Whelp. The next outrage pieces of pop culture come from Childish Gambino’s masterful artwork, This is America, and some poor high school girl wearing a pretty dress to prom.
Because besides the eminent ‘renegotiation’ of the Iran deal, South Africa’s 10th year of drought, more countries unrecognizing Taiwan as an independent country, the 13 shootings CNN has listed AFTER Parkland this year, the potential end of the Korean War, and the relentless Palestine/Israel conflict, we need more news. Or at least, easier-to-pick-a-side-and-get-outraged news. Like the Royal Wedding dress!
Fuck okay. Look. I’m going to speak with authority here. I am a first generation of two Chinese immigrants who’ve worked their fingers to the bloody stubs to get me every unbelievable advantage and privilege they could in a foreign country.
Chinese people have disadvantages. In a mostly Black and White conversation, the entire Asian category doesn’t even come into play, much less distinguishing between Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, all of the nations in South East Asian, on top of all the Asian Brown people [not to be confused with the Latin Brown], and heck let’s add in the Native Hawaiians and East Islanders. No doubt I’m missing a bunch, including the Native Alaskan peoples.
Fuck. Asian is about as blanket as black, except our parents mostly hate each other and it would look fucking stupid to rep the continent of Asia on earrings [Also, continents don’t make sense. It’s just more accepted Eurocentrism. Doesn’t matches tectonic plates. Russia spans two continents. Europe as a landmass is not divided at all from Greater Asia. They’re wildly different sizes.]
And yet here we are. In the great melting pot of America, all of the 4+ billion people that make up 30% of the world by land mass, are one check box on a census.
[Weirdest part? Asians in America from any geographical background share similar experiences, both in culture and treatment and in general. Turns out, Asian can be an identity. If you and the white patriarchy want it to be.]
Fine.
This girl is 18 years old. She’s going to her high school prom. Not Halloween. Not a lynching. Not a leisurely walk in the park.
Like, I’ve might have seen 2 people in America a qipao in my life, but dozens of cosplays of Tifa, by white, black, Asian, men, women, straight, gay, nonconforming. And that’s from a video game that sure as hell ain’t Chinese.
Look. Straight up. If you feel any sort of strong way about this besides the desire to roll your eyes so hard they win Bronze in an Olympic floor routine, then let me just be blunt. Fuck you. Pay attention to something else. You’re wasting your time. You’re wasting my time. And worst of all, you’re wasting the time of people affected by real issues that no one is talking about.
Childish Gambino’s This is America comes at just the right time to discuss this too. Glover intersects deeply African dance moves with mimicry of derogatory poses in African American history with blatant violence. It draws the eye away from the literal shit show behind him, in violence, frivolity, suicide, racism, police brutality, poverty, metaphor, and riots.
[It’s a work of art by the way, which should surprise no Donald Glover or Hiro Murai fans. Atlanta is a masterclass in story-telling, and Glover pours his best into everything he does. It’s good. He’s great. Watch Atlanta with the same level of detail and nuance that This is America demands. It’s just as, if not more rewarding]
The prom dress hoopla is literally that. Why, of all the goddamn problems this world; Asians in America, Chinese people in China, self-driving cars, missions to mars, CRISPR, malaria, global warming, education budgets, midterm primaries, neighborhood recycling/compost/farm initiatives, or the oblivion that waits for us all, do we give a crap about what that girl wore to her High School prom? It’s a pretty dress! She pulls it off!
Look. We talk about this because it’s human nature. We love to gossip. Pop culture and social media are part of the human fabric. But your attention, your time, your thoughts. These are decisions you can control, engage, and use critically.
At one end, careful and thoughtful engagement with art such as Gambino’s This is America. At the other, inflaming the mob that roars at every twist and turn, to simply hear themselves yell in the masses of the echo chamber/Colosseum. But even more, as the camera suggests, in Murai’s eye and Glover’s storytelling; dare to create. To express. To dance, without fear, and give to the people around you, everything you’ve got.