I'm not sure why, but growing up as a Chinese American in suburban America, I didn't regard other Asian cultures that highly. It wasn't that I disliked Korea or Japan, it's just that I went to Chinese school, hung out with Chinese friends, and didn't deal with many people of those ethnicities (boy did that change when I moved to LA). I had a tough enough time getting other kids to like me and accept me into their group in a predominantly white suburban neighborhood (with some African American, Latin American, and South Asian populations). My parents always seemed to show a slight disfavor towards other Asian cultures, not outright rejecting them but sort of hinting that they preferred Chinese better, people who they could trust. (I suspect that was also due to influences from their native country and where they grew up). Well apparently other Asian cultures ( I really only am familiar with the "Big 3" of Chinese, Korean, Japanese) also harbor a little of that sentiment, not necessarily an outright hatred but distrust or dislike. The Japanese even have coined a phrase for it, called, kanchuuzoukan (dislike Chinese, dislike Korean).
It's an interesting topic because the recent trend in U.S. entertainment is the rise of Asian actors, and there's a sort of alliance between Asian Americans (ex: John Cho from "Harold and Kumar," Constance Wu of "Fresh Off the Boat, etc.) to promote more Asian Americans into mainstream media. It would be great if Asians could set their differences aside and unite to promote harmony and peace in the area, but it seems like it's a long way away. Not only is the Korean War, World War II, and various other conflicts still fresh in people's minds (neighboring countries tend to get in each others' way and have a history of war) but there are new scars being made every day, whether it's China's objection to the South Korean THAAD program or the rift over the Senkaku Islands (aka Diaoyu Islands). As an American citizen living thousands of miles away and free from danger, it's easy for me to stay neutral and look at it objectively, whereas people living in the situation are much more emotionally and personally invested. As with anything, though, I think it's important to look at it from each side's viewpoint first and try to understand what the other side is feeling and why they would feel that way, and try to come to a solution that is acceptable to both (Sometimes there's none!)
This whole "train" of thought, btw, is due to MJ and I watching "Train to Busan," an excellent movie made in South Korean, starring all Korean actors. It's an excellent movie in its own right with twists, good premise, edge-of-seat thrill.....and it happens to be a zombie movie, one of my favorite genres. For some reason the scary movie avoidance I have doesn't apply to zombie movies, perhaps because I know what's coming (humans who turn rabid, eat human flesh) and can accept that, whereas other movies have unknown forces and much more jumpy (intended to surprise you with creepy music) situations. Anyway, the great Korean work reminded me that I shamefully used to have a negative stereotype of Koreans as the guys in college who didn't pass me the ball at the gym, or gambled a lot at the late night underground poker games, presumably with their parents' money. I forgot a lesson that everyone should realize by now, is that every race has bad representatives, but also really good representatives. Every person is his or her individual, and shouldn't be judged solely based on race. So, too, apparently, when judging the qualify of Asian movies.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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