Talking Points: Alien Encounters
Introduction Annotations
- P. 1
- We love The Goonies (1985).
- Still, have yet to see it but have heard many great things about this classic film.
- We love The Goonies (1985).
- P.2
- …Long Du[c]k Dong…
- Awful name choice for a character and apparently the name of a drink according to Urban Dictionary, “LongDuckDong is a drink that some crazy drunk Mexicans thought up one night in Kansas City when they were drinking RedBull and GreyGoose vodka.”
- …Long Du[c]k Dong…
- P. 2
- …glue a miniature David’s broken penis on upside down), …
- I had to look this scene up for some context and I’m happy to know that this scene was completely innocent.
- …glue a miniature David’s broken penis on upside down), …
- P. 4
- … “the theater of popular desires.”
- Acting and preserving what people want because they know that it will be received?
- … “the theater of popular desires.”
Defining Our Terms Annotations
- P. 4
- The specific construct of “Asian America” emerged during the late 1960s as both a census category and a defining principle of a coalition-building effort to group the diverse populations of Asian descent in the United State.
- So “Asian American,” is a way of joining multiple people together, but also a way of disguising so many people who aren’t in the majority. Take for example when people hear someone speak in an Asian language, they assume that it is Chinese without thinking, even if the people are Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Laos, etc.
- The specific construct of “Asian America” emerged during the late 1960s as both a census category and a defining principle of a coalition-building effort to group the diverse populations of Asian descent in the United State.
- P. 5
- …Korean “comfort woman” …
- I remember finding a documentary on YouTube about comfort women living in Britain the other day. All the more reason to find and watch it now.
- …Korean “comfort woman” …
- P. 5
- …the Asian American construct should be retained as a self-reflexive term rather than a normative one.
- How you define yourself and not how others define you.
- …the Asian American construct should be retained as a self-reflexive term rather than a normative one.
- P. 6
- Asian American can be conceived as a marker of historical subjects, an axis of subordination, and a strategic coalition without presuming that it functions as a foundational property of our “selves.”
- While I believe that there is always going to be some truth to this statement, there is a difference between staying in the country that you were born in and visiting your homeland. For some people, that clear marker of “I am more than just one country,” is needed.
- Asian American can be conceived as a marker of historical subjects, an axis of subordination, and a strategic coalition without presuming that it functions as a foundational property of our “selves.”
- P. 6
- As phantasmic constructs of Asia and Asian America, over a century’s worth of dragon ladies, lotus blossoms, enigmatic assassins, black-clad guerillas, rapacious drug addicts, and sex-starved nerd have entered the American popular imaginary, often in a discordant cacophony of sounds and images.
- I’ve never understood these kinds of stereotypes, especially the popular broken English accent that is given to on-screen characters. Sadly, I believe that all of these are widely used today in media.
- As phantasmic constructs of Asia and Asian America, over a century’s worth of dragon ladies, lotus blossoms, enigmatic assassins, black-clad guerillas, rapacious drug addicts, and sex-starved nerd have entered the American popular imaginary, often in a discordant cacophony of sounds and images.
- P. 7
- …how do Asian American “get to” participate in it and how might their participation shape its contours?
- I don’t see why someone would need permission to act in a culture that they were born next to. Maybe if were born completely isolated from the culture, experiencing it might feel weird the first time, but I don’t think anyone should have to ask for permission.
- …how do Asian American “get to” participate in it and how might their participation shape its contours?
- P. 8
- …Wen Ho Lee “spy” scandal
- I had to look up this report since I’ve never heard of but recognized his face once I saw pictures.
- …Wen Ho Lee “spy” scandal
- P. 10
- …how we learn to feel about our world, and our place in it, through the aesthetics of its popular forms of representation.
- I would hope that someone who take all forms of popular culture at face value like with their own culture. Not all people have time to go to conventions, dance parties, or eat at expensive restaurants and call it part of the culture. Everything nation has a niche aspect.
Culture in Context Annotations
- P. 11
- The appearance of an independent Asian American cinema, for example, occurred alongside the racism, nationalism, and xenophobia of popular Hollywood films such as Year of the Dragon and the historical revisionisms of the Reagan era Rambo (First Blood) (1982) and more recently The Last Samurai (2003).
- While I love watching The Last Samurai and seeing all of the background work put into making it, it still remains historically inaccurate.
- The appearance of an independent Asian American cinema, for example, occurred alongside the racism, nationalism, and xenophobia of popular Hollywood films such as Year of the Dragon and the historical revisionisms of the Reagan era Rambo (First Blood) (1982) and more recently The Last Samurai (2003).
- P. 12
- …how the growth of Asian Americans; involvement in fashion design has emerged not in spite of but because of the exploitation of Asian workers in the garment industry.
- If you Google “sweatshops,” the first fill in the blank option is China…
- …how the growth of Asian Americans; involvement in fashion design has emerged not in spite of but because of the exploitation of Asian workers in the garment industry.
