Brett's A-Pop Blog

I’m still in the process of working out what my idea of “home” truly is. So far I think the closest thing I can think of to what home is for me is my childhood and growing up. It seems like sort of a broad concept, but I’m thinking I can study different portrayals of adolescence through the lens of Asian American/Pacific Islanders via different media such as films, short stories and novels.

I think as far as the creative side of this project is concerned the concept of childhood could generate a lot of narrative possibilities. I’m just afraid that it is too broad that I’ll get sort of lost while trying to portray it, especially while trying to present it alongside through the lens of APIA pop culture. But, I would be interested in seeing if there are significant intersections between my experiences during adolescence and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, even though that is not a group that I belong to.

At the very least I’ll try to tighten this up with some specific examples of portrayals in pop culture of APIA adolescence and start drawing connections between my experiences and theirs, and maybe try to focus on one aspect or medium within pop culture.

Posted in Rock | Comments Off on Initial Project Thoughts

• I’m interested in how Japanese audiences (and original creators) reacted to the film vs. Asian American audiences
• Japanese ghosts in white shells – purpose? Does this change anything about the ideas of the source material?
• Heavy Chinese and New Zealand production influences (based on credits)
• Are Kuze and Major the only ones who have the Japanese ghost/white shell combination?
• Was the setting supposed to be a Neo Tokyo or Neo Hong Kong-type setting? If so why was everything so bare in terms of the actual population outside of the non-Asian cast?
• Considering the majority of the cast is non-Asian, is the setting needless?

One extra note on Asian American History: A Very Short Introduction: 

• One aspect I found really intriguing that Hsu talked about was the self exoticism that some Asian American entrepreneurs implemented in order to make a living (i.e. Chinatown and how that commodified exoticism, and the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker)

Posted in Paper | Comments Off on Some Notes on “Ghost in the Shell”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of the Major’s new Scarlett Johansson body being referred to as a “shell” in the movie. This thought mostly persisted in my head because of the saying referring to someone as “a shell of their former self”. I haven’t seen the original film, or read the manga, but I would assume the usage of “shell” referring to the new body would be pointing to the disconnect of the original soul and the new manufactured body, slightly altering the wording of the theory of the “ghost in the machine”. Going back to the “former self” saying, given that Scarlett Johansson’s character is revealed to be Japanese, does that add a new dimension to that saying? Her new body is capable of doing extraordinary superhuman things, which supposedly wouldn’t lead someone to levy that claim against her physically. But is she a shell of her former self in that her soul now inhabits someone of a different race, furthering the distance between the soul and the body even more? I don’t think the film addresses that, with the reveal of the Major’s past seeming more like a cheap way to keep the character Japanese while also keeping Scarlett in the role and having a needless twist.

Posted in Scissors | Comments Off on Jumbled Thoughts on The “Shell”