Los Vendidos; My Beatles (2 Short Plays); American Born Chinese

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This morning:

What is your experience with Asian culture? Do you know the difference between Japanese culture and Chinese or Korean or Vietnamese culture? Can you point out Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia or Thailand on a map? What do you know about these cultures? What is your interaction with them? Can you name famous Asians? If so, who? If not, why not? Respond to these questions in an essay or list or poem or scene, etc.

If you know very little about these cultures, consider this writing prompt: an apology letter to more than 1/2 the world's population. "I'm sorry that..." and confess your thoughts.

American Born Chinese

Please watch the following videos and respond in writing:

How might you use these videos as examples/models for your own video or writing projects?

Discussion (from Shmoop):

  1. What's the deal with the structure of American Born Chinese? Why are there three different stories (Jin, the Monkey King, and Danny/Chin-Kee) intertwined with each other? Is this effective? Which storyline do you feel was strongest or most interesting to you?
  2. Why is the Monkey King so important to a Chinese American teenaged boy? How is the Monkey King both an inspiration and a cautionary tale for Jin? What do you know about the legend of the Monkey King?
  3. What's up with the whole Danny/Chin-Kee relationship? Why does Yang make Danny into a blonde, white dude who's got a Chinese cousin? Is this racist? Why or why not? What if Danny became a white girl, or a black girl or boy? Would the effect be the same? Why or why not?
  4. Jin does some pretty terrible things to his (only) friend Wei-Chen. If you were Wei-Chen, how would you deal with Jin's betrayals? How does the book deal with the cruelty of adolescence? Does this ring true from your own experiences? Do tell.
  5. This book is pretty much all about how (Chinese American) boys feel and think, but there is the Japanese American girl character Suzy Nakamura. What would the story be like if it were told from Suzy's perspective? Should the book be told from a different character's perspective? If so, who? If not, why not?
  6. Even though the main characters in the book are teenagers (with the exception of the Monkey King), there are adults in the story. What is the purpose of having these adult characters in the story?
  7. Discuss Asian Americans or Asians in American Pop Culture. What tropes exist?
  8. Other*
After our discussion, let's take a look at the short plays Los Vendidos by Luis Valdez (we will cover more Central and South American culture in a while) and My Beatles by Satoh Makoto. Use either play form for a scene of your own (perhaps joining your thoughts from today about Asia or your own identity/culture...); Please sign up for roles so I don't have to beg you to participate.

HOMEWORK: Complete the plays if we do not complete them in class. Write something inspiring based on ideas covered/discussed today in class. Turn in drafts by Monday, April 29. Begin to choose your Senior Coffeehouse pieces and your senior literary magazine drafts (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, media, etc.). Our Coffeehouse is May 15 @ 7:00. More details to follow.

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