Comparative Analysis of a Film and a about the Lifestyle of Asian Americans - Book Report/Review Example

Comparative Analysis of a Film and a Book about the Lifestyle of Asian Americans Outline: The search for cultural identity among a sea of multi-ethnicity is an essential aspect for an individual. This paper deals with the lifestyle of Asian Americans and particularly, Chinese Americans and their struggle for searching, maintaining and preserving their own traditional Chinese heritage in small Chinatown of America. The paper is a comparative analysis of a film and a book review each based on the above mentioned topic. It will also touch upon the following aspects with regard to explaining how the film as well as the book treat the issues faced by the Chinese American people. Wayne Wang’s movie Chan is Missing is one of the earliest attempts at the description of Chinese American people in a more realistic fashion rather than depicting through a stereotyped characterization of the America-born Chinese people. The differences among the Chinese American people are also contributed significantly by the prominent generation gap among the people living in the small Chinatown of San Francisco. Frank Chin portrays with artistic excellence the pragmatic depiction of the characters of Chinatown, which is a brilliant journey of soul searching by a young Chinese American boy. Cultural assimilation plays an important role in shaping up the lifestyle, behavior and attitude of young Chinese American people. The young generation of Chinese Americans are facing the challenge of searching their own identity, which they tend to reject while following the American culture. Racism is prominent in the American society right from its historical dates. The accomplishments of Chinese immigrants were not acknowledged in the history. Self-acceptance of one’s traditional heritage helps one find out his or her true identity, which is relevant to young Chinese Americans as well. Introduction: In the conceptual rise of a universal multicultural village, the issue of cultural identity is considered as a major focus. Especially in big metropolitan habitats, cultural identity is more often questioned along with acute backlash of racism. This paper addresses the issues of cultural identity along with other relevant themes such as racism displayed and described in Wayne Wang’s movie ‘Chan is Missing’ and Frank Chin’s novel Donald Duk. The paper will prepare a comparative analysis of these topics with regard to the representation of Chinese American people both in the movie and the book. It will also examine briefly how the movie and the novel treat the topics and how far they have justified the treatments. Film review: The 1982 release by talented director Wayne Wang, ‘Chan is Missing’ is an original screenplay with an artistic combination of good and bad. The storyline starts with a captivating thrill as two San Francisco-based Chinese cabbies Jo and Steve track down an elusive Chan Hung, who robbed them of $4000. Though it begins as a thriller, Wang makes the best use of cinematography describing San Francisco’s Chinatown. The cabbies accompany us to the streets of the small and vibrant Chinatown in search of Chan the thief, who we never get to see in the movie. For a film more than two decades old, Wang’s kaleidoscopic work is much appreciated as one of the earliest and realistic portrayals of the Chinese Americans. What makes the movie more interesting and fascinating is the way it represents the characters of Asian Americans, and more specifically, the Chinese Americans in a non-stereotyped and rather realistic fashion. This differentiates the movie from other predictable and limited character portrayals of Chinese Americans. The underlying concerns reflected in the film are the cultural identity of Asian Americans as well as the cross-cultural misconceptions on them. The mystery of Chan’s disappearance provides interesting footage on the Chinese mystery itself - the way Chinese Americans are identified in the multicultural America. Jo’s remark aptly explains the mystery, “This mystery is appropriately Chinese: what’s not there seems to have just as much meaning as what is there.” (Jo in Chan is Missing) The dominant factor in the film is the director’s realistic outlook of a city represented by a sea of different cultural hues and its undertones. Wang successfully depicts the differences between America born Chinese people and how they try in their individualistic manner to assimilate into the multicultural American society. One of the differences can be tagged as the generation gap, which is shown in the movie too. Among the two cabbies, Jo is an older Chinese man who tries to maintain traditional values even in a cross-cultural land. Whereas the other cabbie, Steve is a youngster with his own unique arrogance, the kind that is found in every street of San Francisco. Through these two character portrayals, Wang artfully develops the concepts of identity and assimilation of Chinese Americans. Book review: Penned in 1991 by the noted American author and playwright Frank Chin, Donald Duk is the journey of a twelve year old boy named Donald Duk in search of his identity in the multicultural America. The boy is embarrassed by his name as well as his traditional Chinese heritage. The character of the protagonist represents the new generation of Chinese Americans, who are lost in the cultural assimilation and identity crisis overpowered by the American lifestyle. Donald Duk is born in America and wants to feel and live like an American. He is in the middle of the struggle between assimilating American lifestyle while at the same time accepting his own Chinese culture. This mental struggle is displayed in the beginning of the novel. “Donald Duk hates his name. he is not a duck. He is not a cartoon character.” (Chin 1) Contrary to the younger generation of America-born Chinese, there are the older lot, who still respects and maintains their cultural heritage even in the small Chinatown of America. The character of King Duk, father of Donald Duk represents this lot. He very well realizes the identity crisis of the young generation of Chinese Americans, and is upset that his son is also one of those Chinese Americans who want to be like American rejecting their own culture. King Duk’s remark reveals the misperception of the young generation. “I think Donald Duk may be the very last American-born Chinese-American boy to believe you have to give up being Chinese to be an American.” (Chin 42) Then there is Donald’s uncle, who provides him with relevant insights on the glorious heritage of China. It is him informing Donald about the accomplishments of the Chinese community in America. In short, the characters of Donald Duk provide a colorful picture of the American Chinatown that is hued by both preservation of traditional Chinese heritage and assimilation of American culture. The main theme of Chin’s novel deals with the issue of cultural identity of the Chinese American people and how they carry it on in their individualistic