1. Producing an Oppositional Gaze: Telling Counter Stories Week 6 Amit and Krysta

2. Better Luck Tomorrow ► So what do you think of the movie? ► How do you believe Asians were represented in this movie? ► One of the articles from the Better Luck Tommorow collection discusses an incident at the Sundance film festival where a critic stood up and stated “How could you make a movie that was so denigrating to your race?”. Roger Ebert stood up and defended the film maker by stating “'You wouldn't say that to a white filmmaker”. ► Once Ebert loudly came to the flick's defense, people started paying attention, as he went on to say that Asian-Americans should be free to take on any types of roles they choose without fear of misrepresenting the entire community. ► This remarks reflect how an action from one member of a ethnic group represents the entire community, But white individuals are not held to the same scrutiny.. It is a double standard because this has never been said about films such as Natural Born Killers or The Departed. Do you believe there is a double standard in our media? How do you believe this comment hinders counter stories when it comes to race?

3. Better Luck Tomorrow ► Justlin Lin also directed fast and the furious: Tokyo Drift,http://ca.youtube.com/results?search_query=fast+and+furious+t okyo+drift&search_type http://ca.youtube.com/results?search_query=fast+and+furious+t okyo+drift&search_typehttp://ca.youtube.com/results?search_query=fast+and+furious+t okyo+drift&search_type ► So what do you think of the representation of Asians in this movie? ► My initial reaction, when I found out that Justin Lin directed Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was that he sold out. But when I looked into comments by Justin Lin, I realized what his perspective is on representing different ethnicities.

4. Better Luck Tomorrow Collection ► Justin Lin believes “that any time you see three-dimensional portrayals and explore the complexities of human beings, that's always positive and that's always empowering” ► Justin Lin states that “We have to redefine a couple terms. First, what "positive" means: it doesn't mean you see only perfect people on screen, and that leads back into the model minority myth anyway. Being positive is to have characters with flaws, however big or small, fully developed. Cinema is behind the times, because when you see a person of color on screen, they're there just for that reason. If they're Native American, the movie needs some "spiritual" thing; if they're Asian American, it needs a tourist. That needs to change. For me, it's only negative if the characters are one-dimensional”. ► I know we have discussed how certain Asian characters are represented as overachievers on television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy. Is this representation of Asians okay as along as they are 3 dimensional characters?

5. Terse Conclusion ► This collection of reviews and interviews gives a sense of the mixed feelings surrounding the film. It is particularly interesting because it was written, directed, and edited by an Asian American (Justin Lin) who provides a representation of Asian Americans. In other weeks we looked at one race providing a representation of another race (for example, Coppola’s portrayal of the Japanese); this week, what is interesting is how a representation of a racial group by a member of that group is analyzed with just as many mixed criticisms and reactions.

6. Takaki ► Takaki discusses how Asians are labeled as the model minority by media and how this statement is a myth because it exaggerates the success of Asian Americans. ► The myth of the model minority  Takaki discusses how media labeled Asian Americans as the model minority.  NBC Nightly News and CBS 60 minutes presented news segments about their success.  Mike Wallace asked “Why are Asian Americans doing so exceptionally well in School?” and added that “they must be doing something right. Lets bottle it.  Print media labeled them as “America’s super Minority”  Ronald Reagan even provided statistics by stating “that the median incomes of Asian and Pacific American families are much higher that total American average” White nuclear families 1.6 persons Japanese 2.1 persons Chinese 2.0 persons Philipino 2.2 persons Korean 1.8 persons

7. Takaki cont… ► Reagans statements fails to acknowledge several factors such as the fact  They live in concentrated areas that have higher income but also higher cost of living  How Asian American “families” have more persons working per family than White families White nuclear families 1.6 persons Japanese 2.1 persons Chinese 2.0 persons Philipino 2.2 persons Korean 1.8 persons

8. Takaki Con’t ► This article shows how the numbers are skewed and how this label has caused anti-asian sentiment. Takaki discusses how anti-asian feelings have resulted in violent behavior. He uses the story of Vincent Chin as an example. Two Caucasian autoworkers cursed at Chin and shouted to him that “it is because of you mother fuckers that we are out of work”. It ended up in a fist fight where Vincent was killed. His death created an outcry from the Asian community and they began to speak out. ► Does media play a part in hate crimes like the murder of Vincent Chin? Was the mind frame of the auto workers who committed the crime shaped by the model minority stereotype?

9. Analysis ► I really liked this article because I believe Takaki does a good job describing the myth of the model minority and its affect on Asians. I wish he did a better job on defining Asian because it seemed like he lumped several ethnicities together. I don’t believe you can fit all these individuals under this representation. ► Takaki discusses how Asian Americans blame the education system for not including their history in the curriculum and for not teaching about U.S. society in all of its racial and cultural diversity. In this class we our constantly talking about what media needs to do to represent ethnic groups more accurately, but do you think if we started educating our younger generation about race that this in itself would lead to more accurate representation of ethnic groups? ► Takaki states “Many feel forced to conform to the model minority mold and want more freedom to be their individual selves, to be extravagant” I thought this quote relates to Better Luck Tomorrow because it shows that these kids were bored by their environment and no longer satisfied with simply staying ahead of the grading curve, the teenagers throw themselves into increasingly risky extracurricular activities. ► Do you believe ethnic individuals feel forced to conform to the model minority stereotypes or other stereotypes that are similar?

