The second (and third) musical selection takes us for a moment outside of the
Lastly, I wanted to bring to the table an article from the New York Times several years ago about Asian American artists. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/fashion/04asians.html?pagewanted=1&sq=asian%20american%20music&st=nyt&scp=4
. It puts an interesting take on the popularity of Thao Nguyen being an indie (rather than mainstream) artist.One of the aspects of the movie that struck me was the importance of the characters being Asian American to the movie varied. At some points it seemed crucial and at others, it was if they could have been played by actors of any other ethnicity. For example, the newspaper article on Ben or the confrontation at the party with the other “jocks” centered on the characters being Asian. However, the whole winter formal sequence with Ben and Stephanie could be any sequence from a movie about a boy and his unrequited love. Moreover, the movie has been discussed as a response to the model minority stereotype of Asian Americans. May I suggest a different reading, that of teenagers in the suburbs. The characters act more out of boredom and selfishness rather than trying to shed any model minority status. I admit that they are trying to shed an image but not one of model minority but one of “the good kid.” There is a scene during which Virgil and Ben TP a house; Ben’s voice over informs us that it is their straight A’s that give them a free pass. Admittedly, the model minority could be implied throughout the film but reading model minority in the film could easily be read as middle-class suburban teenagers acting out of boredom, which prompted me to recall the movie Bully (though Better Luck Tomorrow definitely had less violence). Furthermore, I responded to the characters less as representation of Asian Americans and more as “real” people. That is to say, I hated Daric because of his selfishness, etc. Nevertheless, the actors being Asian American does affect how the film is viewed (which in itself a concern…) as well as that there are important parts in the film that are intertwined with the ethnic identities of the characters. What I am left asking, then, is by having Asian American actors, does the added layers of meaning enrich the film or are they superfluous or somewhere in between.
I found Chinese Restaurants to be very enlightening especially when it came to telling the individual stories. Honestly, I had no idea the extent of both Chinese immigration and Chinese restaurants (
However, there were some aspects of the documentary that I didn’t find so appealing. The first is how the Hakka people were described in the
Before I begin, I have to confess that I had watched this movie before taking this class and I love it; the first time I saw it was on Bravo (before the Project Runway era, so whatever that means as far as analyzing The Wedding Banquet). In fact, I actually own the movie so I’ve been looking forward to this week for awhile. For the most part, I agree with Mark Chiang’s “Coming Out into the Global System: Postmodern Patriarchies and Transnational Sexualities in The Wedding Banquet”. Nevertheless, I would like to use this blog entry as a vehicle to discuss the points that I either disagreed with him or found to be weak.
Where I differ from Chiang’s reading of the film is that the film cannot be only just understood in a national/Global scale but also at the human level. I found Chiang’s insistence of the generic-ness of the film to be a shallow reading. I found the film to be very individualized since the film is imbued with not only just the story of Ang Lee’s friend but also that in this film, Pushing Hand, and Eat Drink Man Woman, Lee has woven in his relationship with his father, according to the special feature “A Forbidden Passion” on the movie. If I may inject the subject into this analysis, I believe the scene between Wai Tung’s father and Simon in which the father gives Simon the envelopment is a very touching scene and demands that you understand the film not on Taiwanese-Chinese/East-West or other transnational relationships but rather a scene between two human beings. By being so individualized, the film is able speak to a larger audience and is able to become national/transnational.
Nevertheless, my biggest problem with the movie is the development of Wei Wei’s character. In this respect, I agree with Chiang’s reading of the film that Wei Wei represents women and labor that are subordinated in the hybridity of the transnational and the national. Furthermore, the movie upholds patriarchy on both the global and human level. But, Lee makes a very interesting point at the end of “A Forbidden Passion” in which he says, “You relate to the other horizontally, and vertically you come from somewhere.” Therefore, may suggest that Wei Wei’s character may be looking to make a connection by keeping the baby. I still found, however, her submission into being an object to be used by the patriarchy (note the scene when Wai Tung’s father says goodbye to her). A quick note, I also found the movie to be a little disjointed in that the first half up to the actual banquet did not sync with the second half.
If I may deviate for a second, this same reassertion of patriarchy is what I found most disturbing about Enter the Dragon. Looking over the titles of the blog entries others made for the movie, many dealt with remasculating the Asian male or some variation. By giving (back?) the Asian male “masculinity” assumes that femininity (or the Other) is somehow less.
Returning back to The Wedding Banquet, let us examine the film more on the personal level. For me, these are the questions that arise from watching the film: What does it mean when ethnicity or race intersects sexuality? What would have happened if Simon were not an American or at least not white? What is the significance of this movie being nominated for an Academy Award (even winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival)? Who watches (consumes) this movie? I defer once more to the great Roger Ebert when he says, “What makes the film work is the underlying validity of the story, the way the filmmakers don't simply go for melodrama and laughs, but pay these characters their due. At the end of the film, I was a little surprised how much I cared for them.” Ultimately, the film works on both levels since it is really the story of the five people interacting with each other but by its insistence on Taiwan through the multiple references the movie opens itself to a larger examination of transnationalism.
