Category Archives: Media Panda

More microaggressions: the fine line between IR and racism in Ron Paul’s ad

Remember this commercial by Citizens Against Government Waste using sinophobia to reinforce the point? Here’s another one, by Ron Paul:

This is to a much lesser extent than the Chinese Professor ad, but both advertisements appeal to the natural instinct towards sinophobia to communicate a point that is unrelated to the Chinese. For CAGW, the message was, “If we don’t get our act together, America could lose to other threats… like China” and for this ad, the message is, “Our military invasion in other lands is offensive to natives and not what the people want… just imagine if China was on our land.” The advertisement also mentions Russia, appealing to the Soviet-era fearmongering. In cases like this, the comments are often split as to whether using China as the “other” is racist or not. The fact is, there is a very unclear distinction in whether comments like these are “racist” or not. That is where the realm of microaggressions lie.

In this advertisement, there is a heavy presupposition of international relations that goes into choosing China for the “What if” question. For the advertisement to be effective, it has to be a country whose potential is daunting to Americans and represents a possible, real challenge. That happens to be China, whose economic power, military number, and unclear political objectives are all areas that makes American foreign policy a little nervous. From a policy perspective, that’s reasonable and probably inevitable in order for this ad to be as effective as it was.

But think a little deeper: why do we fear those other countries? Within America, why do we fear those of another origin? It is the underlying xenophobia and occasional isolationist tendencies that flare up in times of economic and political crisis that motivates countries’ foreign policy to retreat further into its shell, to build legal or physical walls to keep out immigrants, to discourage a cosmopolitan population in order to keep out those with different origins or practices. That is, the fact that an advertisement like this is designed to send chills up its viewers’ spines means that it is already reaching an audience that shudders at the thought of having foreigners (with military power) in their midst. [This is a uniquely American privilege, because in so many other countries, that is exactly the situation.]

The appeal to the audience’s intrinsic fear of foreigners, especially the Chinese, is a microaggression. Though not overtly intended to appeal against racism towards Chinese, it still draws on fears pertaining to the Chinese – their particular political situation, military potential, economic potential, etc – to homogenize the entire country and its government as one “other” to fear. That behavior, which may be necessary at times from America’s foreign policy perspective, unfortunately reinforces these views in the people and projects itself at a local level to innocent people who have nothing to do with foreign policy: the six-year old Chinese boy going into first grade, only to meet a hostile room full of classmates whose parents have internalized the Chinese threat and express it, either overtly or covertly, in their daily lives. I’m not saying that this is completely unfounded and totally racist. The “microaggression” in this is quite oblique in comparison to so much of the media that’s out there (um, see Alexandra Wallace) and most of the video is not spent dwelling on the “Chinese threat.” But as a country that is exempt from the military occupation that is described in the video, I expect a higher standard on par with the greater privileges this country is afforded.

Great Interview with Justin Chon (Twilight and more)

I watched a couple videos that Justin Chon made and got thoroughly convinced that he’s a little quirky, but this is a really great interview where he talks about Twilight, K-Pop, making it as an Asian American actor and a ton of other stuff. It’s also cool that he runs a street wear store, the Attic. More and more respect.

Justin Chon x Soompi Interview, Talks Twilight, K-Pop, Advice, & More!

Musings in SAST 280: Avatar in China?

I love Avatar the Last Airbender, but I couldn’t help but wonder what the Chinese government would think of it if they saw it. In SAST 280 (Rivals in a Rising Asia), we were talking about Tibet and its relationship with China. The parallels between Tibet (Aang’s monks) and China (Zuko’s Fire Nation) are so similar to China’s more aggressive policies, especially during the Cultural Revolution, when much of Tibet’s religion and history was smashed. (As was the rest of China.) Aang’s spirituality and even the entire Dalai Lama selection process is exactly the same as how the Avatar is chosen in the show, though the idea of an “avatar” reflects some elements of Hinduism (as Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu), and that an avatar is of descent of a previous spiritual/heavenly deity.

