Thus far I have managed to avoid controversy. This post may result in the creation of a new orifice on my body, but I felt like it was time to mix things up.<\/p>\n\n
In an “Open Letter to the Asian American Community” members of NYC based DRUM<\/a> (Desis Rising Up Moving) write:<\/p>\n\n Correction: DRUM is just a listserv which people post to in the NY area. The open letter below was written by the South Asian Sisters<\/a> <\/i><\/p>\n\n Where to start. First off, I want these South Asian sisters in particular to relax.<\/p>\n\n Take the following:<\/p>\n\n Even though you think I should be, I am not outraged. Even if the film was homophobic, how can two characters be expected to represent all of Asiankind? There are plenty of homophobic Asian men in the real world and plenty of them are misogynists. Isn’t that the type of stereotyping this movie was trying to fight in the first place? Second, they aren’t spineless. What movie were you watching? Third, I am glad they were sex-crazed. It’s about damn time that Asian men are portrayed as sex-crazed. I’m an Asian man and I am sex crazed (unless my parents are reading this in which case I am not sex-crazed). And finally, my personal favorite is the last point the above paragraph makes. When can you remember the last time that an Asian woman played a stereotypical Asian nerd in a movie? Huh ? Huh? They are usually cast as a bad ass or heroine (e.g. Lucy Lu from Kill Bill, Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger, etc.). Its the Asian man that always plays the nerd (e.g. Office Space, Sixteen Candles, Goonies, etc.)<\/p>\n\n What this open letter is about is the author or authors desire to unfairly hold the Asian man up to a higher standard by stereotyping them. Ironically the angelic behavior they are demanding is often times the very reason that Asian women turn away from Asian men. You can’t have it both ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thus far I have managed to avoid controversy. This post may result in the creation of a new orifice on my body, but I felt like it was time to mix things up. In an “Open Letter to the Asian … Continue reading \nWe went to watch Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle because we \ngenuinely wanted to support our Asian American brothers. After all, \nthe media coverage told us that this movie was supposed to break \nstereotypes and be a positive step for Asian Americans. Asian \nwebsites raved about the film, and so we were all excited to rally \naround this film with the rest of the community.\n\nWe entered the theater and immediately noticed that the audience was\ncomprised of predominantly Asian Americans. We wondered if a movie \nbased on the same premise featuring white boys would draw a bigger \ncrowd. The movie started, and we sat back, waiting to be empowered.\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nWell, it’s the next day, and we’re still waiting. Harold and Kumar\ndisappointed us. They represented Asian American men as being \nhomophobic, spineless, sex-crazed misogynists. All Asian American \nmen should be outraged! Asian American women? Well, there was one \nAsian woman, and she was the stereotypical Asian nerd. Queer \nAsians? There were none. How would they feel safe to come on screen \nwhen Harold and Kumar are making homophobic jokes all the time? \nWorking class Asians? Perhaps there is one- the convenience store \nowner. He gets beat up by the racist hoodlums, and Harold and Kumar \njust walk away.\n\nThen there are the non-Asians. The African Americans include a crazed\nfast food employee and a guy in prison reading a book on civil\ndisobedience. There is Maria, perhaps Latina, who strikes Harold’s \nfancy. She has very little to do other than look pretty. It still \nbewilders us why she would make out with him in the elevator after he \nhas stank White Castle breath and can’t even carry on a decent \nconversation. Finally, the white women. They are overly sexualized \nand throwing themselves all over Harold and Kumar, who are only \ninterested in “fucking” and getting some “pussy”.\n\nHarold and Kumar disrespect women in multiple ways throughout the \nmovie. Women are either objectified and horny for them or asexual and\nundesirable. The most disturbing scene in this movie was when Kumar\nfantasizes about a giant bag of marijuana. The ganja is personified \nas a woman who has sex with him, brings him coffee, and becomes the \nrecipient of domestic violence followed by his “loving” apology.\n\nNote that we’re discussing Harold and Kumar the characters, not John \nCho and Kal Penn the actors. We recognize that actors are put in a\ncompromising situation to succeed in a white-dominated entertainment\nindustry. Therefore we encourage the community to support Asian \nAmerican artists while putting pressure on the entertainment industry \nto represent us more fairly and accurately. We also ask the \ncommunity to view the media critically and not blindly endorse any \nrepresentation of a particular segment of the Asian community as \nbeing positive for all Asian Americans. We wish John Cho and Kal \nPenn luck in their careers and hope to see them in bigger and better \nroles.\n\nSincerely,\nSouth Asian Sisters\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\nThey represented Asian American men as being \nhomophobic, spineless, sex-crazed misogynists. All Asian American \nmen should be outraged! Asian American women? Well, there was one \nAsian woman, and she was the stereotypical Asian nerd. \n<\/blockquote>\n\n