A Day with Theater Rice

Watching Theater Rice's Collide-O-Scope reminded me of the the film and discussion we had in class. I will only point out some of the relevant topics broadly since the rest is for extra credit.

At first, I was not accustomed to seeing a majority of actors to be Asian. This odd feeling stressed an argument of the film about the rarity of Asians appearing on mainstream media. Personally, I felt that some of Theater Rice's actors are really talented. Producers and directors who are afraid, out of financial concerns, to put Asian actors in their works are preventing this talent from being put on screen. To change the latter, I guess Asians would have to create their own opportunities by collaborative means (such as Theater Rice) and through exposure. And for money-seeking producers and directors, their dreams of wealth all depend on their willingness to experiment. After all, no one knew that Halle Berry and Denzel Washington would become Oscar winners.

Also in the play was a reminder of the stereotype of Asians in kung-fu roles. Although it seems that Theater Rice chose to fit this stereotype by choosing to film ninjas, the ninjas deviated far from the ideal image of a ninja. Instead of shooting ninja stars and assassinating people stealthily, the ninjas (played by actors) , appeared out of contexts in buildings such as Dwinelle. Perhaps, the goal of Theater Rice was to break the stereotype through levity and comedy.

Another instance in which I felt Theater Rice disclaim stereotypes was in their main film: Darkness, My Old Friend. Darkness, My Old Friend is about a girl who is infatuated with objects. She lives with her family, who include her domesticated father, White mother, and ignored brother. Instead of being the typical Asian family, there are great variations in this one. For one, the marriage between the parents is interracial. This fits into our class theme of interracial marriage and stratification by race. Although the parents seem to be equal, there is a role reversal for the male counterpart; the father does most of the cooking. In traditional Asian families, it can be argued, parents pay more attention to their sons than their daughters. Take The Namesake as an example. Sonia is rarely mentioned and often lives in Gogol's shadow. In the film, the opposite occurs. At dinner, all the attention is given to the daughter while the son is basically ignored, until he confesses that he is gay.

My experiences at my first Theater Rice show tell me that the possibilities for more Asian American actors are not limited as long as individuals create opportunities for themselves and work towards dispelling inaccurate portrayals about their race.