Becoming American: The Chinese Experience Part I

This documentary is about how the Chinese started their journey back in the 1800s. It starts off by showing students here from the U.S with Chinese background going to back to China to study and find out more about their ancestry. As one of the students mentions when they ask their ancestors about their journey of how they got here, they only mention what year they got here but usually not how nor how their life was back home because at often times it was painful. When the Chinese moved here first to California they did not know what they would come here to but just left they country in hopes of a better life and a way to make money and send it back home. During that time Chinese villagers didn't usually leave their villages but had to make drastic changes in order to get out of poverty. Once here their background in farming helped them get jobs in mining and other agricultural jobs available for them at the time.
The documentary goes into the law passed making it illegal for Chinese people to come to the U.S and how it was the only time that this act of discrimination was done to a group of people solely based on their nationality. During this time immigration drastically decreased from the Chinese. It also touches how Chinese men were among the first men to become domestic workers. It was definitely hard for them to make a home here in America but once they got here they did not look back and worked in almost anything in order to survive. 

Charlie Chan

Charlie Chan is a government detective who plays a Chinese man but the actor is Caucasian and has a fake Chinese accent as well as mannerisms. Mr. Chan has a son that works with him who is Chinese and played by a Chinese actor, his son is stereotyped as being expensive and only into science. The story is about the detective going into a mansion and trying to solve the murder of a scientist, as he starts investigating more people start dying and he finds clues along the way. The sheriff who is also with him acts like his title is too big for him since he is nowhere near as smart as Mr. Chan. He ends up questioning everyone in the house ans its up to his judgment to accuse them of being guilty or not. Towards the end he puts all the pieces together and finds out who the killer is and who he has been working with. There is also a black character in the plot who is stereotyped as poorly worded and with the ability to run very fast. 



Dr. Fu Manchu is also a Chinese character played by a white actor. His accent is very bad and his mannerisms are also poorly portrayed, he speaks a certain way in order to make his eyes look smaller, wears traditional oriental clothing and keeps his cool at all times. In this episode he forces two doctors to perform plastic surgery on Adolf Hitler in order for him to be unrecognizable and they can keep doing evil things. He ends up killing one of the doctors and thanks to the secretary of the other one and some extra help they get tracked down and their plans are stopped right on time. 

The Slanted Screen

This documentary is about the history of Chinese men in movies. It starts off with Sessue Hayakawa and how for a long time he was the only Chinese guy in the big screen and when he was a leading actor he was one to actually get the girl. It would be a long time until another Chinese actor would make it to the big screen again like Sessue did. For some reason after this Chinese men were de-sexualized and when they got roles they never got the girl and a lot of times were portrayed as villains. When Bruce Lee came on the screen he was the super fit karate Chinese that every other Chinese wanted to be like and people started to think every Chinese was like that. The documentary goes into how in order to change the lack of Chinese leading roles it is necessary to change the mentality of people in the industry, starting with the producers.
There are a lot of Chinese people here in the U.S but there are a lot more representation for Black and Latinos and not as much as Chinese. Once a Chinese was put in a leading role that got the girl and the audience did not give a good feedback and was changed. Also, they go into the importance of knowing that Chinese men are not eunuchs and that this misconception can be due to a lot of reason or that it is almost laughable when Chinese men try to go for a girl and get turned down and its ok with people as well as it is for them to be villains or only use their kung-fu super powers. 

