Journal Entry: Monkey Dance film and "The Politics of Race"

The Monkey Dance Film

            The film shows the lives of Asian American youths that come from families who have immigrated to the United States for numerous different reasons. Some reasons were for better education, working and living conditions, and a hope for a better future for the children. In the interviews with the parents, many of the moms and dads stated that they did not want their children to face hardships and struggles they had to face; therefore, they moved to the US for better lives. The film focuses on the concepts of culture and everyday forms of cultural resistance. The monkey dance is a huge part of the Cambodian culture. However, resistance is shown when the youth brings in their own forms and variations that deviate from the traditional rules of the monkey dance. They form their own version by bringing in parts of their own youth culture such as breakdancing into the contexts of their own upbringings. An example that relates to Kelley’s article of everyday resistance particularly among workers is when Sam goes against what his boss tells him to do at the supermarket. While his boss teaches him to complete one task a certain way, Same does not listen and tries to do it his own way- one that would take less time. His work performance reminded me of the McDonald’s workers in Kelley’s article. As both scenarios demonstrate everyday resistance, which is different from the open and loud resistance that is very common to us when we think of the term “resistance”.

The Politics of Race

In his article, Bindi V. Shah brings about the issue of how second generation Laotian women in the United States are the model minority as they are “problems and at risk of becoming single mothers, as refugees and perceptual foreigners” ( Shah 52).  Therefore, programs are developed to advocate for a multilingual emergency warning system, improve school counseling services,  and to campaign for the opposition of Proposition 227, which wanted to dismantle bilingual education. The focus of the established programs such as APEN and AYA were on the youth. The unity of the young teenage girls in the programs, brought higher self esteem, power, and change. The programs helped the young girls engage in activities and organize campaigns that would help them express their thoughts and opinions as a model minority. I thought it was very inspiring that these young teenage girls were able to participate in activist movements and bring success and change with their own efforts and works. This goes against the common notions of how young Asian Americans are “reserved”. The members of APEN and AYA went against common ideas and were brave and worked hard to fight for change and what they believed in.