#aas218jasony

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Blog#12 Anime in America

For a lack of a better work, anime is...Awesome. The storytelling, the charaters, the style of animation, its just amazing and influencial. Anime was introduced in the United States in the 1960s. Astro boy was the arguably the first anime to be introduced in the US. Since then anime has become popular over several years, with shows like Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Naruto, they’ve become apart everyone’s childhood. Personally I grew up with Yu-Gi-Oh, but thats another story. Anime has also influence a lot of western animated shows. Shows like Teen Titans and Avatar the Last Airbender, these shows have a distinct style that is almost similar to Japanese animation, including over the top facial expresstion. But it didn’t just inspire animation style, it also influence strong storytelling. Most anime shows tell a compelling story that tackles with mature subjects or themes in 2D animation. Some western animated shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time has strong themes in their story like trauma, grief, addiction, etc. This is coming from a kids show that most kids show wouldn’t even address. I strongly belive that anime has influenced western animation from its style of animation to its storytelling. 

My top 3 anime are Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Black Lagoon, and Code Geass

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Blog#11 Live Action Mulan

Mulan is a 1998 Disney animated film about a woman who disguised herself as a man to fight against the Hun army. Disney announced that they will make a live action remake of Mulan for 2020. 

When I was a kid I really like Mulan, I thought it was a good film with funny charaters and an awesome soundtrack. Its sequel shall not be mentioned or remembered. When I heard that Disney was gonna make a live action remake of it, at first I hated this idea. So far these remakes have been pretty underwhelming. I mean the “live action” Lion King is completly soulless, Aladdin pales in comparsion with the original, and the less I talk about Beauty and the Beast, the better. So yeah, it’s clear that I am not a fan of these remakes and I have no anticipation with the Mulan remake. 

With that said, I think that this remake might be a good chance for kids who are Asian Americans to see heroes who are the same ethnicity as them. When you think about it, there aren’t that many Asian heroes seen in the big screen, or at least for kids. I was thinking that this remake would allow for kids of Asian descent to grow up with an Asian heroine who inspires them. This is kinda similar when I was talking about people who grew up reading Claudia Kishi and how she inspired them and help them become successful individuals. 

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Blog #10 442nd Infantry Regiment

The 442nd Infantry Regiment was an infantry unit in the United States Army. The regiment was well known for their service in World War 2 and entirley composed of Japanese Americans (nisei). The regiment is also the most decorated unit in US history, with over 18,000 awards including the medal of honor, the highest award in the US armed forces (21 members were awarded). Most of the soldiers have families who are held in the Japanese Internement Camp. After the events of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, where people of Japanese ancestry were held in internment camps for the purpose of national security. Over 100,000 were held in these camps, with two thirds who are Japanese American. After the Second World War, The 442nd’s service did help relieve some tension from people who are anti-Japanse. Some have changed their views on Japanese Americans and they even welcomed them as heroes. But this is quite rare, as the majority are still anti-Japanese. Veterans of the 442nd were denied for service in resturants and their property and homes were vandalized with anti-Japanese message. The regiment dissolved in 1946, but shortly it was reissused as a US Army Reserve. It is important that we remember the people who were seen as the enemy of their own country, served in the most decorated regiment in all of US military history.

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Blog #9 What home taste like

Home to me is my parents’ apartment in San Jose California. We moved here in the year 2011, when I first enrolled in middle school. We live on the second floor so we get a lot of sunlight. The apartment is small but not claustrphobic. At least I finally have my own room. 

My family is there. My parents, my sister, and my two dogs (both are chihuahua mixed). After 5 pm, my mom would start to prepare for dinner. During that time, my dad would usually do nothing or read something in his laptop. My sister would stay in her room either listening to music or watching Korean drama. I would usually help my mom prepare for dinner whether it’s something small like setting up the table or help her cook. We always eat something different for dinner every night, but the dish that we always eat is kimchi-jjigae, a stew made of kimchi and other ingredients. The smell alone brings me warmth and nostalgia. My mom would put spam and tofu, and even ramen, which it’s called budae-jjigae(Army stew) but we only eat that once every two months. My sister sometimes get sick and time of eating kimchi-jjigae over and over again, but I never complain about it. I’m always down for eating kimchi-jjigae, even if we ate it five days in a row. 

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(C.A.R. - Creative Product) A Tale of Assimilation

The Story of a Father

Written by Jason Yi, Ashera Tupas, & Shakira Figueroa

Peace, beauty, and freedom

My country, freed from the Imperial Japanese rule

My family, freed from misery and oppression

That was my home

But War was declared

And my father fought for our country

The smell of smoke and napalm filled the air

The rest of my family had to find a new home

Our country now divided

My father never returned from Pyongyang 

We had lost something-- everything

The thought of home far from the grasp of my hand

We dwelled in a dirty, wretched house 

With nothing valuable to sell

Our table was empty, with nothing to fill our hollow stomachs

It was so cold, that place was not home

My mother and brother fell ill

I walked to school, I ran to work, 

I took care of my family, repeating the same routine again and again

I couldn't allow myself to call this place home

After years of struggle, we immigrated to America

Away from the stalemate and into the arms of peace

Came from Korea to America

To live the American dream

A culture so different, a culture so strange

I had to make a change

Talk, act -- live American

And now I could call this place home

The Story of a Son

Written by Brian Cheng, Reena Rejano, & Ziping Yan

Land of the free, home of the brave.

America, how cool, how amazing

To be me, be myself, but

Who am I?

I am American! Born and raised

Places to go, people to see; so patriotic

Oh how great it is to be

A proud American.

