Customer Reviews

Trying to Find Chinatown

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I heard a story about the movie "Better Luck Tomorrow" where in a post-screening discussion, someone asked Justin Lin (writer, director, producer) why he would want to paint such a negative view of Asian Americans. According to the story, Roger Ebert promptly defended Lin by shouting something to the effect of 'Would you ask that if it were about White people?' I bring this up because it's easy to criticize bi-cultural or multi-cultural artists because, as readers, we want to think that if something is written by an Asian American, it's a commentary on Asian Culture. Well, let's just stop that right here.

I find Hwang's use of myth to be more about symbolism than about accuracy. For example in FOB, the first play in this book, Hwang uses two figures from Chinese Ancient History/Mythology to symbolize the struggles of immigrant Chinese versus the challenges of ABC (American Born Chinese). His character pairings are right on (Grace/Fa Mu Lan and Steve/Gwang Gung). This is not an historic retelling of the stories of Fa Mu Lan and Gwang Gung. In fact, Grace in FOB says that.

You could say that David Henry Hwang is "wrong" in his portrayals, but he is not claiming to be a historian. He is a playwright, and not only that, one of the most celebrated Asian American playwrights. It's important to keep in mind that "Asian" and "Asian American" are two distinctively different things. Personally, I don't agree with everything that he's written, but being an Asian American myself, I know it's hard to balance being Asian with being American which is something that Hwang does with grace in his plays. Hwang captures a lot of sentiments I can relate to. Don't expect this book to be about Asia or Asian culture and let yourself be pleasantly surprised. Ultimately, it's about the story.

I like how the play starts a debate about two different racial views that are perceived among communities. The play was very inclined to promote profane language to get the point across by the different characters on the play. It was very interesting to learn so much about a particular culture in diverse and entertaining way. =D

These plays are gems. There are eight plays in the collection: six for small casts and two with larger casts. His sensibility is clear and poetic and funny. I recommend these plays and this book.

It starts when I read FOB. And, I find out that David Henry Hwang makes Mulan a victim of misogyny. Read the Ballad of Mulan and you'll find out that that is not true. Furthermore, you'll found out she never had a tattoo and she never killed Gwan Gung. The idea of Mulan killing Gwan Gung is silly. They come from the same tradition, why would she kill him? This may not seem important to a white audience, but it should be important to an Asian one. I'm not sure what makes people of my own race ruin the literature or culture I come from. DAVID HENRY HWANG HAS NO RESPECT FOR GWANG GUNG. As a matter of fact he turns the God of War into a dork (Steve in FOB). You'll see shrines made to Gwang Gung in virtually every Chinatown in America. Visit these shrines (or read ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS) and ask yourself if the Gwang Gung in FOB is anything like the one in the shrines. Anyway, when it comes to Asian culture or Asian history don't take Hwang's word for it. Hwang makes Chinese Opera look too easy in Dance and the Railroad. It takes more than that for Ma to play Gwang Gung. Get any book on Chinese Opera and you'll see how wrong Hwang is.