[Jonathan Tam]

Among the four programs that I have taken with the US-China Institute, I have found the most to bring into my classroom from this seminar on Gender and Generation. Nothing quite affects everyone universally as much as age and gender, and this seminar offered a very unique perspective from the lens of East Asian scholars that helped reveal the values behind each different culture.

 

In the course that I teach on Interethnic Relations, there is plenty that I hope to bring into the classroom - starting with my lesson on culture consumption in Kpop and Hip Hop. Just as how music in America sells certain ideals and values, music in Korea is no different - from the reverence of strict beauty standards to the heavy thematic focus of love and toxic idealization. An analysis of American hip hop followed by a psychoanalysis of Kpop will certainly be a great platform for discussing the double standards between genders, rape culture and even the aging and left behind elderly population. One thing that hip hop and kpop both have in common is the fact that many only resonate with younger populations - and in some cases, such as that of Korea, this represents the declining role of the elderly population in society. Supplemental resources such as the film, “The Bacchus Lady” (only the school appropriate parts) will create a holistic image of the issues that media can create in our society.

 

Beyond that, as a Science and Math teacher, the science fiction elements that were brought forth in Seminar 6 with Brian Bernards seem like resources that I hope will prompt conversation on climate change and our place in the universe. Other than being great stories for students to pick their brains at, they also offer insight into the issues that not only people in our country are thinking about - but also on a global scale. Folding Beijing and The Wandering Earth are the stories in particular that I think would be great technical breadths  for students to engage in speculation regarding whether these solutions seem possible (in the case of The Wandering Earth) and how they might disproportionately affect people (in the case of Folding Beijing).

 

Though I hoped to learn a lot, I was surprised at how much I learned from this seminar. I am incredibly thankful for all the lecturers as well as Clay and Catherine for putting together this program. Thank you!

[Jonathan Tam]

Hi Sophia. After reading Folding Beijing, I had a similar realization to the point that you brought up about how harming our environment creates a much more profound effect on those in poverty. Folding Beijing portrays this by a showing how each layer has a different amount of surface time, but I think that students can definitely empathize with how this affects LA when it comes to earthquakes / wildfires, emergency preparedness, and even the urban island heating effect. I think that those offers a great opportunity for social commentary and bringing to life a future that doesn't seem too far from where our society is idealogically.

[Jonathan Tam]

I wish I knew beforehand that this film was 3 and a half hours and in two-parts. So, consider that a helpful piece of information before you watch the film if you intend to see it because it's hard to put down after you start it.

Seven Samurai is directed by Akira Kurasawa and tells the story of seven samurai hired to protect a village from bandits. Though simple in plot, the film explores some of Kurasaw's common themes: human nature and morale. The seven samurai that are hired to protect the village are in some ways washed up, Ronin (leaderless / without masters), and hungry. And it's this desperation that leads them to taking the job. When you watch a film like Seven Samurai after a lot of other films throughout the last few decades, you immediately recognize the desperation in the characters because I would imagine that Kurasawa popularized the idea of reluctant heroism. As Kikuchiyo stood above the trenches of the villege outskirts, I could almost see Han Solo taunting storm troopers. And as the samurai begin to assemble and debate whether they were to take the job, you could almost see the beginning to The Italian Job or Ocean's 11. There are definitely some more direct connections to films such as The Magnificent Seven that came out 5 years after Seven Samurai because both plots start with seven protagonists (spoidler: and go down to just a few by the end).

Something that became clear after watching Rashomon is the fact that Kurasawa likes to work with the same actors - and also use them in similar capacities. Toshiro Mifune takes the role of the hyperactive and risk taking samurai - similar to his bandit role in Rashomon. And Takashi Shimura takes the role of the incredibly honorable and leading samurai - similar to his role in Rashomon. This was something that Kerim Yasar mentioned that Ozu had a habit for as well. The fact that Kurasawa uses the characters in this capacity allows fot he story to be less about development, and more about larger issues.

As a classroom tool, Seven Samurai brings to light the benefits and detriments to samurai. On one end, they are the skilled defenders of Japan. But on the other, they are the cause of forced labor and war. Kurasawa makes a point of this towards the end of the first part of the film as even the Samurai feel shameful for their actions and it's this guilt that motivates them beyond their initial motivation. Where the samurai are often considered badasses, excerpts of Seven Samurai offer a look at how much honor, strategy, and discipline play in each of their lives.

