Author Archives: Eduardo Magdaleno

1. In Shilpa Dave’s article, “Apu’s Brown Voice”, he focuses on defining the term “brown voice” and argues how people interpret racial and cultural identity just by voice. He explains that the “brown voice” is connected to South Asians, and to further explain and back up his point he brings up Apu from the very famous American T.V show “The Simpsons.” He also points out how although Matt Groening and writers did not want to apply any negative connotation by using the voice, it made Apu a country-wide phenomenon and created this racial stereotype and expectation to South Asians.
2. As mentioned before, Shilpa uses Apu as an example to explain how the “brown voice” results in a stereotype for South Asians. The first thing Shilpa does before furthering the connection between the “brown voice” and Apu, he defines the term. He defines the “brown voice” as the “act of speaking in an Indian English accent associated with South Asians…” and then explains how it represents the “vocalization of the model minority”, where if you hear someone with the accent, you assume they are successful (317). Now because “The Simpsons” is very popular, Apu became a very famous character. So as a result from his popularity, he “emerges as a highly politicized representation of a Hindu and India who fulfills the ‘model minority’ stereotype,” (323). And now all South Asian were linked the Apu and his success within the show. After explaining the connection from the “brown voice” and Apu, he ends his essay by stating how the use of it is changing.  There are new Indian and Indian American directors who are attempting to change that stereotype. An example he gives is from a movie that M. Night Shyamalan is in, ‘Sixth Sense’, where he is a physician, and “uses his American voice before he comes” which takes away the “brown voice” (331).
3. The term “brown voice” is the main concept that Shilpa defines and explains throughout his entire article. As discussed before, the way he defines this term he created is “act of speaking in an Indian English accent associated with South Asians.” He originated this term from the character Apu. He describes this concept of the “brown voice”  He describes it as a political term as well, since it links with the success of South Asians when they hear that voice, which also connects to the model minority, as described before. It is an “instructive in thinking about how race is separated from the visual and instead voices become another marker” (318).
4. Hank Azaria, who plays Apu, was a white american. So again we see this white american playing another culture. What this reminds me of is yellow face, where white americans played Asian Americans in the movie of past. An example can be from the “Forbidden City” where E. Alyn played Wong Li in the movie, and a lot of other characters being played by whites as well. This act of yellow face is the same situation that happens in “The Simpsons” with Apu.

1. Sarah Moon Cassinelli in her article, ” “If we are Asian, then are we funny?”: Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl as the First (and Last?) Asian American Sitcom,” discusses Margaret Cho’s experience in her show “All American Girl”, while also arguing how the first sitcom featuring an all Asian family failed because it was unable to correctly portray the “true” or “real” life of an Asian family.

2. Cassinelli first explains the importance of the show and how this show could have been a milestone for many minorities as it was an advancement for them in television, however instead of focusing on comedy it “focused on the ideas they had regarding ethnic authenticity,” which unfortunately led to show being canceled (131). She goes on to explain how the show focused too much on Asian qualities can gives several examples. The first example she gives is how the show was meant to be and what end up being the result. The sitcom was going for a family that shows two different generations and cultures, an “original” Asian culture, and the new Asian American culture. The hard part came was how to show the “real” Asian American culture. The producers ended up focusing too much on “a rendition of an Asian American family that meets stereotypical expectation” and ended up having “a one-dimensional portrayal of characters” (132). Even Margaret Cho argues how this ended up not showing the true diversity that Asian Americans are. Another example is in the title itself. A show about an all Asian family and leading Asian female role led critics and the audience assume that it is mocking it’s Asian viewers by the “implication of the title is not worthy enough to be included” (135).

3. A key term discussed by Cassinelli is the model minority. She defines model minority as “characterized by obedience, self-control, individualism, and “loyalty to the needs of the nuclear family”” (140). In “All-American Girl” the one who portrayed the model minority was the brother of Margaret Kim, Stuart. While Margaret was the “rebellious, American Persona,” Stuart was the “inverse” of her (139). This contrast can be seen in the first episode Cassinelli describes, where Margaret is arguing how everyone in the family is American, and emphasizing how “EVEN Stuart is American” (139).

