>>Part 2
A wide-ranging world of stories, from family relationships to ethnic issues
The world of Gotanda's plays, which depict first to third generation Japanese-Americans, spans the period from the 1910s to the present. Although there are some works whose eras cannot be specified, the combinations of historical background and plays are as follows:
1910s Ballad of Yachiyo
1920s A Song for Nisei Fisherman
1940s Manzanar: An American Story, Sisters Matsumoto
1950s After the War
1960s The Wind Cries Mary
1970s Bullet Headed Birds, The Wash
1980s Yankee Dawg You Die, Fish Head Soup, Yohen
1990s Days Standing on its Head, in the dominion of night
2000s: Floating Weeds, A Fist of Roses, Under the Rainbow
Works with no particular historical background: The Dream of Kitamura, The Avocado Kid or Zen and the Art of Guacamole
All three plays performed in Japan depict Japanese-American families, but other plays in the same vein, as seen in the table above, include "Ballad of Yachiyo," based on his paternal aunt Yachiyo, who died young; "The Wind Cries Mary," set in the 1960s; and "Fish Head Soup," set in the 1980s.
The family depicted in "Fish Head Soup" is dark. The father is mentally ill, the mother is having an affair with a white man, the eldest son Victor is haunted by his experiences in the Vietnam War, and the second son Matt, who has left home for a while and pretended to have committed suicide, wants to make a movie about Japanese Americans. The conversations between the two don't quite mesh well. The play premiered in 1989, and Gotanda says that it laid the groundwork for acceptance in a society that does not necessarily present a bright image of the Japanese family. It has been exactly 10 years since Gotanda debuted as a playwright in 1979. You can see that he is sensitive to social changes. I found it refreshing to hear the experiences of Japanese Americans in the Vietnam War. In the second act, Victor says the following to his younger brother Matt:
"What about in Vietnam? You know I got hit by a Viet Cong mortar. No medic paid any attention to me. I was lying on the ground bleeding, and they just went to the others. I kept screaming, 'I'm Japanese American. I'm not a Viet Cong.' But no one came to me. They just walked past me."
Although it is a drama about a family, the theme of what it means to be a Japanese American or an Asian American is also catching my attention. This proposition is clearly reflected in "Day Standing on its Head," "Yankee Dawg You Die," and the first act of "Under the Rainbow," "Natalie Wood is Dead." Here, I would like to focus on the latter two plays, which have Asian American actors as their motif.
Between Japanese and American pride
"Yankee Dawg You Die" is a play in which a young Japanese-American actor, Bradley Yamashita, and an older Japanese-American actor, Vincent Chan, talk about what it means to be an actor in Hollywood. Chan has a Chinese name, but is actually of Japanese descent, and changed his name to Chinese after World War II. Chan was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he said that he had appeared in Scarlet Kimono (presumably the 1959 suspense film "Crimson Kimono" directed by Samuel Fuller), so it is believed that he is modeled after Mako Iwamatsu and third-generation Japanese-American James Shigeta.
Yamashita, who has been steadily working in Asian American theater, criticizes Chan for playing the stereotypical, discriminatory Asian role in Hollywood movies. However, Yamashita tells Chan that he will eventually accept such roles at auditions and persuade directors and producers to change them by doing what he does. The following is the final scene of the play.
Bradley: I feel like if I get the role, I can change it. I can sit down with the producers and the writers and explain the situation. What if I don't get it? Someone else gets it and they end up playing a goddamn Asian.
Vincent: Yeah, yeah.
Bradley: Have a heart-to-heart talk with them and try to persuade them to change. That's what I do. Even if it's just a little bit, it's a success. If they don't change, at least they'll know how we think. There'll be a next time. Maybe there'll be a next time.
Vincent: That's right.Bradley: Yeah, in that sense. It's a small way, but it's a win. Yeah, it's a win.
