JJ Chinois and Terminal USA Response

I actually haven’t seen any underground films until now, and was very surprised by both JJ Chinois and Terminal USA. I watched JJ Chinois before reading the essay in Alien Encounters with a few friends, and I’m pretty sure none of us caught the fact that JJ Chinois is played by a woman. It wasn’t until I read the essay and then watched it again that I was able to see the significance of the scenes from the Bruce Lee movie to JJ Chinois’s masculinity. This brought up quite a few questions – how much does Lynne Chan expect the average viewer to know about Bruce Lee? I personally didn’t know that the scenes with the random subtitles were clips from a movie about Bruce Lee until I read Alien Encounters. Perhaps the fact that I would have never guessed that the male character was supposed to be Bruce Lee goes to show how I (and maybe the general public) would not associate this sexualized image of an Asian American male with the stoic image of Bruce Lee portrayed in his movies. Would the only people who would understand the significance of these scenes be then people who have seen Bruce Lee I Love You before (who may be Bruce Lee fans)?

Terminal USA was a lot easier to follow in terms of plot, but I am still confused about the meaning of everything. In the beginning of Terminal USA, the scene opens with Kazumi doing pseudo-martial arts moves around his room, yelling like one might see in a typical martial arts movie. He tries to yell like this in the following scene when the two druggies confront him, but is quickly pushed down to the ground while one of them yells in a deeper voice. Is this meant to emphasize the ridiculousness of trying to emulate martial arts masters in the “real world”? I got the feeling that the filmmaker introduces the viewer to an over exaggerated stereotype of martial arts to show how overly exaggerated Kazumi (and the rest of the characters) are in this film. Also, one aspect of the film that stood out to me was the clothes the characters were wearing. They were obviously meant to emphasize the stereotypical role each had in the family (Marvin being the studious geek, Kazumi being the rebel, and Holly being the perfect cheerleader). Was it to serve as a contrast to the secrets each child was trying to hide from the parents?

Sa-i-gu Response

I thought this was a great addition to the list of films and documentaries we have watched, as it addressed the LA. riots through a viewpoint that was excluded from the media coverage during the riots. As the filmmakers note before the documentary, the main portrayals of Korean Americans during the riots were of storekeepers holding guns to keep their property safe and of a Korean American storekeeper shooting an African American in the back of the head. This documentary is a response to those media images, hoping to bring to light the emotional experiences of Korean Americans in proof that they did care about human life, and did not discard human life for the sake of their property. The viewpoints of the women interviewed were varied, which provided for an interesting backdrop to their experience of the riots.

One viewpoint that I found interesting was when one woman compared the Korean Americans to “sacrificial lambs” in an expression of her frustration over how the LAPD did not take any action during the looting of the Korean American stores. I found this statement summarized the racial tensions expressed among the Korean Americans, African Americans, and white people that were a huge part of the riots. I can only imagine how Korean Americans felt when watching media coverage, as looters raided stores with police officers standing and watching nearby. With police officers usually acting as symbols of peace and protection, their inactivity during the riots led to a crisis in the Korean women’s hopes of coming to America to give their children a better life. There were varied responses from the women when talking about African Americans, as some seemed aware that there were negative views of Koreans from African Americans while others were more upset over the police inactivity and blamed other races. One woman almost seemed to blame other Koreans for treating African American customers poorly, as she emphasized that storekeepers need to be a part of the community, which includes placing money in customers’ hands and bagging all of their goods. After the credits, the filmmakers address the fact that some of the comments in the documentary are racist, as they believe that by leaving these views in as opposed to editing it out will provoke discussion and reexamination of personal views. I agree with their point of view, for nothing about race relations could have been discussed if the filmmakers had sugarcoated and edited out these views. Since these women were interviewed only three months after the riots happened, their emotions still run strong, as seen by some of the things they say in their interviews. They are still in shock that their life earnings that went towards a store are completely gone, which could lead to an unearthing of their frustrations and taking it out on others as a result.

Although this documentary focused solely on Korean American women, it did bring up aspects that I thought would be interesting to explore more thoroughly. For example, one woman talks about how her African American employees called and told her to stay at home, and that they would try to protect the store as best as they could. I wanted to learn more about these people, as it seems they sat right at the axis between Korean and African American tensions. What were their views of the riots?

