add'l blog post for April 17th

Going back to Tuesday’s discussion about post modernism, a critique on it, and its relation to Dogeaters. The critique as I understood it was based on the notion that in post modernism, the high and low are placed next to each other with no emphasis of one over the other. Therefore, post modernism erases the chance for radical change because nothing is worse than the next, so there is no place for upward movement. Basically, I just want to try to work out this critique in relation to Dogeaters for myself. The ways that I noticed the high and the low placed next to each other were for example: the use of Mallat, President McKinley’s address, newspapers such as the Metro Manila Daily. Basically the use of outside texts to supplement and reinforce her fictional novel. While these texts are separate chapters that are placed next to the other chapters, Hagedorn uses the radio show “love letters” within the chapters. This is another example of the elevated and lowered in that the characters in some ways idolize the characters and actors of these shows and they are used in the novel’s character’s lives as an escape and as a model. Thirdly, within the narrative itself there is the juxtaposition of socio-economic class such as Severo and say Romeo. So while I haven’t finished the novel yet, from what I have read thus far, I think that this post modern novel does allow the chance of radical change at the risk of, like Seung-Hye said in class, possibly becoming commercialized like E. San Juan fears for Bulosan. I don’t think that its post modernist qualities take away its chance of warranting radical change. Rather, I think that the various juxtapositions allow for an interesting means of aiming towards change. The use of something more commonly known with the ficional stories of Hagedorn. However, what I might say is that Dogeaters’ audience is not a very wide range of people. Rather, I think it is targeted towards the highly educated, in colleges like ours, and doesn’t this take away from its ability to bring about radical change? Or maybe not even about who the targeted audience is, but who are the people who actually read Hagedorn. This is something not just aimed at Hagedorn but many different writers.

'21'

I came across this article about '21' (i think its Hollywood's current #1 box office hit)

Briefly summarizing the article: its about outrage in the Asian American community for what they feel is discrimination in casting white actors, with the exception of two Asian American supporting actors, in a movie based on a real poker team that was formed in MIT, which consisted of all Asians.  The article makes a really good point in saying that it isn't just about discriminatory casting but about the fact that it changes real life situations (this reminded me of Frank Chin) because it was the fact that the team was Asian that they were able to pull this off.  

Anyways, i encourage you guys all to read it- I'm really glad that the Asian American community is strongly voicing its opinions about this

-jenny

dogeaters mini-dictionary and post

so i think hagedorn's dogeaters is much more vibrant when one understands a lot of the tagalog and regional references. at first i thought about posting about cultural references... then i decided against tokenizing myself and figuring people can use google. then i realized that when i first read dogeaters, i knew nothing of filipino culture and got by fine. however, after one trip to the PI and a little bit of tagalog the book comes to life if you know stuff she doesn't explain.

so a random compilation because i'd rather translate tagalog than write thesis :) those you can get from context i haven't added and a lot of words are from spanish so i'm hoping you know español. and i'm not fluent so there's a lot i don't know too. (if you need a tagalog dictionary)

basic tagalog words that may help:
ba - question word
na - like ya, in spanish, meaning already
pa - still
hindi - no
ho - word of respect (towards elders or higher positioned in society)

from page four onwards
puwede ba - can you please? (literally "can" and the question word "ba")
trapo - rag
merienda - a snack
tayo na - let's now (lit. us already)
tanga - idiot
pangit- ugly
dios ko - my Lord
patis - fish sauce (yummy with fish)
di ba? - right? yeah?
tsismis - gossip
tuba - native drink, palm sap
kalachuchi - plumeria
sampaguita - Asian Jasmine
carabao - water buffalo
ano ba? - what?
kumusta? - how are you? what up?
balita - report, to tell
alam mo - you know
halo-halo - lit. mix-mix, ice cream dessert
bakla- equivalent of "fag"
wala nang - wala means "without," "doesn't have"
ba ito - this?
daw - it is said, (name) said
sige - okay

