Just wondering if an Asian raised an American has asian values but adapted to american culture.
However when Asian American returns to live in HK would they accept them as one of their or
would they consider them as a foreigner based on his speaking abilities.

Recently I checked out Hollywood Chinese documentary. It quite an eye opener about Chinese
American films and the struggle to get to where it is today. The main sterotype in the early films
was white americans portray as chinese. Then progresses to chinese american portrayed as japanese.
Roles are now stero typed that most asians know martial arts based on Kung Fu hit movies.
So truly asians have an identity crisis in hollywood films..

Define these terms:

1. Asian

2. American

3. asian values

4. american culture

And then we can talk. (How long's a piece of string?)

Yeah.  People keep talking about being "American" as if it were a race, not a culture.

fuck hollywood!

asian guys in america have it so fucken bad. asians in TV and movies are always portrayed as nerdy or gay (that fat guy on entourage) or kung fu masters (jacky chan / jet li). the only COOL asian guy i've seen on TV was the korean guy who won survivor, but unfortunately his 15 min of fame have passed. generations of asian males grow up with identity crisis because they have no role models to follow. thats why in america you see so many ABCs who act all gangster and think they are black.

asian girls are always portrayed as super hot, intelligent, sex crazed chicks who fall in love with some girly metrosex white guy. it is great to be an asian girl in america. everyone is nice to them so they think they r exotic princesses and shit. little do they realize, however, that if they were born in china, vietnam or thailand, they would be sucking dicks for lunch money.

i refuse to watch bullshit hollywood white-power propaganda anymore. as an "western-born asian" i identify much more with cantonese and japanese movies that accurately portray asian male lifestyles.

we asians have come a long way in the education, professional, and wealth realms. every top ranking college in america is now majority asian, asians own significant business and real estate, and asians are very well represented in professional careers. HOWEVER, asians still have NO VOICE in hollywood!!

[ Last edited by  xiaodidi at 15-1-2010 20:51 ]

little do they realize, however, that if they were born in china, vietnam or thailand, they would be sucking dicks for lunch money

--------------------------------------------

Ouch.  Harsh, but probably true in some cases.  Now that I think about it you're right, in America the Asian ladies have a certain status of being elegant and worldly when they walk in the room, where the guys aren't afforded the same status.  Absolutely true.

Sorry fellas, but seems to me you guys are confusing issues of nationality and ethnicity a bit too much.I believe testlogin said it best when he asked for definitions (i.e. parameters) for this discussion.

I don't even get what the question is. different asians in america have diff experiences...like if you grew up here in the 60s or 80 or 00, its like night & day

My interpretation

Define these terms:

1. Asian - Being born and raised in Asian Countries as China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, HK, Macau, Singapore
but educated strictly in Asia

2. American - Begin born and raised in USA with Asian heritage but educated in USA

3. asian values - Tradition family values that can be open ended as in non political maybe the eastern philosophy aspect.

4. american culture - encompasses traditions, ideals, customs, beliefs, values, arts, and innovations developed both domestically and imported via colonization and immigration. Call it a melt pot of sorts..

Asians are definately portrayed differently in Hollywood than how they are in real life.

But it is no different than how westerners are portrayed in Chinese movie; ie: very different than how they are in real life.

I remember in a Jackie Chan movie (but can't remember the name)
where he took his black partner to a sauna in HK ...
the sauna was nothing like any saunas in HK yet because of what this movie portrayed
we had some bros here asking where to find this sauna or this type of sauna !

there are those sauna in zhuhai. close enough

That was "Rush Hour 2"!  Love that movie...and Zhang Ziyi!

Jackie Chan's partner was played by Chris Tucker.  He was just trying to get some "mu-shu" at the "Heaven on Earth" massage parlor.  I'm curious now, just how different are the saunas in HK as compared to the one in the movie?

yea, there's a never-ending debate on this subject among all asians. Its all true about the lack of representation.
it is also true that men from asia (i.e. born & raised in asia) in general are more "metro". American culture values aggressiveness, big size, boldness, individuality, etc. so it totally clashes asian culture which values the opposite of all those things. We asians are still a minority group in north america, so this is what we gotta live with.
Don't worry, things are changing fast. As asia strengthens, and north america weakens, (on the economic front) general culture will also become more asian-focused.

There's an inherent problem in this discussion as posed by oscarmandude: it's highly subjective.  An ID crisis is a personal matter.  If you clearly identify yourself with one more than the other, how can you have such a problem?  Have you bothered to ask any of the foreign-born, ethnic Chinese how they see themselves?  Don't confuse nationality and ethnicity.  Very different things, esp when you use them to discuss aspects of culture.

I was talking to a friend (ABC) who's a movie producer about this subject the other day. While I personally feel that there are stigmas to Asians in America based on appearances, it actually is due to the majority of Asians living up to this "Meek" image. At the same time that North American Asians complain about this scenario, we came to the conclusion that it creates a double standard thus forwarding the stereotype.

Yep, you're exactly right!

Since the asian-culture is generally non-confrontational, in order to fix the identity crisis, we need to be more aggressive and individualistic like western culture.

But then you just lost part of the essence of the asian-culture....

Ironic?

I think the OP is referring to purely image.

Just look at the % of total population that are asians in america, and then compare it to how often you see them in the media.
Now... look at the other visible ethnic groups as a  % of total population and then compare it to how often you see them in the media.

You'll quickly find out that its quite glaring.

I know..... image doesn't count for everything, but then why does the US have affirmative action employment? why is France trying to ban muslim headwear? etc etc...

Image does count!

or we asian can buy up TV, magazine, and movie companies and force them to film ONLY gong li and chow yun fat movies

That's what I want to watch anyways. I dont want to watch the so called "american movies". I like to watch my own countrymen in action. Go Asians!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNLPGHZbGM