Category Archives: Week 5 readings

Min Hyoung Song, the writer of this article “How Good It Is to Be a Monkey: Comics, Racial Formation, an American Born Chinese”, as shown in the title, mainly talks about how the comics like “American Born Chinese” help the society knows how the racism was like back in the 18th & 19th centuries and  understands that race is part of our everyday lives which have been defined by both realist narratives and genre conventions.

Most of the examples Song uses in his article are from “American Born Chinese”. One of the most impressive examples Song uses in his/her article is the Wei-Chen(Chinese America) and Jin’s (Japanese American) story. The song specifically talks about this examples many times and the Wei-Chen’s keep-going exploring of self-identify. The change on this character might heartbroken some of the readers but it’s not surprising the readers as well when considering about how the every-day-exist racism can change a person. “When Jin confronts Wei-Chen for the first time after their falling out, Wei-Chen appears behind the wheel of his rice rocket, large sunglasses covering half his face and his eyes, earring dangling from both ears, …He is far from the unassuming boy that originally befriended Jin(90)”. Wei-Chen was then shown as a small, fragile, emotionally vulnerable monkey. As Song concludes, “in its absence what is revealed is a history of racial representation that remains very much a part of how Wei-Chen must continue to define himself (90)”. The big change in this character shows readers the racism makes people doing things like this, and it should never be forgotten.

One of the key-term being largely used in this article which is also connected with the example I just mentioned is “subhuman”, means less than human. It refers that only Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos were compared to animals like monkey and ape. It helps readers understand how serious the racism was like in the 18th and 19th centuries and which exactly kind of racism Song is talking about in this article.

At page 84, Song mentions the word ” Asian American masculinity” which is also connected with the Wei-Chen character and the word was valueless to the older American society. This reminds me of the earlier article we read in this class–“Who Am I? Creating an Asian American Identity and Culture”. This article also mentions about the 18th&19th – century American society tends to portrayed Asian men as a lake of masculinity or even impotent while Asian women were “reduced to “exotic” sex objects (51)”. The purpose of both of these two authors mentioning these is trying to help people image how the American-society racism was like during that time.

1. The article written by Min Hyoung Song called “How Good It Is to Be a Monkey” discusses about the comics called American Born Chinese created by Gene Luen Yang. The article is an extensive discussion about American Born Chinese comics and all the racial tensions between Asian and Asian Americans, along with the ultimate tension between Asian immigrants and themselves. The article talks about how the comics was able to show what it is like for a young Asian immigrant teenager to grow up in America. In order to do so, the comics has to throw away its light-hearted nature and take on more serious controversial topic such as race. The comics proves that it is difficult but not possible to portray by using the racial formation theory to effectively show that race can no longer be base upon a person’s look.

2. One example of how the comic portray how racism happens everyday in media by creating a character whose name is “Chin-Kee”. His name is a “grotesque stereotype of the Chinese as racially alien” (78). A person looks has nothing to do with who they are as an individual. The name “Chin-Kee” is exactly why the author suggest that there needs to be a discussion about racial formation. Without it, people will constantly label Asian American as this foreign subject who will never blend in with the society with their distinct look. Another example of how Asian immigrants are portrayed as “foreign” is how the comic mentions the story of “Monkey King”. Monkey King is a popular Chinese character that appears in Chinese movies for many years. The society that the Monkey King lives in see him as a foreign subject for his monkey-like appearance.

3. One key term that I already briefly mention is “racial formation”. This term was coined by Omi and Winant whose use the racial formation to talk about races and not only solely use appearance to talk about a certain group of people. Using racial formation, we can talk about race by examining how race causes certain conflict between that race and other races and conflict within that race itself. For example, the comics bring up a lot of tension between Asian immigrants and Asian American. These two groups share many differences and similarities at the same time. Another term that mentions a lot in the article is “comics”. Its meaning it self-explanatory but in terms of the article, comics carry a lot of meanings when it tries to bring up controversial topic. Graphic artists have to be especially brave in order to talk about races in their work. Comics often take on race too mildly and therefore, it is hard to talk about race in a serious matter when comics are mainly for young audience who might not clearly understand the term “race” and how it has been a high debated topic throughout the history.

4. This comics reminds me a lot about political cartoons, especially those that portray Asian American in either negative or positive light. Gene Luen Yang, the cartoonist forces us to physically see how racist stereotypes play out through the eyes of young characters. Just like other polical cartoon that portrays how Chinese immigrant were being treated in the the 1800s, Gene Luen Yang draws what is like to be a young Asian immigrant growing up in a American society. Politcal cartoons raises conversation and talks about controversial topics that ordinary people find it hard to talk about in everyday conversation.

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.