Bradley's argument is probably also that of the author. Reading this exchange, I was reminded of the words of Mako Iwamatsu, who came to Japan in 2001 to direct "And the Heart Dances," a play written by a Japanese-American. At a symposium at Waseda University held in conjunction with the performance, Mako said that if he was given the role of a strange Japanese person in a Hollywood movie, he would protest to the director. He knows that protesting is useless in the world of Hollywood movies, where a single line of dialogue cannot be easily changed. But he says he will convey his indignation.
The title "Yankee Dog You Die" is a Japanese pronunciation of the phrase "Yankee Dog You Die." It was a phrase that came out of Chan's mouth while he was drinking at a bar and playing with words with Yamashita.
A Japanese or Asian accent is also used at the beginning of the play. The play begins with a monologue by Chan disguised as Detective Moto. Detective Moto is the protagonist of the prewar film series "Mr. Moto," known for playing a stereotypical Asian character played by a white man of Hungarian descent. Vincent, who plays Moto with a strong Asian accent, delivers the same monologue at the end of the play, but this time without the accent. Below.
Vincent: (...) I graduated from UCLA. I was born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley and have lived in California my whole life. So why can't you hear what I'm saying? Why can't you see the real me?
Bradley's assertion that they will change the situation of Asian Americans, who pronounce ``dog'' as ``dawg'' and are only given roles such as maids and waiters, and Vincent's appeal for people to accept them for who they are as Americans, resonate like a duet.
I want to deny the careers of Japanese actresses
In "Natalie Wood Is Dead," a Japanese-American actress mother and daughter talk about the movies they have appeared in, just like in "Yankee Dawg You Die." As the author writes at the beginning of the work, "To Nobu McCarthy," Kiyoko Dalhousar, who plays the mother, is modeled after McCarthy. This is clear from Kiyoko's references to the films she appeared in when she was young, "Geisha Boy" (1958) and "Five Gates to Hell" (1959). Japanese-born Nobu McCarthy, aka Atsumi Nobu, got a foothold as an actress in America after being selected for the role of "Geisha Boy." There is a scene in the film where Kiyoko brags to her daughter about "Geisha Boy" in the following way:
"Hey, let me read this to you. It was written in an Asian American magazine published at an eastern university. Let me see... 'Geisha Boy...' A lot of people think it's just a silly comedy starring Jerry Lewis. But when I saw the movie, I saw myself in this little boy. And the thing that surprised me the most was who Jerry Lewis chose. He didn't choose Marie McDonald, he chose Kiyoko Dalhasser.' That is, me. 'It's the same as in 'Crimson Kimono,' where director Samuel Fuller did it the other way around. In that movie, Victoria Shaw chooses James Shigeta, not Glenn Corbett. In 'Geisha Boy,' Jerry Lewis doesn't choose Marie McDonald, he chooses Michiko Okada, played by Kiyoko Dalhasser. It's a triumphant moment in which the Madame Butterfly syndrome is reversed.'"
In contrast to her mother's glorious career, her daughter Natalie Hayashi thinks her acting career is shabby and wants to quit acting. Her stage name Natalie Hayashi was given to her by her mother after American actress Natalie Wood. Natalie Wood died in an accident while filming a movie in 1981, and the title of this play is based on that fact, but when Natalie Hayashi says "Natalie Wood is dead," it means that she wants to deny her career as an actress in Hollywood. She is raped by a white man, ignores an Asian man, and runs to a white man. She wants to break away from herself for doing such things in the movie. Her mother Kiyoko tries to convince her that she should stay in the movie industry no matter what, but the distance between them does not close.
The barriers that exist for Asian Americans in the entertainment world are something that James Shigeta, Mako Iwamatsu, and Nobu McCarthy, all of whom appear to have been successful at first glance, have probably felt. The racial issues that Asian Americans face tend to be discussed only by men, but women also have them. "Natalie Wood Has Died" can be said to be a work that delves into the racial issues that Asian women may face.
*All translations of poems and essays quoted in the text are by the author.
*This article is a reprint of the fifth installment of the column series "From the Perspectives of Two Countries" in Renso Publishing 's online magazine "Kaze," which features information about new books, such as articles linking new books to current issues and daily topics, as well as monthly bestsellers and review columns of new books.
© 2009 Association Press and Tatsuya Sudo
