Nam Le Journal 6/1 - Leigh Bagood

This short story touched on many issues regarding Asian Americans in literature and even Asian Americans in the arts in general. I think there was an interesting illustration of the burden of representation in which Asian Americans sometimes bear the responsibility of telling ethnic stories for the sake of being the ones who know and for the sake of visibility. But at the same time, it begs the question of who has the right to tell the trauma of the generations who came before them when their experiences are much different? And I do notice that almost every widely viewed ethnic story is family-related and focuses on inter-generational conflict, and I feel like that perpetuates this tired notion that the stories of Asian Americans start and end there. It basically feeds hegemonic stereotypes of Asian Americans as it gives the dominant audience (i.e. white folks) what they want to see--which is either the trauma of Asian history or family conflict that they are most familiar with. I think that’s what content creators like Wong Fu Productions are trying to gear away from in their works when their goal is casting Asian Americans in diverse roles that don’t play too much into ethnic identity. At the same time, though, they can’t get away from that responsibility of representing Asian Americans in mainstream media. That is because they target a wide audience, not just Asian Americans. Basically, my thoughts about this come down to the idea that the creation of media or literature by Asian Americans comes with many issues and layers which I think they are unfairly held accountable for in their respective industries. White-Americans are not held to the same standards, they are free to create and express whatever they’d like without the many considerations Asian-Americans have regarding their cultural, ethnic, and political identities. This is why I think issues of Asian American representation in the media by the dominant society is so important. When the dominant society adapts the Asian American story, the diversity card is played and everyone’s happy. But we don’t question enough when it’s not diversity, but tokenism and White privilege.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Laotian Daughter and Monkey Dancer

In the article “The Political of Race: Political Identity and the Struggle for Social Rights” by Bindi V. Shah, it mentions the struggles that the Laotian community faced in Contra Costa County.   Laotian community were one of the least represented community in the county due to the lack of representation via politics.   They experience racism through the structural “neighborhood race effect” of “underfunded and resource-deprived schools, environmental pollution and low-wage jobs.”   (53)   When it comes to the perception of model minority, it heavily affects the Laotian community negatively because they are not on the same playing field as other Asians who are economically success and assimilated.   So when the fire arose in the Contra Costa Valley, the Laotian elders were not aware that the fire happened until hours later.   The reason was because they could not understand the messages that were being said when they were informed.   So many elders e...
Read more

5/30- Fiske

In "Shopping For Pleasure", one point was raised "In shopping malls and department stores women's pleasure and desires are catered to, but only in so far as they serve the greater interest of the market". I somewhat disagree with this. While it may be true that the notion of shopping and the market is mostly managed by the predominantly male. The fact that women have a place to exercise a small resistances is important. It is also worth noting that it might be true that it is mostly managed by males, women are exercising the power to vote with their wallet. Also, it creates a space where women can be employ because of the fact that they belong to the group of the target audience, therefore, they have better knowledge of the market. So I argue that shopping malls might not be the place created by women, but it is a stepping stone for women to achieve equal right.
Read more

5/23 Kelly Loves Tony Part 2 Video Response

5/23 Angel Truong Kelly Loves Tony Part 2 Video Response             The documentary Kelly Loves Tony highlights the difference between second-generations Asian Americans who are either assimilated or not assimilated. Kelly wants a life where she is not restricted by traditional gender roles. However, Tony is not assimilated as Kelly since he values family more than Kelly’s well-being. This is depicted from his rant with his boss where Tony does not understand why Kelly is always upset with his family. He believes she should care for their baby and his family conveying that he wants her to be a domestic wife and daughter-in-law. Their conflict also ties to the model minority myth where Asian Americans are not as assimilated or obedient as the myth depicts them because Tony has a criminal record and both Kelly and Tony are struggling to live with his family who are very dependent on each other. This is displayed from the fact th...
Read more