Mixed Bag Monday

Here's a compiled collection of stories that peaked my interest over the last week, with a little of my own comments on the significance of the stories.

By Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade, via Wikimedia Commons

Jessica Sanchez sings during the National Memorial Day concert in Washington D.C., 2012.

Jessica Sanchez Performs on American Idol Season Finale - Exposure is important for the Fil-Am community in the US, especially when it has been so easy for Fil-Am narratives to be written out of history and current events. Hardly anyone knows about the other half of the labor strikes of the UFW were Filipinos. While I may not agree with all of Jessica’s mannerisms, I believe any positive exposure that makes people go “Wow, where did this person come from?” And maybe ask a few questions about the person’s background, especially if they are Fil-Am, helps introduce a different perspective to people who otherwise may not know about the Fil-Am communities across the country. This, coupled with the growing exposure on television, help recover and incorporate the Fil-Am experience into the American experience.

By yeowatzup from Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany (Sunset, Bohol) via Wikimedia Commons

Sunset in Bohol

State of calamity declared in Bohol Due to Drought/ El Nino - The drought here in California has been quite disruptive to nearly all areas of life, from agriculture to commerce and the daily habits of its residents. While it seems like the new norm is water conservation (it’s not a bad thing!), I think it is important for people in the US to remember that global climate change is not limited to one or two nations, but is truly a GLOBAL condition that needs to be examined by all governments, collectively. At times, when agriculture sustains people with very tight margins for failure, it is all the more important for everyone to do what they can. While the California Drought may not have the same effect as it does for the people in PI, where “more than 40,000 farmers in 27 towns in Bohol, known as the rice bowl of Central Visayas, are facing hunger and loss of income,” its effects are seen in the reservoirs and lakes across the state.

Watch Policeman Teach A Homeless Girl To Play Hopscotch to Pass the Time - Sometimes it is too easy to see the negative in life, especially when those who are sworn to protect and serve display pockets of deplorable behavior, and outright murder, on specific ethnic populations. This is a short video about a non-violent experience with a police officer. These kinds of scenes are played out across the country all the time, but are rarely reported in mainstream media. This needs to change, and I watch videos like this and remember that, while not EVERYONE acts as they should, the police officers are, in general, positive presences that do the best they can seeing the roughest parts of our society everyday.

CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=865798

Chicken Adobo with Rice and Beans

Edible Cutlery - Conservation and light consumption has always been an important part of my outlook on life. This novel kind of solution to overconsumption and unthinking waste displays the ingenuity and value in finding plausible solutions for a growing global population. Particularly in places like the US, Japan and India, where utensils are used and disposed of heavily, these kinds of potential answers helps to reduce the burden on the environment and on production of these disposable products.

By Alexander Klimov at de.wikipedia (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Guy Fawkes Mask has become a common representation of the Anonymous group

Voter Data Breach - I sometimes forget that everything placed on the Internet, or transported through the Internet, has the potential for being stolen or accessed by unwanted parties. In this case, the hacker cooperative Anonymous broke into the Philippine Commission on Elections website and reported on just how easy it was to access sensitive information. It appeared that some voter information was saved in a simple text file. “The breach contains the records of 1.3m overseas Philippines voters, including their passport details; it also includes 15.8m fingerprints,” according to the article. On a wider scale, this points to the fact that whenever information is given freely to another entity, be it a private company or a public office, it has the potential to be stolen. We all have to be careful with the data we share, and demand stronger protections from businesses and organizations that legitimately access and use our information in conducting their affairs.

Gun Battle Against Extremists - The global community must realize that the threat of extremism is not isolated to countries in “the West.” The threat of extremist behavior is not an East-West dichotomy, but a global phenomenon that points to the problems of HUMAN civilization. Here, in the volatile southern region of Mindanao, Philippines, Western Mindanao Command soldiers clashed with Aby Sayyaf Group extremist soldiers, the results being 18 dead government troops and 5 casualties on Abu Sayyaf forces. While it has been popular among politicians in the US to claim that extremists like these are conducting a religious holy war against Christianity and “the West” because they hate our culture and our freedoms, I would argue it is far more a symptom of the great global disparity in access to economic and basic, fundamental needs, but also the ongoing negative impact of the United States’ involvement in other countries. These extremist activities are far more inspired by the political and economic interests of the leadership, who layer their rhetoric with religious absolution for the consumption of the undereducated soldiers who ACTUALLY fight their battles. I believe education and understanding would go a long way in lessening the appeal of extremism for many underrepresented populations. If the religious extremist groups are the only ones who seemingly offer their family a roof and regular meals, how could a soldier refuse?