Mississippi Masala - Response

This movie was unique in that it explored an interracial relationship between an African American man and Indian American woman (by way of Uganda). I thought it was an interesting layer of character to have Meena and her parents originate from Uganda, while most of the African Americans portrayed in the movie are “Americanized” and even admit that they have never been to Africa. With Meena and her parents being of affluent status in Uganda, I thought that their immigrant story was interesting in that they did not leave due to poor economy or to seek a better life for Meena, like many other immigrant stories we have watched. Instead, they are forcibly driven out due to their ethnicity, even with the father emphasizing how strongly he feels for Uganda. However, I thought that the tension between Meena and her parents has been seen many times before in movies about generational gaps, and thought that everyone’s reactions when they discovered that Meena was with a man of another race to be expected. It would have been interesting to have an Indian American character that sympathized with Meena. Much like other people mentioned, I also found Demetrius’s family’s negative reaction to his relationship to Meena a little incongruent, as they were originally welcoming when he first

In thinking about this movie in comparison to Better Luck Tomorrow and Dancing Monkeys, I felt that Meena shared some of the characteristics of the kids in Dancing Monkeys, particularly the fact that she decides to hold off on going to college until her father has more money, as seen in the conversation she has with her father in the Chinese restaurant. This reminded me a little bit about one of the subjects in Dancing Monkeys, who decides to go to a cheaper college because he does not want to burden his mother. On the other hand, the characters in Better Luck Tomorrow really do not have the same concept of money, as they make money off of selling drugs and cheatsheets but don’t really need it. Thus, these three movies go to show that class is a huge factor in shaping the lives of Asian American youth, especially in how having less money intertwines Asian American youth more with their family. In Better Luck Tomorrow, there was indeed an unspoken pressure coming from parents, but the characters were able to escape under the pretense of going to extracurricular activities for their college applications. However, in both Dancing Monkeys and Mississippi Masala, I got a greater sense that the Asian American youth are more tied to their families, as jobs were more of a necessity in terms of helping out the family.

Better Luck Tomorrow Response

One aspect of this movie I found the most interesting was the role of females, specifically Stephanie, in terms of her background and her relationship with the other males in the movie. I thought it was an interesting decision by the filmmaker to cast the only Asian American female as being adopted by a white family. It somehow excused her from acting the way the other Asian Americans act in the movie, as they, as Ben says, can get away with anything as long as their grades show otherwise. I felt that her background inherently kept her from getting involved in ways to rebel against the system, as it seemed as if she did not feel the same pressures that the other characters in the movie felt. While all the other male characters in the movie get involved in drugs, cheating, and a “suburban gangster” lifestyle, she remains oblivious to these doings. Her removal from these actions links race to parentage, which raises the issue of the ever-present relationship between child and parent seen in the movie. Although there are no parents present at all, their presence in the movie is overpowering, as it seems to be the impetus behind Ben and his friends’ desires to construct a pristine college application, while at the same time driving them to commit crimes in order to feel a sense of power in their lives.

On a different note, I found the scene in which Han is driving next to actual gangsters while they flash their guns to be very interesting. The fact that it happens right after Derek pulls out a gun at a party serves to emphasize that, as notorious as they are for getting involved in drugs, partying, and having guns, they are still middle-class kids from suburbia. There is obvious tension in the car (except for Virgil) when Han notices the gangsters driving next to them, putting their “gangster” lifestyle into context of the world outside of suburban, gated communities. At the same time, Virgil blinks back tears when he wonders what his dad would do if he found out about Virgil’s actions, further emphasizing that the characters are just high school kids who are indulging in this lifestyle more for fun than for necessity. As Ben says, it isn’t about making money, but is more out of boredom due to living in the suburbs of L.A. Overall, I enjoyed this movie a lot, as it provides a story that takes the “model minority” and spins it around to show a darker side. It draws upon Asian American experience that is more recent and familiar and brings it out into the media.

