Where Have All the Asians Gone?

You can buy into the pop culture and idolize Tina Fey and Angelina Jolie, but there must be times when you sit back and wonder, "Where Have All the Asians Gone?"

Thanks to Wesley Chan of Wong Fu Productions (the creators of "Yellow Fever") and Twitter, I recently read this article on CNN entitled "Five rising Asian-American stars to watch." Here's the link for your skimming pleasure: http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/29/five-rising-asian-american-stars-to-watch/. If you don't really feel like clicking, here's the shortlist (hopefully not in any order):

1) Far East Movement

2) David Choi

3) Brenda Song

4) Aaron Yoo

5) Wong Fu Productions

When I was in high school, I wrote an article for a faux magazine project about how there are only a handful of Asian actors for Asian-specific roles (Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Lucy Liu, etc). Not surprisingly, nearly all of the ones I named were Chinese. This is not the case presently, as I find most Asian-American actors to be Korean (Aaron Yoo above, John Cho, Ken Jeong, and Sandra Oh to name some of the more prominent ones). But I'm sure as hell not going to stand here and wonder where all the Chinese actors have run off to for the past 10 years and why Korean actors have filled that Asian niche when we have a collective issue on our hands.

The fact that this list exists proves what little influence Asians have on the American pop culture. To drop big Asian names like these is sadly merely saying, "These are the biggest guns we've got. You probably don't know them, though." The fact that I point and gleefully shout "ASIAN!" whenever I spot one on TV is definitely telling us something about how rare of an occurrence it is. (Speaking of Glee, I'm glad to find two Asians in the cast! Jenna Ushkowitz as a semi-main, secondary character and Harry Shum Jr as a tertiary one aka "that Asian guy that dances.")

Over the past couple of years I have been noticing an increase in Asians in the media. Barney will, from time to time, try to pick up an Asian girl on How I Met Your Mother, and it's no mistake that America is becoming familiarized with John Cho's face from roles both Asian (reprising George Takei's role as Sulu in the new Star Trek and portraying our generation's Cheech & Chong as the pot-loving, burger-chasing Harold of Harold and Kumar) and race-neutral (Cho is riveting as an ill-fated FBI agent on Flash Forward).  I've also started to notice the abundance in ABC Family's sidekick characters (Greek, 10 Things I Hate About You, Melissa & Joey), which I consider a huge step forward.

I wonder if it isn't about where we've gone, but where we're going. Most Asians in America haven't been here for too long. I'd guess that about 90% of the ones that I know are first or second generation. How many Asians in America can't even speak English (a majority of my family, that's for sure)? Certainly if we want roles that aren't Asian stereotypes (no disrespect to Jackie Chan) then we have to be able to play those parts. Let's think about it in reverse for a bit. How would the Caucasian community in Korea feel? How can they have better representation and better roles than playing the white-man-from-America-who-seems-really-nice-and-can-even-speak-Korean-but-ends-up-being-a-drunkard (yeah, I'm talking to you, Sad Love Story).

All I'm saying is to give it time. We're new to this "being in the American media" thing, so we have to break out somehow. With every mention of "Asian-American stars to watch," we gain a little bit more presence and recognition. Sir Isaac Newton once said (and my professor ALWAYS said), "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." We are building a path, and everyone is contributing to our future.

Representation is another story all together. We'll save Shelby Woo for another day as well.

Take care of the Earth. Recycle or Burn

Origins

Welcome to the very first post of Twinkie Town! Like most blogs, this first entry will serve as an introduction to my style (aka flavor, or as we say in my hood, FLAY-VAH), topics of interests, and origin of the blog's name.

twin-kie (n)

1: a yellow sponge cake with cream filling manufactured by Hostess

2: an indestructible and imperishable substance (see THE SIMPSONS)

3: a person of Asian (usually Chinese) descent who has been assimilated into the American culture (Synonyms: banana, ABC, toe-gee , tu2 sheng1 )

This blog takes its origins from the third definition. Basically it means someone who is ethnically Asian (yellow on the outside), but culturally American (white on the inside!).

I grew up in San Francisco, so there was no shortage of Asians. My first language was Cantonese, but I soon learned English. I'm not exactly sure how or when, because my parents probably didn't speak more than 5 words of English when I was a baby. My brother knew English from school, so he must have spoken at me, and I must have hung onto his every word (just like now! Aww, he's my big bro!) until I acquired English as my second language. That's my linguistic point of view. If you want to hear the cute story my mom tells then I picked up English from watching Disney Sing-Along tapes. I do have an affinity for sing-alongs... Anyways, I recall speaking perfect English by the time I entered preschool.

When I was in the 1st grade my mother's family came over from Vietnam (Chinese people living in Vietnam! It's a common occurrence and a story for another day). My grandparents as well as 2 aunts and 3 new uncles (my mom has 12 siblings... a story for another day indeed) moved in with us. As a child, this was the best thing EVER. I had so many people to play with and there was never a shortage of food as I think my grandma cooks 24/7. Note that all of these people came from Asia not knowing much English either.

So how is it that I turned into a Twinkie? How did I turn into a "toe-gee" ridiculed by my relatives about being a white girl born into the body of a Chinese one?

Let this be a lesson on the power of American societal pressures and the media. Somewhere along the way I felt the need to suppress my Chinese culture to become more "American." I feel like this is a common situation in the development of Asian-Americans.

1) raised in Asian environment

2) start school system and introduced to American culture

3) become immersed in American culture and feel the need to assimilate

4) increase the amount of English spoken in the home ("Chinglish")

5) if you don't use it, you lose it. Chinese language ability decreases, unknowingly

6) realize that the Asian culture is very valuable and attempt to retrieve it

7) solidify identity as an Asian-American

While this blog won't necessarily focus on Asian topics, it will certainly be the reflection of an Asian-American mind. Being Asian-American is not something that I can pull myself away from.

Thanks for reading! I need a cool sign-out. How about, "Recycle or burn, people! Take care of the Earth!" Too preachy? We'll work on it.