Author: juliasaccamano

I believe that Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew’s graphic novel, The Shadow Hero, is an attempt to challenge Asian American stereotypes. Some Asian stereotypes that this novel addresses include: that Asians insist children get perfect grades and continue their education to be doctors or engineers, Asian women are quiet and passive, and more.

One example of this is Hank’s ultimate desire. Hank does not want ultimate power, riches, and prestige. He is content working in his father’s shop. He is not in school with straight A’s studying to become a doctor or an engineer. He tells his father “I want to be here, working in the store. With you” (26). When he is offered the opportunity to become a leader of the Tongs by Red Center, he declines (150). He is not focused on wealth and power, but rather what makes him happy. He enjoys his father’s shop, so that is where he stays.

Red Center also strays from the stereotype that Asian women are passive and peaceful. When she is threatening she successfully fights back (44). She proves time and time again that she is strong and powerful herself and not passive nor submissive. On page 114 she tells Hank that she and her sisters took down some of their best, most powerful men. Red Center is a force to be reckoned with.

Another thing to notice is that when the Green Turtle is wearing his mask, people don’t know he is Asian. It is a stereotype that American superheroes are white. When the Green Turtle brings the Ten Grand imposter to Detective Lawful, the officer begins to criticize and stereotype all Asians until he realizes Hank is Asian too. He says: “I just assumed… with the costume…” (118). Another time something like this happens is when Ten Grand assumes the Green Turtle is Caucasian. “That gwai lo (Cantonese term for white person) superhero invaded my home… So then he’s a… Chinese Superhero?” (114).

While the book works to contradict many Asian stereotypes, it also makes sure the reader knows they exist. Throughout the book, Asian Americans are referred to as “Dumb chink(s)” (62), “sneaky slant-eyed bastards” (118), etc. The Shadow Hero addresses just a few of the Asian American stereotypes that are present in many people’s minds.

The beginning of the twenty first century can be considered a new beginning for New York City: popular views changed, politics changed, the economy changed, the population grew (because of the 1965 immigration reform), developments were made, and new challenges emerged. The new, global New York population included people from the Caribbean, East Asia, Central Asia, Latin America and other foreign locations. The population shifted so much that in 2009 minorities became the majority of voters.

Republican mayor Rudolph Giuliani served two terms working to strengthen New York conservative views which caused conflict over topics such as race, civil liberties, police, education, and more. During his mayoralty the World Trade Center tragedy occurred. Mayor Michael Bloomberg then worked in the resulting depression to restore New Yorker morale. Over the next decade New York and “its identity as a Resilient City” (206) would be tested time and again.

The Newcomers:

As previously stated, New York became a global city. There were Indian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Irish, Asian, African American, Russian, and so many more ethnic communities all within a few miles of each other. There was a mixing of cultures: music, cuisine, art, dance, languages (over 100 different languages), religions, etc. Many in the younger generation contributed to a ‘cosmopolitan identity’. There was no longer citywide domination of one ethnic group.

Many Russian Jewish immigrants settled in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn where they reinvigorated the economy and community by sharing their own capital and skills. That area of Brooklyn greeted them with open arms, as it was already mostly populated by Eastern European Jews.

Asians

Chinese New Yorkers maintained segregation and isolation in lower Manhattan (in Chinatown). For over 50 years, the Chinese were restricted. Denied citizenship, they were isolated to restaurant, laundry, tourist, and underground businesses. When laws changed in 1965, Chinese population started to grow exponentially. Many Chinese immigrants found exploitative employment in the garment industry. Wealthier Chinese immigrants, known as ‘Uptown Chinese’, brought about gentrification in Chinatown with the construction of larger apartment buildings. In 2009 City Councilman John C. Liu “became the first Chinese American citywide official” (209). Asian immigrants held high expectations for their children. Education was highly valued. They prided themselves in the positive stereotype of Asians being industrious, ambitious, and intelligent.

Latinos

Puerto Rican immigrants were in a unique situation. They were “torn between their country of origin and country of residence, Puerto Ricans travel back and forth both figuratively and literally” (210). This identity conflict has been coined in the term ‘Nuyorican’. Puerto Ricans were the dominant Latino group in New York City. They contributed music, language, and family values and traditions. Many of the labor workers after World War II were Puerto Ricans. In addition to economic influence, they became a political force in the 1960s. Examples of this would be Herman Badillo, a Borough President and congressman and Olga Mensez, a female legislator. While their population continues to be substantial, they have mostly remained in the lower class due to lower education levels and poverty.

Another ‘transnational’ group that is torn between its country of residence and of origin was the Dominican population. Many Dominicans maintained dual citizenship. They participate in politics in both countries. Dominicans, too, suffered from low wages in poor working conditions and little upward mobility.