Chinese Restaurants Response

I found this documentary was fascinating in its approach to the many, many varied geographical places to which Chinese have immigrated all for the sake of making a better life. After watching and hearing each of the restaurant owners talk about their reasons for leaving China, I found what was most interesting was the way they viewed their future in relation to ever returning to China. Some of the restaurant owners, such as Colette in Mauritius, are perfectly comfortable with living where they are now for the rest of their lives. There are some, like the owners of the Lille Buddha in Norway, who hope to move somewhere else that is not necessarily China, such as France, and have the luxury of being able to travel between a dream vacation home and their Chinese restaurant. Then there are some, such as Maria in Peru, who desire to go back to China but stay for the sake of their children. This documentary proved that there are many layers of self-identity when it comes to these immigrants. When asked how he identifies himself, Noisy Jim staunchly replies, “I am myself.” I was touched by Noisy Jim’s story, as he finds himself working for New Outlook Café for free once he sells it to new owners, and emphasizes that he does not mind the harsh restaurant business because he truly enjoys it. His café becomes a community center, bringing everyone together as he walks around, greeting his regular customers.

The environment in which each restaurant functioned affected the food each served incredibly, either through physical means or cultural means. For example, I found it interesting that the Chinese restaurants in Cuba deep fry their food often and use Italian noodles instead of Chinese noodles in their dishes, while Cheuk Kwan notes that the refrigerators in one restaurant are bare. He attributes this to the difficulty in getting imported Chinese goods in Cuba, showing that Chinese restaurants in this region must make do with what they have to make their own Chinese dishes. At the Lille Buddha in Norway, the owners talk about how they serve non-authentic Chinese food to cater to the non-Chinese clientele that frequent their restaurant. Although they are aware of the non-authenticity of their food, the owners are somewhat forced to serve this type of Chinese food, as it is what their customers expect when they visit a Chinese restaurant. On the other hand, the owner of Casa China de Cultural in Argentina purposefully makes authentic Chinese food, as he feels it is his cultural duty to expose people of other cultures to Chinese culture. Based on his success, with patrons attending tai-chi classes and then dining on Chinese food after their class, he has the liberty to make authentic Chinese food since he is able to provide for himself with his methods. Thus, the type of Chinese food each restaurant served was an indication of society’s perceptions of Chinese food, with restaurant owners struggling to appease whatever the community considers to be Chinese food. While Casa China de Cultural had the freedom to try and change consumers’ views of Chinese food, others, like the Lille Buddha, had no choice but to keep serving the typical beef and broccoli. This reminded me of the “Chinese Restaurant Drive-Thru” work we read in Alien Encounters, as Indigo Som talks to the owner’s son in Happy China Garden. He reveals that almost everybody who works at Happy China Garden is Vietnamese, but when asked if they’ve ever tried serving Vietnamese dishes, he replied that “they had tried a few, but the customers didn’t’ go for them, so they gave up on it” (152). This shows that the same mentality can be applied to other Asians wishing to serve more than the typical Americanized Chinese food, as the customers’ response to different Asian dishes can dictate whether the restaurant can extend beyond serving Chinese dishes to serving dishes from their own ethnic countries. I never thought about the cultural implications Chinese food could have on a community (and vice versa), especially communities in which I'd never expect to find thriving Chinese families, and found that Chinese Restaurants did a fantastic job in addressing the varied types of Chinese food found throughout the world. What are the conditions that allowed the owner of Casa China to serve more authentic Chinese food? Why didn’t the restaurant owners of Lille Buddha try to change Norwegian perceptions of Chinese food?

The Wedding Banquet Response

After watching Wedding Banquet, I thought the most interesting aspect of the movie was the concept of lying and keeping secrets. At first, Wai Tung, Wei Wei, and Simon keep the secret about Wai Tung and Wei Wei’s marriage when Wai Tung’s parents come for the wedding. There are scenes in the film where they totally redo the interior of Wai Tung and Simon’s house as they replace pictures, remove books, unroll scrolls of Wai Tung’s father’s calligraphy, and rush around to make the house appear more Taiwanese in Wai Tung’s efforts to appear the obedient son his parents wish him to be. This is a group effort, as Wai Tung, Wei Wei, and Simon all participate in this act of lying. Later, when Wai Tung’s mother finds out about Wai Tung’s sexuality, she insists that nobody reveal this secret to his father, as she fears it will kill him. Another secret in the film is when Wei Wei contemplates getting an abortion, as Wai Tung tells his mother they are going to go shopping when they are actually leaving to go to the abortion clinic. The viewer finds the tables are turned when Simon discovers that Wai Tung’s father has known about Wai Tung’s sexuality for a while. However, Wai Tung’s father tells Simon to not tell anybody that he is aware of Wai Tung’s sexuality, thus adding onto the many secrets the family keeps from each other. In the end, I thought it was very interesting that the sole person who knows all of the secrets of the Gao family (from the marriage to the abortion to Wai Tung’s father’s knowledge of Wai Tung’s sexuality) was Simon, the only person who is not truly part of the family. It is perhaps through this omniscient role that Simon is able to take his place in the Gao family.

