Throughout the course of this course I believe that I have noticed a critique of "The White Patriarchy" in American action genre films. This critique has not only been brought up in class but even more so in the class's texts… the fuel for the fire so to speak. Well, I can't see a problem. Why should movies be equal in a world that is not? Academics and Disillusioned hippies alike analyze popular media to death as a way to find its reflection on society and when they don't like what they see they call out for attention. I find this political and analytical view to be, quite frankly, so 1990's. This is the year 2000! One would think that we would have matured as a society enough by now to look at things pragmatically.

The truth is that the films that we watch, whether made today or in 1980, are not too unique (in general) when it comes to theme. They often times contain similar stories and imagery that occurred in the Mythology of the Greeks or indeed any other society's stories from the beginning of our common, individual, or extinct oral histories.

Let me start off by saying that this whole notion of "Whiteness" is bullshit. Identity via colour or, in America's case, perceived race is absolutely absurd. If I am anything at all, then surely I am the collection of experiences that I've had, my interactions with others, their interaction with me, my interests, my work, and so on. I'd even go as far as to give the critiques a little bit of play and consent that part of me is also my heritage. But how could even my heritage pigeon hole me into something as meaningless as so called "Whiteness"? I'm more Asian than most Asian Americans! And look what we have here, inadvertently I've disclosed a major symptom of the problem.

Asian American, African American… What I've noticed by observing social interest groups, activists, and indeed my involvement with NU's AAAB club is the following. People are searching for an identity, for acceptance, and for pity. These, I suppose, are valid quests… I certainly align myself with my crew… they are my identity. But here's the difference. My crew, Lotek, is held together because we have common interests, similar intelligence levels, similar open-ness and similar views. We also are all very different from each other in personality, behavior, routine, skin colour, etc.

A common thread at AAAB is "what does it mean to be Asian American?". This was the question that was asked, especially towards the freshmen, who attended the first AAAB general meeting this last year. Most people said that they want to be considered American… in that people ask them if they are Chinese or Korean or what have you. But, if this is the case, DROP the prefix! By African and Asian Americans holding onto their prefix ("African" or "Asian") they are already setting up an artificial border between them and just plain Americans. This I suppose would, most of the time but not always refer to whites in America because you hardly ever hear honkies referring to themselves as "White Americans" or "European Americans". I sure as hell would NEVER refer to my self in such a limiting way. PEOPLE ARE NOT A CONTINENT. Identification by ethnicity (such as someone saying that they are Japanese or Japanese American or Italian or Italian American) is ok, I think, because that is your specific cultural heritage… This is still a bit limiting, but not nearly as limiting as forcing yourself into a category bases on skin colour or land mass!

So, are Americans who give up their prefix giving into whiteness? Perhaps, in some cases… but wouldn't you say that they're actually giving into the American ideal of individuality? If they're really cool they'll go the next step and drop the suffix too, I have. Sure my passport says USA on it but what do I have in common, really, with the majority of the people living in this country. Not a whole lot. It's a global village (or at least it should be)… I'm not an American, I'm a citizen of the Omniverses!… why confine yourself to a country or even a Universe?!

Let me also say that about 90% of the multimedia (video games, movies, and TV series) that I ingest were produced in either Japan, Hong Kong, or China… so perhaps I have a bit of a different perspective on what media is or should be from that of a normal American (who is perhaps not an Omniverse citizen).

Now, I'll give the P.C. Media Hippies a little more consent. Let's just pretend… in order to write this paper… and for the sake of the argument, that there is something called "whiteness". Let's say that whiteness is the essence of being an average 4th generation or more American of European decent. Let's say that you're middle class and that you, like all the other whities, complain about the government but actually believe in a good portion of the country's passed and accepted legislature. You're slightly homophobic… you don't really hate gays, but you sure as hell aren't gay yourself… and you can't exactly condone it because you're a "good christian" who only has sex in the missionary position. Wow… alright, looking pretty lame so far but don't worry, there is an entertainment industry that will cater to you! It's called Hollywood. Why do they so often cater to you? Because you are in the majority demographic for movie goers… you keep them in business as long as they keep you entertained. And that's just the way it is.

It's ok. Really. Who a person "is" goes into what they make. I think that it was Stephen King who said to John Grisham "write about what you know". It only makes sense that directors who grew up in whiteness end up making films that reflect whiteness. Likewise, Directory Spike Lee, who grew up in blackness, tends to make films that reflect this. And let's see… how many HK flicks propagate the "white patriarchy"? how many Wong Kar Wai films star Sylvester Stalone? None? GREAT! It's only natural!

Now, let us stop making these wild generalizations. There are, in fact, as many kinds of films as there are directors. I can point out plenty of films directed by a European male (Jean Luc Besson) that star strong female characters. And I can definitely find MANY HK flicks and Japanese Anime that sport amazing female roles… and most of the time these are directed and produced by men. The argument present in class, to counter my point, was "well, yes, I'm sure that you can find exceptions to the rules but in general…" But I find something wrong with this… on a scientific basis. In science you postulate a theory… you can support that theory as many times as you like… the more times that you support it the more reliable it becomes… but it only takes one. One circumstance, test, or situation that proves the theory wrong to completely disprove said theory.

Okay, I'm going to take a step back so that we can breath now. If you are one who makes culture studies critiques on media please don't take too much offence by my words here. I'm just venting my own thoughts on the matter much as you vent/share yours when you analyze media. I think that if you do analyze popular media you will get some sort of loose and slightly distorted approximation of said media's target audience and indeed a cross section of a society's populace and it's trends and psychology… it just so happens that I feel very little attachment or identity with the targeted section of the population that this class has critiqued… While not feeling any kind of allegiance to whiteness, I do, however, take slight offence to the class's critique because, no matter how hard I try, I'll always be a male born in America to parents of European descent.

So, from my perspective… I just don't get it. Let's let humans be who they'll be, do what they'll do, and enjoy what they will.