My curiosity, then, arises in terms of how the CCP would perceive of this great show. Here, the imperial Fire Nation is ruled by a ruthless emperor, Zuko even has his hair shaved in a pseudo Qing braid (ponytail instead). At the same time, the types of naval warfare, armor styling, and some names seem to have elements of imperialistic Japan as well. I wonder if they’d perceive the Air Nomad genocide as a implicit jab against their aggressive Tibetan policies. Given that the Chinese were quick to ban James Cameron’s Avatar in the theaters, it makes me wonder whether they would quickly ban this as well.

On the other hand, I also think it’s interesting that this Western-created series fantasizes the nomadic, spiritual monk life, given that into the 20th and 21st century, Tibet is one of the places (along with Shangri-La, I guess) that remains romanticized and orientalized, especially by Hollywood. I’ve often been impressed by some of the plot twists and developments in this show, but at the very heart of it, so much of the foundation is based in actual history. (Ba Sing Se’s tiered cities, systematic destruction of religions, etc.) This type of inspiration is spectacular, and makes me appreciate the show’s interpretation more. But then again, I’m not hard to please. Steampunk-ify anything based in historical fiction, throw in an angsty, honorable bad guy gone good, and I’m sold.

Gender: A Perfect Size, or Why I am often skeptical about K-Pop

Much like how I started organizing my thoughts around APA topics two years ago, I’ve recently been more interested in female identity and the unique set of issues girls face. I guess, I could describe it as being “race-blind” before I came to college, and “sex-blind” before this past year? It sounds a little strange, but I mean “blind” in the sense that I was aware, but attached no thoughts or judgments to those aspects of identity, positive or negative.

I recently stumbled upon Thick Dumpling Skin, a blog started by Lynn Chen, an actress who also runs The Actor’s Diet. The blog centers around Asian American body image issues and eating disorders, which is such an important topic that doesn’t get as much attention as I think it deserves. I definitely grew up with pressure from my family (especially extended family), random old ladies in China, media, and even more closer to home, my friends. There is a sense that all Asian girls are 5’1″ and barely over 100 lbs, and the almost excessive obsession with Asian models (especially kpop stars) is very obscuring to girls who want to feel healthy and beautiful but aren’t Size 0.

Much like Asian Americans sometimes find themselves held to two standards (double standards, even), Asian girls face two times the pressure to be small and petite, while also being curvy and sexy in the more traditional American sense. That’s just not possible. Fat deposits don’t work that way. I know of a couple girls who have spoken to me that they would be interested in getting breast implants, or are constantly lamenting their lack of curves. Guys and girls alike look towards role models like SNSD as beautiful women, when they are a group of performers who were chosen not only for their talent, but also their phenotypical qualities.

For the purposes of group cohesion and marketing, even their leg/torso proportions match up. To perform and present themselves well is their profession, and they are put under incredible pressure to maintain their physical shape. Now, I’m not hatin’ on SNSD (they’re talented and cute!) and apparently their trainer has them on a healthy 1,500 calorie diet. But I’ve also seen a lot of ridiculous diets come out of this media culture that involves eating next to nothing.

From my personal standpoint, I’ve felt like there is much less acceptance to body type variation. My friends were always thin and small, and I was the one person with a huge, lumbering metabolism. Most if it is genetics, it’s really hard to do that much. I would eat 1000 calories or less a day, no meat, never drink soda or alcohol, never eat after 8pm, run 3 miles every day, and still, my roommate will sometimes even lose weight on a diet of pizza, late night McDonalds, alcohol, and candy. I don’t know how ethnicities play into health, but I’m guessing by some genetics, many Asian girls can stay slim without trying at all. But for everyone else, it is a constant uphill struggle, made even more difficult by societal pressure.s

So, I’m really happy to see Lynn Chen’s blog. I enjoyed her food blog as well, but the Thick Dumpling Skin blog calls some much needed attention to an issue that is rarely brought up. Not all Asian girls have to deal with this problem. The ones that do, whether it is an imagined problem or not, find it difficult to speak up. I’m glad we have a place to do so now.