But wait, I don’t look like the others,

We all act the same.

People look at me different;

They say I am Korean.

What is that even like?

Not so sure. Can’t speak the language.

Never been told anything

Always been American

Just like the others, how I wanted it.

Somehow I still feel strange.

Like something is missing. Is it ‘cause

I am Korean?

It bothers me; Not fully American.

Should I give up and stick to my roots?

What does it mean to be Korean?

Father, I don’t even know.

But wait, all the history, the struggles,

All the pain my father went through. Rough,

But empowering. I belong here, I can proudly say

I am Korean

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Blog #8 Politics and COVID-19

I don’t care as much for politics, but I do care about how our president is handling on certain issues, like the COVID-19 pandemic. So far he has been doing shitty by not taking this pandemic seriously and he kept misinforming the public. One example is him insulting Pelsoi visiting Chinatown.

After reading through some articles, it upsets me that this is how Trump is handling the coronavirus, he is spreading fear among the Asian American community, believing that they are to be blamed for the pandemic. It is especially insulting that he directly compares China to Chinatown in San Francisco. He believes that they are one of the same thing, but it is cleary not. By combining China to Chinatown as a single entity is implying that Asian Americans are not seen as Americans but instead foreigners. And Trump is making it worse by calling the virus the “Chinese virus”, which only increases prejudice against Asian Americans. This should not be the case where Asian Americans aren’t respected as Americans during this time because ethnicity has nothing to do with the virus and it will result them getting hurt by people who believes they are to be blamed. 

President Trump is not only unprepared on resolving the pandemic but he is giving misinformation to the public. On April 13 to 24, he insults Nancy Pelosi by claiming that she is “throwing a parade and a party” in Chinatown when he closed the border to China. But if he actually did watch the video of Pelosi in Chinatown, then he should know that Pelosi was advocating people to go to restaurants to help support Chinese businesses on February 24. He also claimed that Pelosi acted like the virus didn’t exist and that everything is fine. This again is false, Pelosi clearly stated that we should be concerned and have some precaution on the virus. Trump has made at least 4 lies about Pelosi in Chinatown that I couldn’t believe he would get simple facts wrong. I mean I know he would but this is at a point where if he can’t give us simple facts, then he will continue to lie to us during this pandemic. It is also problematic when we need answers, guidance, or anything that we indicates that we are safe.

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Blog #7  The Claudia Kishi Club and Asian American characters in media

The Claudia Kishi’s Club is a short documentary about a iconic Asian American character from a popular book series in the 80s and 90s, “The Baby-sitters Club” and how she inspired a generation of young Asian Americans. After listening to some of the Asian American interviewers on how Claudia Kishi inspired them to become the person there are today, some of them are comic artist that stars an asian character in their story, I am happy for them that they have a Asian American role model in media that is not portrayed as a racist stereotype. I believe that having an Asian American characters in pop culture is important, mostly for young Asian Americans because media, whether its TV, movies, comics, etc, is one of the most effective ways to create a connection between the character and the viewer. Most kids are influenced or even inspired by fictional characters that most affects their life. It would be even more effective if the characters are facing issues that relates the viewers like if the character experienced racism and we see of they deal with it in a realistic and adult way. This would help inspire or influence viewers to face real world issues and it would also help how they think. 

When I was a kid, from 5 to 10 years old, I didn’t pay any attention to Asian American characters in pop culture,I mean I’ve watched Goonies, Temple of Doom, and Mulan, and in the end I just liked the characters and didn’t focus on their race. But as I grew up and I see more Asian characters in pop culture, I started to appreciate the fact that we have a bit more diverse characters that kids nowadays could look up to. I wouldn’t say that I was inspired by seeing Asians in films or books, I just want to see a well written character overcoming their struggles/obstacles. If the character is Asian, then I think its cool and I’m glad to be represented, and if not it wouldn’t bother me. But I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have more Asian characters in media, I mean I’m waiting Disney to make another movie starring an Asian role instead of remaking it to live action. I’m just saying that I’m not inspired by any of the Asian characters but I am glad to see that there some people who are inspired and became successful.

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Blog #6 Racism during a pandemic

The United States is going through a rough path with the spread of the coronavirus, many campuses cancels face to face classes, and many people were forced to stop working and not get paid. With everything that is going on, this is not the time to discriminate and act hostile towards the Asian community. Whenever I watch videos of people acting ignorant or bullying any Asian Americans, with or without wearing a mask, it makes me feel angry that we would act this way in a pandemic crisis. I mean there is so many issues that we could be fixing during this pandemic, like having access to be tested, vaccines availability, or citizens who are out worked because of the virus, and yet we still have people who would rather create more problems than fixing it. I can tell that this will be a difficult time for the Asian American community, specifically the Chinese community, and with president Trump keep addressing the COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus”, and how Texas Senator John Cornyn blames China through racial stereotypes like how they eat bats, dogs, and snakes, I could only hope that things won’t get any worse than this. 

While watching videos of people harassing Asian Americans I thought to myself like how is this going to help during the pandemic? I mean there was one person who attacked a young asian person with a mask, and another chasing an elderly woman and spraying her with hand sanitizer. Seriously, does attacking and acting xenophobic towards the Asian community will solve our issue?! This is an embarrassment if this is how we act during a pandemic. But at this point, I believe that it’s just human nature to act this way. I mean there was almost no time in history where we weren’t discriminating against minority groups. This is some people’s first instinct whenever their lives are disrupted, they will blame anyone who is “responsible” and act violently towards them.