Another interesting spot in the movie I wanted to point out was when, after hearing a white person at the wedding banquet say that he thought the Chinese were “quiet math whizzes,” a Chinese guest points out, “You’re witnessing the result of 5000 years of sexual repression.” I found this statement to be vital to the movie, as it shows the simultaneous liberation of heterosexuality and the repression of homosexuality through the wedding banquet. In essence, the viewer is witness to both of these events, as Wai Tung is forced into taking on a heterosexual role and is expected to be free with his affections towards Wei Wei (the guests insist that Wai Tung’s peck on the cheek is not good enough for a kiss). At the same time, Simon is unable to do anything but watch as the crowd eggs the heterosexual couple on. This statement emphasizes the tensions felt by Wai Tung in being both Taiwanese and homosexual, as it shows that these two aspects of his self are historically portrayed as incompatible.

Enter the Dragon

After watching Enter the Dragon, I found that the most prominent aspect of the movie was the portrayal of genders and their roles. Although the emasculation is a common theme in media portrayals of Asian American men, I thought that Bruce Lee's portrayal of his character further heightened his masculinity. At the end of the movie during the final fight scene, Bruce Lee is (conveniently) the only character who is fighting without a shirt, showing his insanely muscular body. As a viewer, I never doubted Bruce Lee's eventual victory while he was fighting the "bad guy" in the movie, simply because his physical prowess seemed to surpass his opponents by far (he managed to kill his opponent with just his hands, while his opponent had various claw attachments for his arm and used a spear at one point). One part of the movie that stuck out at me was when, after being slashed by the claw in the stomach, Bruce Lee straightens up, dabs his finger into his wound, and licks the blood. I actually started laughing at this part, since I thought it was completely over-the-top in showing how intense he is about fighting. I didn't know whether this was a show of extreme masculinity, or whether it was to emphasize his savagery in his fighting. Although both are on the opposite side of the spectrum from the characteristics of the effeminate Asian American man, this little gesture made me realize that Asian American men truly are portrayed in only two (very different) ways in the general media - as either emasculated, weak men or as screaming, angry martial arts masters. Although I feel Bruce Lee does more good than harm in the general portrayal of Asian American men in this film, there are still aspects of the film that overdo the “angry savage” image (such as the dubbed screaming that everyone else has pointed out).

The portrayal of women in this film also intrigued me, as women were obviously an important part of the film. The first example I was struck with was the story of how Lee’s sister dies. Initially, I thought it was a change in the usual exotic Asian woman image, as she seems to easily beat up the horde of men chasing after her. I definitely was not expecting her to kill herself, and I thought it was interesting that she chooses to do so when Oharra, the sole white man in the group, confronts her. I was kind of disappointed that she chose not to fight, but it seems this was just to set up Lee’s eventual killing of Oharra at the tournament later on in the movie. The part in the movie when Tania goes to each of the fighter’s rooms and tells them to choose from a group of women as “gifts” from Han definitely evoked the sense that they were merely exotic items the men should “experience” while on Han’s island. I thought that the way each of the men chose was very interesting, based on typical racial stereotypes of sexuality. Was this intentional?

Overall, I thought Bruce Lee definitely changed the media’s view of Asian American men from naive, childish people (i.e. “Yellow Man” in Broken Blossoms) to strong men who end up being the heroes in a film. The cheesiness of some of the lines and some of the “overdone” parts of the movie could maybe be attributed to the time period in which it came out. I told my mom I was watching this movie over the weekend and she said that although some parts may seem cheesy now, she saw the movie when it first came out and thought it was awesome.

Flower Drum Song - "What are these things for?"

