Blog Post 4: “Cyberspace Y2K: Giant Robots, Asian Punks”

Posted on September 3, 2018 by by | 1 Comment
  1. In the Article “Cyberspace Y2K: Giant Robots, Asian Punks”, by Rachel Rubin, she talks about how Asian American lives have been influenced by zines and with the introduction of zines the “Asian American image” could be changed. Asian Americans at the time used the internet to publish both parodic and serious zines to put their voice out somewhere.
  2. According to Iijima, the “Asian American identity is a deliberate and motivated thing: experiential rather than biological, grounded in the present as much as or more than in the past” (p.5). This quote means that for Asian American cyberzine writers, who’s families are immigrants, they can use the invention of the Internet as a opportunity to make people aware of their culture and history. Struggles of Asian American families can be voiced through the Internet for people to read. With the coming of Asian culture reaching mainstream American media, “zine production, with its anti-professional stance and its edgy aesthetic, would snowball at precisely this cultural moment” (p.14). The Asian American image would change following both mainstream media such as Jackie Chan Films, Pokemon, and Hello Kitty and print and cyberzines.
  3. A keyterm the author introduces is “zine”. Zines are any kind of non-commercial amateur publications someone can put up through print or the Internet. These publications have radically changed the entertainment industry on a national scale.
  4. Today, people send both satirical and serious messages through social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram in the same way Asian American’s used zines in the early 21st century. Using these platforms, cultural images can change. For example, the YouTuber David So uses his popular YouTube channel to create a strong Asian American image of a minority family that has struggled, fought through it, and pursued their dreams, all in a satirical manner. David So makes videos documenting his life and also makes videos if him ranting on certain topics.
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