MIRANO ASAI | staff writter
KARLA SHIRVANIAN | staff writer
Asian Americans in the Media
Unlearn Week brought many different sessions to the APU community to break stereotypes and presuppositions held. The week included “Asian Americans in the Media” held on April 2 in the Wilden Lecture Hall, where Asian American actors, musicians and artists including dynamic panel discussion which included actress Keiko Agena who played Lane Kim on the show Gilmore Girls, guitar player for bands Visiting Violet and Los Desnudos and Keiko Agena’s husband Shin Kawasaki and Traci Kato-Kiriyama, founder of the Tuesday Night Cafe and member of the spoken word group Zero3. The artists came together to discuss stereotypes in the media as well as manners things are changing and evolving.
“I wanted to bring something real world to APU. I believe all truth is God-breathed. Expanding the APU community’s perspective of what being Asian American is, to me, is a form of seeking truth,” Okamoto said.
The night was conceived from a conversation the panelists and coordinator English professor Scott Okamoto had several weeks earlier lat night over pizza. From there came the opportunity to bring these panelists to APU.
“There are my friends and this is something that we sit around and talk about all the time. So to include the APU community was a thrill,” Okamoto said.
There was a goal to answer questions for those in attendance but there was more than answers that were the goal for the night.
“I would be thrilled if they walked away with more questions than answers,” Okamoto said.
The night was designed to do more than asking questions but to stimulate thought among those in attendance.
“I hope people are thinking about how they themselves are creating space and building relationships with people, like for real, and how they are building here and beyond,” Kato-Kiriyama said.
The night began with Okamoto introducing the night and speaking about his personal experiences from stereotyping Asian Americans in the media. He said that he was once told his writings were not “Asian enough” Okamoto then proceeded to read from The Joy Luck Club because this is considered “Asian writing.”
Okamoto then discussed the issue of Asian representation in the media. Okamoto said there is always representation of the foreigner, with the sense of the other only shown in movies.
Clips from an interview with Mickey Rooney and a scene from Sixteen Candles was shown in order to show the stereotype held for Asian Americans in movies. Okamoto said he did not want to dwell on the past but “give a nod to it.”
The night then moved on discussing specific issues and ideas with the panelists.
Kato-Kiriyama and along with Edren Sumagaysay discussed how they approach how they write and what influences them to write. They said they allow their background to influence their writings but that they also try to tell the story in a manner in which people would understand.
Kato-Kiriyama talked about Tuesday Nights which she founded 10 years ago. It is an event that occurs every first and third Tuesday of the month and is free to the public.
“Tuesday nights is a multi-disciplinary arts venue. It’s a community space, it’s a LA space. We look out for artists… it is really a tool of building relationships,” Kato-Kiriyama said.
The discussion then turned to music. The panel talked about the rise of hip-hop and how it is harder for a band to succeed if the lead is Asian. Kawasaki spoke of experiences he has witnessed in the music industry.
They then discussed Asian American representation on television. The panel discussed having to choose roles with a sensitivity to properly represent Asian Americans in the media.
To end the panel discussion the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.
When an audience member commented that the panelists were “pioneers” the panelists were not sure if they fit the pioneer mold.
“No, oh my [gosh]. I am just hustling everyday and if there is an opportunity to do a project I am like yeah let’s do it. If someone on a younger generation can springboard off my back then that is a great thing,” actress Junko Goda said.
All of the speakers were there giving their perspective. None of them had all the answers but they spoke their opinion and honestly shared from their experiences.
“I am still on my journey, nothing has solidified but it’s good to hear the questions people have,” Goda said.
The night was one that brought out many people and brought about discussion and many questions. For Okamoto the night was a success.
“The fact that this many people came and heard what was presented. I do not expect that everyone fully agreed with what they heard, some people might have been challenged and offended, I hope they’re not but it is a big group. Just the fact they were eloquent and made their points I think was the goal,” Okamoto said.
The Produce of Crash Crashes APU Community
As one of the events for unlearn week 2008, Bobby Moresco, writer/ producer of Crash, visited APU and shared his experience about the film. About 30 students spent an intense one and half hours in Cougar Dome asking diverse questions, while Moresco answered using his own experiences of racial discrimination.
Bobby Moresco is a co-writer and producer of Crash, and the winner of the Academy Award’s Best Picture in 2005. In addition, Million Dollar Baby is also co-produced and developed by Moresco, and that film also won the Academy Award’s Best Picture in 2004.
Brief clips from the film were shown in the beginning, including scenes that portrayed discrimination against African Americans by a Caucasian police officer, and an Asian immigrant coming to the US to seek a better life. “When I saw the film, I was so devastated,” a sociology and global studies double major, Kelly Worcester said. “I did not want to believe that was what the world was really like, specifically, what LA was really like.”
Crash spotlighted the racial discrimination in the contemporary US society. Since it contains a powerful message for the audience, according to Moresco half the people like it and the other half hated it so much.
“Racism is even worse now in 2008 than it was in the 1960’s.” Global Studies professor, Daniel Hodge said, “Crash opens the door for all to see the ugliness of what racism can do when fully realized in all of us.”
After viewing some scenes from the film, question asking and answering begun. Most of the students asked about the process of making the film, and Moresco’s answers showed how flexible and freely he expected the audience to interpret the message in the film.
“My point is that my job as a dramatist is to explore both the dramatic condition and human condition in the story. I expect the audience to watch the film and imagine if you were in the film, how you would react in specific situations.”
Crash combines several stories, in which each character sometimes affects another story in the film as well. It shows how every choice of action affects the next action. In addition, the film also is intended for the audience to understand how a certain event occurs because every action has a concrete reason for why it happens.
Including a couple of professors, about 30 students from nursing, business, global studies and theater film television majors were gathered to listen to Moresco’s unique thoughts. Especially professor Daniel Hodge let his students in his Intercultural Communication class to go to this instead of regular class.
“APU students need to know that APU is a little ‘bubble’ in terms of its connection to the outside world, and that hopefully a film like this would begin the much needed conversation on campus regarding race and class,” Hodge said.
Although the open Q & A was on April fool’s Day, nobody thought that the situations in Crash was based on a fiction and the real world would be much different from the film. In present days, racial issues are increasing, therefore making a film like Crash is important for the American society.