P.S. I had never heard of her movie, Saving Face before — I’m going to check it out! Looks interesting, and explores LGBT/generational issues as well. Pretty cool.

Legend of Korra

I’m excited. I’m really, really excited. Tony sent me a link for the official confirmation of the “Legend of Korra” series, an Avatar: The Last Airbender spin-off.

Kay, so first of all, I don’t know why that was on Wall Street Journal of all places…

And secondly, I have been instinctively trained to cringe any time anyone mentions “spin off” shows. (I have a younger brother: once I saw 5 minutes of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, and it was enough to send me into convulsions.)

Thirdly, the picture of Korra looks like a man! She is humongous!

BUT I’M STILL EXCITED! I found myself liking that cartoon series a lot more than I expected, especially by the end. (I’m also glad Raymond, Charles, and a bunch of APALI people got on board too.) I’m just going to ignore the movie like it never happened, and put my faith into this series instead. The creators mentioned it would be more “steampunk,” which is always  good. You can’t get enough steampunk — even if the story and characters suck, the environment makes it a redeeming quality. Bonus points because LoK is an animated series, which means artists get to go wild. If this turns out sucking, my heart is going to be broken. I can only take one more bad hit like the Last Airbender movie before I give up on this series.

The Last Airbender: What Came Out of the Shyamalan Fuss?


Despite having already heard the bad reviews and steadying myself not to go see The Last Airbender, I got dragged to see it by a friend. Also, I was also curious to see what came of all of the ruckus made over the casting calls, so I wanted to check out exactly how Shyamalan handled this movie. So… okay. I’m going to try to give a fair opinion of this movie.First, I love the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. I liked it when it was way uncool to like a Nickolodeon cartoon (and it still is…) but hey, I thought it was inventive, creative, and well implemented. Fans of anime are probably more likely to accept the plot and character styles, and after the initial shock of Nickolodeon producing a pretty good animated series passes, it is easy to like. The original cartoon’s characters had great character development, the inspiration for the world they lived in and the element bending they were able to do made it an overall great show, especially towards the last two seasons. The level of thought put into the parallels between reality and the Avatar world in the original cartoon is probably what made the show appeal so much to older audiences, when it was probably targeted at more of a younger crowd for its original creation. Also, because of the variety of characters, it seems to draw both genders in pretty evenly. With a series that has this type of fan following, when M. Night Shyamalan got the rights to produce the movie, there was understandably a lot of anticipation for what the live action would bring. It had a potential to be really, really good.

But then, it went downhill. Starting from the casting, which was questionably racist (enough to start quite a grassroots movement on the internet). Penn’s very own Daily Pennsylvanian even mentioned this casting call here, citing the casting director as asking, “We want you to dress in traditional cultural ethnic attire… If you’re Korean, wear a kimono. If you’re from Belgium, wear lederhosen.” I would like to hope that most people who have gone to fifth grade in America can surmise kimono = Japanese and lederhosen = German, but let’s overlook that. The cultural elements of the original show drew very heavily from Inuit and pan-Asian cultures. The Fire Nation’s characters have Japanese-esque names (Zuko, Iroh, Ozai, Roku) though some have Chinese influences (General Zhao), they write in Chinese (perhaps an older time in East Asia), the architecture is very obviously Eastern Asian (pagoda pagoda temple pagoda), and their ships are perhaps inspired by late 1800s-1900s/industrializing Asia. The Water tribe people live in the Earth’s poles and observe Inuit lifestyles. The Earth Kingdom’s capital is called “Ba Sing Se,” observes a similar governmental structure as that of historical East Asia, everyone wears those types of flowing robes, and the names are like “Dai Li” and “Toph Beifong” (not so much the Toph, though). It’s clear that while the cultures aren’t imitated exactly and weren’t meant to be imitated exactly, the obvious East Asian influence is there.