Movie Monday: "The Mountain Thief," a film by Gerry Balasta, 2010

By Kounosu (Own work (own picture)) via Wikimedia Commons

"The Mountain Thief," a film by Gerry Balasta, 2010.

There are always a few films that speak to the senses on a deep, personal level. Stories of humanity, particularly ones that burst open the small cultural and social bubbles we all find ourselves living in, are particularly powerful and necessary. "The Mountain Thief," I believe, should be required viewing for all college students, "first world" citizens worldwide and professed religious individuals who would seek to know and better the world. "The Mountain Thief" shows viewers what happens when communities are forced, by powers far beyond their own immediate influence, to survive on the garbage of others. These individuals find their sustenance by sifting through and reselling recyclables from the trash of the more wealthy people in the Philippines (but this plays out in so many areas across the world). It shows that conflict and community are possible in even the most trying circumstances.

What strikes me about this film is that all the actors are amateurs. In fact, all of them are scavengers in the Philippines, so this leads to an air of realism unattainable by even the most seasoned professional actors. I encourage viewers to watch to the very end, as the filmmakers describe the real lives and dreams of the actors who took part in this film. While many of their dreams may seem trivial to a first-world viewer, they show just how disparate the bounty of "modern living" is distributed throughout the world. Among a few are to cure a son's club foot, to learn to use a computer, to build a home at the foot of mountain of trash, to learn to read and write. These are things we as Americans take for granted, as an unalienable right as Americans, and things that are largely unavailable and unobtainable to many throughout the world.

The film opens as a Simon, the communities drug addict (he sniffs glue, paid for by stealing from other scavengers) is stealing a small sheet of corrugated metal from another family's makeshift roof. He is found out and runs away through a maze of shanty neighborhoods, running into Ato and Elmer on their way to the makeshift basketball court. He stumbles into Julio and his son, Ingo. They are newly arrived from a war-torn region in Mindanao, where his family owned rice fields that were burned in the fighting. They are seeking to survive through scavenging in Little Hope, the community at the foot of the trash mountain. The film makes no illusions as to the circumstances of these individuals. Survival is their daily aim, and though community exists, most are looking out for their own (and their family's) interests.

One of the best things about this film is that it pulls no punches. It also ends rather ambiguously, which may upset some viewers of modern Hollywood film-making. The film understands its own circumstances and does not give the viewer the satisfaction of a happy ending, particularly because for individuals like this film, there is no guaranteed happy ending.

You may be wondering why this film is even worth watching, as it seems to be a real downer. Well, in actuality, it kind of is, considering it is reality for many across the world. There are lighthearted moments, particularly with Ingo, who listens to the local religious zealot Ato teach about prayer, then acts it out on the highest mountain of garbage, because it is "beautiful up there, and close to the heavens." Ingo and his friend find and enjoy an unopened can of soda, a rare treat.

The film is edited to be rather artistic, as scenes will replay to emphasize the overall narrative, and some scenes will not make sense until later in the film. It reminded me a little of the film version of Gandhi, where the viewer sees the inevitable end of the film immediately, but does not understand the context until watching the entire film.

In the end, this is a very powerful statement on the state of the developing world, and asks the developed world just what our role is in perpetuating this environment. As consumers, do we have a moral obligation to address the "end" result of our consumed goods? This film also reflects on, though not explicitly, the historical circumstances that developed this environment.

Did the independence of the Philippines come too rapidly? Would the Philippines have been better off as a territory for a while longer, until basic infrastructure and stability could be achieved (like in Japan, post WWII?)