Cultural references -
Igorot - indigenous people of Baguio area i think who are looked down upon as backwards
Cebu - island in the southern Philippines with heavy Spanish influence and thus seen as more refined and civilized
Abra - region on the northwest of Luzon I think in Ilocos
lechon kawali - roasted pig
bangus - a type of fish

if anyone has stuff to add (regarding anything reference wise please do)

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actual post

before i go and write for thesis, i wanted to comment on the overwhelming number of corporate named commodities in the book. from SPORTEX clothing and TruCola to Marlboros and Maserati. i think this is indicative of the inbetween-ness of the Philippines, between Filipino and American and between developing and impoverished, brought by U.S. (neo)colonialism.

also, on page 27, when baby cleans herself multiple times a day, it reminds me of how back in the day soap companies advertised their products within the paradigm of blacks being dirty and whites being clean. therefore you wanted to be clean and white. i forgot what book i got this from. also the idea of "clean" is very class based, as those who can afford to be clean 24/7 and sweat-free don't have to work in teh fields and have the luxury of three baths a day.

Cool Book

Hello everyone! This isn't my April post, but I wanted to let you guys know about a cool book that I read for one of my English classes this semester that has a lot of relevance to many of our class discussions. It's called American Born Chinese; the author is Gene Yang. It's a graphic novel that won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature, and it was also a finalist for the National Book Award. It tells three different stories simultaneously--one about a Chinese-American middle schooler, one about the Monkey king (taken from a Chinese fable), and another about a kid named Chin-Kee who embodies a lot of Chinese stereotypes. In my Contemporary American Fiction class, we talked about a lot of controversial issues in the book, specifically related to Chin-Kee. For anyone who is interested in some contemporary Asian American literature that's a fairly easy read yet also very thought-provoking, I encourage you to read it! Here is a link to the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/American-Born-Chinese-Gene-Luen/dp/1596433736/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207592677&sr=8-1.

youtube, opera, and butterflies

In Act one, Scene Seven, Helga, Gallimard's wife says "Why can't they just hear it as a piece of beautiful music?" This is a crucial question in music and representation. Yes the music in Puccini's Butterfly is gorgeous and a classic that everyone loves. However, the opera is based on racist exoticism and orientalism. (We can turn to Act One Scene Six for Song's critique)

So I've included two videos below of the famous aria "Un bel di vedremo." In the scene, three years have passed since Butterfly's American husband left her. Her servant Suzuki, tries to convince her that he isn't coming back, but Butterfly is convinced that he will. She sings of the day that he will return. She dreams of him sailing into the harbour and climbing up the hill to meet her.

The first one is by Ying Huang and it's from a movie version. Like Song, Ying Huang is a Chinese woman (not a man tho) playing a Japanese woman.


This one is by Raina Kabaivanska, a Bulgarian opera singer in yellow face.


Two issues come up with the racial representation of an Asian woman vs. a White woman playing Cho Cho San (Cho Cho San has also been played by Black opera singers). If you have an Asian woman play Cho Cho San, first she doesn't have to be Japanese (as in the case of Ying Huang) and secondly she "authenticates" the representation with her racialized body. If you have a non-Asian play Cho Cho San, they must be in yellow face. (For past Hollywood depictions of yellow face watch Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Teahouse of the August Moon ... real f**ked up because Marlon Brando plays an Okinawan - U.S. has a strong military presence in Okinawa and they have a long colonial history which Brando makes fun of by saying "history of Okinawa reveal distinguished record of conquerors" ... real f**ked up). I don't think you can choose whether an Asian or White woman would be better to play Cho Cho San. But would it be better to not perform it at all? Still it is artwork ... can't we just hear it as a beautiful piece of music? (Question is similar to discussion around Miss Saigon and the representation of Asian men as prostitutes)

Also, in a media studies class I took before, we discussed that breaking a stereotype requires the presentation of the stereotype. So while Hwang tries to question Asian femininity and masculinity, the audience must still see a Asian man successfully dressing and acting as a woman and watch Comrade Chin be a sneaky aggressive woman. Thus my question about M. Butterfly is, how effective is it in breaking down stereotypes of Asian Americans? Now you have the sneaky Asians who gain information from you with their gender bending ways. You can't trust them with their gender, how much more politics and information? If only racial discourse in America was different, we wouldn't have to have this discussion.