Sayonara

Sayonara is a movie that takes place in Japan where two military officials are stationed. One of them is Major Gruver from graduated from west point and the other airman Joe. Gruver is the son of a general who has forever been engaged to another general's daughter and is going there because her father wants him to marry her. Joe is excited to go there because his girlfriend is there and he plans to marry her, at this time it was frowned upon for them to do so but he does not care as he is in love with her and wants nothing else but to be with her. Gruver tries to talk him out of it and when he realizes he can't he agrees to be his witness. 
Once in Japan Joe gets married and Gruver is reunited with his girl again, he is happy to see her but she is not completely satisfied since he tells her that he wants a girl like her but not her as person. She is afraid that her life will turn out to be like her mothers and his mothers and she doesn't want that, he lets her know that its his career and that is what awaits for them. She distances herself from him and that gives him a reason to start wandering. He starts hanging out with a captain that likes Japanese girls and once he saw Hana-ogi is like love at first sight and asks for favor so he can meet her. Hana doesn't talk to Americans because her father was killed by one, Gruver doesn't let this stop him and he pursues her almost everyday for a long time until she notices him. Once she notices him the liking is mutual and one day Joe and his wife invite them both for diner. Gruver and Hana start seeing each other after she realized that not all white men are bad. They fall in love with each other and Gruver later finds out that he is being watched, he is warned by his now ex girlfriend (who is also seeing a Japanese man at this point). Gruver doesn't care what other people think and even tell the general that he wants to marry a Japanese girl. 
Joe is to be stationed somewhere else away from his wife and as per military rules they cannot take their Japanese wives. The general explains that moving soldiers gives them a chance to start new since a lot of them married Japanese girls because it was the first girls they had seemed in months and not because they were in love or wanted a family with them. 
Joe, his wife, Gruver and Hana go on a double date to watch a Japanese play the night before he is to leave and its about how if couples can't be together they rather die so they can be together in the after life. Gruver is told that Joe cannot be found the day he is to leave, he goes looking for him only to find him dead with his wife. Around this same time he learns that Hana has left to Tokyo to keep dancing there and eventually be a dance teacher after she told him that they cannot get married and she is to stay single. Gruver goes looking for her, by this time they story is known to the locals who are also in a way their fans. Before he parts the general gives the news to Gruver that a law will be passed in a few months that allows them to marry Japanese girls and take them abroad with them. Gruver doesn't take no for an answer when he sees Hana and tells her that they will get married. 
The theme for this movie is the hardships that people from two different cultures face when they fall in love and the lengths they go through in order to stay together.
When this movie started I had no idea what it was about but when Gruver's girlfriend was with him I knew something was not right because he did not seem like she was his world. After meeting Hana his eyes changed and it was obvious that she was everything he always wanted. I loved how persistent he was in getting her and knowing that he wanted to marry her right away. I also think that stories sucks as Joe's needed to happen in order for things to change, in this case for a law to pass. 

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club is about a group of four Chinese women all born in China with different background, experiences and stories that came to the United States at some point in their lives and became friends. The point if the movie is the relationship and the influence they all have in their now adult daughters and how they each suffered a lot when in China but did not tell their daughters their story because they wanted them to have their best chance here and be the best mom possible. The movie starts by one of the daughters taking her mom's place at the chest table with the rest of the group, since her mother is gone she now takes her place. She finds out through her mother's friends that the twins her mother gave up when she lived in China due to the fact that she was so sick she thought she would die are alive and she arranges a trip to go meet them. Another one of the daughters is divorced with a baby girl from her Chinese ex husband and is working on her mother liking her new husband to be who is an American. The third daughter is married to a man that is rich but also splits absolutely everything in half and that causes her to be miserable in her own home, her mother can't stand to see this and does everything possible so she could leave him. The last daughter is currently getting divorce but still in love with her husband, she was madly in love with him when they got married but lost herself in the marriage trying to make him happy. Towards the end of the movie it looks like they get back together because at last she was honest with him and told him how she truly felt and wanted. The daughter who lost her mom travels to China and meets her twin sister while at the same time breaking the news that her mother has passed away.
The theme of the movie is starting a new life in a new country trying to leave the past one behind but never the traditions or culture. 
I liked this movie a lot, I believe that once a generation comes here and they start off fresh they leave the bad and suffering behind in order to not prejudice their children with it. I love that even though they suffered a lot they were strong women who only wanted the best for their daughters and had they tradition, culture and norms intact. 