manner. On the one hand, there is the young Chinese community who want to accept American lifestyle by rejecting their traditional Chinese values. While on the other hand, there is the older generation of Chinese Americans who still worship their traditional heritage and are proudly pursuing their Chinese legacy even in the small Chinatown of America. The novelist also discusses on issues of racism. When Donald Duk begins to accept his Chinese culture, he slowly learns about racism happening around him more and more. Donald sees racism in American history itself, which does not acknowledge the help of Chinese immigrants to build the Central Pacific Railroad. It is their passive acceptance that made racism almost an integral part of the lifestyle of Chinese Americans. The statement by Donald’s mother reflects the ironical picture, “What’s wrong with racists, anyway? We have been living with them for over a hundred years now, and we get along with them fine.” (Chin 150) Representing Chinatown and its people - a comparative analysis: Representation of Chinese Americans is justified in both Wang’s film as well as Chin’s novel. Both works demonstrate the lifestyle of America-born Chinese people and diversified issues of their cultural identity in a realistic fashion. There are several similarities and differences observed in the portrayal of Chinese American people through Wang’s cinematic work and Chin’s fictional narrative. This section will briefly discuss two similarities as well as two differences presented in the film and the book as well. Similarities: Among the similar undertones between the film and the novel, the most prominent factor is the issue of cultural identity, which is treated at depth both in the film and the book. The focus is on the small Chinatown in America that revolves around the multiplicity of identity. Wang’s film takes a more pragmatic look at how different cultural hues and individual attitudes are shaping up the lifestyle of the small Chinatown. Chin’s novel also communicates a similar expression. The characters of the novel are the ones that are struggling to find as well as persist their true identity. Chinese people living in America since their birth are witnessing a huge cultural diversity in the multi-ethnic society of America. This certainly leaves them worried over preserving their own culture. It is this cultural awareness that keeps up cultural values and practices alive among the Chinese Americans. What makes Wang’s and Chin’s works unique and different from others is the realistic approach to describe the picture of cultural identity of the Chinese Americans, an approach strongly refuting the stereotypical ideologies and cross-cultural misunderstandings usually found in contemporary works. Another similarity depicted in the film and the novel is the evolution of culture. Wang and Chin show it in terms of assimilation of cultural values of the Chinese Americans into the American society. This is further reasoned specifically with the questions of generation gap. In Wang’s movie, the two Chinese cab drivers represent the difference between the two generations of Chinese Americans. Jo is an old Chinese American, who treasures his traditional Chinese culture with high esteem. His character represents the Chinese people that still practices their age-old cultural heritage even in the multi-ethnic American society, thus preserving their own cultural identity. In contrast to the older generation, the youngsters of the Chinatown are comparatively nonchalant to their Chinese affiliation and are more fascinated with the idea of being called Americans. Steve, the young Chinese cabbie represents the young generation of Chinese Americans who love to live like Americans while rejecting their original culture. The same outlook is reflected in Chin’s main character Donald Duk too. He is ashamed of being Chinese and wants to “live the late-night life in old black-and-white movies and talk with his feet like Fred Astaire, and smile Fred Astaire‘s sweet lemonade smile” (Chin 1). It is this generation gap that is threatening the old Chinese traditional hues and resulting in a rather evolved culture in the American society. Differences: The major difference between the film and the book lies in the depiction of racism. While the film does not ignore the point of racism, the director is rather focused in the illustration of a realistic Chinatown in San Francisco along with glances on the cross-cultural misunderstandings. The stereotyped response on Chinese people is reflected in the dialogue of one of the characters in the movie, “You guys are looking for Mr. Chan - why don‘t you look in the puddle?” (Presco in Chan is Missing) What is predominant in Wang’s film is a brilliant documentation of the Chinese American people in San Francisco’s Chinatown, their attitudes, views and lifestyles. Therefore, racism is not so obvious in Wang’s movie. However, Chin has done a great job with his simplistic yet precise description of how racism is certainly prevailing in depicting the Chinese people of America. In the novel, Donald disapproves of everything Chinese from the very beginning. However, he is amazed to learn new things on Chinese immigrants and their accomplishments from his uncle. He is displeased with his uncle’s startled revelation that the American history does not give any credit to the Chinese immigrants who worked hard to build the Central Pacific Railroad. It directly points out the issue of racism Americans display towards Chinese people. There are other references for racism in the novel as well. With Donald’s acceptance of his culture, he begins to see more racism against his community. His school teacher Mr. Meanwright shows a considerable amount of racist views, who describes Asians as passive and non-competitive students in the school. What makes Chin’s novel different from Wang’s film also includes another aspect - that of self-realization of true identity, Donald’s self-acceptance of his Chinese culture. At the beginning of the novel, Donald is described as a young Chinese American boy who hates everything about Chinese. As the story develops, it shows the contrasting transformation of his characterization. He finally realizes the importance of his cultural roots and learns to appreciate his traditional heritage, to be proud of who he is. Chin proves his artistic excellence with such a wonderful narrative of a young guy’s journey from a situation of identity crisis to a conscious young man with values of self-acceptance that finally helps him acknowledge his true identity. Conclusion: The description of Chinatown and its people is simply amazing and thought-provoking as it is revealed in the movie Chan is Missing and the novel Donald Duk. Both Wang and Chin have done great job in their illustration of a realistic picture of America’s Chinatown and the lifestyle of Chinese Americans far from being labeled as stereotypes. References: Chan is Missing. Dir. Wayne Wang. New Yorker Films, 1982. Chin, Frank. Donald Duk. 2nd ed. New York: Coffee House Press, 1991. Read More