The ruckus came from the very evident casting of an entirely Caucasian leading cast (Aang, Katara, Sokka — everyone’s names, by the way, are pronounced differently from the cartoon and it grates on fans’ nerves). Here is a great kid’s show which is clearly inspired by East Asian culture, so why aren’t the leads cast as East Asians for the sake of accuracy with the show? If this show about Asian-looking people can be popular, why can’t this Hollywood movie be popular as well? I was getting ready to completely boycott this film when Jesse McCartney was rumored to be cast as Prince Zuko, the slightly emo, banished Fire Nation prince who serves as the villain in Season 1 and turns good towards the end. Instead, Shyamalan seemed to bend a little and cast him as Dev Patel (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) instead. So, with a South Asian prince, the entire Fire Nation immediately turns Indian. Hey, at least it’s moving to the …. same continent? I am relieved at least that Shyamalan cared enough about the “racebending” to make the architecture of the Fire Nation more South Asian than the Chinese style temples of the original show. But why?

The plus side: at least there wasn’t any yellowfacing. Well, in the most literal sense. I didn’t see anyone with taped up eyes or obvious attempts to try to be East Asian. They just weren’t. Katara and Sokka’s family in the Southern water tribe were the only caucasian family there, and they were surrounded by a bunch of East Asian extras who stood around looking destitute. Even if I approached this from a color-blind perspective, I don’t know if I was just supposed to ignore the fact that they were the only white people there or pretend that they’re actually the same as the villagers surrounding them. That is, are they playing Asian people or does race not matter at all? There doesn’t seem to be any logical sense in anything, since the Earth Kingdom appears to be made of Asian and Pacific Islander refugees (including one earthbending refugee group where all of the Asian extras huddle looking very third-world, and mutter English lines without an accent), and there is one random black village. Monk Gyatsu is… a very jolly looking black guy. The Air Nomads were this weird mix of the kind of monasteries one would see in Laos or Cambodia, with people from all over. If it were truly a “cosmopolitan” world where race was irrelevant, then the casting of the Air Nomads would make the most sense. There were Indians, white people, black people, Asians, one Hispanic-looking boy, and it looked like more of a world where race was irrelevant. That’s fine. But it just gets hard to ignore the entire villages of Asian side characters and the glaringly Caucasian main characters with Asian-sounding names.

I’m also not sure how to handle the cultural influence of the Fire Nation being casted off as Indian rather than East Asian. Somewhere in the transition, only about 75% of the cultural influences got carried over. Their names are still East Asian. Rather than writing in Chinese and they write in this weird pseudo fake-Chinese maybe-Sanskrit mix. I really don’t know how they intended to do this movie when they had cast blonde boy band star McCartney. It makes sense if I think of the Indian influences as Shyamalan pulling off of what he knew (presumably he was more comfortable adapting his own culture than trying to manifest this East Asian cultural influence), but why? This movie clearly found enough English speaking East Asian and Pacific Islander actors to fill the ranks of the Earth Kingdom extras that get pushed around this whole movie. I don’t even know what to think about the Water Tribe. They started out Asian in the south, minus the main characters, and by the time they got to the north, they were like… Russian, except Princess Yue was played by Seychelle Gabriel who is like… Latina. What the heck is going on?

Okay, okay, so I’ve griped enough about the problems with racial consistency and casting of main characters entirely as Caucasians. The actual acting by Katara and Sokka were so painful that within the first thirty seconds of the movie, I was squirming in my seat. They were stiff, unnatural, and unbelievable as characters. They spent the majority of their on-screen time gaping straight on at the camera. I’ve heard that most people believed Noah Ringer, Aang’s character, did better than expected. He wasn’t… as bad…. as he really could have been, but his inexperience shows as well. Everybody does the “wait-2-seconds-before-I-respond” awkward pause, so there was no chemistry between the characters. The three main characters were just so stiff and stilted that it made the special effects and already difficult-to-accept fantasy world even harder to get absorbed in. Plus, the main set for the first scene looked like it was filmed indoors with a paper backdrop. Shyamalan spent so much money on the special effects for later battles in the movie, but he couldn’t make the first five minutes of the movie look like something that wasn’t produced before the 1980s.

