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AAST355 - Maryann - Coggle Diagram

- - - - "I thought you wanted to do modern"
      - Vivan's career aspirations put on hold from pressure from both her deadline and her father - pursuing modern dance is not as important given her relationship not going well
    - - "Here we go, signal if you need me." "Raymond. Wil. Shall we?"
      - "Look at those two... Anyone looks good on his arm."
        
        highlights gender norms and traditional heteronormative perspective, suggesting that a woman should always aspire to be an accessory
        
        Woman's value or attractiveness is often measured by her ability to secure a male partner
      - Wil and Raymond are put together to dance, and this "matchmaking" is a repeated practice, and their shortness with each other shows the lack of interest for both of them
      - Struggle between individual desires and obligations imposed by filial piety from a shared cultural heritage
    - - 17:35 - mom vs grandfather
        
        "You are the biggest disgrace, he ultimate shame."
        
        "No daughter has shamed her parents more than you. What have we done to deserve this?"
        
        Grandfather emphasizes that her mother is not "fulfilling her duties" as a daughter
      - 17:57 - Honor/Dishonor
        
        "She just cries and goes on about how ungrateful I am."
        
        Although her mother is the one in the tricky situation, she still expects Wil to accommodate and care for her.
        
        Psychical generational roles that Asian Americans expected to uphold
        
        "She is no longer part of this family." "My own rotten flesh has gotten pregnant without a husband."
        
        Finalizing and defining statement in the film, represents the cultural exile and loss of support from family
        
        Foreshadows Wil's doubt and anguish throughout the film
        
        With her mother living with her, it is a constant reminder to the rejection she would face, and she was not ready to give that up.
        
        "You don't think people will laugh at me?" "...can't control his own daughter?"
        
        Act of men controlling woman is perpetuated
        
        Idea that in Asian culture fathers control their daughters and their actions if they are not married, they are unable to control themselves
  - - - 8:05 - disregards happiness / martial satisfaction
        
        "Serves her right, he made good money. What's to be unhappy about?"
        
        "She'll never marry again, women never do. She's certainly not meeting anyone here"
        
        Blame was put on the woman for being ungrateful about the amount of money her ex made.
        
        Was mocked that she would not be able to marry again in the AA community, but her ex had no criticism on remarrying right after the divorce
        
        Shows how women are placed at higher expectations to uphold nuclear family ideals compared to men
        
        Determines womens self-worth based on alliance with a man
      - Kids are a requirement - 1:32:30
        
        "so there's only one thing left. When are you going to have a baby?"
        
        even after pregnancy, coming out, and public reveal, mom still holds her daughter to a somewhat expectation of having a nuclear family.
        
        Family would then be considered "settled"
      - Needing a Husband
        
        49:08 - TV scenes with grandfather and mom
        
        "Who cares he's a good man who will take care of your mother and give both her and that child a decent name. Where can you find a man life that?"
        
        "Shouldn't have slept with another woman" "he didn't really he was drunk" "that's a pathetic excuse he should go it alone without him" "She'd be lonely"
        
        "Don't come back until you have a husband to match the child" - pregnancy without a husband is unacceptable
        
        Grandfather just wants her married before the child is born to help keep his honor and prevent embarrassment for him
  - - - Tight-knit, flourishing Asian community
      - Representation of Asian values and judgements
      - Wil's mother (Hwei-Lan) and grandparents live here
      - Scenes
        
        18:00 - Hwei-Lan gets banished
        
        36:00 - Vivian talks about her mother's ostracization in Flushing
        
        Vivian was ready to leave - new generation
        
        Vivian's mother deals with leaving in the community, she is trapped there without the full sense of acceptance
        
        Wil has also left Flushing, and lives by herself
      - Wil's home - how it evolves
        
        When her mother moves in, she brings Flushing culture into Wil's home, where it used to be separated
        
        Discomfort when VIvian and Hwei-Lan clash and have disconnect in lanugage speaking, within WIl's home
        