Although politics seems to play a small role in the film directly, viewers who know will recognize the handy work of corruption in the Philippines, among politicians and other wealthy families who benefit from others' poverty. But these actors care little for politics and international policy. They are looking for a few pesos to buy a little rice to feed their families for another day.

To see how you can contribute to the Mount Hope Project to help the actors in this film, see "The Mountain Thief" website here.

Stream or Purchase "The Mountain Thief" from Amazon.

Movie Monday: "Ilo Ilo," a film by Anthony Chen

This week, I wanted something that was completely different for me. I happened to find just this in Anthony Chen’s “Ilo Ilo,” a slice-of-life drama showcasing life in Singapore c. 1997, during the great economic crisis in Asia. I also reveals the dynamic between different ethnic groups within South East Asia, and hints at the relative hierarchy of each group. The relative economic differences between, say, Singapore and the Philippines is also shown through the characters’ relative situations, however it doesn’t reflect on which characters are “good” or “bad” in the traditional sense. Many of the actors are unknown to me, and likely many in Western cinema. The screen time is generously shared among the four main characters, so establishing who the “lead” is is problematic for Western audiences. Singaporean veteran actor Chen Tian Wen captures the hardships inherent as the struggling family patriarch Teck. Yeo Yann Yann plays is wife Hwee Leng, who is pregnant with a daughter and dealing with the stress of a hard marriage and a hard job. Newcomer Koh Jia Ler plays Jiale, a parent’s nightmare. A young man faced with his parents’ rocky marriage and hard life, he acts out at school and captures the challenges of any young boy learning for himself. Finally, we have Angeli Bayani playing Terry, a migrant Filipino housekeeper and maid. Bayani’s facial expressions, I think, capture the sort of “I must endure it” attitude necessary when faced with such hard choices as leaving your home for work, and the inherent, though not always obvious, prejudice against Filipinos among other South Asian groups. Many of the performances were spot on, and arguably very little could be added to improve the feel of the film. I appreciate that stereotyping wasn’t as prevalent in this film as in some American-made films, which often portray Asian characters, even in 2015, as martial arts masters, wise teachers and dragon ladies.

Jiale (Koh) is a troubled young man. He acts out at school and is constantly studying gambling odds when he should be focusing on his school lessons. His parents Teck (Chen) and Hwee Leng (Yeo) are at their wits end, finding their own stresses at work while trying to make allowances for their son. Finally, they decide to hire Teresa (Bayani), a Filipino mother looking for work in Singapore to help support her young infant son back in the Philippines. This film shows hardship piled on hardship, and helps introduce Western audiences to a different world that may be more similar than we’d think. There is good material here for looking at the ethnic hierarchies within South Asia, as well as the relative economic positions of immigrants relative to the majority. There is also just a good, quality film that is different than much of what comes out of Hollywood.

I found this film to be eye opening. Specifically, I have not seen many Singaporean films, nor have I had access to many films not made in China, Hong Kong, Korea, or Japan. It is refreshing to see films that showcase something different, without devolving into a kind of “poor me” attitude that is easy to take when showing non-Western films to Western audiences. The characters do not ask for your sympathy, but seem to say “see my endurance.” In the end, however, the human element tries to ensure we do feel for the characters, even troublemaker Jiale. Viewers will likely relate to the economic hardships the characters face, as much of the world emerges from an economic depression unseen for decades. Even when things get rough, however, the characters face their troubles as best they can.

This film is powerful, almost overly so. There were many moments where I felt “wow, I didn’t know it was like that.” The plight of Filipino immigrants trying to send money back home is a familiar situation with many Mexican immigrants looking to feed their families back home, especially here in California. This is not ancient history, or likely even history, as much as it is a reflection of what still happens today. While there is value is realizing what was during the 1997 economic downturn, analogies can be made today, and likely will apply in the future as well. Anyone interested in seeing something different (for me), and seeing a different world outside the most common depictions of Asian cinema would do well to check out “Ilo Ilo.” I wasn’t disappointed.