Better Luck Tomorrow

This movie is about a group of kids from a suburban neighborhood who are very smart. All of them are Chinese and the girl Stephanie is adopted, they don't really go into details about their family dynamics but its mentioned that as long as they do well in school they are allowed to be out as late as they want and therefore have more freedom to do as they want. They have a group where they compete with other schools, the same group has extravagant parties and start committing crimes all because they get bored. At first they start with small crimes and move up to drugs, once they realize they are in too deep one of them decides that he wants out. To my surprise he was actually allowed to be out with no re-precaution and their group sort of disintegrates. Stephanie is the only girl in the group and she is in because she is smart, the guys like her and is lab partner with one of them. The guy that likes her knows her boyfriend as well who is like them also an overachiever but a lot richer. Stephanie's boyfriend is not the jealous type but also because he goes out with other girls, his life is so perfect that he gets bored. One day Stephanie's boyfriend convinces the guy to commit one last crime to help him and it is to rob his parent's house because as they put it he feels like they don't spend enough time with him. The guys go through with it and things get out of control. the guy that likes Stephanie ends up killing her boyfriend and hiding the body in someone's backyard while at the same time lying to Stephanie about it. 
The theme of the movie is the life of privileged rich kids, who can have whatever they want but choose to do wrong simple because they can.
I liked how this movie portrays them as teenagers and not as stereotypical Asians, they are just kids being kids and making mistakes. The movie focuses on them and not on where they come from or their families and how they are different from everyone else, instead of finding differences it finds similarities among them. 

The Toll of the Sea

The Toll of the Sea is a silent film that features Anna May Wong, is also her first leading role and it was done here in the U.S. Lotus Flower is a Chinese girl living in China and she finds a man floating by the sea and she rescues him, there is a belief that when the sea gives you great joy it also comes back to take something from you. Allen and Lotus Flower fall in love and he promises her to take her back to the U.S when he goes back but his friends advise him otherwise. When the time comes for him to leave he does alone, other women that Lotus knows tell her that he will forget her as one of them has already had four husbands that left and never came back. Lotus holds onto hope as she had a baby with Allen that he does not know about. Years later Allen comes back and Lotus is happy but soon finds out he is back with his American wife, Lotus doesn't tell them at first that the baby that is running around is his but she does after. Allen's wife asks Lotus to give the baby to her and she would raise it as her own, Lotus does and tells the baby that all these time she was just taking care of him until they came back and she was only a nurse. She gives the baby up and goes back to the sea.
The theme of this movie was the submissiveness of Lotus Flower representing that of Chinese women and the way of Americans living abroad making promises to girls. 
I am personally not a fan of things like this happening but understand why they do, Lotus probably thought her baby would have a better future in the U.S. 




Lady from Chungking




Lady from Chungking is another movie starring Anna May Wong also as a leading lady. Anna is the leader Chinese troops and she infiltrates herself as the Japanese general's girlfriend in order to find out what his plans are and free some of her friends as well as warn them of his plans so they can be ready. At the beginning she asks for them to trust her because what was going to happen what not gonna be easy for her and it also forced her to act as the enemy. Towards the end the accomplishes what she wants them and the general finds the truth about her. 

Fresh Off the Boat

Fresh off the boat is a comedy about a immigrant family living in the U.S, first in Washington and later on in Orlando. Just as a lot of immigrant families due they have grandma living with them and she is very stereotypical, as well as some aspects of their lives. One very stereotypical scenario happened in school when their oldest son was paired with another Chinese student, they had nothing in common with each other since Eddie thinks he is black and is not as into science as his two younger brothers and the other kid is adopted by a Jewish couple. Jessica (the mom) describes herself and being very cheap, she funny, witty and very passionate about everything she does. In one of the episodes she worries she is not being Chinese enough and starts to dress in Chinese traditional clothing and even serves her kids chicken feet, she feel so bad that she likes mac and cheese. Louis (the dad) is an entrepreneur who stole the idea for his restaurant from a franchise owner after realizing he could not afford for pay for it. He is very laid back and is not as strict as Jessica with their children's academics. The two younger children Emery and Evan are as Eddie calls them "nerds" they get good grades, play instruments and love science fairs they are also good kids who are of no trouble to their parents. Eddie who is the oldest gets into trouble from time to time, does not do as great in school and listens to music that is not very traditional. 
The theme for this show is a new family moving to this country and achieving a middle class status right away, they also mentioned that both Jessica and Louis are college educated. They deal with the everyday struggle of adapting to a new culture without completely stripping of their old one and raising children in this country but teaching them to also know what it is to be Chinese. 
I liked this show, its something that I would watch on my own, as an immigrant with parents that have very different points of views from parents here I understand how hard it is to adapt. The daily life of people from other places I believe is so much interesting and challenging because of all the small things they have to deal with and try to get accustomed to while explaining to their kids how it is done back home or why they cannot do some of the things kids here are allowed to do. On some different aspects and some of the same it reminds me of my family. even though we come from a different culture I believe some of the basics apply to all immigrants. 