- P. 13
- “Asian chic” and the popular appetite for all goods Asian in both the United States and the West more generally. One needs only to think of the widely circulated image of Princess Diana in a salwar-kameez and the booming “ethnic dress” industry to see one example of this dynamic.
- Like how people pull out their China dishes for a fancy or formal dinner and request foreign garments in order to appear, “cultured.”
- “Asian chic” and the popular appetite for all goods Asian in both the United States and the West more generally. One needs only to think of the widely circulated image of Princess Diana in a salwar-kameez and the booming “ethnic dress” industry to see one example of this dynamic.
- P. 14
- …McDonald’s saw the launch of a Web site called “I-am-asian.com,” a phase McDonald’s also claims to have trademarked as an intellectual property, and a national effort to participate in events such as San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade and Asian American Heritage Month celebrations.
- Given that now anyone with Internet access and/or a Netflix account can watch The Founder online, I’m not surprised by any controversial thing that McDonald’s does anymore.
- …McDonald’s saw the launch of a Web site called “I-am-asian.com,” a phase McDonald’s also claims to have trademarked as an intellectual property, and a national effort to participate in events such as San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade and Asian American Heritage Month celebrations.
Part 1: Sounds Authentic? Annotations
- P. 16
- …condemned) for their choice of roles; Lucy Liu, for instance, has field many questions about the sexy, sometimes ruthless character she portrayed on Fox’s mid-1990s drama Ally McBeal.
- I’m not sure if Lucy Liu was condemned because “she sold out,” or for playing “the sexy foreign girl,” either way in no one helps Lucy Liu and instead makes it harder for more Asian actresses to get on stage if that is the kind of criticism that they will receive.
- …condemned) for their choice of roles; Lucy Liu, for instance, has field many questions about the sexy, sometimes ruthless character she portrayed on Fox’s mid-1990s drama Ally McBeal.
- P. 17
- … “life looks more like a movie” or “we would prefer to live in one.”
- If only the world worked that way.
- … “life looks more like a movie” or “we would prefer to live in one.”
- P. 17
- …the raunchy, “fag hag,” queer comedy of Margaret Cho…
- Disgusting language to use on since a gifted actress.
- …the raunchy, “fag hag,” queer comedy of Margaret Cho…
- P. 18
- In a recent New York Times Magazine article on the lyricist Jin Au-Yeung, the journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates makes this clear when she writes that “he knows he isn’t black, but he has chosen a medium defined by blackness. Which means that whether he’s rapping about sweatshops, ladies, Tiananmen Square or partying, Jin is always dancing on the color line.”
- I hate this use of language about defining someone’s art by their skin rather than their expression of it or ability to perform.
- In a recent New York Times Magazine article on the lyricist Jin Au-Yeung, the journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates makes this clear when she writes that “he knows he isn’t black, but he has chosen a medium defined by blackness. Which means that whether he’s rapping about sweatshops, ladies, Tiananmen Square or partying, Jin is always dancing on the color line.”
- P. 19
- …” wire fu” …
- I thought this name was ridiculous until I looked up some of the history of it, as well as films that I’ve watched featuring it.
- …” wire fu” …
Part 2: Popular Places Annotations
- P. 20
- Robotech, Voltron, multiple series of Power Rangers, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, and Hamtaro.
- I’m forever grateful for these series being a part of my childhood.
- Robotech, Voltron, multiple series of Power Rangers, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, and Hamtaro.
- P. 20
- … (with the financial and cultural capital of Pixar Studios and Walt Disney, Hayao Miyazaki’s animated features, most notably Spirited Away [2002], have found wider release and critical acclaim in the United States) …
- I wasn’t aware that they had a wider release in the United States unless they mean by it reaching a different country in general. I’ve noticed with the anniversary packages, the original voice actors from the English translation and some audio have gone missing. I don’t know if this is from Studio Ghibli’s request or if the audio was added in by mistaken and then corrected with the new release.
- … (with the financial and cultural capital of Pixar Studios and Walt Disney, Hayao Miyazaki’s animated features, most notably Spirited Away [2002], have found wider release and critical acclaim in the United States) …
- P. 21
- For instance, one would be hard pressed to characterize the work of transnational artists such as Shu Lea Cheang, who, as the former associate director of the annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Marie K. Morohoshi, has noted, is “a lesbian from Taiwan, who grew up in New York where she started making videos, and has gone on to Tokyo and produced videos with the Japanese dykes there. Her Fingers and Kisses features Japanese dykes, and it’s funded by Japanese money, but that’s not Cheang’s home.” “How Morohoshi asks, “do you begin to regionalize a filmmaker and [his or her] works?”
- JESUS.
