This story was reported for San Diego News Network on October 17, 2009.
Being an Asian American and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, an organization with close ties to the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, I’ve been excited about this year’s San Diego Asian Film Festival.
But I wanted to write more than a movie review. I wanted something that intrigued me. I went to the SDAFF Web site and scrolled through the list of films. Being Vietnamese and Chinese, I was prone to movies based on my nationality.
I eventually stumbled upon “All About Dad,” written and directed by Mark Tran.
Ha! “Tran.” You can’t get more Vietnamese than that.
I then proceeded to read the synopsis: “The main character, Ty, is based loosely upon Tran himself — a biology major about to give up his studies to pursue filmmaking (a.k.a. the worst thing a Vietnamese father could ever hear from a son).”
Uh…God, are you talking to me?
“Newcomer Chi Pham steals the show as the patriarch of the Do family, the head figure who sees hard work, Catholicism, higher education, and loyalty to family as the only means to achieve happiness and success in life.”
Ohmygoodness, it’s like he’s talking to me.
Other than coming from a family that’s Buddhist rather than Catholic, the synopsis summed up my family. And Ty sounded like me except that I told my strict Vietnamese-Chinese parents that I wanted to be a writer.
Yah, I had it hard but my parents had it much, much harder. At the same time though, I hate falling into the whole stereotype about strict Asian families. It’s enough that I have a very Vietnamese name (“Hoa” is like “Mary” in Vietnam) and I get questions like “How do you use chopsticks?” at least once a month (OK, exaggeration).
Personal feelings aside, though, I watched the film.
In Tran’s film, a family of six is headed by a stern and aggressive father, who’s the focal point. Throughout the film, audience members are given a look into a bicultural lifestyle with a father who struggles to understand an American lifestyle while tying in his Vietnam War experiences. At the same time, and without his knowledge, his children struggle to please him. His wife remains the middleman as she exerts great effort into keeping her family together and communication clear.
To top it off, Tran writes the film in English and Vietnamese — with parents speaking in Vietnamese and the children responding in English. Tran even throws in his own “war clip” with his father in his younger years in the war.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ssj_GoK-sA[/youtube]
It was interesting to say the least — and to be honest, I was taken aback by the war clip, probably because it’s still such a sensitive issue with my father and most Vietnamese refugees.
But what captivated me the most was the mother played by Yen Ly (coincidentally, I have a friend with the same name). Ly plays a soft-spoken, sensitive, loving mother and wife who attempts to understand her domineering husband and apprehensive children. In one scene, she asks her eldest daughter, “What would you like to tell your father?” She thereby shares a soothing moment with her daughter — a moment that reminds me of my relationship with my own mother, who faced the same challenges in my own family of six.
After watching the film, I was fortunate enough to share my experience with the director.
“I definitely think this [applies] to a huge chunk of the Asian American population,” Tran said. “I really don’t know why. It’s a phenomenon — especially with Vietnamese families.
“It’s the first generation coming over to the U.S. from Vietnam, escaping war, poverty and looking for a richer life – and they believe that one obtains a richer life by good old hard work,” he added. “Most don’t understand that with American culture, you’re much more independent – you can be a writer, a filmmaker, whatever you want. You can follow your dreams.”
He then told me about the time he told his father that he wanted to be a filmmaker.
“I was really scared,” he said, laughing. “I was 18, took a semester in college and flunked all my courses. But they were really supportive. He himself writes poetry — so he just understood.
“With this film and with all my films, I just want [audience members] to feel something, whether it’s sadness or laughter or they just have a really good time watching it. I want them to leave with an emotional resonance,” Tran explained. .
But with my grand desire to ensure that I never fall into such stereotypes, I asked Tran whether his film simply contributes to the Asian stereotype of a hardworking family that holds a strong belief that artistic jobs are unacceptable.
“I’ve heard that comment before,” he responded. ” If it is stereotypical, it’s still true for my family and for the majority of Asians I know.”
After the interview, I thought about Tran’s comment — that he guesses his family is just stereotypical.
See, even though the film reminded me of my own family, when it comes to my life and my life alone, I choose to live in a world where I eradicate any stereotype. I strive to see each person as he or she is and his or her culture as merely “accents,” without judgment and with a mind that’s ready to be taught.
But Tran is right – it’s really a “phenomenon,” a “culture” that has simply matured with Asian American families. Of course, not all Asian American families are part of this “phenomenon.” My family, like Tran’s, just happens to be part of it.
But Tran’s film means more than that. And with the initial intention of the Asian Film Festival (and I believe this goes for all film festivals, including the Latino Film Festival or the Women’s Film Festival), we learn that it really isn’t about stereotypes .
It’s about understanding who you are.
Event info: “All About Dad” plays at SDAFF on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m., with writer/director Mark Tran and actor Chi Phan in attendance, and Saturday, Oct. 24, at 12:45 p.m. Screenings are held at the UltraStar Mission Valley at Hazard Center. For more information, visit the SDAFF Web site at www.sdaff.org
Hoa Quach is the SDNN political editor. She is also president of the Asian American Journalists Association in San Diego whose members participate in SDAFF festivities.