4. Most of what Cassinelli is talking about has been seen through many other other forms of media. Many stereotypes have been portrayed through the course of time. Examples can be the very famous Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu’s in cinema. One film that reminds of this sitcom is “Flower Drum Song”. Wang Ta can be portrayed as the Margaret of the film, and as well as other characters in the show. Either way, it was not an uncommon thing, the unfortunate part of this show as how recent it was, and how much of step it could have taken if show was successful.

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1. In John Fong’s blog, “Beyond Finishing The Game: A Look At Asian Americans Grassroots Outreach”, he discusses the biggest challenge Asian Americans cinema faces, access to the people. He argues how throughout the years Asian American films have had a difficult time in marketing and outreach because of barriers they face, and one of the main reason he believes is because large companies aren’t funding the marketing. After explaining the problem, Fong talks about how they were able to overcome this obstacle and spread the word on their film through grassroots.
2. John Fong backs up his argument on how Asian American films are not able to market their film because of they are”not flush with cash reserves” (Fong 3). The reason behind their low budget for marketing is because large companies are “reluctant to invest dollars in releasing a film in a market that they don’t know much about” (Fong 2). The way films crew grew support was through the community. All Asian American films one way or another “employ an aggressive grassroots strategy” to be able to fund their marketing (Fong 4). He then gives several examples of films that were able to fund their budget and have access to the people’s eyes. An example being the movie “The Debut” in which their crew and staff spent “several weeks in the Bay Area before the opening doing an immense amount of meetings and presentations” (Fong 8).
3. The main term that is brought on by Fong is the term “grassroots”. Grassroots definition is essentially the most basic level of an organization. In terms of grassroots in Asian America cinema, these grassroots were held within the community. The grassroots that the film’s crew and staff practiced are events such as “campus visits, connections with community-based organizations, opening night parties, entire screenings bought out by employee groups” and many more was done in their effort to bring attention to their film (Fong 5).
4. As mentioned before Asian films have had trouble in getting their movie out to the community. The blog post was written in 2007, and truth is I have never heard of many Asian American films either. It was not until recently where the film “Crazy Rich Asians” was coming to many theaters. This shows the progress that these films have made since then. It is also the first all Asian cast film that has been created in Hollywood, so this makes it an even better achievement in cinema.

In Lisa Sun-Hee Park’s “Assimilation”, she focuses on the definition of the word “assimilation” and how the word has come to mean a race or ethnic group adopting and becoming one of the other culture, in this specific case, how Asian Americans “assimilated” to become white. To explain the definition of the word, Park first takes us through the history of the word and how it has been shaped over history. Park explains how Du Bois. in his 1897, said there was no need for the word, it was an excuse for racism, as he saw “racism as the problem” (Park 14). Then further down the line, Robert E. Park continues this discussion in another view point, as he is for assimilation, since he saw it as “a solution to racial difference” (Park 14). After going through the history of the word, he uses Asian Americans as the “perfect” example. Park how this group that were once “low-skilled, low-wage laborers” were now assimilated into “enjoying high education achievement, good (white) neighborhood…” (Park 16). Essentially, since the Asian Americans assimilated to the white culture, participated in interracial marriages, and more, they were able to be successful in America cause of it.

Throughout passage, Park introduces two main terms and concepts. The most apparent one is defining the term “assimilation.” She introduces many different definitions of the words through different perspectives of several authors. As mentioned before, Du Bois defines it as to “absorb into white America” and Robert Park defined it as inevitable and a solution to racial difference (Park 14). The other concept Park introduces is “model minority.” Park describes it as “assimilation exemplified” and discusses how Asian Americans are the model minority, since most have found success by assimilated into white culture in many different ways.

Lisa Sun-Hee Park’s definition of the word assimilation can be seen in “A Letter to My Sister”, by Lisa Park, where she writes to her passed sister who committed suicide. Her sister had committed suicide because she was always trying to fit in. This is an example of an assimilation, only it is hyperbolised as the sister had done everything, even alter her physical appearance (Park “A Letter to My Sister” 65). She also goes onto bring upon another idea that is referenced in Sun-Hee’s passage, the “model minority.” She argues that it is not doing well, and describes it as a lie, and is used to punish those who do not succeed in assimilating (Park “A Letter to My Sister” 67).