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This question came up in our panel, along with a question about is any reporting by an Asian American journalist "Asian American media," with a specific example of an Asian American female sports reporter.
I didn't feel much like getting into a discussion of definition at the time because I felt that we were talking about media that comes out of CONSCIOUS SELF DETERMINATION, stories about Asian America told by Asian Americans.
So niether the sports reporter nor H&K fit my definition. But that doesn't mean they should be discounted! Although written and directed by Jews, casting two leading Asian American men in a film about the munchies contributes to the broader dialogue about Asian American images.
And like Don said, having a woman (and a female Asian American) reporting on sports breaks open pigeon holing assignments and one's individuality and skills.
Asian American media? Not in my book, but important to note nonetheless.
I didn't feel much like getting into a discussion of definition at the time because I felt that we were talking about media that comes out of CONSCIOUS SELF DETERMINATION, stories about Asian America told by Asian Americans.
So niether the sports reporter nor H&K fit my definition. But that doesn't mean they should be discounted! Although written and directed by Jews, casting two leading Asian American men in a film about the munchies contributes to the broader dialogue about Asian American images.
And like Don said, having a woman (and a female Asian American) reporting on sports breaks open pigeon holing assignments and one's individuality and skills.
Asian American media? Not in my book, but important to note nonetheless.
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Re: is Harold and Kumar Asian American media?
Tue, January 31, 2006 - 11:07 PMYou make a good point, Robynn. Something else that is important to note is that a story's relevance and value to the AA community doesn't necessarily correlate with whether it is told by AAs.
For example, Joy Luck Club the film/novel were directed/written by Chinese people. But (and I didn't even realize this until recently) a lot of Asian American men hate that movie because all its Asian male characters are depicted as horrible husbands. On the other hand, Harold & Kumar, despite being written and directed by non-Asians, had a lot of scenes and dialogue in it that AA should be able to identify with really well (i.e. when Harold explains to Kumar what a twinkie is).
So in this case, I can imagine some AA who feel better represented by the film that isn't told by AA than the one that is. The other issue is obviously the wide diversity of the AA population and the fact that it's impossible for a single story to be equally representative of us all, regardless of who tells the story.
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Re: is Harold and Kumar Asian American media?
Wed, February 15, 2006 - 9:37 PMIt's like the old question: "Is all art political?" The right answer to that question for me is that even when the artist is avidly non-political, they are making a political statement.
So is H&K Asian American Media? The fact that it represents Asian Americans makes it so, for me. However, you might make the distinction that it doesn't come out of "conscious self determination", but perhaps more out of fortuitous (or not fortuitous) other determination.
All media products can be used to make a comment about Asian American Media. If we're there - what are we doing? If we're not - why not - what does that say about where we are and how we're viewed? All art is political.
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Re: is Harold and Kumar Asian American media?
Tue, February 21, 2006 - 9:31 AMI dunno... I would consider Harold and Kumar to be Asian American media. Can anyone here remember the last film featuring three-dimensional asian american characters to see nationwide release? Your choices right now if you want to see asians in American-made movies with wide release are pretty much limited to films like Memoirs of a Geisha. I consider Harold and Kumar far more 'acceptable" than Memoirs of a Geisha, don't you?
As a mini-rant aside, I think it's disillusioning to see all the media interest in an English-language movie about circa-1930 Japan that is cast with famous Hollywood-approved Chinese actresses who are cast as Japanese.
At least Harold and Kumar get the most important thing right: it portrays asian-americans as regular, normal Americans. Who cares who directed it?
Americans are far more interested in the exoticism of the mystical orient than they are in the asian-americans living as their own neighbors.
Perhaps because of this, Harold and Kumar barely made a dent in the box office (remember Better Luck Tomorrow?) Contrast this with the American public's desire to see a sensualized, sensationalized, soft-lens portrayal of their own romanticized idealization of asian-cum-Japanese culture.
A reviewer of Memoirs once said that "I suspect that the more you know about Japan, the less you will enjoy Memoirs of a Geisha". I think that this hits upon the point that, largely through ignorance, the American public will pay to see only what it wants to see. If that message is one that is inaccurate and prevents rather than fosters understanding, then it is pandering to the American public's taste.
