Throughout this class we have discussed what it means to be an Asian in American and Asian American. It seems appropriate now to question what it means to have an authentic representation of Asian/Asian American identity. The Clint Eastwood directed film Gran Torino makes an attempt to display an "authentic" Hmong community. What does it mean to have a white director create an "authentic" Asian American portrayal? And in our final class we read the poems of our fellow classmate, MFA student Lisa Kwong, which focused on her experience as an ABC (American Born Chinese), and we discussed the feedback she received about her writings from other students in her program. I am particularly interested in our discussion of what constituted an Asian American voice concerning Chinese food.
Our discussion on Gran Torino focused a lot on masculinity, Walt’s and Thao’s, but I found myself drawn to the depiction of the Hmong community in the film. For the most part the Hmong community had their “Asianness” on display more than their Americanness. There was little inclusion of the Hmong community doing normal “American” activities, but instead they were shown having large gatherings where many of the people seemed to have an inability to speak English and where they practiced Eastern traditions. The only Hmong people who seemed to be a part of the American community were the youth in the film, specifically Sue, Thao, and Youa. Never are there depictions of Hmong people going to work. And they seem to be incapable of even keeping their homes in a decent condition, evident through Walt having Thao doing repair work on the homes in the neighborhood.
Denise introduced a few other facts about the film that I found interesting, one being how the Hmong people in this film were perceived as being a new Asian group in the U.S. Another was that Clint Eastwood wanted the Hmong people in the film to act as “natural” as possible and cast actors with little previous acting experience in order to capture an “authenticity”. And perhaps more thought-provoking on this topic was Bee Vang’s (Thao) criticism of the film’s portrayal of the Hmong community and how the film was edited to render him a pathetic figure. This last part seems a direct challenge to Gran Torino’s attempt at authenticity. But why is it even important to have an authentic Asian/Asian American portrayal on the screen? I think the biggest indication is the fact that however unfortunate and inaccurate it may seem many people still take what they see on screen to be a truthful representation, as evident through the questions Bee received asking whether or not he was actually in a gang.
As we ended our discussion of Gran Torino we included the voice of an Asian American poet. Even in the discussion of the poems she shared with us we somehow turned to the topic of what being Asian American actually means. She shared with us some of the feedback she received from people in her program who suggested she change the food items in her food because they seemed stereotypical. Even in this instance there seems to be an issue of authenticity, which seems ironic considering Lisa’s poems deal a lot with the frustration of feeling outside of the Chinese community and the fact that she is perceived intragroup as being too American.
I’m not suggesting that I am any closer to an idea of what constitutes an authentic Asian/Asian American identity, or that there even is an authentic identity or portrayal. It seems there isn’t even a clear concensus about this within group. If Lisa’s poems are any indication, authentic Asian/Asian American identity or portrayal is a very contested and complex question.
Thank you, Holly. I will try to post in a few days what I've learned about authenticity in Asian-American Lit from my final project research.
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