Love that Lumpia…

by Erin Pangilinan
posted 9/18/03

Yes, I’m talking about the egg roll…

“I’m not a FOB,” James “Moon Moon” yells in this semi-cheesy flick, Lumpia.

Ohlone College was fired up after a Filipino frenzy of performances. Kicking it off with an entertaining magic show by the well known Kevin Cu, a hip-hop/punk dance performance by Rock Down, winning divas of Pinoy Idol singing Karaoke songs, a pumped up female MC, and catchy trailers—the feature presentation finally started. We were on Filipino Time, as usual. Opening with a semi-commercial-like scene, a white guy says to a Filipino waiter “You’re Filipino? Oh, Love that Lumpia!” -_- What an unflattering stereotype. But hey, I love Lumpia (the actual food and the movie too.) The comic book graphics were decent, though the old school Home DV recorders didn’t have the best quality—it was the story that counted, thus the catch phrase “The Ultimate Home Made Movie.”

Although I genuinely enjoyed the movie and cracked up and smiled the entire time, I have to say that one has to beg to differ upon the interpretations of the stereotypical characters in the film. Some of the crew thinks that they’re more archetypes than anything. But if we analyze each character, we must pose the question of whether or not these characters truly do the Filipino-American community justice. The beginning was good with the scene displaying the prejudice among colored people. Still witty, “I’m Hawaiian…I’m American like ya’ll!” made me giggle. Anyway, I have to ask, does the FOB PACK accurately present Asian Pacific Islander Americans? But then again, their fictional characters are well…FOBS…immigrants. Does this pose a different picture to the one we are fed in the mainstream media already? We already have a negative image of solely being martial artists, the enemy in war movies, mail order brides…etc. How does THIS film shatter that stereotype when they have fobby characters?

What sets apart this film from others is that it is comical…yes literally and in humor. Flipside was funny too, but only focused on three characters, three ‘archetypes’ or are they stereotypes? Director Patricio Ginelsa, certainly managed to cover multiple characters by the creative use of the interface of a comic book—it had a better structure than the confusing Joy Luck Club. Yet my Chinese friends still insist that The Joy Luck Club was extremely stereotypical.

Lumpia2 - Interview with Ginelsa