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Asian Pacific American Film Voices Shattering the Stereotypes (2 of 2)
Derek Kan, UC Berkeley student and Direct of the hip hop duo, All Real, raps with Theresa Vu on “We Will Not Be Moved”. His lyrics, like “Better Luck Tomorrow” makes the voice of Asia America heard. Not every Asian is the typical “nerd”. Kan emcees:
"Sometimes
I don’t know who I am, maybe I’m a freak,
Cuz even Asians, man, they’re giving me heat,
Cuz you see, I’m Chinese, but Chinese I can’t speak.
I only know English, I guess that makes me unique?
Cuz I get no love from my own people. I’m a disgrace to my race, a culture-less
individual.
Plus, I ain’t the typical model minority.
Being a scholar intellectual ain’t my priority.
That’s me, an ABC with no future.
My grades are shitty even if I had a tutor.
I’m not good with the books, that’s just my nature.
But, being Asian and all must mean I’m a failure.
Cuz yo, that is what is expected.
You don’t follow the trend, you ain’t respected.
See, even though I’m good at spit raps and writing tracks,
I still get down played, for not being black.
As a matter of fact, ain’t my skin yellow?
So what am I doing rapping? I should be playing the cello.
But really though, this is the kind of shit that I fucking get.
Impressed I speak English without an accent.
C’mon, I’m getting sick with these stereotypes.
But I’ll keep my head up, and just carry the mic.”
There is still hope. We’re moving from “Fakin’ the Funk” and “The Joy Luck Club” and expanding. Independent films like Gene Cayajon’s “The Debut” give us a sense of the Filipino-American life and Rod Pulido’s “Flipside” enlighten us with a better perspective about cultural assimilation. But “BLT” a.k.a. “Better Luck Tomorrow” is still breaking barriers with its different view, shattering the mainstream America’s Asian stereotypes of the “model minority” and gives a voice to those who cannot speak.
Theresa Vu’s ends the verse with:
“This is for our culture! This is for our soldiers!
This is for the lives sacrificed on the road to
Peace and prosperity, it’s theirs to redeem
Shattered, broken battered, the American dream
Nonexistent, we’re living in a system, consistent
With prisons, restricting our wishes and visions
So listen, we had it rough, we had enough
The pain has added up and now we rattled up
So we will not be moved. "
*Better Luck Tomorrow – first Asian American Film in Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. BLT broke records grossing $360,772 for the opening weekend of April 11th, with a whopping per-screen average of $27,752. BLT was made for $500,000 and financed independently, after Lin discovered studios would not produce the film unless he cast the film with white actors.
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