1. In the article Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian Accents, author Shilpa Dave mainly discusses the cultural narrative of Indian accents portrayed in “Brown Voice.” The most notable brown voice in the media comes from Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a recurrent character from the widely popular animated series on television, The Simpsons. Dave argues that the white actor that voices Apu with an Indian accent strengthens the characters personality and humor and The Simpsons utilizes Apu as a figure to represent real racial and immigration issues in the media. However, Dave notes that there is a real debate in the Indian American community that argues whether Apu, being the most notable South Asian American representation on television, is enhancing Indian popularity in the media or hindering chances of future Indian characters to appear in the media due to the fact that Apu is not voiced by an Indian American but rather a white person.

2. Apu from The Simpsons is a powerful character on television as Dave notes, “Apu is the only recurrent South Asian representation on television today, and is now a beloved popular icon” (315). However, why is Apu so popular and notable? To start Dave states that “the character of Apu offers an ideal case study to portray how South Asians are situated and understood in the popular American imagination” (316). The most distinguished feature of Apu is his voice which is practiced as what is now known as “brown voice.” Voice actor Hank Azaria gave Apu his Indian accent and thus “defined Apu and created not only a humorous speaker but a culturally popular and significant South Asian American representation on American television” (322). Dave discusses the unique nature of the Indian accent compared to other accents stating, “unlike other forms of Asian English often seen as broken English, Indian English has a unique phonetic signature in which meaning is indicated by which syllables are stressed in particular words” (317). Dave also emphasizes that the Indian accent is “foreign but understandable” (317). Although it may appear offensive in nature, the utilization of “brown voice” in The Simpsons is not targeted from critics as much due to the fact that it is practiced in an animation style. Dave notes that “because of the audience’s suspension of disbelief, animated series can often tackle issues and situations that would be unbelievable or inappropriate on live action sitcoms” (321). Animation is a powerful tool to create and visualize anything beyond imagination. Even the animators were self-aware of the controversy it may create when having a white man conduct an Indian accent stating that “the impression of a good joke trumped any concerns they might have had about the stereotype” (324). However, even outside of animations there are stereotypes that denote the appearance of Indian Americans stating, “people’s general perception that Indians speak English intelligibly (though not without an accent) amplifies the notion that all Indians are educated” (329). This perception of Indian Americans reinforces the common myth of the “model minority” that frequently prevails in the Asian community.

3. The main recurrent concept that is highlighted throughout this article is the term “brown voice.” Dave describes it as “the act of speaking in the Indian English accent associated with South Asian nationals and immigrants” (317). Hank Azaria who voices Apu from The Simpsons is the most notable individual of brown voice. Being a white actor, Azaria’s performance of an Indian accent is well received from critics and audiences alike. What makes the Indian accent unique and accessible to be well executed from just about anyone is its use of annunciation and vocals on particular words and phrases. Also, Dave notes that the Indian accent is “an accessible dose of foreignness rather than an irritating form of speaking that resembles American English” (317). It is well understood in English and does not give a sense of mispronunciations of words and phrases. It is unique in that it isn’t reliant on the arrangement of words when spoken but more dependent on the performance of the voice actor. How well the voice actor can speak and annunciate words enhances the conduct of the Indian accent. As Dave reiterates in his article, brown voice is unique, versatile, and can provide humor in certain situations.

4. Apu’s attempt at humor and satire is well received by audiences of The Simpsons despite the offensive nature of brown voice practiced by voice actor Hank Azaria. However, parallel to the controversial brown voice would be the controversial concept of “yellowface” which is defined as the portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater and other Western media. In yellowface, Asian characters portrayed on screen were played by white actors, often using makeup to approximate East Asian facial characteristics. Most notable films that depict the concept of yellowface were Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan. Swedish actor Warner Oland who played both Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan became an archetype of what became known as the “bad Asian” and the “good Asian” stereotype respectively. Fu Manchu was marked as a notorious figure during the time of the Yellow Peril and has become quite the controversial East Asian villain archetype from his fiendish design (most notably his mustache) and his faux Chinese name. He was distinctively depicted as cruel, cunning, sexual, and mystical; eventually becoming a stereotype of East Asian villains in films. Charlie Chan on the other hand was a fictional Chinese star detective. Although he represented the positive stereotypes of Asians in films, his Caucasian actor was still in controversial yellowface. He taped up his eyebrows and drank a few drinks to make his speech more halting in order to portray Asian characteristics on screen. Both characters were not well received in their performance of yellowface as Apu was in brown voice however the difference being Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were physically present on screen deliberately performing Asian characteristics from the way they dressed to how they spoke. Hank Azaria on the other hand is not physically featured on screen and is more representative of the embodiment of Apu’s voice. Although all three are performing heightened Asian characteristics from the standpoint of a white person, Apu’s performance successfully avoids the profound criticism that the likes of Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan have received in the media. Through clever and satirical humor to even cultural and spiritual references, Apu’s performance in The Simpsons allows the likes of brown voice to be acknowledged in the media of today. On a side note, Springfield Heights Institute of Technology gave me quite a good laugh in Dave’s article.

