undead astronauts

As some of you know I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Asian American culture, and one of the things I’ve thought quite a bit about is on how to develop a new Asian American identity. Obviously there is something a bit inorganic and even superficial in trying to invent a cultural identity, as culture is something that is supposed to move and change on its own, some would say. I don’t think I really disagree either. Still, it’s something that I’ve just felt compelled to ponder on in recent years. A friend of mine used the term Asian 2.0 in describing this idea for a new identity, and it’s a label that I’ve grown comfortable using as well.

What is the purpose and utility in this new identity, and why should anyone feel compelled to partake in the culture associated with it? If anything, I’ve encountered just as much – if not more – resistance to my ideas on the matter than actual genuine interest, much less confidence. These are important questions to which I don’t have clear or concise answers for.

Why culturally ghetto-ize yourself by choosing to be different and somewhat outside the mainstream? Your life doesn’t suck, why not just be grateful and satisfied with the status quo?

The thing is, in my pursuit of certain interests I discovered that the status quo wasn’t really set up for people like me. Certain important experiences of my childhood and young life I found were in many ways outside the mainstream, and finding an environment or subset of society where I could naturally and fully express myself proved especially difficult.

And one of my greatest interests just so happened to be in Asian media. At first it was all about media from Asia. I grew up watching the Chinese ‘Journey to the West’ epic mini-series and was so captivated by the show that I would emulate the Monkey King Sun Wu Kong, jumping on and off couches while scratching the back of my hand and making monkey noises. I even had a deck of cards featuring the actual TV show characters for some reason that I would bring to school and play with.

Intro to Journey to the West (CCTV version)

And then there was the martial arts films of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, before they made films in Hollywood. Jet Li especially was an idol of mine in my teenage years, and I’d eventually get all of his movies to watch, on VCD no less. Stephen Chow was also an important figure in my television-filled childhood, probably in no small part to his role as the Monkey King in Chinese Odyssey Part 2. Something about his nonsensical style of humor I just found hilarious, and while in China a few years ago I made sure to buy a collection of all his films, on DVD this time.

Theme song to Chinese Odyssey Part 2

And then there were the Taiwan variety shows. Whenever my aunt would visit from Taiwan she would bring with her loads of video tapes with various variety shows recorded on them. They would range from shows about real life ghost stories to shows with foreign magicians and hypnosis experts. But my favorite shows were the ones that featured Chinese celebrities, usually singers, performing and playing games. Super Sunday was one such show, but THE show I liked the most was one called ‘Long Xiong Hu Di’ (龍兄虎弟). Hosted by a pair of brothers, they would have various singers come on their show to sing or perform skits. Usually the guests were from Taiwan’s vibrant pop culture scene, but sometimes they would have guests from the Hong Kong scene as well.

Faye Wong on ‘Long Xiong Hu Di’

Along with various audio cassette tapes brought over by my aunt, these variety shows were my introduction to Chinese popular music.

(to be continued)

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