5/23 Rodriguez and Kelly Loves Tony

This article was interesting to me because we all know what cars are and most of us have been exposed to pictures of import models standing next to those fancy cars. I didn’t think too much while reading this article until I got closer to the end. “Poster graphics from import car shows such as Hot Import Nights sexualize the cars much as they sexualize the women used to advertise the show. The girls are sleekly styled, with state-of-the-art cosmetics, cosmetic surgery, and (minimal) clothing…. Having the hood up is standard procedure at car shows - it displays the goods. Justine bares her belly in much the same way that the car bares its engine. She, too, is displaying her goods.” (yikes at that last part) Personally, I have never really paid too much attention to car culture… That topic/ area of interest kinda just goes over my head. I’m not an expert but it seems like the car culture reinforces the idea that heterosexuality is the preferred sexual orientation. It wasn’t until I read this article that I realized that the whole “hot woman posing next to a shiny car” was created (mostly) for heterosexual male enjoyment. “Hyperfemmenized and highly sexualized ‘girl on girl’ action is staged for car shows and various media.” Reading this made me feel a bit uneasy at first. It gave me the impression that a girl being sexual with another girl is only acceptable if it is for male enjoyment meaning the girls have to show a lot of skin and be what the majority of heterosexual men consider to be aesthetically pleasing. I find it odd that we, as a society, have assumed a positive correlation between male masculinity and interested in cars, car culture, hot girls, etc.

In the next part of Kelly Loves Tony, Kelly continues struggling but in a different way. She and Tony moved in with Tony’s family and they think poorly of her because she doesn’t help out around the house as much as they’d like. They expect Kelly to be a traditional stay at home mom and clean the house while taking care of the baby. Tony doesn’t understand why Kelly wants to go to school. This is similar to what Shah wrote about in Laotian Girls about Southeast Asian American trying to please their family by practicing their family's culture but also trying to assimilate to American culture. Kelly is trying to juggle her responsibilities at Tony's Family’s house, take care of the baby, and go to school but no one seems to understand how difficult it is for her. No one is being patient with her and Tony isn't really helping her out. This film shows the struggle that many Southeast Asian American young women go through. It’s interesting that we have shows such as “16 and pregnant” that show the struggle of being a teen parent but it’s usually non-POC so it doesn’t show the struggles that stem from transnationalism or being a second-generation Asian American.