Like Rashomon, from a philosophical angle, Seven Samurai offers a lot of room to discuss human nature namely through the lens of war. It leaves us with the question of: Are there any winners in war as the remaining samurai bury their fallen brothers as well as what good comes from war. The farmers may have kept their village at the conclusion of the film - but the samurai are left at the end with an uncertain future, perhaps just looking for the next fight until their lives are taken.

9.5/10

[Jonathan Tam]

Recommended by Clay as a must see, Rashomon is directed by film legend Akira Kurasawa and tells the story of the retelling of a crime as well as how the story that we retell and the perspective that we retell it from might not always be the truth - or perhaps our truth. The film begins with a few characters sitting by the gate of Rashomon (which is a city). They discuss the death of a recent Samurai and the film then transitions to the story of the Samurai's death - which involves the Samurai, his wife, and a bandit. Without going into too much beyond that, it becomes evident early on that each of their stories have gaps - but it's those gaps that result in lost faith in humanity. Faced with a similar situation and question of intention, the original characters (the ones sitting by the gate) eventually are faced with an ethical dilemma to do good or the get away with evil.

Despite the fact that I was told beforehand that the film is a masterpiece, I can safetly agree with that assessment. Kurasawa's analysis of the human psyche as well as what it means to be moral and virtuous even as the world around us burns. I interpretted Kurasawa's film as a way of saying that we are all inherently evil. We all act in self-interest, but it is the fact that we have each other that allows us to be more than just self-interested. We must be each other's moral compass if we are to survive.

And in there lies the most beautiful thing about this film - how it can be interpretted as well as how important it is for cinema today. When you see interviews of George Lucas or Christopher Nolan or other thought provoking directors of our modern age, they will all attribute the work of Kurasawa as the director that influenced their career. And it shows. There are so many dimensions to the characters and layers to each shot that a film maker needs to account for. This creates so many opportunities for arguing interpretations about morals and the human condition that can be brought into the classroom. More so than that, for students who are interested in being film makers one day (which there are a lot of especially in Los Angeles), films like those by Kurasawa should be ones that they watch before they leave high school. I can't believe that it's taken me so long to watch this, but I am incredibly glad that I did and that I am in the position to recommend this to students - especially those aspiring to be part of the film making industry one day.

As a jidaigeki (Edo period piece), the film offers a visual representation of what 16th century of Japan looked like - the dwindling faith in the Samurai and the warring conflicts between cities. This makes it a great component to any World History class intent on focusing particularly before the Meiji era.

9.5/10

[Jonathan Tam]

Shame is the first word that comes to mind when I go to the Japanese American National Museum. Though Japanese Internment is often overshadowed by many of the other human etrocities throughout the 20th century, the impact that it has had on people's lives should never be overlooked namely because it seems as though that the stories that we heard are being written right now. Our docent (who is a nisei) did a great job of telling his story and he did so in a way that made you really feel the humanity of the circumstances. He was only 6/7 when his family arrived to the camp and left internment when he was 7/8 - unable to really talk about the situation until he was a lot older and only interested in finding a place to play day after day in the camp. He shared with us stories about how he would jump off the snowy roofs into piles of coal when he brought us to the model cabin as well as how he would spend the better majority of secondary school avoiding any Japanese people as a result of the experience. It's traumatizing and it seems as though it's almost human nature to regret or avenge or repair rather than prevent or prepare or protect. I won't dabble too much into that and I know that we aren't meant to design lessons on American history - but there is a really strong tie to current events that I think a lot of students would find some interest talking about.

A side point is definitely how important these stories are going to be in the future - as the aging population of the holocaust and japanese internment and the armenian genocide and World War 2 (among a great other events in history) begins to dwindle. There's a lot of technology being developed to machine learn and immortalize their stories in film - but I see some responbility that we have as teachers to also be part of passing those stories along.