Although I’ve seen various Rodger and Hammerstein musicals, I was never aware that they had written a musical about (and featuring) Asian Americans. I was pleased with their overall representation of Asian Americans in Flower Drum Song, as it provided a huge contrast to the representation in Broken Blossoms, where Asian Americans were consistently portrayed as foreign.

One aspect of the movie I found interesting was the use of clothing to make a huge emphasis on the generational gap. In the beginning, the viewer is introduced to Ta Wang’s father as he sits in his Chinese-themed garden, dressed in traditional Chinese clothes. His children are then introduced, with Ta wearing a sweater and tie outfit and his younger brother dressed in a baseball uniform. I felt this generational difference may have been overplayed a bit, with San Wang (the younger brother) using very American slang when talking to his father, while the father is left puzzling over what his son could have possibly said. Clothing is also tied in with the stereotypes of Asian female sexuality seen in the movie, as Linda Low dances around in just a towel while she sings “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” a song in which being a girl is entirely contingent on how other men treat her. The extroverted sexuality of Linda is contrasted with the passivity of Mei Li, who wears traditional Chinese clothing (which “hides everything,” according to her father).

Mei Li and Linda Low also emphasize the two different stereotypes of Asian women (as described in Screening Asian Americans) in their physical actions. Near the end of the movie, when the marriage contract between Mei Li and Sammy Fong is being reviewed, Mei Li willing steps up and opens her mouth, showing her submission as she will allow anyone to physically inspect her to see if she is fit for marriage. On the other hand, when Linda receives an invitation to Mei Li and Sammy’s wedding, she forcibly tries to push Sammy out of the door when he goes to visit her, which I felt emphasized the “Dragon Lady” stereotype.

There is an instance of a stereotype of Asian male sexuality seen when Mei Li’s father and Ta Wang’s father inspect an American dress that they want Mei Li to wear to the graduation party. Mei Li’s father inspects the bra inserts of the dress and asks, “What are these things for?” As noted in Laura Hyun-Yi Kang’s “The Desiring of Asian Female Bodies,” Asian males are portrayed as having “measures of confinement and the sexual abandonment of the oriental female” (75). Thus, their seeming ignorance of an aspect of the dress that expresses female sexuality further drives in this notion that Asian males are unknowledgeable about Asian female sexuality.

Overall, I really did enjoy this film and thought that it was a great decision on Rodger and Hammerstein’s behalf to have an Asian American cast. One question I had about the movie was about the role of Helen. She doesn’t appear to fall in the two stereotypes of Asian females much like the other young Asian American women do in this film. What is her purpose and representation in this movie?

Southern California Japanese American Sports Leagues

What began as a way to compensate for racial divides now functions as an entire community in which Japanese American youth can meet each other through the medium of sports. After World War II, Japanese Americans wanting to play the “all-American” sport of baseball were prohibited from playing in Caucasian youth sports leagues, due to lingering racial biases. As a result, Japanese Americans founded their own leagues and organizations around California, such as the South East Youth Organization (SEYO), which is based in Orange County, California. Since then, SEYO has expanded to include basketball and now hosts various tournaments, volunteer events, and social functions in which Japanese American youth across Southern California can connect and meet. SEYO branches out into multiple organizations, each of which has their own basketball and baseball teams.

In addition, SEYO and various other Japanese American organizations come together in the “Nikkei Games” in August, in which Japanese American youth across Southern California compete in various sports such as basketball, baseball, golf, judo, karate, and track and field, to name a few. The Nikkei Games are part of Nisei Week, which takes place in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California. During Nisei Week, various aspects of Japanese American culture come together in a festival of sorts, with martial arts exhibits, beauty pageants, and even a gyoza (Japanese dumpling) eating contest. It is through such festivals and games that Japanese Americans in Southern California can come together and connect with their Japanese cultural roots, which may at times seem removed and distant.

Although there are no longer restrictions barring Japanese Americans from playing in other sports leagues, SEYO and its counterparts continues to be extremely popular, as it creates a community for fourth or fifth-generation Japanese Americans to stay connected to a Japanese American community, even when their lives are so fully “American.” Many of these youth speak very little Japanese, as their parents and grandparents have grown up in the United States. It is through these Japanese American organizations that youth can stay connected to and be a part of a culture.