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The film “The Green Book” tells the story of the friendship between Tony and Dr. Sherry across race and class. From the white man’s perspective to show the plight of a great black pianist in society at the time. Tony is hired as a driver for Dr. Sherry, and the two drive to the American South for a concert tour along the way. Tony, a white male, and the black musician both live in New York City in the northern part of the United States. Tony has nothing to do, no regular occupation or income, low taste, loves to fight, and is foul-mouthed. The black musician is well-educated and lives a sophisticated, elegant, and polite life. The first meeting between the two is not pleasant, because Tony is a racist, and even the water cups drunk by the black decorators in the house are thrown away. In the film, the director lends the musician one encounter after another to constantly highlight and reinforce the theme of racism. Then Tony helps Dr. Sherry get out of trouble again and again. During this time, their souls were communicated and both changed them from previous ideas.

In addition to the topics that many people discuss, I would like to discuss the letters in the film. The letter in the film also has an important symbolic meaning, since it sustains the love and affection between Tony and his wife and children. At the same time is also Dr. Sherry helping Tony to write a letter, expressing his own desire for love. Dr. Sherry longed for the love and affection that Tony had, and also for the continuation of the friendship with Tony. In addition, the Steinway piano is a status symbol. This piano means that Dr. Sherry himself has respect for classical music. In the process of his tour, the piano played must be a Steinway piano, because he wants to defend the right of black people to play classical music. Later in the film, Dr. Sherry plays music with a black band in a black tavern, and the piano used is not a Steinway piano, but an ordinary piano. At that time Dr. Sherry no longer needs Steinway’s piano to add his own identity, which also means that he accepts his identity change. In addition to the theme that the movie wants to convey, I think the most touching part is actually the kind of mutual respect and understanding between two completely different people, as well as the warmth and light of humanity reflected in some of the supporting characters.

Fresh Off the Boat is the first network TELEVISION sitcom to feature an Asian-American family in the US in more than 20 years. The series portrays a Chinese-American family living as immigrants in Florida in the 1990s. The show is a true-to-life, in-depth look at mainstream Stereotypes of Asian-Americans in the United States, addressing controversial issues with humor while also entertaining viewers with plenty of comedy. This American drama is based on the memoir of Eddie Huang, has been released in 2018 to the fifth season, Eddie is the narrator of this drama, the background music of the whole drama is quite hip-hop, very rhythmic. The series revolves around Eddie Huang’s family, who want to integrate into American society while maintaining some traditional culture. In a community full of white people, it’s a natural conflict of stories, so there are a lot of funny jokes, most of which are related to Chinese culture.

This film describes the difference and collision of eastern and western cultures and uses the stereotype of the Chinese to show us all kinds of troubles they will encounter in life as immigrants. In this movie, I saw That Eddie felt upset and puzzled about his special identity since he was young. When the students laughed at the Chinese food he brought or Eddie’s love for hip hop music, they all showed a young person pursuing his own identity. Another scene that deeply affected me was when foreign friends said that they had forgotten that this family was Chinese, and my mother was anxious to carry out a Chinese cultural revival at home, speaking Chinese and eating Chinese food. Although it is a comedy, you may feel sadder after laughing. For immigrant families, the real difficulty is how to integrate into the mainstream culture of a foreign country. But fortunately, the protagonist’s family never gives up and uses their unique wisdom and humor to resist and resolve the injustice around them.

After watching the TV series, I can see some young children searching for their identity in confusion, and I can also see some systematic injustice against immigrants. But unlike the stories we have read in previous classes, this series takes the form of comedy and lighthearted immigrant life with an optimistic attitude.

Veronica Mars is a teen drama series that started in 2004. A lot of aspects from the show are dated and cheesy, but it tackles a surprising amount of injustice. The show focuses on Veronica Mars, a high school student that is dealing with the death of one of her friends. Her father is a private investigator, and Veronica often helps him with his job and picks up her own cases.

A key theme in the show is a difference in socio-economic classes. Half of the high school is in a higher class, the “09-er’s”, which is a nickname given by the zip-code that they live in. The other half are lower or middle class. This difference causes a lot of injustice and othering. Veronica, for example, is othered by the higher-class kids that she was once friends with. Her father used to be the sheriff of the town, and with the power of that title, Veronica was accepted by the higher-class students. After her father accused one of the wealthiest men in town of murdering Veronica’s friend, they were made outcasts by the town, and Veronica’s father lost his job. This socio-economic struggle also is shown by blatant favoritism to those in higher classes, while those in lower classes were treated more harshly.

The show often focuses on the power that money, fame, and certain positions give to those that have them. There are several instances in the show where people from lower-class families get more serious punishments for crimes or wrong doings than those in from higher-class families get for doing more serious offences. The police in the town often seek out the former for the many crimes that are done throughout the show, and they overlook the latter’s crimes because of the status they hold.

Another thing that the show does is it tries to eliminate the single-story narrative. There are several crimes committed in the show that most of the town seems content to believe that the most obvious person that committed it is the person that did it. These types of crimes are often blamed on someone that is of lower-class and can’t afford a great lawyer or to cover up the crime. Most of the show is Veronica seeking to eliminate this single story and broaden it so the wrong person isn’t convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.

The show is a little dated, and that shows several times as the season goes on. However, I think it does a pretty good job of tackling difficult topics in over-dramatized way.