[Jonathan Tam]

Having not listened to too much kpop - I have to say that those songs were FUEGO. Just kidding, but they do have an incredibly high tempo / 150+ bpm appeal and the addition of some english broadens the audience that it can reach. Something that really came to mind, especially as we went from the museum area to the cultural center, is how closely aligned Korea's history is with other countries. Joyce, our guide, mentioned how she wanted to make sure that she included mandarin characters in her child's name based on the prevalance of that language in Korea. It seems as though Koreans have a very clear understanding of both internal and external affairs. But, as we moved to the culture center, the major distinction that I saw between Korea and other countries that we have discussed in modern times is how much Korea seems to be pushing for tourism where as other countries - perhaps not even by any fault of their own are either not encouraging it as much or even discouraging it. The effort to offer language classes, story time for young Koreans, rotating cultural exhibitions, and even a full center to get a taste of the culture seems to be extraordinarly bigs to boost influence, appeal, and tourism.

[Jonathan Tam]

The lens that I had as I went into the film was juxtaposing the film with the novella, but to speak to the film as a whole: it is pretty entertaining, visually appealing, and definitely something that I think western audiences will enjoy. The production company definitely put a lot of effort towards making cities look frozen, technology look futuristic, and the circumstances very apocalyptic. Like Professor Bernard mentioned, the novella does differ significantly from the film - but a major difference is definitely in the use of culture. The film itself definitely has a lot more aspects of chinese family and chinese customs. The bond between the grandfather and his grandson and granddaughter while the father lives away on the space station is very reminiscent of some of the modern family dynamics that were discussed in class - the fact that the grandfather is largely in the role of the grandson. In an early part of the film, the grandfather attempts to bail his grandkids out of jail - only to be thrown in jail himself like a simpleton for trying to bail the guards out. His attempts at bailing go into the gifts that one would usually present another in chinese cultures - gifts in nice wrappings and boxes. This enhanced chinese cultural portrayal definitely seems to be a way the film tries to push for chinese nationalism and is a point worth talking about in comparison to other space films. No parts of the film are inapprorpriate for class and The Wandering Earth (both read and then viewed) can be an incredibly insightful component to any English, History or even Science class.

It is incredibly cheesey though and painfully predictable, so 7/10

[Jonathan Tam]

The readings articulated a really interesting point, which is the fact that the work of Qiu Jin and He Zhen far exceeded their lifetimes. Something that I found online as I was reading about Qiu Jin is the fact that before she was executed, she left behind a poem saying: ""Autumn wind, autumn rain – they make one die of sorrow," to lament the failed revolution that she would never see take place." Something that the readings touched on was the fact that many of their works were reproduced in the cultural revolution and provided a strong platform for feminism throughout the late 20th century. A strategy that Professor Tran modeled really well was providing exerpts from each of their works - which I think can be great before providing any context behind Qiu Jin or He Zhen. It will really let students try to debate when these authors lived and the conditions they lived in as well. Where many would argue that they were alive during the cultural revolution, it might be a great suprise to students to realize they were around during the turn of the 19th century and that the foundations and seeds of communism were around as early as then in China.

[Jonathan Tam]

When I initially read the stories, I felt as though my mind immediately made the connection between the Chinese stories on virtue and some stories that are told in western culture - because it felt as though China emerged with a very similar idea to stories in the west: that a woman's role is to be a vessel for men from boyhood to manhood. It was Mencius' mother who took the role of his moral center - just as how it was Elizabeth's role to soften the heart of Mr. Darcy and Lady Macbeth's role to push Macbeth to take the thrown. It seems as though this theme is all too common throughout the world and just as how exemplars of filial piety were developed - something that struck me as a great lesson idea was to re-write what makes a culturally virtuous person in today's world.

[Jonathan Tam]

I'm going to build upon the comment that I made in class by saying that it is a little surprising how science fiction does not derive as much from our own cultures as one might expect in books and stories. But, the themes that Professor Bernard was able to derive from The Wandering Earth made a lot more sense than I initially thought. He connected the idea of mass mobilization in China's history to moving Earth and also changes in faith to the sun to China's religious history. It definitely makes the story seem a touch more characteristically Chinese compared to how American stories of space tend to be - which are these solo missions of great heroics and human domination of nature (ex. Interstellar, Armageddon, First Man, Gravity, etc.).