1. In this article, Shilpa Dave explains how brown voice, as displayed by the character Apu from the Simpsons, has been used to distinguish South Asians from the Asian American experience, sometimes to their benefit and sometimes to keep them from every advancing as a cultural group.
2. To support their thesis, Dave cites the episode Much Apu about Nothing in which he uses stereotypical American iconography to attempt to prove his right to citizenship in the town. Dave points out that this episode is only humorous because the audience watching this character attempting to become what he pictures as American, can never be a true cultural citizen. They also explain how brown voice inherently separates Indian Americans not only as a ‘model minority’ but as a ‘privileged minority’ as Indian English is relatively easy to understand and more socially accepted. However, this privilege has frozen South Asians in their place, and has created an identity so distinctive that it has been difficult for them to advance mass media’s perception beyond the stereotype. They explain, “The constant performance of brown voice therefore establishes one sound and one image for South Asians in the cultural imagination and hence freezes the perception of the group in a static definition” (p.318)
3. The beginning of the article centers around the concept of a “brown voice”, especially as it is portrayed by the white actor who voices the character of Apu. Dave states that this distinctive voice is used to identify “a specific racializing trait among South Asians which simultaneously connotes foreignness and class and cultural privilege” (p.314). They continue to say that this voice is used to group and generalize an entire group of people, and forces their image to remain stagnant, regardless of cultural progress. As stated about, they also use the term “cultural citizenship” to describe the desire for immigrants to be culturally accepted and seen as truly ‘American’. However, this goal is something pushed on them by American society and can affect their rights beyond culture should they choose to not follow.
4. The phenomenon Dave described of Indian Americans not fitting into any one racial category during times of segregation reminded me of The Forbidden City film we watched where the performers challenged racial lines when they travelled through the South. It proves the ridiculous notion of segregation that people from India or China can both be classified as ‘Asian’ however in a court case Indian Americans were determined to be ‘colored’ while the Chinese American performers said they were frequently able to use the white facilities without being questioned too much.

1. In Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian Accents, by Shilpa Dave, there is a particular discussion about the accents of the South Asian population and more specifically the term brown voice. The term brown voice is explained as a trait that the South Asian population has that implies that they are foreign, and this trait is their accent or voice. To further explain this, we are given an example of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from the series, The Simpsons. He explains that in the show, there is a huge emphasis on how different he is compared to the other citizens and part of the reason for that is the accent he has. This accent is what creates that cultural difference and is what set Apu is a different category than the other citizens that surrounded him in the animation series.
2. “Apu’s flawed attempt to impersonate an American with a celebrity accent attaches him to an American cultural history and hence (in his mind) to an American cultural citizenship” (315). He explains this particular scene where Apu attempts to impersonate an American accent and he personally believes that he was able to do it successfully, which makes him believe that he is similar to everyone else because of his ability to do the accent. “But to the audience (including me) this is a humorous scene because we know Apu is not culturally American. In fact when we see Apu onscreen we expect him to speak English with an accent, namely what we have been taught to think of as an “Indian accent”” (315).  This explains how people expect Apu to have a particular distinction that makes him foreign, which is his accent. This shows the term brown nose which was brought upon in the article. The audience is automatically expecting him to have an accent because they know that his ethnic identity is different from the remaining characters.
3. The focused term for this article was “brown voice” which portrays the effect an accent has on the perception of someone. He explains that when someone has an accent, there is an automatic implication about that person being foreign, which he is able to show us through the character on The Simpsons, Apu.
4. This article reminded me of the the episode of All-American Girl that we watched in class. In this episode, her mother believed that there was a cultural difference between her and the remainder of her family. In this show, her family sees her as being “too American” due to her actions that she portrays in the show. In a similar way, South Asians are being portrayed by the community as foreign based only on their accent.

In Shilpa Davé’s article, Apu’s Brown Voice: Cultural Inflection and South Asian Accents, he analyzes the notion of “brown voice” and how the presence of this portrayal of South Asians in main stream media effects their positioning in American society. Davé highlights the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from The Simpsons to show how accents and cultural citizenship are related. The portrayal of a brown voice in media creates a specific positioning of South Asians in the American imagination. Davé argues that because Apu is one of the only South Asian character in the media, it creates a narrow view of South Asians and creates a static positioning of South Asians which makes it difficult for the views of Americans on cultural citizenship to change.

Davé uses the example of Apu to show the effects that brown voice has on American racial hierarchies. Because brown voice uses correct English grammar, it portrays the idea that South Asians are more assimilated than other minorities that do not use correct grammar. This places them above other minorities but also keeps them separated from being fully assimilated due to the portrayal of this accent and how the syllables are stressed differently. Davé also uses the idea of brown voice to exemplify how racial and ethnic identities are perceived beyond physical representation and how “brown voice is instructive in thinking about how race is separated from the visual and instead voice becomes another marker of cultural subjectivity” (pg. 319).