West Indians

Reitano begins this section by noting the uniqueness of the West Indian American Day Carnival and how it celebrates pan-ethnicity. Now on this day multiple groups celebrate, such as Trinidadians, Caribbeans (Jamicans), and Haitians. During the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s West Indians first began migrating. Since West Indians were classified as racially black by the New York government, there was a lot of resentment, competition, and tension harbored between them and African Americans. West Indians worked to establish a firm separate identity.

… The Social Contract

Mayor Giuliani was unique in the fact that he focused on the middle classes while other mayors such as LaGuardia, Lindsay, and Dinkins focused on helping the poor. He wanted to make more public services, such as water, hospitals, education, and sanitation, private. He named his programs “compassion industry”. He wanted to remove the poor from the city… he saw them as lazy leeches. He was the first mayor to request a reduction in state funding for welfare and medicate program. Over 600,000 people were rejected from welfare roles (which only increased support for Giuliani). This resulted in an increase in the number of New York City homeless and not the expulsion of the poor from the city. He then turned the welfare centers into job centers. New requirements for welfare caused over 16,000 CUNY students to drop out of college (and, ironically, reduce the likelihood of them improving their circumstances).

The mayor offered tax cuts to businesses but this actually mainly helped large corporations and big business, while the working class and minorities were hurt. Other alterations he made affected the school system, police, and enforcement of protection of rights. He worked to bring about his agenda and improve standards through testing, reduce bureaucracy, and bring about uniformity. He enforced the censorship of art through public criticism and reduction of funds. When a controversial portrait of the Virgin Mary was put on display at the Brooklyn Museum, he called the show vulgar and threatened to cut public funds to the offensive museum. “Giuliani’s impact on the city was immense. For all the conflict he caused and the resistance he met, he revolutionized the city’s social contract” (225).

Both Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry and Nella Larsen’s Passing are novels written in third person limited point of view. Similar to Larsen’s book, Thurman writes so that everything the reader learns comes from Emma Lou Brown’s point of view. The reader gets insight into her thoughts, her actions, and her environment. We get to understand her reasons for doing things, yet nobody else’s. Everything that we learn about the other characters comes from Emma Lou and is seen through her eyes. While this is a beneficial writing style, as it lets us understand and connect to her more, it provides for an unreliable narrative. Like in Passing, we have to accept that everything we read about did not necessarily happen the way Emma Lou sees it or for the reasons Emma Lou thinks. Basically, the reader learns to take everything in the book ‘with a grain of salt,’ as the saying goes.

We can see this narrative established right away in the first few paragraphs of the book. The reader is instantly made aware of Emma Lou’s thoughts, “not that she minded being black, being a Negro necessitated having colored skin, but she did mind being too black” (21). We see Emma Lou thinking of herself and lamenting, but also contradicting her previous statements. The many contradictions she makes through the books all support the unreliable narrative of the book, but are done to show how torn and confused Emma Lou is; when she finds herself unable to relate to lighter skinned Negros but chooses to ignore Hazel and John, when she supports and stays with Alva even though he manipulates her. She is participating in what she, herself is a victim of. Emma Lou looks at herself with self- hatred, while the reader knows that she is overly critical of herself.

In the book, Passing by Nella Larsen, the two main characters are opposites in many ways except for appearance. They are both half white, half African American women who grew up together and live in a time when racial tensions were high. What is unique to them is that they are both light skinned enough to ‘pass’ for white. This is when their similarities stop. Clare decides to attempt to get a better life for herself by lying to her husband and society about her heritage. Irene, on the other hand, embraces her black side and stays within the community they grew up in.

It is easy to see Clare’s motivations for ‘passing’… she longs for a better life and the privilege that comes with the heritage, the reader can understand her desires and why she does what she does. However, the reader empathizes more with Irene because she chooses not to go the privileged way, she chooses not to renounce her heritage despite the lowered status she has as a result. We see Irene as a character who chooses to stand for her beliefs and not surround herself with people who hate a part of her and who repeatedly disrespect her race (as Clare Kendry’s husband does).

Additionally, Larsen decides to write the book in Irene’s point of view, which causes the reader to naturally sympathize with that character. We get to see Irene’s thoughts, her experiences, everything through Irene’s eyes. All the knowledge we get of Clare is through her interactions with Irene and Irene’s thoughts about her. This makes us naturally prejudice towards her. When we witness the effects Clare has on Irene’s marriage, we start to see her as a meddlesome, troublesome, careless woman who always wants to be the center of attention. We hardly think about her loneliness or how hard it must to be to live in a house where others despise parts of her. Even when Irene kills Clare I don’t believe sympathies change. That doesn’t mean the audience craves her death or destruction, just that the majority of the support still goes to Irene.