10. Terse Conclusions ► This idea of Model Minorities was in every form of media and truly emphasized the success of Asian Americans; however there were many negative impacts that the Model Minority figure had on lives of Asians in America. The article goes on to discuss how the Asian Americans lost out on social service programs because they were believed to not need them; they were resented by other minorities and racism in all parts of the country increased. After reading this article and the tragic death of Vincent Chin I could not believe it, he was killed in 1982 not even 30 years ago. It just goes to show how far behind we really are in movements towards a race-less society (although this concept itself seems impossible).

11. What is this ‘black’ in black popular culture? Stuart Hall

12. New Cultural Politics of Difference ► Emergence of Popular Culture  Displacement of European models of high culture  Emergence of the USA as a major power  Decolonization of the Third World ► Shift from High Culture (Europe)  American Mainstream Popular Culture (mass culture)

13. Popular Culture ► 'In one sense popular culture always has its base in the experiences, the pleasures, the memories, the traditions of the people' (p.469) ► Everyday experiences of the local ► Shift in the roles of popular culture within history

14. Black Popular Culture ► Hall criticizes the representations of African Americans within black popular culture. He believes that more needs to be done in representing diverse black experience. ► Representing diversity among blacks is difficult because “We are always in negotiation, not with a single set of oppositions that place us always in the same relation to others, but with a series of different positionalities.

15. Black Popular Culture cont… ► Issac Julien is quoted in Hall’s article: ► “blackness as a sign is never enough. What does that black subject do, how does it act, how does it think politically….being black isn’t really good enough for me: I want o know what your cultural politics are” ► We believe that this quote reiterates what Justin Lin stated about Asian representation. The character needs to be developed and defined and these questions raised by Issac Julien does this.

16. Question ► Since the publication of Hall’s article (1992), Do you believe black popular culture has represented diverse black experiences?

17. Terse Conclusion ► In Hall’s article, he focuses on the ways in which African Americans are routinely represented and stereotyped in the mass media, which is especially evident in most realms of African American popular culture. He speaks mainly about cultural hegemony as a key element of the struggle to understand the portrayals of African Americans as a group.

18. The Oppositional Gaze: Black female Spectators ► Summary:  Hooks article on the oppositional gaze critiques the film industries portrayal of black woman within mainstream cinema. There has been minimal representation of black people within the film industry especially in earlier years. What was represented were stereotypical portrayals of African Americans.  Hooks gives examples of alternative ways of representation from a mainly black female perspective where their ‘gaze’ was seen as resistance to the mainstream. She also critiques film theory especially feminist film critique on their absence of black women in their studies.

19. The Oppositional Gaze: Black female Spectators ► What is an oppositional gaze?  Created by the critical analysis by African Americans of dominant media  Site of Resistance to dominant ideology and representations  Creation of alternative representations

20. The Oppositional Gaze: Black female Spectators ► Creation of independent Black cinema ► Influential African American writers, producers, directors etc.  Julie Dash ► Illusions, Daughters of the Dust, Rosa Parks Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssrx26W4LlY  Spike Lee ► She’s Gotta Have it

21. Daughters of The Dust ► Do you think counter stories such as Daughters of the Dust are successful at representing African American women even though they are negatively critiqued?

22. The Oppositional Gaze: Black female Spectators Feminist Film Theory Critique In no way acknowledges black female spectatorship Actively suppresses recognition of race Focus on women as only white

23. The Oppositional Gaze: Black female Spectators ► Conclusion Hooks article on the oppositional gaze shows us that the representations of African American’s in cinema do not have to follow a set definition when it comes to representations. It is only through resistance, struggle, reading and looking against the grain that black women have been able to show that they can be complex characters that do not have to follow dominant ideologies in their portrayals within film. This article gives us an insight into oppositional film making where creating an oppositional gaze is necessary to challenge our own portrayals of ethnic groups in cinema.

24. Terse Conclusions ► “This article explores the denigration of black individuals, particularly black women, and their relationship to the "gaze" and the act of staring. What I found extremely interesting and powerful within this article was Hooks' notion that "To stare at the television, or mainstream movies, to engage its images, was to engage its negation of black representation" (p. 117), and I found it interesting that black people started to watch television to exercise their critical spectatorship”.

25. The Oppositional Gaze: Black female Spectators ► Questions: 1. Can you think of any other films that have the perspective of African American Females? 2. Do you find your self looking at films critically with an oppositional gaze?