Born Confused

There aren't a great many of Asian consciousness fiction novels. I wasn't expecting Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier to be excellent, but it surprised me in being quite good. Granted, parts of the book were somewhat shallow although considering that this is about teenage girls, (not that all of them are shallow it wasn't overly surprising.

Dimple seems to be rather fortunate in her parental lottery not necessarily just because she has a whole family as is pointed out in the book, but because of her parents' openness and a certain amount of flexibility in their thinking.

I do think that the novel runs a bit longer than it needed to. It will probably not reach the heights of the joy luck club and is certainly not as serious, but it's a book that weaves the clash and confusion of two different cultures for a more modern feel. Modern day clash seems to be less dire although it still exists and this novel achieves that tone well.

Some Film Festivals: SF, Chicago, LA

If you're in the vicinity of San Francisco, Chicago, or Los Angeles, there are a few upcoming Asian American film festivals you could consider going out to support.

(ongoing now until March 21st) San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

(April 2-15) Chicago Asian American Showcase

(April 10-25) Japan Film Festival, Los Angeles

If you have some time, definitely consider going.

Source: Hyphen

Supporting Asian Artists

Perhaps it's because I live in a weird bubble, but I don't see much advertising for Asian artists (authors, painters, stars) specifically those who work in the US. There just aren't that many names which come to mind. Obviously, for books there is Amy Tan and maybe Iris Chang and Lisa See. For films, there's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, Bend it Like Beckham, Slumdog Millionaire, and a vast assortment of Kung-Fu movies. The problem with many of these works is that they aren't very compelling, but are acclaimed because of the lack of selection.

I believe the Asian American community should do more to promote works and encourage their kids to pursue creative works even though they are seen as less stable. If we as a community supported these artists, there would naturally be more works. The example that comes to mind is how the black community overwhelmingly supported the newest Disney movie princess because she was black. They bought out the merchandise at a lot of Disney stores and effectively sent a message to the executives of Disney that this was a move in the right direction. The asian community has this kind of buying power too. Thus, we should show some solidarity.

As part of this, I will try to promote asian artists that I find, and I will later post reviews of whatever I can get around to seeing/reading/hearing/viewing. These types of posts will be called Eastern Canvas from now on (of which Formosa Betrayed was the first), and I look forward to bringing lots of stuff to your attention.

Also, if you're talented in writing and are an Asian-American be sure to enter the 2010 Asian American Short Story Contest.

2010 Asian American Short Story Contest

2010 Asian American Short Story Contest presented by Hyphen and Asian American Writer's Workshop. The contest is in its third year. you could win $1000 and be published in Hyphen Magazine. The rules and detailed prize information can be found on the Hyphen Contest Page.

Formosa Betrayed

I want to talk about supporting Asian-American artists in a later post, but for now I'm just going to pimp a movie that I have some interest in seeing. They have an official site here.

"Set in Chicago and Taiwan in the 1980s, the story follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent investigating the murder of a Taiwanese professor at a midwestern college. The search for his killers takes the agent to Taiwan where he discovers there is more involved in this murder than he ever anticipated." -blurb from Wikipedia

Taiwan, as you may or may not know, has an interesting status as to whether it's a country since China still believes that it owns Taiwan. This stance has made various countries wary of recognizing Taiwan as a nation because China is the 800lb gorilla in the room and no one wants to piss them off. The film explores some of the more shady happenings to people who are pro-independence for Taiwan.