While readers can with both characters as they struggle with who they are, we applaud Irene for always being truthful (unless you count omission as dishonesty), for actively fighting for her race, and for not succumbing to the many advantages that come with ‘passing’. While I believe Irene is the more sympathetic and admirable character, I cannot conclusively say that, were I in their shoes, I would follow her path.

Over the course of the semester, my process of writing journal entries has become a type of ritual. I will sit down at my desk with my notebook open, the book (or film or document) we are discussing on my desk, and my laptop showing a word document with the week’s prompt typed on it. Then after thinking about the prompt for the entry, while I read or watch the subject assigned I will jot down some notes, highlight quotes, write down my reactions, and include any thoughts I have that might help me answer the prompt in my notebook. It is not until after the chapter/book is read or the film is watched that I will begin to write my journal entry. While I understand that they are different, I tend to look at journal entries as little essay- responses or extremely polished notes. This might be because I’ve had little experience writing journal entries for class except in my AP Literature class where we would post our essay assignments on a class webpage.

I believe that note taking is similar to the foundation for a journal entry. When you write a journal entry you need to be clear, organized, and know what you want to say. Notes provide the basis for your thoughts without having the added requirement of staying centered around one topic. Notes can include all of the ideas and things that you think of, not just what you will use to answer your prompt like a journal would. This freedom, I’ve found, helps you eventually center on a claim because you can look back at all of your ideas and see if there is any overlap, relation, or similarity. I’ve noticed that when I’m watching a film, my notes will focus on my reactions, filming techniques, and the things that I find particularly poignant at the time. Sometimes my film notes will include the time or scene at which something occurs. When I’m summarizing, my notes will often look like a brief outline of the chapter, similar to a table of contents. If I’m reading a book/novel, my notes will be jotted down on sticky notes or pieces of paper that I can slip into the pages.

While I feel that note taking itself is an action that has benefits, I believe writing a journal entry magnifies those benefits. Writing a journal entry forces us to really understand the content of the media were focusing on. You cannot write a journal entry based off of something that you skimmed… you really need to know the material that you discussing. Although journal entries are more work, I’m glad we are doing them. Looking back on my entries, I’ve noticed that I’m discussing and analyzing techniques (whether they be artistic, literary, or film) and aspects that I most likely wouldn’t have noticed had I been just asked to watch the movie or read the book. I find myself questioning authors’ intentions more, rather than just accepting them as fact and moving on. For example, when writing about The Arrival, I hypothesize on Tan’s reasoning for weathering the pages instead of just noting that he did so. Journal entries don’t only force one to understand the topic, they also make one look for deeper meanings.

Memories, history, family… these are all the things that I thought of when I first opened the graphic novel The Arrival by Shaun Tan. The details in the artwork evoke these feelings. The artistry of the publication and title pages makes me think of an old family scrapbook. Let’s start with the actual pages: on the publication and title pages the artwork never ends. Unlike the pages in the rest of the book (except for the chapter pages) on these pages there is no border or edge it covers the entire page. The artist went to great lengths to make the pages appear to be yellowed, weathered, and frequently used. They look as if they had been bound in the pages of an old book.

The black and white image on the center of the title page appears to be a photograph taped to the page. It’s of a man with his back to the ‘camera’. By not sharing the man’s face on the cover page, Tan manages to make the book a part of everyone’s history. The man could be anyone, from any family, with any background. It makes the story instantly relatable. It’s the story of many people’s families… of mine, yours, your neighbors, etc. The detail in this part of the page is amazing. Tan even shows the tape in such a way that it appears weathered and old. The dedication, too, adds to the feelings of anonymity: “For my parents”. While we do know who the author is, the dedication to parents without names makes it also feel like it could be anyone’s family.

Tan introduces a history in just the publication and cover pages. The reader can tell the focus of the book by the title alone, but in keeping with the effect of the image it also helps this book represent everyone’s story. The title is: The Arrival, not The Arrival to __ or The Departure from ___. No specific location is mentioned. In keeping with this idea of immigration, the publication page includes an immigration inspection card with publication information on it. An inspection card is something that a family member might keep. What appears to be scraps of stamps, too, are included in the publication page with the scrap of another page that includes more publication information.

Shaun Tan’s artistry helps every reader relate and remember their families and histories.

The scene that I would like to draw attention to occurs in the latter half of the movie when Frank Pentangelli is being released from prison and Tom Hagen visits him to talk. The two men smoke cigars while discussing Frank’s future.

The scene begins with a medium shot, partially obstructed by a blurry pole and fence. We see the two characters in profile with the camera never focusing on either of their faces. It should be noted that while this is an intimate conversation, there is no shot and reverse shot technique being used. The camera never switches angles, or point of view. The entire scene is filmed from one camera. When the characters move along the fence, the camera maintains a tracking shot, never letting the two men out of its focus. The tracking shot starts when Tom Hagen starts leading Frank Pentangelli along the fence, similar to how Tom is leading Frank to the conclusion that he should commit suicide for the good of his family.