The plot of the first half of the movie is understandably rushed and condensed. There is a lot of backstory that occurs in the first season, with the Fire Nation’s genocide, Aang’s identity as the Avatar, what exactly the Avatar is, what happened to all the Airbenders, and all this Avatar jargon that would massively confuse anyone who didn’t follow the main series. I’m not really going to fault them on that condensing, except that the random Earth Nation encounters with “third world Asians” who are unable to help themselves was a little irking. Surprisingly…. the CGed animals (the humongous flying bison Apa and flying lemur Momo) didn’t suck enough to stick out annoyingly. The fact that the Fire Lord Ozai and Zuko’s evil sister Azula had absolutely no presence can also be faulted to the fact that the actors are all noobs. Seriously, I think some of the extras were better actors than them. The Earth bender they encounter could have easily played General Zhao.

The main part of the movie is focused on the Seige of the North, which is the conclusion of Season 1. It’s a fairly epic battle and they spend a lot of time talking about the Spirit World and how important it is, which is not really emphasized in the main series because… it’s lame. Sokka and Katara’s grandmother gives this speech in the beginning of the movie about how important the Spirit World is and how they can win this battle by the power of… heart…. (gag) that I almost had to leave the theater then. They manage to hit on all the important parts in the Seige of the North series though, including Zuko’s kidnapping of Aang, killing of the moon spirit, Yue dying, Zhao losing, and the Fire Nation being repelled, and it’s in this area that the special effects are most believable. The semi-decent job done with the climactic battle of this movie is ruined afterwards by the really awkward “cliffhanger” leading into the next movie, about Ozai sending Azula to go hunt Aang and Zuko and such. Are the second and third seasons even going to be made after this movie tanks? I dunno…


This is movie is every bit as awkward, stilted, and questionably offensive as the majority says, but there was ONE thing that I found acceptable. As uncomfortable as I am shifting the entire influence of the Fire Nation in my head from East to South Asian, Zuko and his uncle Iroh are actually suitable casts, if I take this movie independently from the series. Dev Patel is probably the most experienced actor in this movie, and he did a good job of playing a conflicted prince, though his character in the beginning was a little awkward as well. (He’s supposed to be a very angry guy, but he and everyone else in this movie always paused for 1-2 seconds before reacting.) Iroh is not the funny, wise, fat guy that he is in the series, but he has an air of goodness and wisdom that Iroh channels. Zuko’s best part was in the Siege of the North, in a brief moment when he expresses his uncertainty about whether he would fight Zhao or follow what Iroh says and pull back. That is the most expression I have seen in this entire movie, and that 3 seconds made me accept the different adaptation of the Fire Nation and Dev Patel’s casting.

I really do not know if I see a future in this version of the movie. Maybe, if somebody else took this movie up, recast Sokka and Katara, and tried to make everything flow more smoothly, it could work. Honestly, except for the fight scenes, everything looked like it was produced twenty years ago.

I’m very uncertain how I feel about yellowface in this movie, since minorities always tend to be very sensitive on how they are represented in the media (since it is so rare that they are presented…) and will probably gripe if their one largely Asian-influenced show is cast so that the Caucasians happen to be the protagonists and other races as helpless extras or villains.  Should I be upset that perhaps Paramount was afraid that a movie casting entirely non-white characters wouldn’t be popularly accepted by American audiences? (Nobody in the entire series really looks white, though Aang might come closest as a raceless bald kid.) On the other hand, should I as the viewer be “colorblind” as the intention of the casting claimed to have intended? That is, is it enough that this movie, which is SO STRONGLY Asian influenced, feature so many Asian characters despite the main characters being white?