And just so you can see how BD Wong plays Song:


And talking about Mulan and representation:

Huie: “He can’t make himself white!”

On page 46 of “The Only Kid,” Yuen, Huie and their friends were in the midst of a casual conversation about Jimmy Chan and his prostitute when Huie blurted out a disturbing statement that I wanted to discuss. Yuen stated “A Chinese can do anything with fan gwai if he has money,” to which a Huie exclaimed “He can’t make himself white!” The once jovial crowd became exceedingly quiet and the mood of the room changed quite drastically. The characters quickly became uncomfortable because, as Huie states, the statement has some truth to it. No matter how much money you have, Huie argues in his five word statement that you can’t buy whiteness.

Being white in American society provides a straightforward path to success that is not as easily obtainable, if obtainable at all, for other minority races. I read this quote by Albion Tourgee that states that whiteness was “the most valuable sort of property, being the master-key that unlocks the golden door of opportunity” (Harris, 1748). Just by the color of one’s skin, Tourgee claims that a white person will be have more opportunities available to him/her. Therefore, Tourgee asserts that this intangible notion of whiteness as property is valuable in thriving in America’s racially polarized and oppressive society.

In his five word statement, Huie picks up on this underlying issue of whiteness as property in American society. We see that certain characters, like Rose or Jimmy Chan, try (or are economically persuaded) to “make [them]self white,” but ultimately do not entirely succeed (46). Jimmy states “I’m becoming an American citizen, not because I want to be like them, but because it’s good business.” But does legally becoming an American citizen open the “golden door[s] of opportunity” the same way that Tourgee claims the color of your skin does (Harris, 1748)? Just by analyzing Huie’s five word statement, I think he would dismiss Jimmy’s attempts to integrate in society by obtaining American citizenship. As Huie said, no matter how hard Jimmy tries, he can’t “make himself white” (46). This is a disgusting reality for Huie and the other characters in “The Other Kid” because Huie is basically declaring that he will never have the same rights as his white peers. I understand why the author portrayed the characters becoming incredible uncomfortable when Huie stated that. For these characters, Huie just brought to light a terrible reality that they have been trying so hard to forget about.

The End

I was wondering if anyone had given more thought to the end of Woman Warrior. We only briefly got to talk about it in class and, I must confess, I don’t think I’m any nearer to reaching a conclusion (or even an understanding) about the narrator’s motivation for ending the novel with this story.

My initial thought was that this was about being Chinese living in America. With this type of analysis, white Americans would be analogous to the barbarians. However, I’m not sure if the term “barbarian” is used as a derogatory representation of white Americans, or if it is simply for the sake of the story. It would be simple to say that this was a derogatory term because the barbarians are described as primitive, and “barbarian” immediately conjures negative imagery. However, it feels as if Ts’ai Yen becomes comfortable with these people.

Again, following with this metaphor, what is the symbolism of the song? I was thinking that it may be it could be symbolic of self-identity or understanding the past or history of an individual. If this was the case, it makes sense that the barbarians could understand the underlying sentiments and emotions of the song, even if they couldn’t understand the words. These are like “universal truths” that, as the narrator says “it translated well” (Kingston, 209).

In Frank Chin’s article, “Come All Ye Asian American Writers,” he discusses the song about Mulan and its references to the twelve years that Mulan spends fighting. He also mentions that twelve years is “one full cycle around the lunar zodiac—a lifetime in microcosm” (Chin, 7). I think that this point is important to note for this reference as well. For Ts’ai Yen, she spends a lifetime amongst the barbarians.

And, if all of this is a legitimate interpretation of the final story, why would the narrator discuss it in such an oblique manner?