[Jonathan Tam]

I'm pretty sure that after I do a post in each seminar and the website, I am just going to do probably 11 film reviews based on all the suggests that have been made regarding foreign films. I am incredibly guilty of not dabbling as much in the work of Ozu or Kurasawa despite the fact that I have constantly been recommended to by friends. The tips that Professor Yasar provided though - in regards to how to view the films as well as the nuances that they portray - are what I think will be the last straws / incentive to finally check them out. It seems as though foreign film has exploded within the last few decades and I think that as more folks find their footing in storytelling, the better the industry is going to be and the more connected people are going to feel throughout the world. Films seem to be providing a great common thread for people to build empathy towards each other and realize that a zombie apocalypse in Korea will pan out more or less the same as one in the midwest. It seems like just a few years ago that I started to recommend some of the Korean horror films in the corners of netflix to my students (for them to watch outside of class), but the works of Naomi Kawase as well as another young director that I know, Jia Zhangke, seem like other great places to find films to recommend to my students.

[Jonathan Tam]

I always love hearing from Professor Jung-Kim because I feel as though the content that she teachers resonates the most with our students given the time period that she targets. Her approach brings us always into modern day and I think that her seminar will be the biggest influence in the lesson that I end up designing. Especially as students these days have grown so fondly of hip hop, a conversation I tend to have with students is the danger of consuming culture. Because as we listen to music - however misogynistic, sexist and racist it may be - we need to realize that we are consuming and actively participating in the growth of the culture. Whether we act on the lyrics or the ideas or not, we provide the mass that these cultures thrive on. And K-pop is no different. From the outside in western culture, we may think of it as this foreign and whimsical thing, but we can't neglect the fact that even k-pop has consequences as a culture - namely in the beauty standards that they place upon people.

[Jonathan Tam]

I really appreciated how Professor Miyake went into the gendering of the language as well as how folks like Murasaki Shikibu made strides to subvert cultural norms and wield language as a weapon against the patriarchy. In the first part of the seminar, something that really resonated with me was how poetry can be used as a way of telling the story of men and women from this time. Poems of love and war captured the psyche of people living there at the time in a way that historical accounts couldn't. A question I definitely had was if we have any poems about love during the time where warriors began to take a larger role. I think of it almost like the transition from Blues to Jazz to even Hip Hop. As new genres flourished, people still created music in older genres. Were there love poems during the time of increasing war and what might they have sounded like?

[Jonathan Tam]

I found it incredibly interesting that a movement has found its way to South Korea to challenge beauty standards for two reasons: (1) because it has been long overdue in my opinion and (2) it seems like western culture has had its own challenge of beauty standards in the last few decades. The article, "South Korean Women 'Escape The Corset'And Reject Their Country's Beauty Ideals" describes an art installation that depicts women in photographs that challenge the make up and long luxious hair that you would normally see. More so interesting was the fact that the author concluded the article by saying that this movement has had "mixed results. On the one hand, she has found that men now treat her as an equal. They give her access to social circlesand information previously forbidden to her. They invite her to smoke with them afterclasses. But they don't invite other women whose appearance is more conventional,and she feels that she is treated simply as one of the guys." This conclusion reminded me of a time when tomboys was a term that was thrown around a lot to describe girls who would hang out with guys - and now among my students, it virtually doesn't exist. Today, we have girls that play on our school's football team and people who don't feel the pressure so much from stereotypes as they would have decades ago. I hope that more people in Korea get on board with this movement. But, I'm interested in seeing what direction takes. Will there be a korean drama reminiscent of Glee? Will the country go through a slim-thicc phase and realize how ridiculous it is? Only time will tell, I suppose.

[Jonathan Tam]

Something that really intrigued me was the new exemplars of Filial Piety based on the 24 ancient ones. The old ones - which center on ruler-subject, husband-wife, father-son, older brother-younger brother and friend-friend relations are codified in these almost mythological stories that aim to teach people the manifestation of these values. I took a look at a few of the new ones (https://herschelian.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/filial-piety-for-the-21st-century/) - and I was suprised to see that many only dabble in the father-son (now, parent-child) relation rather than between partners or friends or even country. I suppose it's an interesting shift in how filial piety is approached - seemingly more about parent-child relations than anything else. But, this leaves me the question of whether or not the harm that has been caused between fathers-sons and husbands-wives has ever been reconciled - or perhaps if those values have just escaped the conversation and still subvert our society. That's why I am incredibly skeptical about the Hot Moms and Hot Supermoms media that has been created. Yes, these may be images created by women, but are they going to be studied and looked at one day as having the same intent that Ban Zhao had.

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