Fast and Furious Tokyo drift is one of those movies you can put on and watch when you're bored because while it is by no means a fantastic movie, its a fun movie to watch because of the action scenes and little Bow Wow. There are a lot of moments where you can laugh, and no necessarily at the jokes they have. Maybe just at the acting. This movie, much like the article, address Asian masculinity in a dominantly western culture, but also the problems that it brings.
Asian males are often depicted as non-masculine and weak, often described as non-confrontational
and silent. The problem is that Asian males have been described as non-masculine with an American criterion. Much like Middle Class White Feminism, Asian men are denied of masculinity by American definitions. There is no homogenous form of masculinity. Not all masculine men have to own American muscle cars and have copious amounts of sex. It just ain't true.
Perhaps this is also a defensive move. According to the article, many Americans felt attacked when Japanese companies starting shipping their cars over to the United States. They may have felt that this was a personal attack on 'Merican values. So many people value products produced in the United States, especially when it comes to cars. To drive a foreign car, especially from "weak-ass Japan", is a detriment to 'Merican values. The Japanese are seen as a threat to Americanism and masculinity. Any reproduction of masculinity in the form of cars is described as "fake and unmanly".
The paradox that Asian men face is to establish their own masculinity but also to be in line with widespread notions of American masculinity. Asians have thus strived to create their own form of masculinity that America seems to reject, and thus, Asian communities seem to group together to define masculinity on their own terms.
The fucked part is that much of this masculinity is derived from American masculinity, which involves loud cars and attractive women. This car import culture has defined masculinity as having efficient, flashy cars accompanied by hot Asian women. This is just as bad as American ideas of masculinity, which is highly gendered and focused on obtaining a women, as if they are some prize or thing to be bought or won. Sure, its great that Asian men have found ways to express masculinity in a sphere that rejects them of doing so, but sadly, they are not able to escape the patriarchal means of doing so.
Honestly, I'm starting to realize how stupid Buzzfeed can be. A lot of what they post is innocent, timekilling stuff, but a video called "People try gendered products" caught my eye one day. I did not watch it because I knew what Buzzfeed was going to say: "gender does not matter, do whatever you want", a very very very liberal position. Jokes on you Buzzfeed; if you ignore gender, you ignore the social effects it has. You can't just ignore gender!!!! It such a big influence on our society and we cannot ignore it. I recognize that gender should not limit our abilities, but even then, commenting on gendered consumer goods won't do shit. Either way, gender will not be erased from our society and thus, rather than trying to eliminate gendered ideas, we should shift them to work together with one another.
Masculinity should be shifted to treat women with respect. Dudes just don't seem to understand that women are people, not figures for them to bend according to their standards. Also on the flipside, women should understand that men are human and are allowed to be sensitive, not just this big guy masculine figure.
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