Better Luck Tomorrow

I liked the movie, I thought it really connected to a lot of the themes that we have been discussing throughout the semester. If I was to watch this movie outside of class I would have never of picked up on some of the things that I did watching it in class and discussing it afterwords. The four boys all seemed so different from one another. In the beginning Ben seemed to be the nice boy who worried about his education and his future, and who never got in trouble. It was strange watching him fall into the trap of getting caught in things and ultimately do what he did. The way the movie was shot definitely added to the effects and the feelings of the movie; the murder scene was a bit strange but I think it helped show the lack of emotion that some of the boys felt after the fact. I assumed that one of the friends was shot, and when Ben walked in and everything was okay it was a relief- until Ben beat in Steve’s head with a bat. The ending left things kind of open as to what was going to happen, but I think that goes along with what Ben was saying about this being the only time ha had no idea what his future was going to hold.

The State of Asian American Cinema – Peter Feng

This article brought up some really good points that I guess I never really thought about. The one statement that really caught my attention was ” the true accomplishment of the movie moguls of the Twenties and Thirties was that they created an audience for their films” (24). To me this seems very back words, aren’t they supposed to create movies for the audiences they have, and how do you create an audience anyway – I don’t know maybe I am wrong.

“Asian Americans are continually asked to choose either an Asian or an American identity: in cinematic terms, the most successful filmmakers have either submerged their Asian identities to make films about white Americans or have added Asian flavor to Hollywood film making” (21), the idea of this seems crazy, why make a person choose – why can’t there be an Asian American. I want to know what exactly Asian ‘flavor’ is supposed to be. The article goes on to say that “… what they (the movies) have in common is that they reject the ‘either Asian or American’ dichotomy” (21). This idea ties in well with the reoccurring theme of identity that we seem to keep running in to with almost everything that we have read or seen throughout the semester. Why does anyone have to identify with any race or ethnicity, why can’t they just be.

Margaret Cho

I enjoyed watching her, I’ve seen her before so I knew she’d be funny. Like we discussed in class, I thought it was really interesting that she was nervous to accept the Korean of the year award. During the show she talks about how she was still angry about how she was treated in the beginning of her career and she still has some of that anger, but as the show goes on I saw her anger turn into nervousness and excitement. To me it seemed as though the fact that she was getting this award and she was finally being accepted overruled those angry feelings she had in the beginning.

The part with the painted on dress was hilarious. I saw how important it was for Margaret to look perfect, she kept saying how she wanted to be flawless; she went to a lot of trouble to accomplish this. Although she wanted to look her best for the show, she still wanted to show off her tattoos – something her father told her she should cover. I think that she wants to be accepted, but it is still important for her to keep her own identity.

We started to discuss the part where her parents bought the outfit for a little boy, but what we didn’t discuss was her reaction to it. I felt so bad when I saw the expression on her face, almost like it is something she wants and it hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know, but it really seemed to upset her and I could see her parents saw it too because they kind of let it go really quickly. It is apparent that her parents want grandchildren, but the way they treat her friend like she’s their grandchild is strange. Margret even jokes about her being their surrogate grandchild, the way they walk around holding her hand and take her places, it is just like they would a child.

Native Speaker p 203 -end

Finally the end of the book, I have to say that I definitely enjoyed the Zia book more. I like how the previous things we learned have been popping up here and there, it definitely helps make sense of things and I  understand what they mean when they do come up now. Some people were right when they thought that Henry and Lelia would get back together, it is nice to have good endings. Henry brings up their son and we learn more about Mitt. One part that stands out to me is on page 239 when he, again, it discussing language; “Mitt always spoke beautifully, if I remember anything. Lelia read to him every night since he was a year old”. Henry definitely has a thing with language, but I find it really strange that that is what he mentions and how he puts it – “… if I remember anything”, as if it is one of the more important memories he has of his son. I also find it strange how he said he didn’t want to read to his son because he thought he would handicap his son, but then he goes on to say “But I thought that Mitt was beginning to appreciate the differences in the three of us; he could mimic the finest graduations in our English and Korean, those notes of who we were, and perhaps he could imagine, if ever briefly, that this was our truest world, rich with disparate melodies”. When he said the three of us he was talking about himself, Lelia, and his father, who if I remember correctly also has not so perfect english. So all this makes no sense to me because if anthing I’d think his father would speak worse english than he did. I guess it all comes down to his own impact on his son.