Stream / Purchase

Points of Interest:

Filipino women as housekeepers and maids, jealousy of relationships with children

Ethnic relations within East and Southeast Asia

Singaporean culture as it relates to other neighboring nations

“under the table” work of worker immigrants

Corporal punishment in cultures

Movie Monday: "Picture Bride," a film by Kayo Hatta

Wikimedia Collection

Hatta, Kayo. "Picture Bride," starring Kido Yuki, Takayama Akira, and Tamlyn Tomita, 1995.

It was by chance I happened upon “Picture Bride” at the library and was moved to rent it. A riveting historical drama, "Picture Bride" depicts the life of a young Japanese immigrant woman working on the sugar cane fields in Hawaii during the early 1900s. It shows how both characters used deception to improve their chances of sealing the arranged marriage. Photography innovated the “picture bride” system that initially relied on written letters alone or face-to-face meetings. 

This film provides a solid script for strong performances that make the film particularly moving. Lead actress Kudo Yuki gives picture bride Riyo the emotional expressions that capture the apprehension and exhaustion a newly arrived city girl experiences under field conditions. Actor Takayama Akira ably expresses the hard life and defeatist mentality many bachelor field hands experienced under the Gentleman's Agreement of 1907 and prejudicial labor relationships. Finally, Tamlyn Tomita supports the leads with her capable performance as a strong young picture bride who must take on the roles of mother and mentor. One important aspect is that the cast are all capable Japanese and Japanese-American actors, a novel circumstance given the recent controversial casting choices in 2015 Hollywood.

When Riyo (Kudo) first arrives at the immigration office on the shores of the territory of Hawaii, she meets her husband for the first time, a field hand (Takayama) almost two decades her senior. This fact, not shown in the youthful photo he sent, sets up tensions from the start. The various hardships the two newlyweds face include prejudicial ethnic conflict with white overseers, labor conflicts with fellow Filipino field hands, as well as the appeal of gambling as a downtime activity. Couple this with the relationship built on lies and the film contains plenty of tension and conflict. The challenges these characters face will illuminate an almost forgotten historical exchange network that greatly disrupted immigration to the United States.

One of the strongest aspects of this film is the human element that makes it so relatable to a variety of viewers. Many of us can relate to the class challenges of trying to get ahead in a tough work and social environment, particularly when it seems like the paychecks are never quite enough. Viewers may relate with the ethnic conflicts that plague both historic societies and today. For me, this film made me realize how blessed I am in my own life, particularly the great physical toil these characters face each and everyday, and how they manage to find positives.

Overall, this film is a great peek into the historic condition of “picture brides” under the Gentleman's Agreement of 1907. Not only does it depict the ethnic conflicts Filipinos and Japanese field workers faced, but also the different ethnic hierarchies that native Hawaiians felt in relation to the Anglo landowners and European (Portuguese) overseers. While the film does slip into too much pathos at times, the narrative does manage to express an accurate depiction, perhaps less intense than some authentic experiences, of Japanese immigrants under an inherently prejudicial legal and social system. If you’re a fan of historical dramas, this may be the film for you. Please post comments or suggestions below, and what films you'd like to see reviewed in future posts.

Purchase "Picture Bride" or stream via Netflix here.

Historical Notes for discussion in the comments:

• The “picture bride” system for skirting the Gentleman's Agreement of 1907.

• Ethnic interrelationships and labor: Anglo and Euro owners vs. laboring minority; labor vs labor between Filipinos and Japanese

• Labor conflicts, the company store, $1 fee for lack of work, $. 65/day and $300 to go back to Japan

• Bachelor Societies: both Chinese and Japanese, Filipino immigrant men

• Aspire to be Rudolph Valentino, but Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa came beforehand, but not in the dominant history

• Asian, mainly Japanese and Filipino actors cast in the film, Japanese language used instead of English (think Sayuri/Memoirs of a Geisha)

Film Review: Wang Xiaoshuai's Beijing Bicycle

 

By Scottmeltzer (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

  Wang Xiaoshuai's film Beijing Bicycle covers a number of themes which other films within modern Chinese cinema tackle in various ways. The challenges brought about by change, modernity and commodities, the divide between the city and the countryside, personal relationships between classes and sexes, and the state of social structures within modern China are but a few. Taken on its own, this film is a powerful commentary on a number of institutions of modern China, but also focuses on the very human element of struggle.
  One theme which is apparent throughout the film is the challenge of rural migrants when confronted with urban living. As Barme says in the article “Bike Envy,” the film “portrays the young men and women from the country[...] as quiescent and dumb.” On a superficial level, the viewer sees Guei's character as weak in the face of adversity, in that he doesn't speak up when spoken down to. However, I believe a more sophisticated analysis coincides with Wright's view, namely that the silence of Guei, and to a lesser extent his older friend, reflects “his difference and wonderment at the city.” Furthermore, I would argue that it reflects the breakdown of communication between the two classes of “urban dweller” and “rural migrant,” in that the migrant will speak, yet no one will openly listen. It's as if the arguments would not only fall on deaf ears, but that the sheer fact that they are arguing the issues stems from an inherent characteristic of the “backward” rural population. This concept of the backwardness of rural workers segues into the concepts of stubbornness, which many people use to describe Guei.
  Stubbornness is a characteristic reflected within a number of characters within modern Chinese films, like Teacher Wei in Not One Less, or Qiu Ju in The Story of Qiu Ju. In Wang's words, the idea of stubbornness is what pulls the people through the challenges of city life. Furthermore, it reflects the harsh realities that rural people face when they move into the city. The fact that such a determined spirit is what is needed just to maintain a meager standard of living, namely for Guei to acquire and keep his bicycle and his job, reflects how stratified the economic systems have become between urban and rural areas. Similarly, we are left with questions of whether or not such a method for dealing with life is really productive. In Not One Less, the audience is left to wonder what the fate of the village chief will be, and how Qiu Ju feels about her experiences with the modern Chinese system of law. In Not One Less, the students are given new chalk, as well as some funds to (possibly) fix up the school and provide some new resources for their education. However, the audience is again left with a sense of incompleteness. Though they got a small donation, what of the rest of the time? Will the funding continue, or end when the story is no longer important? Like these characters, Guei's determination ended up getting him beaten, bruised, and his bike broken to pieces. However, it also allowed him to survive through the whole ordeal, and he did get his bike back. On the subject of the bike, the audience is left to wonder what the importance of the bike is.
  The bike represents some similar and different qualities which are important among the two boys, Jian and Guei. For Guei, the bike reflects his status in Beijing as a real resident, in that he has a job and he has some status among the urban dwellers. It further represents his livelihood, and a material good which he earned through his own hard work. Jian also uses the bike as a tool to gain status, among his friends and his girlfriend. Though he does push them away when he loses the bike, his status is severely decreased when he can't get it back. Both characters see the bicycle as a material possession, although they see it from different points of view. Additionally, the bike reflects Jian's desire to be associated with a pop culture, namely the X-Games style tricks on the bike. The materialistic and consumer society both characters face in another topic taken up within the film.
  Jian also treats his girlfriend as a material possession, completely ignoring her presence when in the arcade. In a way, both characters attack the perceived usurper of their material possession (with a brick). Guei attacks the thug who is destroying his bicycle, and Jian attacks the “Oakley Guy” who “stole” his girlfriend from him. The reflects both character's reactions to material culture, as well as their relationship to material goods. The commentary seems to be the attraction the youth have to material and consumer goods, whether it be for livelihood or entertainment. As we see with the characters of Unknown Pleasures, Jian seems to question what to do once he has all that he would want. When he is alone with his girlfriend, he attempts to get close, but can't seem to pull himself to make a move. Similarly, Guei is silenced throughout the film by the urban dwellers who challenge him. While not exactly reflecting his reactions to all his desires being met, it does reflect the arresting feeling he has at the new lifestyle.
  Beijing Bicycle was a challenging film to watch the first time through. I happened to catch it on the IFC channel long before attending this class, and didn't know what to make of it then. Now, with the benefit of practice at film analysis, as well as further knowledge of the kind of material the director wants to comment on, and the three-peat screening, I believe I have a good idea what the film was trying to say. I imagine further viewings will offer different commentaries, or a new discovery. But the film offers a great analysis of the challenges and changes happening within modern China.