        Sense of true belonging and mixing of her identities and support systems
        
        At the end, grandfather comes into Wil's home and out of Flushing, placing himself as a supporter
- - - - Selling cheat sheets to students with friends
      - Drinking alcohol and drugs to prepare for decathlon
      - shoplifting
      - violence and murder
      - The chance that Stephanie is representing a model minority or being a porn star does not have much affect on the movie
      - All the boys had different personalities and distinctions.despite them all being Asian American
      - Did not want to be token Asian on basketball team, so he quit
  - - - Had most sexual desire and sexual comments, but seemed like the most sexually inexperienced
      - "Dude, I can get laid whenever I want to. Any time, anywhere, any place."
      - Was obsessed with power and the gun
  - - - This is an extreme example that relates to other Asian American experiences, where when the pressure to be perfect and do well from parents finally breaks, sometimes Asian American kids burn out, break down, or go on a downhill spiral
- - - - 43:35 - “Black, brown, yellow, Mexican, Puerto Rican, all the same as long as you’re not White, means you are colored.”
      - 1:09:36 - "Well, Miss Masala, racism or as they say nowadays, racism, is passed down like recipes"
    - - 1:11:07 - sex scene cut with flashback to Mina's childhood in Uganda - still affects her to this day
      - 1:27:01 - "I'm a Black man in MS...the minute you get here you start acting white, treating us like we’re your doormats.”
      - 26:30 - Demetrius' father working for "slave wages; D&T's slogan: "Your dirt is our bread and butter"
  - - - Economic relationality (black labor supports Asian capital)
      - interracial sex/romance confuses this and power dynamic (191)
      - "fugitive love" (192)
- - - - Almost everyone is rich in the movie
      - Has extravangent lifestyle and wardrobe
      - Is defined by the holidays they celebrate, and the parties they throw for them
      - Asians in this film look down on other Asians that are lower status, come from not known families, and do not act with sophisticated mannerisms
    - - She tells this to Rachel's face
      - Old money vs new money is defined in the beginning of the film, emphasizing its importance going forward
      - Rachel's American values of individualism and personal autonomy are not valued or appreciated by Eleanor
        
        Rachel is looked at as less than because of this
  - - - The only South Asians represented in this movie are guard in turbans, looking villainous and scary, and the servants of the Young household
      - This is even more concerning due to the history of South Asian migration and people in Singapore. There is heavy racism and discrimination in Singapore still happening today, and representation like this movie only perpetuates the idea that South Asians are not equal in Singapore. The fact that a movie this recent is representing South Asians in this light is pretty crazy, and very discriminatory and ignorant.
      - In addition, since there is Asian American representation, you would have thought that South Asians and other minority Asians in Singapore would have been represented better within the film.
      - There are four main languages in Singapore: English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil, and this was not represented well
  - - - Asian women are nosy and gossip about other's misfortunes and habits
      - Maternal figure Eleanor disapproves of Rachel throughout the entire movie
        
        Before that, Nick's grandmother disapproved of Eleanor
        
        Eleanor seems to be continuing the cycle of mother-in-laws hating on their daughter-in-laws, similar to Saving Face where the maternal figure faces hardship but still treats her daughter the same as how her parents treated her
    - - She stays with her husband initially, but gets the courage to leave him
    - - Romcom ending with all problems gone after Rachel is accepted
  - - - Mahjong scene
      - Dumpling scene - importance of upholding family traditions is emphazied
        
        However, responsibility is laced on the women of the family
      - Social events like blossoming of flowers and effort in weddings
  - - - The hotel scene where Eleanor gains power over the hotel manager because her husband now owns it
      - Allows their family to get over the racism they faced
    - - there is colorism throughout the film and little representation of Southeast Asians or South Asians
- - - - Fu Manchu's "deepest prayer" was to have a son
    - - Both Ronald and his father think about Ling Moy and woman this way, seems generational, that fetishization is a "normal" thing
    - - Plays into the idea that a woman is only good for a looks, and that is the only thing that matters. A woman's intellect or personality are not important.
  - - - Ah Kee wears Asian clothes to go to Ling Moy's house
    - - "Honorable father"
      - Ling Moy is willing to kill someone for a father she's known for five minutes.
      - There will be shame on the family and ancestors if Ling Moy does not carry out her tasks
  - - - Ah Kee was "tempted" by Ling Moy
        