-Christopher Huynh
To be completely honest, I don’t know exactly what to make of Enter the Dragon and find myself to be ambivalent. Therefore, please let this entry be a way for me to talk through some points of discussions and if anyone can comment, I would greatly appreciate it. Firstly, I am trying to put into focus the role of women in the film. On the most superficial level, the women were objects to be enjoyed and used by the men in the film. For example, when the girls were brought into the rooms of Williams, Roper, and Lee. Women were also used as a way to make the situation more dramatic or sympathetic. Two examples illustrate this point, the first being the suicide of Lee’s sister. Was suicide the only option? I honestly don’t believe it was and that her storyline was gratuitous. (The scene was a little too Butterfly for me). The second example is Tania’s (Han’s assistant?) death at the very end of the film. One may argue that Lee’s sister’s death was needed to give Lee’s storyline more emotional depth; however, Tania’s death seemed more of an afterthought, though it too was used to give Roper sympathy. Nevertheless, her character’s role was ambiguous. Was she helping Han? Was she actually on the “good guy’s” side? This ambiguity made her death lack depth. Mei Ling also seemed to lack any particular role except to release the men at the end which could have easily been done by any other character. Needless to say, there were other examples of women as objects.
Moving from gender, I would like to discuss race in the film. Chapter 5 from Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting really changed my view of the movie and made me question the impact of Kung Fu/Karate on American culture. However, I wished the chapter had addressed the commercialization of it which taints our view nowadays. Furthermore, I had no idea that so many organizations existed and cooperated with each other, but I question how biased the book is. Additionally, though I enjoyed William’s character the most, I also question his death. Would the film have worked if Roper had died instead of William? As a last comment on William, I found his lines the most observant out of all the characters especially the one on the fact that ghettos all look the same. The film also made me wonder about Lee’s role. One could see the film as Asian against Asian and therefore Han serves as bad Asian and Lee as good Asian, but I think I’m making the film too simplistic? Lastly, Chapter 5 also seemed to celebrate the film and no doubt there are aspects that should be celebrated but I found the film to be incredibly dated, more so than the other movies we have seen (except for Flower Drum Song). Therefore, I find myself both agreeing with the chapter and disagreeing with it.
Finally, I would like to comment on the film’s structure. Firstly, the flashbacks as the men approached the ship were formulaic and did anyone else notice that the music stopped when there was fighting? I hope that class will help to pull some themes together to at least give me a position on the film. Also, I found the essay in Alien Encounters to be enlightening as far as giving Pulp Fiction more merit. Furthermore, could we discuss if there is a tie between pulp fiction and Enter the Dragon?
-Christopher Huynh Before I begin to critique the Rogers & Hammerstein musical (for the record, I hate this movie), let me praise the film for featuring an all Asian American cast (Hi, Juanita Hall. What did you say? Really? So you’re not Asian American? Sorry about that). Jokes aside (because really, Juanita Hall was really fantastic as the aunt, Madame Liang), such casting is hardly ever seen today whether in film, theater, or television (Sorry Margaret Cho about your show…). I also want to point out that the lack of Asian Americans in mainstream culture is not limited to entertainment but also subjects that are supposed to be factual. For example, I was watching Anatomy of Sex on the Discovery Channel and besides being heteronormative, the only Asian/Asian American that appeared was the waiter in the Chinese restaurant (for about 3 seconds). With this example in mind, Flower Drum Song in its casting was pushing the cultural norms. This cannot be underplayed (especially when compared to, say, the other
Now, let me say that I have not experienced such cognitive dissonance than while watching Flower Drum Song. Firstly, who was the protagonist of the movie? Mei Li? Linda Low? Plot Device, er, I mean Helen? Wang Ta? His Venerable, Honorable Father/Madame Liang’s Brother-in Law? What I am trying to say is that women in the film are used as vehicles to examine (read: shove down our throats) assimilation. Perhaps Laura Hyun-Yi Kang’s “The Desiring of Asian Female Bodies: Interracial Romance and Cinematic Subjection” could be expanded to show that not only does the white male go through a transformation while pushing racial/gender/class issues raised but not examined to the background but that the female body is also used to propagandize a certain kind of assimilation: American dressed in Chinese clothing. For example, the New Year celebrated in
Additionally, despite insinuating that the Flower Drum Song is an ancient Chinese song and dance, the music for “A Hundred Million Miracles” was clearly not Asian, not even a little chinoiserie. And while on the subject of Mei Li, she embodies every characteristic of the Lotus Blossom stereotype.
I am, however, aware that this film is an adaptation of the Broadway adaptation of the novel. In all honesty, I think something got lost in translation.
Lastly, I would like to point out some of the film’s failures as a movie-musical. It is far too long (at 2 hr. 11 min) and some of the dance numbers (that really strange dance sequence) was unnecessary.
Before I end my response, I also want to say that I wished that film had taken everything to an extreme as to go over the edge and become satire. It seemed that as over-the-top as the movie was, it seemed to be begging to be taken to that next level. In that respect, I was going to do my response from Mei Li's point of view, but I decided a more direct and flippant critique would better serve my purpose.