Cultural Perspective of Jun Xing in Asian America Through Lens - Book Report/Review Example

In Asian America Through Lens Jun Xing is taking up the great task of surveying Asian American cinema through its aesthetic, cultural, and political diversity and also by searching fot the emerging continuities. He discusses representative Asian American films putting them in contrast with different other types of films. He juxtaposes Asian American films with the dominant host culture of cinema, which is the Hollywood narrative cinema. Through these he tries to reach to a definition of the essential Characteristics Asian American Cinema, as a separate cinematic identity. While trying to define Asian American cinema, one issue that Jung Xing faces, is the essentialist approach to the concept of Asian American identity and its imposition on the evaluation of the essence of what makes cinema really an Asian American one. Ethnic identity is a multi dimensional issue, but at the same time may look like a personal issue and decision. There are many historic, cultural as well as socio economic factors influencing this “decision” directly or indirectly. Some scholars define ethnic identity as a primordial issue. This perspective is in essence essentialist, and argues that every one has a sense of his ethnic identity with which one is born, “ethnicity of descent” as some scholars call it. This inborn sense of identity is so natural and instinctive that it is difficult or rather impossible to change it. This essentialist cultural perspective towards ethnic identity was generally acceptable to the African American cultural activists. Jung Xing quotes W.E.B.Du Bois, who in 1926 laid down four terms for authentic Black theatre. 1. Plot should be on Negro life 2. The writer of the play should be a Negro. 3. The theatre should primarily cater to a Negro audience who will support it and sustain it. 4. The theatre must be in a Negro neighborhood. (Cinema in the making :Asian America Through Lens, page 32-33) .This is cultural essentialism. Being born a Negro qualifies one to create theatre for the Blacks and on the Blacks. The same perspective about the ethnic identity was later accepted by the Chicano/a film makers. (Chicano is a word denoting the ethnic identity of the Mexican Americans and excludes the Mexicans living in Mexico. Chicano is word of pride too for the Mexican Americans.) Thus the definition for a Chicano film is a film or video by, about and for Chicanos. This “by, for, about” standard became acceptable to the Asian American film makers too. The most important movement that gave a space for the definition of Asian American Films as a special category is the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) in New York. In this festival, the criteria for admission as well as awards for a movie are the ethnic identity of the film maker (either the producer or the director). The film need not deal with Asian American plot. This seems to be an extreme dilution of even the Essentialist perspective of Asian American ethnic identity. Of course, with the cultural background, heritage and the knowledge about the community, an Asian American is better qualified to make a film on Asian Americans. But much more important is ethnic authenticity. Jung Xing quotes the actor writer and director Peter Wang, who stresses his point of view on ethnic authenticity or sincerity with a great cinematic truth. “The camera is such a magic tool. It doesn’t hide. It shows the director’s intention, his background, his preference …..” (Asian America Through Lens, Jun Xing, page 34). The camera, its attitude towards the reality in front of it and the authenticity of the captured or pictured reality are issues discussed in the context of the politics and ethics of manufacturing images ( This quote from Peter Wang reminds one, of the film “A Letter to Jane” by French film masters, Goddard and Gorin. This film is a forty five minute analysis of a still photograph of the actress Jane Fonda, in Vietnam, during the Vietnam war, which was published in the French magazine L’Express at the beginning of August 1972 (The New Wave: James Monaco, page 245) By analyzing this still photograph Goddard and Gorin concludes that camera angle and framing reflect the attitude of the camera man (or the director in the case of the film) to the reality in front of the camera. Camera angle is not a technical issue; it is an ideological / attitudinal issue. Another creative personality to be remembered in this context is Yasujiro Ozu, the famous Japanese film maker. Ozu rejected all the conventions of Holly wood film making, and even the Hollywood inspired Japanese conventions of cinema. His films were an exploration of the domestic human situations of the Japanese middle class. Thus the spaces with in the frames were almost always closed spaces. To recreate this domestic visual and emotional ambience Ozu used a deceptively simple camera technique by placing the camera stationary, three feet off the ground. This low angle corresponds with the eye level of a person sitting on the traditional Japanese tatami mats on the floor. (Ozu: His Life and Films, Donald Richie.) Goddard