- For instance, one would be hard pressed to characterize the work of transnational artists such as Shu Lea Cheang, who, as the former associate director of the annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Marie K. Morohoshi, has noted, is “a lesbian from Taiwan, who grew up in New York where she started making videos, and has gone on to Tokyo and produced videos with the Japanese dykes there. Her Fingers and Kisses features Japanese dykes, and it’s funded by Japanese money, but that’s not Cheang’s home.” “How Morohoshi asks, “do you begin to regionalize a filmmaker and [his or her] works?”
- P. 22
- …prevent the understanding of Asians as “real Americans” and limit their access to the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship.
- In a world where everyone wants to seen as different and the same, we really do a good job of isolating the ones that we don’t understand, rather than knowing that one person can never represent an entire nation by themselves.
- …prevent the understanding of Asians as “real Americans” and limit their access to the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship.
- P. 22-23
- Transported to small towns in the Midwest from urban area in the United States and in China, the cooks and waiters talk about their feelings of social isolation, their lack of marriage partners, and their desire to build sustainable communities in ways that echo the concerns of Chinese bachelors of the last century. They are, in other words, bounded by the conditions of these particular places for, unlike the goods and images that these restaurants sell, their bodies are far less mobile.
- This paragraph, in particular, reminds me of a restaurant in Olympia that is completely taken over by white Americans with all of the Asian employees being pushed into the background. The lack of their presence and the appearance of just a whitewashed community is so apparent there that I get disgusted each time I see it and think of the people working there.
- Transported to small towns in the Midwest from urban area in the United States and in China, the cooks and waiters talk about their feelings of social isolation, their lack of marriage partners, and their desire to build sustainable communities in ways that echo the concerns of Chinese bachelors of the last century. They are, in other words, bounded by the conditions of these particular places for, unlike the goods and images that these restaurants sell, their bodies are far less mobile.
- P. 23
- The Guru (2002) – a multinationally produced, Indian musical comedy featuring a young Indian dancer who finds himself catering to the “spiritual” and sexual needs of New York’s upper crust – a more vivid representation of urban immigrant life and peacefulness.
- Disgusting. Fetishizing someone for comedy.
- The Guru (2002) – a multinationally produced, Indian musical comedy featuring a young Indian dancer who finds himself catering to the “spiritual” and sexual needs of New York’s upper crust – a more vivid representation of urban immigrant life and peacefulness.
Part 3: Consuming Cultures Annotations
- P. 25
- “third-wave” feminists of the consumption of bodily practices of bindi and mehndi (henna painting) by non-South Asians.
- I learned very quickly through my Indian Studies classes not to wear henna for fun anymore and that it is only used to ceremonies and celebrations.
- “third-wave” feminists of the consumption of bodily practices of bindi and mehndi (henna painting) by non-South Asians.
- P. 25
- In Martin F. Manalansan’s essay, for instance, the Asian immigrant viewers of a nationally televised cooking show featuring a Chinese American chef with no discernable Asian accent and a perceived white posture take issue with the cultural exchanges trafficked under the rhetoric of “fusion,” in cuisine and culture.
- I’ve felt this kind of experience a lot growing up as someone who doesn’t speak Spanish or have an accent. I sound and look like an alien to people when they heard me speak and even when I carry myself. It is kinda funny to me, but at the same time, I can feel their disappointment of being, “too white.”
- In Martin F. Manalansan’s essay, for instance, the Asian immigrant viewers of a nationally televised cooking show featuring a Chinese American chef with no discernable Asian accent and a perceived white posture take issue with the cultural exchanges trafficked under the rhetoric of “fusion,” in cuisine and culture.
Part 4: Troubled Technologies Annotations
- P. 27
- In these tales, the “third-world’ underbelly of the criminal world is often paired with the hyperdisciplined space of a Japanese corporate empire above ground, both of which serve as the backdrop for the hero’s adventures.
- Like the backstory to Astro Boy and Alita: Battle Angel.
- In these tales, the “third-world’ underbelly of the criminal world is often paired with the hyperdisciplined space of a Japanese corporate empire above ground, both of which serve as the backdrop for the hero’s adventures.
Conclusion
- P. 29
- …the alien encounter is that part of the story that manifests both threat and promise – the threat of imminent invasion, takeover, or control and the promise of adventure, transformation, and exchange…
- No harmony with first meetings?
- …the alien encounter is that part of the story that manifests both threat and promise – the threat of imminent invasion, takeover, or control and the promise of adventure, transformation, and exchange…
- P. 30
- They demonstrate that if we, as scholars, are to imagine a different, more democratic future we must be able to account for the ways in which people participate in political and cultural life and imagine their affective relationships with such abstract notions as history, identity, and belonging.
- Taking people as they are, either then how they should be according to us.
- They demonstrate that if we, as scholars, are to imagine a different, more democratic future we must be able to account for the ways in which people participate in political and cultural life and imagine their affective relationships with such abstract notions as history, identity, and belonging.
