May 23rd: Auto/Biographies and Kelly Loves Tony

May 23

Robyn Rodriguez and Vernadette Gonzalez, “Asian American Auto/Biographies.” In Alien Encounters. In Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America, edited by Mimi T. Nguyen and Thuy L. Nguyen (pp. 247-267). Durham: Duke University Press.

In Asian American Auto/Biographies, Robyn Rodriguez talks about how cars are signifiers of identity and culture, relating to Asian American import car culture. The author talks about how private property, more specifically cars, “underpins” culture and economy in the United States.  The first example the author uses is the film fast and furious, which shows Asian American car culture as a secondary and appropriated thing to a side-plot of a white lead character. This seems like its getting at a different issue of how Asian Americans are represented in media, but it transitions into talking about how young Asian Americans use imported and modified cars to establish identity. I think the concept of cars being a signifier and tool for culture is interesting because in this way it is a form of transnational media; the cars are made in japan and modified and customized in a different lens by Asian American men in the U.S. Rodriques mentions the term “rice boys,” and to them the cars represent for Individuality, mobility, access and knowledge to latest technology, “buying and driving Japanese”.

Lastly Rodriquez talks about how car culture is problematic because of the hegemonic heterosexuality and sexualization of women that it promotes. This seems to go beyond only effecting Asian Americans, but also car culture in general.

Kelly Loves Tony:

In the second half of the documentary there is a shift to a less optimistic view of Kelly and Tony's situation, and a growing disconnect between what kelly had initially wanted for herself and what others (including Tony) expected from her. I think this documentary is really making me relate to and feel more empathy for the problems of kelly, and other asian american women with similar problems. She has the expectations of her family, which are rooted in the culture of her parents and her community, and then she has her own goals and expectations for herself which are being constantly questioned and hindered. Its really insightful to hear the story of a real asian american family trying to navigate its own identity and goals.