Additionally, the camera placement is interesting. The camera is located outside of the compound, looking in. Because the camera is focused on the characters on the other side of the fence, the links in the fence make the focus blurry. This adds to the ominous mood of the scene. That, combined with the cigar smoke, the chirping of the birds, low tone of the voices, the fact that we never see either character’s face directly, and the very subtle violin music that begins halfway through the scene unsettle the viewer and prepare him or her for the next scene. While it is never out rightly stated that Frank would kill himself to protect his family, the viewer understands that it is the only option he has.

The scene can be viewed by clicking here (it begins about 20 seconds into the video).

Binder an Reimers: Jews and Italians in Greater New York City, 1880 to World War I: Part ii- Italian Immigrants summary

While the Italians were the second largest group of immigrants at the time that came to New York City, there were many differences between them and their Jewish counterparts. The mainly Sicilian and South Italian immigrants were mostly illiterate members of the working class. These Italian immigrants can better be compared to the Irish immigrants of before when considering their skills, lifestyles, and the problems they faced.

At first, Italian immigrants were mainly young men who were struggling with poverty and had hopes of making enough to return. In the 1850s there were less than one thousand Italians in New York but by the 1900 that number grew to over 250 times its size. In 1920, Italian immigrants (and family members) numbered over 800,000. Italians settled in an estimated 25 communities, including in Manhattan’s Fourteenth Ward, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Italian Harlem. These immigrants preferred to live near their places of work and with those who originated from the same region. Those who called themselves Genoese lived together, Calabrian, Neapolitan, Sicilian, etc. Settled Italian immigrants welcomed more newcomers with open arms. A group of labor contractors, known as the padroni, would abuse the influx of Italian immigrants by promising jobs and housing for a share of the worker’s wages. Laws were passed against their actions but the practice didn’t stop until 1910.

The housing that immigrants found was usually crowded, cramped, odorous, and unhealthy. Poverty-stricken, they could only afford the tenements that were previously occupied by the Irish. They lived in cellars, on the streets, and with boarders. Crime was commonplace and Sicilian criminals, who were thought to be part of the Mafia, demanded payment for business protection in written threats known as “Black Hand” letters. This caused the city to create a separate police force that dealt with Italian crime. This built up an anti- immigration mentality.

Most of the jobs the Italians found were poor, but those who were on the municipal payroll did well. Italians found jobs in the sanitation department, police force, and strikebreaking business. Other occupations included barbers, shoemakers, bartenders, masons, waiters, street merchants, etc. Italians didn’t have much interest in unions (considering many thought they would return to Italy eventually) which is why they were often used as strikebreakers and replacement workers.

Female Italian immigrants were thought to be only wives, daughters, or sisters. They rarely lived alone or were unmarried. They were expected to care for the family and not take jobs, but considering the low pay of most jobs women needed to find alternative income. This caused the New York City Italian immigrant family income to be the lowest. Eventually, one fourth of South Italian families took in boarders for added income. When the New York garment industry grew, women began working in shops and by 1905, 85% of single Italian women were working. Over time, Italian immigrants became upwardly mobile. Their jobs became more specialized by World War I.

Some children of immigrants were actually able to find white collar work. Italians feared public education, believing it was trying to control their children. Second generation immigrants were often removed from school, preventing the from getting even better jobs, in order to join the workforce and start providing for the family. Laborers began joining unions and by World War I an Italian American middle class emerged. It included bankers, real estate promoters, editors, publishers, business owners, performers, doctors, lawyers, and other white collar workers. Eventually, like the Irish, the Italians were able to find better housing.

At first, Italian immigrants remained separate from politics. Tammany Hall ignored them and, considering many thought they would return to Italy, they were uninvolved. Some Italians joined the Jewish- dominated socialist party, or joined the anti- Irish Republican party. After 1900, a few Italian American politicians were appointed. However, it wasn’t until Fiorello La Guardia that a truly successful Italian politician emerged.

Regarding religion, there were tensions between Irish and Italian Catholics. In New York City, the Catholic church was dominated by the Irish. Contrasting views on the importance of some things and the power of magic increased these disputes. The Irish believed the Italian priests were not trained well, while the Italians couldn’t respect the Irish dominated church. To counteract this, by 1911 there were eighty Italian priests serving in fifty Italian Catholic churches. Italian churches had many extravagant religious celebrations for their saints that sometimes lasted days (festa).

Over the decades, Italian immigrants were able to pull themselves up from their poverty- stricken past. They achieved better jobs, moved to better housing, established their own communities, got involved politically, established their own churches, and succeeded in adapting to the widely different environment of urban New York City. They became Italian Americans.