We could argue about this race issue forever, but even despite all of that, this movie was awkward and stilted. The fight scenes made it marginally bearable. The special effects could use a lot of work. The soundtrack for the show, which was great, was nothing impressive in the movie. Dev Patel and his uncle unexpectedly did a moderately adequate job with their roles. After the initial shock of the main influence of the Fire Nation shifting from Chinese to Indian passed, it wasn’t bad and was pretty consistent. (While the Earth Nation seems to be happy mixed Third World land, the villainous Fire Nation is 100% South Asian.) This was a debacle by all means, but a small part of me still hopes and prays that someone will take on the 2nd and 3rd movies and do a much better job. Recast everybody if you have to…. this series would be worth a great adaptation. Unfortunately, this ended up more like Dragonball, which falls in the category of Bad Live Actions We Do Not Talk About.

P.S. In the previews, I saw a preview for The Green Hornet. WTF JAY CHOU IS IN IT?! Never in my life did I imagine Jay Chou would be in a movie with Seth Rogen.

Asian American Jersey Shore Spin-Off

Jersey Shore for Asians? I’m not really sure how I feel about this. I don’t even watch the regular Jersey Shore, though I’m kind of curious how this is going to turn out. I’ve always been a little disdainful of this kind of lifestyle, called “over Americanized” in Asia and just trashy in general. (Other trashy reality shows offend me greatly too; I don’t even bother watching them.) I’m probably going to steer clear from this show because regardless of who’s in it, it’s probably going to be nauseating to watch because I’ve never seen one of these docu-soaps done well. (Except for We Got Married. I think my mentality is just different…) However, I am curious how they’re going to work in the “Asian American” part of the show, if at all.

EDIT: Just looked up an update on how this shoe is going, and it seems to be filmed in Los Angeles’ Koreatown with a cast of barflies that remind me greatly of every Asian greek gathering I’ve ever been to…

A Censorship on Asian Americans in Film

Why did the cast EVERYBODY but East Asians in Avatar? The fire nation is SO influenced by imperial Chinese culture it is not even funny, and by all means, the Fire Nation is the bad guys. Even if there is such a strong sinophobia in US politics and culture in the past few years, they should at least acknowledge Avatar’s Oriental influences rather than casting South Asian (Indian), Iranian, Hispanic American, African American, and multiple caucasians for the role of the fire nation. I completely agree that there is a very prevalent sinophobia in American films and media, and it disappoints me that by taking this route, Chinese-American actors are stifled and unable to break into the industry. (This is a compilation of Chinese mentions in American media, however.) Still, I refuse to believe that there are not enough qualified Asian-American actors who could fill the roles, and frankly, it’s almost as bad as Anthony Quinn playing Kublai Khan and all the old films with Caucasian actors playing Oriental characters. Taping up your eyes ain’t gonna cure it all, guys.

Wang Lee Hom’s Fusion Music

I’m very intrigued by Wang Lee Hom’s interesting style – to know that he grew up in Rochester, NY is surprising, and like how Shanghai Restoration Project and Far East Movement mixes modern/traditional music, I’m a little surprised at his incorporation of traditional opera in his song “Beside the Plum Blossoms,” given how popular his music is now. FM is a much more… modern interpretation of this fusion. It’s also definitely more Western, whereas Lee Hom’s music is definitely more East Asian-oriented. I’d be surprised to see him get really popular in mainstream America, but he’s shown some success here.

Oh, MIA is one of those cross-cultural musicians as well! And she is definitely mainstream, even more so now that Slumdog is so popular. What does this bode for the cross-cultural future? I’m definitely seeing a pattern towards these inclinations in music, film, media, and social environments in general… (but then again, you also have those unfortunate 4.9.09 KASA incidents…)