Some key terms that Davé uses are “brown voice” and “cultural citizenship”. “The term ‘brown voice’ identifies a specific racializing trait among South Asians which simultaneously connotes foreignness and class and cultural privilege” (pg. 314). In The Simpsons, brown voice is used with Apu, as his character has the stereotypical Indian English accent and he is voiced by a white male. The term “cultural citizenship” refers to the sense of belongingness to a country based on cultural differences. This was portrayed by Apu in the episode “Much Apu about Nothing” when he tries to assimilate into American culture by dressing in typical American clothes. This exemplifies the pressure that immigrants feel to assimilate to American culture.

The idea of brown voice relates very similarly to black face or yellow face. The difference between these forms of discrimination is that brown voice is not seen as offensive because it has been portrayed in media to be humorous and not demeaning. Davé also mentions the idea of the black/white racial binary that is present in American society and how Asian Americans disrupt this idea. From my understanding of the type of racial hierarchy in American society, in order to be an acceptable minority, you must be as close to “white” as possible while distancing yourself from “black”. This can be seen throughout history by other minorities oppressing African Americans, in order to prevent themselves from falling victim to the same treatment that African Americans receive in America.

1. In Gene Yang’s comic American Born Chinese, excerpt A, he shows how we can all be quite judgemental at first glance when we first meet someone. We see depicted that a new boy in school doesn’t have any friends and tries to make one but is rejected on first impressions. The boy he is attempting to make friends claims he has other friends just on what he initially thinks of Wei-Chen Sun. This all changes when he finds out that they have a common interest; the robot toy.
2. We see evidence of this when the boy who was already in the school claims he already has friends (the football players) when Wei-Chen asks to be friends. It was clear that he didn’t have friends though as he was eating lunch alone when Wei-Chen made contact with him. The boy was obviously just not interested in making friends based on what he first saw. It wasn’t until they were both interested in the toy robot that they became friends.
3. Being a comic, there aren’t many words to define, but in this case the concept of image can be defined. Us as humans tend to judge people based on first looks rather than the person as a whole. Just like the saying “don’t judge a book based on its cover”. This is especially true in general with racial stereotypes as society tends to judge people on their race as a whole not on the content and actions of each individual.  
4. The themes within this excerpt of the comic align with many of the themes we have been looking at throughout the course of this class. How Americans tend look at the face of other cultures and try to “Americanize” them as to find a way to relate or enjoy them conveniently for them. Also how as humans in general have some form of implicit bias when it comes to first reactions and we all tend to judge others unfairly upon initial contact.  

1. In Min Hyoung Song’s “‘How Good It Is to Be a Monkey’：Comics, Racial Formation, and American Born Chinese”, the author talks about the development of Asian American racial formations through comics. The author especially talks about Yang’s American Born Chinese which described the racialism and the stereotype of Asians and Asian Americans. In addition, the author emphasizes that comics plays an important role to lead readers to consider the transformations in racial formations.

2. The author takes Gordon Yamamoto as an example. [Song 77] Gordon Yamamoto talks about the character Gordon works against racial discrimination. The author mentions that the drawings of Gordon make readers think Gordon is friendly, and it shows that visual meaning-making is a good way to make readers to accept the content in comics and consider the race and racism.
Another example is American Born Chinese. [Song 78] The author introduces that there are some points in this comic to show the consideration of race and racism. First, the character Chin-Kee shouts “Harro Amellica!” in the comic. This shows Yang used the textual storytelling to describe people’s stereotype of Chinese accent. In addition, Yang drew Chin-Kee as a person with pronounced buckteeth, small eyes and sickly pale yellow skin. This shows that Yang used the vision to describe the stereotype of Chinese people and impress readers in this way.

3. The author used the term “graphic narrative” to define a new type of comic.[Song 76] In my opinion, the graphic narrative comic is a combine of the realism comic and the genre fiction comic. Like Yang’s work American Born Chinese, he described the Asian American’s situations in real lives with a creative fiction story. In American Born Chinese, Yang described Monkey King fell into racial knowledge and he made some changes to prove himself. This implies Asian Americans are in the same situation that they have tried to know about themselves and fit into American society.

4. In this article, the author emphasized that comic is a powerful tool to lead people to consider the problems and situations in our real lives. I’d like to mention Japanese comic Crayon Shin-chan. This comic tells many daily stories which happened to Crayon Shin-chan. The readers can learn something like parents can also make mistakes from the comic. This is a wonderful comic because people will consider the problems raised by the comic, and people will be more comfortable to accept the consideration from the comics than other ways.

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.