This week, I started reading the book Making Asian American Film and Video by Jun Okada. Its main topics explore the analysis of Asian American media and how public media, such as PBS and the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, had played a part in the production of Asian American film and video since the 1970s. Okada (2015) claims that both history and public interest media institutions are significant contributors when considering the early stages of Asian American media. For scholars to study how Asian American media was made, researchers must look at the public media discourse that surrounded Asians in America. Okada also claims that without this discourse and the public media’s stance on diversity there would be no Asian American film and video (Okada, 2015). There are many moving parts when it comes to explaining and defining Asian American media and how it’s impacted Hollywood. Okada (2015) expresses that Asian American film and video is such a complex topic to define because questions like “what is Asian American film and video?” are so elusive. This genre was created from more than just the need for representation and Okada suggests looking further because Asian American film contains multiple components – a film genre, a film movement, ethnic identity, and a politics of identity” (Okada, 2015).
I’m excited to explore more of this book. So far, it has helped toward my research in explaining how the public view has played an impact on the creation of Asian American media and how it’s still influencing the production of this film genre. I also haven’t given much thought to questions addressed in the book like, what is Asian American film and video? What I’ve considered to be simple questions are only simple on the surface and are much more complex and multifaceted.
This week’s productivity towards my project consisted of playing around with the GH5s camera. After this past week’s initial media assignment, I realized I needed to become even more familiarized with working the camera. I also brainstormed some different ideas and film shots on how I’d like to interview my subjects.
Okada, J. (2015). Making Asian American Film and Video. Making Asian American Film and Video. https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813565033
Photo: Obtained from Google Photos/ Credit: Carolyn Suzuki and Seonna Hong/ Oh Joy!/ https://ohjoy.com/my_weblog/2021/05/asian-american-brands-i-love.html
