deep emotions from Nao’s father. Jiko becomes an important part of Nao’s life, inspiring her to find her supapowa.  Jiko becomes a nun because of her son’s death. His love of life for all, and her love for him, kept her from giving in a committing suicide.

Ruth’s mother, is no longer with her. Ruth’s father isn’t mentioned. Ruth’s husband Oliver is what brings her to the island, which she hates. Oliver becomes pushed aside and even a bit bullied by Ruth as she journeys through the diary.

Ozeki – Identity

I think that Nao’s diary is huge for Ruth to find herself, more-so than for Nao. Ruth, the struggling writer, is sent on this journey of the teen mindset. She learns about herself on the way, finding that there are some situations entirely out of her control. No matter how much she wants to save Nao, and help fix her family, when she realizes that the diary may have been written long before it was in her possession, she is flooded with hopelessness and looses the desire to read on.

Nao’s journal is a way for Nao to show others who she is. She’s a teenage girl thrown into a tumultuous situation, it’s a time of high emotions and stresses. Since none of her schoolmates like her, she can’t be real with them. None of her other acquaintances want to genuinely know her, only use her for their purposes. Her family is so uninterested in who she really is. There is a moment where she takes charge of her life and shaves her head and finds a bit of peace within herself.