Beyond the Bad & the Ugly: Stereotypes and Asian American Pop Culture - A Summit

Date: March 23, 2013

Time: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

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In 1914, Sessue Hayakawa became the first Asian American actor to break through on the silver screen, appearing in movie pioneer Thomas Ince’s silent classic The Typhoon, and launching a career as one of the most popular and well-paid stars in the nascent Hollywood industry, albeit in roles that consistently depicted him as villainous, violent and manipulative. As he put it himself, “I want to be shown as I really am, and not as fiction paints me….My one ambition is to play a hero.” 

Ninety-nine years later, Asians and Asian Americans have a much greater presence in U.S. popular culture — but they are often represented in ways that Hayakawa would recognize and lament: Silent thugs. Sexless nerds. Predatory temptresses, calculating conspirators and impossibly strange foreigners.

Organized by Jeff Yang, Wall Street Journal Online columnist and editor-in-chief of the new graphic novel anthology SHATTERED, which uses the medium of the comics to explore and explode unyielding stereotypes of Asians in pop culture, BEYOND THE BAD AND THE UGLY gathers together some of the brightest and most interesting Asian American creators, and critics, activists and academics in a unique one-day summit that begins by looking back at the heritage of Asian images in American media and society, and ends by looking ahead — discussing new ways to prevent distortions and present more vivid, humanized, three-dimensional portraits of Asians and Asian Americans to a wider and more accepting audience.

Pricing:

STUDENTS: $15 
GENERAL ADMISSION: $25 
VIP ADMISSION: $35 (includes reserved seating and one copy of SHATTERED: THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMICS ANTHOLOGY — COVER PRICE $21.95!)

[All admission fees come with one collectible GEEK/THUG/TEASE/PLAYER/FOB button of your choice]

Purchase tickets >>
*JANM MEMBERS: Members receive $5 off of their tickets! Please contact agiffen@janm.org for your discount code.

Schedule:

9:00AM-9:30AM: Registration (Continues throughout the day)

9:30AM-10AM: Brief Welcome by Dr. Greg Kimura, President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum; Jeff Yang

10AM-11AM: Opening Plenary: Is This Stereotype Really Necessary?
Keith Chow (Moderator), editor at large, Shattered
Parvesh Cheena, actor, NBC's Outsourced
Beau Sia, poet and author, The Undisputed Greatest Writer of All Time
Andrew Ti, blogger, Yo is this Racist?
Jen Wang, blogger, Disgrasian
Gene Yang, graphic novelist, American Born Chinese and Level Up

11AM-12PM: Keynote Conversation: Orientations
Professor Jack Tchen (Moderator), author, New York Before Chinatown: Orientalism and the Shaping of American Culture, 1776-1882
Jack Shaheen, author, Reel Bad Arabs; former CBS News Middle East consultant and Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
William F. Wu, author, The Yellow Peril: Chinese-Americans in American Fiction, 1850-1940

12PM-1PM: Keynote Conversations: Sextypes
Jeff Yang (Moderator), columnist, Wall Street Journal Online, editor-in-chief, Shattered
Helie Lee, director, Macho Like Me, documentary on six months as a man
Keni Styles, adult film star

1PM-2PM: Lunch Break

2PM-3PM: Breakouts A: "What We Teach and Show"
Taming Tigers: Getting Beyond Stereotypes in Parenting and Education
Daren Mooko (Moderator), associate dean of students, Pomona College
Julie Kang, blogger, Geisha School Dropout
Cynthia Liu, cofounder, K-12 News Network
Jason Sperber, cofounder, Rice Daddies
Paula Yoo, author, Good Enough; producer, Eureka
Screen Adjustments: Getting Beyond Stereotypes in Media
Jocelyn Wang (Moderator), blogger, 8Asians
Stephen Dypiangco, National Film Society
Patrick Epino, National Film Society
Brian Hu, artistic director, Pacific Arts Movement (organizers of the San Diego Asian American Film Festival)
Jerry Ma, art director, Shattered
Steve Nguyen, Channel APA
Jude Narita, theater artist and activist, From the Heart

3PM-4PM: Breakouts B: What We Do and Say
Move This: Campaigns That Work
Lisa Lee (Moderator), blogger, Thick Dumpling Skin; diversity program manager, Facebook
18 Million Rising (Jenn Pae/Cynthia Brothers)
Eileen Chow, Visiting Associate Professor, Duke University
Generations of War (Traci Akemi Kato-Kiriyama, founder, Tuesday Night Café)
Racebending (Michael Le)
The Politics of Perception
Ling Woo Liu (Moderator), executive director of the Fred Korematsu Institute
Tanzila Ahmed, voter engagement manager at Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Jay Chen, Hacienda Heights school board member, congressional candidate
4PM-5PM: Special Panel A: When is it Okay to Laugh? Ethnic Humor that Works
Jenny Yang (Moderator), comedian, organizer, DIS/ORIENT/ED comedy tour
D'Lo
Kiran Deol, director and comedian
Andrew Fung, The Fung Brothers
David Fung, The Fung Brothers
Joe Luu, comedian
Greg Watanabe, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors
Special Panel B: Man Bites Dog: How Stereotypes Shape the News
Richard Lui (Moderator), anchor, MSNBC
Leslie Berestein Rojas, Immigration and Emerging Communities reporter, Southern California Public Radio
Mei Fong, Pulitzer Prize winning former reporter, Wall Street Journal
Wendy Lee, Business Reporter, Southern California Public Radio
Andrew Lih, associate professor, USC Annenberg School of Communications
Co-presented with Asian American Journalists Association - Los Angeles

5PM-6PM: Closing Plenary: Changing the Game
Oliver Wang (Moderator), cultural critic, Assistant Professor of Sociology, CSU-Long Beach
Christopher Chen, producer, Linsanity
Jay Caspian Kang, editor, Grantland; author, The Dead Do Not Improve
Ted Kim, EVP, CJ Entertainment America
Deepa Jeeva, head of production, YOMYOMF Network
Mike Le, creator and executive producer, K-Town
Benson Lee, director, Planet B-Boy and Battle of the Year: Dream Team
Parry Shen, actor, Better Luck Tomorrow; managing editor, Shattered

6PM-6:30PM: "All In" Closing/Roundtable

6PM to Closing: Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology Reception (Open to all attendees and others by invitation)

Check www.janm.org for updates.

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