Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema
The 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented three narrative films, <em>Never Forever</em>, <em>Pretty to Think So</em>, and <em>West 32nd</em>, with suggestively similar interests. Namely, all three films focus on “horizontal” (rath...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eScholarship Publishing, University of California
2012-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Transnational American Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/25h3m6c0 |
| _version_ | 1818999593323462656 |
|---|---|
| author | Ju Yon Kim |
| author_facet | Ju Yon Kim |
| author_sort | Ju Yon Kim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented three narrative films, <em>Never Forever</em>, <em>Pretty to Think So</em>, and <em>West 32nd</em>, with suggestively similar interests. Namely, all three films focus on “horizontal” (rather than intergenerational) conflicts between characters distinguished by class, legal status, and migration history but connected by ethnic or racial identifications. This article argues that the films, individually and collectively, participate in ongoing deliberations about the borders of Asian America by juxtaposing and organizing distinct models of conceiving Asian American identity. In particular, the films suggest the limitations of privileging certain formations of Asian America over others by both dramatizing and embodying their uneasy coexistence. Tensions between minority, immigrant, and diasporic positions become evident not only through their plots, characterizations, and stylistic elements but also in their complex production and distribution histories. The films together highlight the necessity of attending to the difficult questions of ethnic and racial identification and material inequity that are manifest when the various narratives of affiliation and difference espoused by each model encounter one another. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T22:19:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0c17fdd964a54dc596ae41a1e421ff5b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1940-0764 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T22:19:53Z |
| publishDate | 2012-06-01 |
| publisher | eScholarship Publishing, University of California |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Transnational American Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-0c17fdd964a54dc596ae41a1e421ff5b2022-12-21T19:24:58ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaJournal of Transnational American Studies1940-07642012-06-014110.5070/T841012823ark:13030/qt25h3m6c0Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American CinemaJu Yon Kim0Harvard UniversityThe 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented three narrative films, <em>Never Forever</em>, <em>Pretty to Think So</em>, and <em>West 32nd</em>, with suggestively similar interests. Namely, all three films focus on “horizontal” (rather than intergenerational) conflicts between characters distinguished by class, legal status, and migration history but connected by ethnic or racial identifications. This article argues that the films, individually and collectively, participate in ongoing deliberations about the borders of Asian America by juxtaposing and organizing distinct models of conceiving Asian American identity. In particular, the films suggest the limitations of privileging certain formations of Asian America over others by both dramatizing and embodying their uneasy coexistence. Tensions between minority, immigrant, and diasporic positions become evident not only through their plots, characterizations, and stylistic elements but also in their complex production and distribution histories. The films together highlight the necessity of attending to the difficult questions of ethnic and racial identification and material inequity that are manifest when the various narratives of affiliation and difference espoused by each model encounter one another.http://escholarship.org/uc/item/25h3m6c0asian american cinemanever foreverpretty to think sowest 32ndasian americanfilmasian american studiesfilm studies |
| spellingShingle | Ju Yon Kim Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema Journal of Transnational American Studies asian american cinema never forever pretty to think so west 32nd asian american film asian american studies film studies |
| title | Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema |
| title_full | Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema |
| title_fullStr | Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema |
| title_full_unstemmed | Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema |
| title_short | Across a Different Table: Strange and Familiar Encounters in Asian American Cinema |
| title_sort | across a different table strange and familiar encounters in asian american cinema |
| topic | asian american cinema never forever pretty to think so west 32nd asian american film asian american studies film studies |
| url | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/25h3m6c0 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juyonkim acrossadifferenttablestrangeandfamiliarencountersinasianamericancinema |