masculinity | The Plaid Bag Connection

May 16, 2012
by Calvin

Okay to be Takei? Not for Manny Pacquiao

George Takei as Sulu. Artwork by Deborah Enrile Lao.

Manny Pacquiao caused quite a stir this week when he said he was against gay marriage and homosexuality in general. BigWowo found the headline on the LA Weekly article unfair, since Pacquiao did not actually say that he wanted gays put to death; he was merely quoting from the Bible. That said, the clarification does not excuse Pacquiao from his stance.

In tangentially related news this week, Hyphen Magazine is featuring actor, comedian, LGBT activist, and all-around awesome person George Takei on the cover of its 25th issue. Deborah Enrile Lao has made some great posters featuring Asian American male role models, including Takei and Jeremy Lin. (Pacquiao is not included.)

May 2, 2012
by Calvin

WLR: Men in media

Photo by Tamara Abdul-Hadi.

UnVilifying the Arab Man: A Portrait Series
Via Schema Magazine:

Abdul-Hadi’s project aims to break these stereotypical images that often misrepresent Arab men in the media. She wants to redefine the dominant narrative to shift from hyper-masculine, angry, terrorist to more realistic images. Her formula to achieve this is simple—she’s literally taking images of real Arab men to juxtapose the erroneous characters in popular media that honestly, reflect no one.

Uploaded: The Asian American Movement

This documentary aims to uncover the extent to which Asian Americans have utilized new media such as YouTube to infiltrate American popular culture and where this momentum will lead. The documentary will focus on the current struggles and successes of important Asian Americans in entertainment, from both online celebrities and industry professionals.

Is it just me, or does this trailer foreground the experiences of Asian American men a little too much? I haven’t seen the film, but come on, where are the Asian American women YouTube stars in this?

Continue Reading →

January 31, 2012
by Calvin 2 Comments

Songs about the Asian diasporic experience

The Sociology Source teaching blog has started a new section called Sociology Sounds for songs that can be used as teaching tools. Here are the songs that I submitted about the Asian diasporic experience (none of which, unfortunately, have been posted on that blog at the time of writing). Any suggestions? Please share them in the comments!

Taiyo Na – Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)

This song about Na’s love for his working-class, single immigrant mother touches not only on immigration but also on family structure, violence against women, and language discrimination. The above video was shot in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, of which I have many fond memories from my college days.

Jimmy Wong – Ching Chong! Asians in the Library Song

A humorous response to a racist rant that unfortunately incorporates some sexist imagery. This song went viral last year and even got the attention of National Public Radio.

Continue Reading →