and Gorin criticizes the lack of authenticity, while Ozu strives for total ethnic and cultural authenticity.) The so called ethnic authenticity refers to the representation as images in the silver screen. Even the discourse about authenticity is the direct result of degraded and vulgarized images that represent the Asian American ethnicity in Hollywood films. Film is an industrial product, demanding massive capital investment. The money invested will control the content and its representation on the screen. “Money and Montage” is an important theme in film discourses. “No film maker is independent”, wrote the late Film historian James Snead, “in the way, say the poet. Filmmaking, both capital – and labor –intensive, is the most dependent art form.” (Asian America Through the Lens, Jung Xing, page 39) Total control over the making of the film both behind as well as in front of the camera is the only way out for Asian Americans to create alternate images of themselves that counter the Hollywood portrayals. Hollywood’s institutionalized racism extends even up to a racist cosmetology, like the “yellow facing”, or putting on crudely stereotypical Asian make up, to impose the ideology of the superiority of the “whiteness.” Thus from the stereotyped character portrayals to the stereotyped make up, all aspects of representation have to be sabotaged and changed for which the Asian American should have full aesthetic as well as financial control over the making of the Film. But this essentialist concept of ethnic identity is double edged, argues Jung Xing. Many of the commercial Asian American films, (Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club, for example), though made by Asian Americans, lacked the ethnic authenticity. This proves that the sheer presence of Asian Americans in front or behind the camera doesn’t guarantee ethnic authenticity. If extended, this essentialist perspective will lead one to the argument that Asian American Film makers must confine themselves to making Asian American films. Thus in a sense this essentialism may work more against the non whites than against the white film makers. This definition of ethnicity by biological determinism, though it has helped the earlier discussions on countering Hollywood’s institutionalized racism through Asian American films, cannot and shall not determine the Asian American film practices and criticism. So one will have to find out alternative formulations or politically grounded definitions. There was such a search for an alternate Cinema in most of the under-developed countries or third world countries, in 1960’s and 70’s. The strongest cinema movement that emerged out of this was in Latin America, which they called the “Third Cinema”. Their search was for a third alternative to the Hollywood and the European Cinema , according to the manifesto for the third cinema written by the Argentine film makers Fernando Solanas and Octavia Getino (Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, "Towards a Third Cinema": Movies and Methods. An Anthology, edited by Bill Nichols, pp 44-64). The third cinema was a politico-cultural movement against the distorted images and narratives of the Hollywood. This was the cinema movement that inspired the Asian American cinema, because they too were in search of an alternative to Hollywood and Europe. The inspiration from “ Third Cinema “ and the Civil Rights Movements and other political activisms of the 1960’s lead to the emergence of a new Asian American cinema as a politico-cultural movement. This new Asian American cinema, called itself the “triangular cinema” -- of the community, story teller and the activist. They focused on the life and struggles of the people. As the film maker himself was the activist, films organically emerged out of these struggles. The film making became a community activity. The camera for them was more a tool for mobilizing the community for social change. (Camera is a “gun”; that’s why film making is “shooting!”.) Thematically three concerns dominated these films: Identity politics, historical injustice and contemporary racism. Personal diary films dealing with identity issues were the starting point. This was followed by many striking documentaries. Steven Okazaki’s Days of Waiting, Loni Ding’s The color of Honor: The Japanese-American Soldier in World war Two, Visual Communications’s (this was the first Asian American media group that emerged out of the Ethno Communication program, an action experiment that began in 1968.) feature length film, Hito Hata: Raise the banner, directed by Duane Kubo and Robert Nakamura were some of the most prominent documentaries of this time. Who killed Vincent Chin by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima (1989) is perhaps the best –known Asian American social issue documentary according to Jung Xing. But after the 80’s the movement declined, though film makers like Christine Choy remained active still with the same vigour.The next generation of film makers drifted away from the earlier pet themes of cultural introspection and political activism. Jung Xing quotes the actor writer and director, Peter Wang: “I don’t think that I am on a mission or a kind of crusade to correct the wrongs. I don’t think I am capable of doing that or there is even a necessity for It.” (Asian America Through Lens, page 42). Thus with this depoliticalization, many drifted into fictional and narrative films. Many important and acclaimed Asian American film makers got reluctant to take up Asian American issues. Wayne Wang and Ang Lee were some of them. Hollywood embraced Ang Lee with an Oscar, when he dropped his Asian American concern and made Sense and Sensibility, the film out of the Jane Austen classic. These developments demand another fresh and more inclusive frame work to read the re-emerging Asian American cinema. Here is a juncture where one can search for aesthetics for Asian American cinema. Defining out such aesthetics is difficult because of the plurality with in the Asian American culture .Asian Americans in the United States are not bound together by any common cultural or linguistic tradition. The Asian part of it is pluralistic and added on to it is an American part. So where to emphasize while searching for a common aesthetics, is the question. After discussing this issue with various Asian American film makers and critics, Jung Xing, comes to the conclusion that the Asian American aesthetics can be defined as a “consciousness” or a “sensitivity” , “because film makers create films out of their consciousness , arising out of who they are and how they position themselves in society .” (Asian American Aesthetics; Asian America Through Lens, page 45). To translate this “Consciousness” or “sensitivity”, he adopts the concept of “textual coalition”, put forward by Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong. For analyzing Asian American films using this concept, he identifies three critical elements: Authenticity of the point of view as Asian American, sincere and sensitive portrayals of characters in particular and the community in general, culturally specific innovations shown by the film maker. Jung Xing chooses Chan is Missing, considered to be an Asian American film classic, by Wayne Wang as an illustration of this “text-specific” reading of a film. Chan is Missing follows two cabbies Jo and Steve from San Francisco Chinatown in search of their missing partner Chan Hung, who left with their money. During this journey of search, these two cabbies meet a cross section of Asian American community; get exposed to the inner conflict of the community-- conflicts of self identities, and conflicts with the hegemonic host culture. At the same time all characters are just ordinary human beings who “laugh, cry, swear and fight”. They are not, “always on the top of the situation” heroes. Two aspects of the film make it more close to the “third cinema”. The film doesn’t use Chinatown as an “exotic, dark and mysterious location”, though the film is a mystery film. Thus it stands apart from the European concept of the mystery film genre. A comparison with Chinatown (1974) by Roman Polanski will prove this point. Unlike in Polanski film, Wang’s Mise-en scene is much internalized. All conflicts are happening within, ---inside the Chinese restaurant, inside the kitchen, workplaces, apartments, cafes and inside the minds of the characters. (This reminds one of Ozu’s mise-en-scene, discussed earlier) This gives the viewer an inner perspective, of the conflicts and tangles of china town life, which is from within the community, very much unlike the European film on the same subject in the same location. The other aspect that takes this film closer to the “Third Cinema” is the total avoidance of linear narrative so characteristic of the Hollywood. “where as the typical classical Hollywood detective drama is characterized by a relentless narrative acquisition of clues that eventually climaxes in the solution of mystery, Chan offers no solution to Chan Hung’s where about. Each clue that develops in the film raises more questions.” (Asia America Through the Lens, Jung Xing, page 48). The film end symbolically. No clue leads any where, the film ends without finding out Chan. No Hollywood narrative will end open like this. No Hollywood narrative will conclude without a solution. As Wayne Wang asserts, “Asians tend to have a much higher tolerance for ambiguity, and have always historically been able to deal with ambiguity a lot more than so called Caucasian minds, or Western minds. Jung Xing argues that Chan is Missing is an indicator that proves that a clear Asian American tradition in cinema is emerging, and that it is going to be an alternative cinema, alternative to the Hollywood tradition and the European art cinema tradition. Sources cited: 1) Jung Xing ,Asian America Through the Lens : History , Representations and Identity, Rowman & Littlefield , Lanham, Maryland. 2) Monaco James, The New Wave: Truffaut, Goddard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette, Oxford University Press, New York, 1976. 3) Richie , Donald ,Ozu: His Life and Films,University of California press, March 1977 4) Solanas and Getino, "Towards a Third Cinema": Movies and Methods. An Anthology, edited by Bill Nichols, Berkeley: University of California Press 1976. Read More