What is my project?
My short story is about Ji-Na Baek, who is haunted by her unsuccessful endeavor to debut as a Kpop Idol. Ji-Na uses mantra to justify her reason to debut in South Korea even though she is discriminated against for being a foreign trainee. Ji-Na’s haunting takes on a physical form (suffocation), which weakens her body despite her will to keep persevering. However, Ji-Na’s will to debut crashes once she remembers her past. She is torn and heartbroken when she realizes that she took her family and life in America for granted for the sake of her dream. Then, Ji-Na relays how she truly felt when she was being abused by her manager, teammates, and Korean teacher. What started out as a dream to be a Kpop star for Ji-Na became a twisted goal, which was to ridicule those who hurt her once she would become famous. By the end of the story, Ji-Na understands she did not succeed because she was vain; she lost her purpose and became complacent instead of improving. Ultimately, Ji-Na finally decides to give up her dream and dies alone.
What is my inspiration?
For this piece, I was inspired by an article which reviewed a theater production about the Asian American community attaining political power in the United States. The article is called, With Soft Power, Francis June Is Proud to Flip the Script For Asians In Theater,” by Curtis M. Wong. Specifically, the play follows an Asian American man who was the first Asian American individual to be elected president of the United States. Although it is a satirical play, the production delves into identity politics of being Asian American in conjunction to the presence of Asian American community within today’s society. This reminded me Kpop industry, which has gained a significant presence in the United States today.
Despite the rise of Korean media, beauty products, food, and fashion in the United States, there are issues which have become more prevalent within the Asian American community. Hence, I wanted to examine the cultural tensions of discrimination and consumerism in relation to the issues and experiences of the Asian American community today. Part of my inspiration resides in my identity as an Asian American, while the other part relates to the significance of imported Asian products being sensationalized by the connected and global effort of social media.
My motive for this project is to expose the grandeur of Asian media and products by highlighting the tension between cultural identity and prejudice which the Asian American community faces while operating under the American Dream.
Creative Commentary
The cultural text I connected my short story to is Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s short story, “Zimmer Land.” Zimmer Land promotes aggressive racism and problematic business tactics. Specifically, the American public is allowed to target, profile, attack, and kill members of the African American minority group. The idea of not selling one’s soul is compromised by capitalism, which encourages racial violence in exchange for entertainment and profit.
Likewise, I used the Kpop industry as the problematic source of capitalism and discrimination for Ji-Na Baek. Ji-Na’s dream is fueled by fame, which she believes will allow her to profit both financially and globally like other in the Kpop industry. However, Ji-Na experiences discrimination and abuse for being an Asian American. Despite being Korean herself, Ji-Na is only seen as an American by her manager, teammates, and Korean teacher (all of which comment on her “American identity”). By associating her lack of success with debut (and using her as free translator for the company) with her nationality, the traditional Korean-oriented characters within the story promote and engage in racial violence and biased business tactics.
Assigned Secondary Text
The assigned theoretical source I choose to engage with is Jennifer Hochschild’s work, What is the American Dream. The four tenets of the American Dream are the following: Anyone can pursue the American Dream, everyone has a reasonable chance to succeed, the American Dream is based on individual effort and personality traits (i.e. resilience), and true success is associated with virtue (Hochschild, 18-24). These tenets, as Hochschild states, is believed to determine how an American individual can succeed. However, this is not Hochschild’s point. Rather, Hochschild believes that these tenets are outdated and unrealistic; the American Dream is not a structured guideline, but a mere ideology which can be shaped and altered based on each individual. In other words, success is not multifaceted.
Unfortunately, Ji-Na believes in a strict and unrealistic guideline of success. She believes hard work and practice will allow her to one day debut, but this is unrealistic and outdated. Unlike the girls in “Signal,” Ji-Na has done nothing extraordinary. While it is true that Ji-Na passed her audition, she in fact did nothing superb except for that one effort alone. One could argue that this is because she was not given the chance, but this is false. Despite her efforts, Ji-Na has not been successful because she has not improved. Her manager, as well as the the members in “Signal” are in disbelief that she has not improved despite rehearsing the same song well over fifty times. Ji-Na also does not exemplify virtue because of twisted goal and complacency. Ji-Na’s narrow lense of success limits her potential to debut, which is why the Korean characters in the story are disappointed and baffled by her still being a trainee.
Critical, Scholarly Commentary
The first secondary source I engaged with for my short story is Lawrence and Wishart’s work, Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture. Their work discusses the history of an anti-racist, minority movement called AYM (a.k.a. Asian Youth Movement) who sought to reform structural inequalities and wanted the right to defend themselves both in their communities and in a court of law (Lawrence & Wishart 2016). To compare this notion to my short story, Ji-Na unfortunately has no agency whatsoever. Instead of combating the discriminatory and abusive remarks and/or actions against her, Ji-Na simply plays dumb and tunes it out. She does not seek help nor does she file a formal complaint to her superiors. Rather, she believes she will pay them back when she is successful. This both comforts yet causes further problems for Ji-Na because she has no accountability in reporting their actions, which hurts her own well-being. Ji-Na’s lack of accountability results in her own death at the end of the story because no one can see or hear her crying for help. In fact, it is too late for to receive any help or attention anymore.
The last secondary source I engaged with is Chong Chon-Smith’s article, The Asian American Writing Movement and Black Radicalism: Race and Gender Politics in Multiethnic Anthologies. Chong discusses the multiethnic collaboration between Black literature and Asian American literature as a cultural revolution (Chong, 708). This cultural revolution allowed minorities to challenge Euro-centric authors and works which had previously restricted them from publishing their stories (Chong, 715).
In my short story, I included a quote from Langston Hughes’ poem, “Dream.” The quote discusses the purpose of having a dream, as well as why one should pursue it. A specific line discussing dreams in Langston Hughes’ poem becomes Ji-Na’s mantra after she learns how to quote it. Because she was able to perform the poem for her school’s poetry jam, she prides herself on that endeavor (and therefore uses it encourage her to try learning new things). Ji-Na is led to pursue her dream of becoming a Kpop Idol after her successful audition with a Kpop entertainment company. However, Ji-Na turns the theme of freedom and perseverance in dreaming from Langston Hughes’ poem into a nightmare; she uses the poem as a mantra to forsake both America and her American identity. This is evident by her claim that her purpose is to be a Kpop Idol, which she only credits to South Korea (despite her both attending and passing her audition in America).
Have a Great Winter Break! 🙂
Contemporary American Dreams & Nightmares 