Native Speaker p.131- 202

Working in the groups definitely helped me to understand some things that were still unclear, and to see how other people understood things. Having the specific questions to find the answers points things out for me that  I would normally read over and not really look at. Te question that always comes up is identity, I really liked the example another group on page 195; “… and a pretty white women stopped me and pointed and said that the Colored in the sign meant black or Mexican. She smiled very kindly and told me I was verylight-skinned”. This passage really makes me wonder what the definition of “colored” really is, or even if there is a definition of colored, why are Caucasians called whites and what makes a person Caucasian.There are so many question about what qualifies a person to be associated with a certain race. In my African American history class I often read about how some of the slaves passed themselves off as  white, so obviouslythere skin was light enough to be considered white. Today, most people are of many different races or ethnicity’s, so why do people associate with one over another, why are people of both African American and Caucasian mostly associated with the African American race.

Native Speaker-Part 1

The first part of our reading was a little different than the Zia book, but talking about it in class really helped on what was going on and how to read the book. The jumping back and forth really through me off and I was getting a little confused. I know everyone has talked about the list, but I really think it is a big part of what is going on in the book, and possibly what is going to happen in the rest of the book. Most everything we have discussed so far in class has had a connection to identity and what better to use than a list of things that his wife thinks describe him – although I thought it was a little heartless of her, but people are people. The one thing on the list that really stood out to me was the “B+ student of life”, what the heck is that supposed to mean, does it mean that he is slightly less that a great person in life or was it supposed to mean something positive.

Wiki – Presentations

I thought everyone did a great job – it is not easy standing in front of people and talking. I learned a lot from the other presentation. There was a lot of information on the L.A. riots, but I liked the story about the pregnant lady that was shot, she really had a positive attitude about the whole experience and did not seem bitter at all. The music lyrics were an interesting add to the presentation, I had just watched VH1′s top 100 hip hop videos , and it had some of those songs – some of the artists talked about why they wrote those songs and when they explain them from their perspective it makes more sense. Not all of them though, some songs are just out right racist and wrong – especially for the times we live in.

I learned a lot about TV and plays from the Miss Saigon presentation. I don’t get how people got away with some of the crap they pulled with characters and who played them. Some of the things we saw in the presentation reminded me of some of the spoof movies they make now (like Scary Movie, or Date movie). Movies like those are meant to make fun of things, but then they were serious and it is hard to believe they thought they looked authentic.

Overall, what I realize from all these presentations is that racism is still very prominant in our society and I don’t know if there is anything that will ever change it. The one contribution I can make is to raise my daughter with an open mind, and teach her not to judge appearence – just as my mother raised me.

Wiki – contributions

The wiki itself is not a problem for me, I have done one before. The setup of this wiki program is different than the previous one I’ve done, but I think because I have already done this it makes it easier for me to figure out how to do different  things for this Wiki. I have been spending most of my time trying to locate anything I can find for this project – it is extremely difficult to find any pictures, movies, and any information that is outside of what the actual story was. I did find one article that gave a little insight in what it was like for the shop owners during the boycotts. I think my groups members are trying are having the same difficulty that I am finding, we found some journal and newspaper articles but that seems to be it. There are some write ups on a book that has been writtenon the boycott. I have been trying my best to find the things we need to put in this wiki, but like I have said, this topics in specific is difficult to find all the component we need.

Wiki Project

In an article that I read on the boycott it offers a reasonable answer for African Americans behavior in this particular situation: “Despite all the drivel about ‘grievance on both sides’, it is obvious that the controlling emotion is the bitterness and jealousy felt by blacks who have failed to escape from the poverty cycle and must now watch new immigrants achieving upward mobility” ( Back to the Streets by W. Ticker). Although this does explain things, it is still unacceptable in my eyes. I don’t understand why there is such a large problem between Koreans and blacks, why these two races and not others. Racism in general does not make any sense to me; sure there are people that I don’t like but it has nothing to do with their race, I can’t think of one good reason to not like a person because of the color of their skin.

Wiki Project – Red Apple Boycott

(Sorry I forgot to post this the other day instead of saving it)

Well, everything that I have read about the Red Apple Boycotts sounded similar to the L.A. riots without all the violence. The story goes:”A 44-year-old Hessian, came to the counter at the Red Apple grocery in Flatbush, owned by Bong Jea Jang, and offered $2 for $3 worth of cassavas. When the female clerk refused to bargain, Miss  Felissaint called her a name. Words were exchanged, and Bong tried to evict Miss Fellissaint, who ended lying on the floor, claiming serious injury. She was sent to a nearby hospital for a scratch on her cheek and released” (Back To the Streets by W. Tucker). To me this all sounds ridiculous, and I want to know why race was even brought into this, what if it was two white people – race would never have been an issue because this was not a racial issue in the beginning. Really the issue is that two people had a disagreement and it got completely out of control. It seems pretty obvious what Miss Felissaint was trying to do by saying she was seriousley injured when she had a scratch on her cheek. Why can’t people see things for what they really are and not turn everything into a racial issue.