The World of Suzie Wong

The World of Suzie Wong is a romantic movie about a foreigner in Hong Kong who goes there to paint and as he arrives there he meets a beautiful girl in the ferry who tells him that she is rich and she will be getting married soon, he tries to get her information but she vanishes.
Robert ends up staying in a hotel that doubles as a brothel at night and to his surprise runs into the girl there, she turned out to be a "companion" for sailors who can't read or write and given the harsh economic situation of China at the time does that to make a decent living. Suzie is very delusional and makes up scenarios in her head about who she could be and always flaunts the "things" she has, Robert likes this about her. They go on a dew dates and leading that she asks him to be his permanent girlfriend and that if he takes her as that she will only he his and will not go out with other men, Robert likes her but tells her that he can't afford her and instead uses her as his muse for the paintings and pays her a small amount that he can afford.
Robert and Suzie become friends and he gets to know the other girls that go to the bar as well. Meanwhile he is trying to make it as a painter and the daughter of someone who is helping him to succeed with his passion falls for him and a platonic love triangle starts. Both girls fall for him, he needs the other one and likes Suzie but never makes the decision to go out with either one. Suzie eventually gives up on him and tells him that she will be someone else's girlfriend, Robert tells her to go and she does. After Suzie's new bf breaks up with her Robert decides to give it a try with her and puts all of his doubts about dating someone who does what she does away and also the age up since he is almost 40 and Suzie barely 20. Suzie hides something about her life all of these time and one day Robert decides to follow her, only to find out that she has a small baby. She tells him that she didn't know if he would want a girl with a baby and also that the baby's father is someone important and she doesn't want to give up her baby. Robert as the gentleman he is accepts the situation and keeps dating her. One it starts raining and the city flooded, Suzie lost her baby due to it and Robert was there with her, he asks her to please never leave his side and she promises him to never due so.
The theme of the movie is an American going to live in China and how even though he is in another land he still has more power than some Chinese living there. Prostitution with strangers is a profitable business among girls there for whom a lot of time is the only way out of poverty and foreigners love exotic girls from other places. A lot of women from developing nations have the hope that one day and American would go there to visit and fall in love with them and bring them back, these is seemed throughout the movie.
I enjoyed watching this movie a lot and even made me very emotional towards the end. I do see how there is a market for these type of business not only in China but in many other countries of girls hoping marry a foreigner and travel with them, they're very susceptible for a lot of charlatans and as portrayed in the movie even violence at times.

Falling for Grace

Falling for grace is a romantic boy meets girl story with a twist. Fay Ann Lee whos is named after the first Chinese Cinderella, hates her name and after falling in love with Grace Kelly and her elegance decides to call herself Grace. She had a rough time as a kid since she had no friends. Grace grew up in Chinatown and her parents were immigrants and spoke no English, she is the translator for everything and they depend on her for almost everything as well. She grew up very traditional and went to a good school and after landed a great job. Her brother was not so traditional and didn't go to an Ivy league school and didn't have a great job or a great apartment.
As a grown woman Grace works in finance and consulting, when in a party she gets confused for a  Chinese heiress. Leading that mistake gets invited to parties and meets a lawyer who has no idea who she really is. He falls for her even though he has a girlfriend and is expected to get engaged, they go on dates and due to that he finds out who she really is and becomes disappointed. He also realizes he doesn't love his girlfriend and with the help of Grace he is able to solve a case he has been working on for years and after decides to go after her. By this time Grace has decided to transfer to Hong Kong. He finds her just on time and they decide to give it a try.

The theme for this movie was Grace breaking stereotypes and living a life as a human and not as someone who was Chinese, at the same time she had her parents to look after and take care of and of course that part of her is very traditional. However, she finds a balance between who she wants to be and what she is expected to do.

I enjoyed watching this movie a lot, I felt like I could be Grace or anyone I know falling for THE GUY and him falling for her me too. This movie is of the modern woman who comes from immigrant parents or is an immigrant herself and yet has the same chances as anyone else here if she is willing to work for it.