Sandra Oh's being on Grey's Anatomy is something that I think is very significant for Asian Americans in the media. It's not technically an asian-american production, but we all know how gratifying it is to FINALLY see an asian american on a medical/hospital drama even though we know that a high percentage of our doctors and nurses have always been asian american....
Don't get me wrong-- I enjoy asian american plays and other media... but one can argue that exposure like Oh's is more highly effective in achieiving balanced, just media representation than an uncompromising but fully asian american theater production that gets out to maybe a couple hundred people... and most of those people being other asian americans. -
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Re: is Harold and Kumar Asian American media?
Tue, February 21, 2006 - 11:29 PMWe had an interesting discussion around Memoirs of a Geisha over the Asian Diaspora tribe:
asiandiaspora.tribe.net/thread...8ce63c2
I think the one thing I'll add here is one around semantics. I think people who create media usually come at it from the angle of the content producer--hence I can agree with Robynn's point which I would term "asian american independent media".
w/r/t to the Harold and Kumar question, if you put yourself in the context of the content sumer, Dave's points ring very true. We're definitely at a point where the notion of getting three-dimensional characters is far from a forgone conclusion. I remember watching this year's Golden Globes, and was totally shocked when Sandra Oh won--not that wasn't deserving. Rather, I felt like I'd seen this happen so many times over where they never give the Asian American's any love. Way to go, Sandra!
On a somewhat unrelated note, I was catching up on my blogs the other day, and came across an interesting post on Sepia Mutiny that talks about Kristin Kreuk in her role in the film Partition where she's cast as a desi. If you thought Chinese actresses playing Japanese is a stretch, I don't know what you'd call this.
Check out the post here:
Gettin’ Sikhi wid it
www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/ar...2995.html
and the trailer of the film here:
www.myriadpictures.com/images.../68.wmv -
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Re: is Harold and Kumar Asian American media?
Wed, February 22, 2006 - 3:35 PMGary,
I guess I am coming from the context of the content-sumer because, practically speaking, there is no other context that matters if you care about changing the sad state of affairs of asian-americans' portrayal (or lack thereof) in the media (read: Holly wood).
Actually, I don't watch TV... at all. Haven't watched it in years. I simply don't enjoy it, and I never watched it much anyway. But I do remember back in the day when shows like ER and St. Elsewhere were the first medical dramas and they did not feature A SINGLE ASIAN. We all know how different that is from the reality of REAL hospitals across the country-- especially in California.
It's easy to feel as if you are being conveniently erased from the consciousness of SUV-driving, never-been-outside-of-the-US, reality-TV watching, ignorant, white-bread Americans.
Of course, not all Americans are like that, but a shockingly large number of them are. How else would you explain eight years of Bush?
But the problem is that we asian-americans do exist. And I believe that the danger is that when our presence is persistently unacknowledged on a media level, our situation is put in danger on a political and civil-rights level. I also think that as bay area residents, it is easy to become complacent about asian american issues because we have it so good here, better than anywhere else... that's right! But if you take a look at other parts of the country, I'd bet it would shock you. There are enough dumb Americans who take TV and movies as their gospel on reality that I have concerns about their perception of social reality. Asians who speak English without an accent! Wow!
This is especially true with the popularity of that-effluence-that-is-reality-TV. Reality TV is even worse than it seems because it *pretends* to blur the lines between reality and TV, when actually it's all an exceedingly calculated media package that's been concocted for maximum tittilation from the get-go. William Hung All of Our Hopes of Balanced Media Representation. You don't think they picked this guy for a reason? This shit pisses me off.
Mea culpa: and although I do care about what is being force-fed to Americans insofar as it conveys a perception of asian-americans, I refuse to watch these shows myself. I simply don't have the time to watch TV as a watchdog for asian-american issues (or lack thereof).
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What about non-API related films in the film festival?
Tue, February 28, 2006 - 6:46 PMHey Robynn,
What do you think about the idea of non-API films premiering at the film festival? For example - what if Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain premiered at the SFIAAFF? Should that be a possibility?
