Hey Everyone! Sorry this is a bit late, but here are some blog questions for monday. As usual, you don't need to answer all the questions. And don't forget to bring in speaker/artist ideas for our event!
In general, why do you think we were assigned to read the Saussure reading? How related is idea of representation to art? The reading also talked a lot about linguistics, and how language is the “code” required to get concepts or ideas across. Again, how is language related to art? Is language a necessary component to a piece of art of any type (music, painting, dance, speech, etc etc.)?
Most of us have probably not seen many of the films that Fung writes about. However, can you any recent mainstream films in particular that portray Asian Americans as being “doubly displaced” both in American and in their country of ethnic origin?
Let’s think about the Hello Kitty sestina. Is this like anything you have read before? Is the style very unique? What do you think is the underlying message, if there is one at all, in this poem? Is there significance to the images that Duhamel conjures up in your mind as you read it?
I think that the Saussure/Hall discussion about language relates somewhat to Fung's article. Fung says that what the Chinese,Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, etc. had in common when they came to the United States was the "brand[ing]" of the mark "oriental"(162). They were all collectively East of something of someone. Later Fung questions the term/mark/label "Asian." According to Fung, "'Asian' is often used simply as an acceptable replacement for 'oriental.'" In other words, it again just refers to a geographic place of origin (the East) as opposed to referring to a people; marking where they are from and not what kind of people they are.
ReplyDeleteThe Hall reading told us that meanings for things/objects/people are never fixed and are always changing. Within Asian American art meanings of what is and what is not Asian American art is always changing, never fixed. Even in our own class we couldn't decide on a solid definition of who/what to include/exclude. With Asian American identity Asian Americans are constantly putting new meaning on themselves and the world around them, based on the changing society.
My response to the "Hello Kitty" reading is wow. hmmmm. hmmmm. hmmmm,,,,,, Ok so I am trying to apply the "representation, meaning and language" reading to "Hello Kitty." Nick Carbo uses the written word or "indyical signs" to, I think, convey representation and meaning of American culture. His characters, Barney, Hello Kitty, Power Rangers, Secret Asian man, also the German tourists, the Hello Kitty fans, and the bystanders at the end also the settings he writes the story, Hello Kitty surrounded by paparazzi, high speed chase, Chinatown, into the truck with live main crabs, and at the end in front of the crow, represent the complex relationships of sub cultures within the American culture. The Asian American culture is represented by stereotypes, mainstream culture, with media depictions, and played out in typical action packed story line but can be interpreted as part of (as exotic with China town and the "exotic comestible") but also as American culture. So what's the difference? The emphasis? but is one part of, a component of and not separate - not a separate part? Even though he writes in English and I think he is writing for an American audience, and thus includes the codes of American culture, I do not know if any meaning can be stabilized. Maybe because this is a work of art (when is a sheep not a sheep? when it's a work of art?) This piece gets me thinking, questioning because it at first doesn't make sense to me, and I read it again and take away from the art a cultural critique.
ReplyDeleteI thought the Hello Kitty reading was extremly interesting and it was like nothing I have ever read before. I found it intriguing how the writer, Denise Duhamel, protrayed the character Hello Kitty as a real famous person with Barney among other characters. Before reaading this poem, I never thought twice about Hello Kitty not having a mouth but, it makes sence now that I know it is trying to convey the message that she and the Asian American community she relates to can not speak their minds. Is this trying to say that all Asian Americans keep their thoughts to themseves and are expected to be quite? Does the underlying message make references to mean they are shunned and ignored in society?
ReplyDeleteThis article also shows how Asian American entertaners are not as popular as white performers in that Hello Kitty is mostly only popular with Asian Americans but not the community as a whole. This idea is also presented in the article Seeing Yellow by Richard Fung in the film industy. Now it makes sence to me why Asians from North America typically are not interested in other Asian Americans romanticlly because the mass media doesn't present Asians, especally males, as romantic figures but, quite the opposite. I find this to be true for many of my Asian American friends and even myself.
Hello Kitty... I had not seen writing in that form specifically dealing with that subject matter before. Similar things I've read (I think during High School, so I cannot name anything specifically) have not resonated with such a clear purpose and message (perhaps because I care more about the ideas in this piece, or it makes a stronger and more political statement). It brought to mind a lot of ideas around image manipulation in marketing to a new audience, as well as cultural commodification and appropriation. More significantly, though< I had not fully considered how characters like those can so clearly reflect perceptions and dynamics in society.
ReplyDeleteIt also reminded me of the Hello Kitty craze in Singapore, compared against the one here (as much as I see it through an obsessed friend). I am not sure quite how to contrast the two, but this definitely spoke to the (implications of) difference in context. For example, at home, I associate(d) the lack of mouth (voice) and used/manipulated/exploited image with women's rather than Asian / American identity.
For your question about Fung's references, I have been trying to remember other examples (I just talked about this during an AAMP event last week), but I am not good with knowing movies or recalling titles. Some other examples of these and similar themes coming up are in comic books (few if any Asian/American men, and only sexualized/exoticized Asian/American women) and many popular TV shows (Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, etc.)
Hello Kitty is unlike anything that I have ever read. The way that she sets up her sestina and where chooses for the pauses and breaks in her work to happen is very different. I think that it is very interesting how many of her stanzas end in the middle of a sentence, mid thought. At one point she chooses to end her stanza mid word. I have seen some poems that do this, however not to the extreme that she does. They would do it once or twice in the entire poem whereas with Duhamel’s poem she almost always ends her stanzas mid thought. She definitely seems to want to make sure that the reader gets that what is publicized is not the only way of being/existing in the world. In fact she seems to think the existing only in mainstream media hinders peoples ability to experience all of the joys of life.
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