The Farewell is a film based on a real story that happened on the director. It’s Chinese name is Don’t Tell Her. The movie showed the different ideas of Asian Americans and Asians about family and death. The Farewell is a story about a Chinese American family whose grandmother had terminal cancer, but she did not know that she got the disease. The family members came back to Changchun to live with grandma form Japan and America, though they did not tell this thing to the main character Billi, she flied back to China by herself and found it out. The whole family chose to hide the truth and lie to the grandmother, they planned a wedding for the grandson as the reason they all game back to the hometown and live with grandmother. But Billi, a Chinese American spent most of her time in USA but grew up with grandmother in China when she was young, thinks that the family should tell the truth to the grandmother.

The movie talks about the cultural differences between the East and the West. Western countries usually have an individualistic cultural orientation, and Eastern countries usually have a collectivistic cultural orientation. Which also made the cultural identity and belongingless a hard thing for Billi. For example, in the movie, Billi is a very independent person. Since she lived in America for many years, her views are influenced by American culture, she thinks grandma has the right to know her illness. But since she also grew up in China,  she is not entirely American thinking. When she first came back to China, she may feel many differences from what she experienced many years in Ameriba, but she still familiar with many things. In some aspects, she is still used to the Chinese culture. Therefore, she did a lot to help the family finish the lie and understand their thoughts at the end. Also, there are many plots and ideas in the filmto representing the cultural differences. Also, at the dinner table, family members argue about whether it is worth emigrating to the United States, whether the American dream is true, and whether they want to send their children to the United States to study.

The whole movie tried to express the cultural  conflicts for Billi, and the problem of cultural identities for Chinese Americans. It also reflects the identity barriers of Asian Americans. Chinese Americans may feel lonely since they cannot integrate into the American society. For the young Chinese Americans, they still face the problem of cultural identity and cultural belongingness. This movie do showed a fact that Asian Americans cannot 100% westernization. They still have puzzle about cultural identity since behind them there is a background of long history and blurred definition and expressions about hometown.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11797365-escape-from-camp-14

I chose to examine a book I read a few years back called Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden. In this biography, Harden takes a look into the life of a North Korean man named Shin In Geun who escaped the horrible treatment inside a labor camp in North Korea. Shin was born into the camp and was faced with hardships no child should endure. He was forced to work long hours, starved, abused, and even forced to witness the executions of his mom and brother. One night Shin worked up the courage to escape the camp, and successfully made it past the deadly fences that trapped him inside. Following his escape, Shin was faced with more challenges as he tried to cross the border into South Korea, and provide for himself with no job, shelter, or family. Shin was able to support himself, and finally got the opportunity to fly to Seoul. Here he began fighting for human rights and spreading awareness of the brutality he faced in North Korea.

This biography related to many of the texts we read throughout this semester, but I found a strong comparison with Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak? Escape From Camp 14 depicts the othering that North Korean citizens face by their government.  In North Korea, the officials are highly respected in a cult like manner. Those who are not these high-ranking officials are viewed as the other in society and are punished because of it. Can the Subaltern Speak help further the idea that people’s identity and rank in society does not diminish their basic human rights. In particular, Shin escaping the labor camp and devoting his time to fighting for human rights and equality shows the capability that everyone has despite how their society views them.

This book helps provide a firsthand look at what life is really like in North Korea, and the treatment that those living there receive. I found this book to be very eye opening and helped further my understanding of the living conditions in North Korea, as well as how hard it is to escape. Shin’s story was very inspiring and depicts how those individuals who are othered by their society are unable to use their voice in society and speak out against brutality. By understanding Shin’s experience, it is clear to grasp the true reality of the lack of rights, freedoms, and ability to vocalize in North Korea, solely because they were born there.

Resources:

Harden, Blaine. Escape from Camp 14 : One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. New York :Viking, 2012. 

Morris, Rosalind C, and Gayatri C. Spivak. Can the Subaltern Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea. , 2010.

Wonder is a wonderful book and movie! That has a unique and powerful way of reminding readers that beauty is only skin deep. The novel also offers lessons about the dangers of responding to peer pressure and the importance of simple human kindness. For August and the other kids at Beecher Prep, when it comes to  status and popularity are at the top of pyramided for importance. Wonder is sprinkled with the kids’ point of view about their social structure. Also, how status and hierarchy function in their world at school, and what the consequences of being popular or unpopular are on the student population. In particular, Wonder suggests that as strong as popularity might be for August and his classmates, the social structure that allows some students to be popular requires those students to bully their less popular classmates to maintain their position. Julian, for example, emerges early on as the leader of the popular kids at Beecher Prep, and he maintains his position by creating an environment where it is in his classmates best interests to get as close to him as possible by excluding those he considered to be unpopular. This results in a common theme of bullying against August and anyone who associates themselves with him. August was no stranger to bullying before he started at Beecher Prep. You can see throughout the book how Julian has positioned himself as the one and how with his power he has created August as the Other due to him being different from the other. Another challenge for August is identity, it is a tricky subject because he has very little power to control how others see him. He recognizes that other people see him first and foremost as a kid with a scary-looking face and lots of people have little interest in getting to know him once that single surface piece of his identity is established. This is held up time and again as August notices people of all ages looking briefly surprised when they first see him and then working very hard show smiles to cover up their discomfort during whatever conversation happens. With this, he recognizes that people struggle greatly to get past visual appearance of identity. For that, August also struggles to get past surface level interactions with people. This is because people tend to focus so much on his visual identity, it makes it hard for him to show people that he’s also smart, kind, and funny. Taken together, Wonders journey of bullying and social structure shows how toxic a social structure can be when it’s based on putting down others in order to raise oneself.