        Ah Kee was quick to "revert back" and wear Asian clothing
      - Ah Kee sacrifices his love for Ronald and Scotland Yard
        
        Shows that assimilating into white society is most important
        
        Ah Kee ends up dying in service for Ronald, so shows that he will ultimately never fit in
    - - VERY similar to Romeo and Juliet
        
        The love is forbidden, the differences between East and West are the cause of this
      - Asians will never have a happy ending; they aren't worthy of one
  - - - Ling Moy is seen as an object or evil, no in-between
- - - - Paul said "All these Japanesse actresses suck"
      - Real geishas have a lot of training (years and years), and Lucy basically asks for a 2 day crash course to get her up to speed. Invalidates the history of being a geisha
    - - Even after that, both men still praise Lucy instead of others
    - - (1:42:44) - Yoko's sacrificial death
  - - - (53:05) - Sumo match scene: says a string of pretend Japanese words and there is little reaction to it
      - She also talks with an accent and with a soft and gentle voice to Paul and Bob when filming or interacting with them
    - - "These people are very photogenic"
      - They're friendly...like puppies"
      - "Their morality is different"
      - "Would it please you master?"
  - - - This scene passes off as humorous, which is crazy because it is sexual assualt
      - CONNECTION to "The Cheat": In "The Cheat", the Asian man sexually assualts the white woman and goes to jail, whereas Bob has no consequences and it is laughed at
      - Yoko is not seen as a real person, so it doesn't matter
- - - - 1:01:09 - Robert avenges Suzie after she is beaten
      - 1:26:54 - "It just kills me. Let me take care of you."
      - 1:44:48 - "Just how do you propose to do that, go back to work?"
      - 1:50:45 - "Mister, will you take me with you please?" - Suzie says mister and please to request Robert if she could come with him
      - 1:52:30 - "I could have changed that; that's what I didn't understand."
      - Asian female fragility and submissiveness perpetuated in Suzie
    - - CONNECTION to Toll of the Sea and My Geisha with death needed in the narrative
      - To help her recover and move on from her baby dying, she will marry Robert and live happily after her baby's funeral
  - - - Kay looks down on Suzie, as does Robert
      - Robert assaults Suzie and rips off her clothes
      - Suzie is hypersexualized in Asian clothes, as Robert has no problem with Suzie wearing Asian clothes but takes offense when she puts on Western clothes
        
        CONNECTION to The Toll of the Sea - when Lotus Flower wears Western clothes it is seen as unnatural
    - - "by attiring herself. in Western clothing, Suzie breaks out of her purely Oriental image" (Recuperating Suzie Wong"
        
        When Suzie attempts to break free from her oversexualized role, she asserts her equality to the Western woman, but gets shut down by Robert.
      - "If the Asian/American woman cannot be imaged outside of sex, her self-formation must occur in terms of redefining sex."
    - - Robert calls her a "cheap European streetwalker"
      - "threatens the American by underlining the fact that their relation is the sordid one familiar to him from 'home', and by imposing her desiring subjectivity on his ideal image of her" (Recuperating Suzie Wong"
    - - The other Asian women getting excited by a white man hitting them
      - "so sorry you not have nice man to beat you up"
      - suzie cannot read, has to rely on robert
    - - Robert feels entitled to have her do poses or whatever he wants
- - - - Gong gong did not care if Evelyn left China
      - Evelyn perpetuates the cycle of discontentment to her family and into her daughter's life
- - - - Lotus Flower kills herself in the sea, emphasizing in a dramatic way that it is not worth for Lotus Flower to live after she was left.
- - - - Probably influences Walt's thinking, his way to help is to mold the kid into someone "better"
    - - Reinforces idea of Hmong people as backward, illegible and inscrutable
- - - - Model minority
      - Yellow peril
    - - easy transfer of "the efficient, hard-working, and productive Asian American" into corporate culture (241); qualities of model minority employees (conformist, obedient, apolitical) enables them to get behind aims of profit maximization