My Life as a Long Duk Dong
By Dyske March 7th, 2010
The Donger and Me by Adrian Tomine
When I first saw this cartoon by Adrian Tomine, I laughed really hard, but at the same time it reminded me of the pain I felt when I saw this movie for the first time. I was never angry at the actor (although I’ve jokingly pretended to be, from time to time). In fact, I’ve never expressed my anger publicly. If anyone should be blamed, it’s the director who should take the blame, not the actor. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone criticizing the director, John Hughes.
There was a similar portrayal of an Asian man in Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Mickey Rooney, but who would blame him for that? He is just an actor doing his job. He didn’t create the character.
When I first saw Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles, I was living with an American family in California as an exchange student, like Dong was. I felt like I was stabbed in my heart because I was watching it with my foster brother and his friends who were all White. They laughed really hard, so I had to put on a smile like I too found it funny, which made the experience doubly painful.
For Tomine, the experience was probably a bit different because he is an Asian American. Asian Americans have to constantly fight the perception that Asians are foreign. As some people think Judge Ito has a Japanese accent, some Americans still see all Asians as foreign, even if they are born here in the USA. So, I would imagine that Long Duk Dong was the last thing they wanted to see on a major Hollywood movie, especially since Asian men were virtually non-existent in American films. Anger, in Tomine’s case, was the appropriate feeling.
But for those Asians who were indeed foreign like me, the situation was a bit different. We were reinforcing the perception that Asians are foreign. We gave the Americans a justification for creating the stereotype. In this sense, we are an enemy of Asian Americans. When I was attending high school in California, most Asian Americans stayed away from me. I had one Asian American friend, but even he didn’t treat me so nicely. So the few friends I had were all White, themselves outcasts.
To some degree, this still continues today. I don’t get along all that well with Asian Americans, even though I have almost an instant rapport with others who crossed the Pacific Ocean themselves. I often cannot relate to the sentiments Asian Americans share with me. Strange as it may sound, I think this is the way I should feel. After all, Asian Americans are Americans. The first A-word is rather irrelevant and superficial. I should not expect to get along with them any more than I expect to get along with White or Black Americans. And, I would imagine that Asian Americans too would prefer that I see them that way. What lies behind the similar facades is a distance as great as the Pacific Ocean.
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 11th, 2010 at 12:52 pmVery interesting. I thought that Americans could like the Japaneses nowadays, in a similar way that Japaneses like Americans nowadays. Wow, here in Brazil, this wall is almost fallen, I think. Of course the jokes are commons here, because Brazilians are extremely jokers. People from Brazil commonly tease the Portugueses(our colonizers), the Americans(who appears on Media as standart people) the Japaneses(biggest Asian community here) and ourselves 😉 . Of course, this can be explained partially with the relative number of the people from Japan represents the American and Brazilian populations: 0,39 and 0,78 respectively.
*In accordance with the numbers from Wikipedia(not that reliable source), the population of USA, Japanese community in USA, Brazil and Japanese community in Brazil are 308 758 000, 1.2 million, 191 480 630 and 1.4 to 1.5 million. Brazil is the second place in the world, where the people to do sex more times, only after Greek. So, “maybe”, it is a wise choice to choice 1.5 million instead of 1.4 million, to make the calculus
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 11th, 2010 at 3:01 pmExcuse me^^. I remembered, all my friends that I told about, had been born here(at least no one said me that they’re foreignes :P). So I can to say what I said in my last comment, only about the Japaneses Brazilians, not about a Japanese that moved to Brazil. Anyway, here, the Japaneses Brazilians aren’t be seeing as outsiders, they integrate with all people pretty much well. Of course, it is a question of how many time is the Japanese community living here. Maybe you are an old person, and gone to USA when it was less receptive. Hahaha, look, now I’m calling you as grandpa ^^ 😛
LennySA says:
April 13th, 2010 at 4:25 pmThiago Biquiba: “In accordance with the numbers from Wikipedia(not that reliable source), the population of USA, Japanese community in USA, Brazil and Japanese community in Brazil are 308 758 000, 1.2 million, 191 480 630 and 1.4 to 1.5 million. Brazil is the second place in the world, where the people to do sex more times, only after Greek. So, “maybe”, it is a wise choice to choice 1.5 million instead of 1.4 million, to make the calculus”
Can anyone parse this? I’m utterly baffled.
S. Onosson says:
April 13th, 2010 at 5:46 pm😉
I’m going to try, though I probably shouldn’t…
I think the first part of the statement is meant to give the following population statistics:
Population of USA: 308 758 000
Population of Japanese community in USA: 1.2 million
Population of Brazil: 191 480 630
Population of Japanese community in Brazil: 1.4 – 1.5 million
Then, Thiago Biquiba informs us that Brazil has the 2nd-highest rate of sexual activity in the world(!), suggesting that therefore we should accept the higher figure of 1.5 million for the size of the Japanese community in Brazil…
I don’t endorse any of these statements, just trying to make them more comprehensible.
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 14th, 2010 at 1:48 amS. Onosson you are right 😉 haha, I forgot to write “respectively” after the numbers 😉 And yeah, Brazil is sexualized country, pretty much it is. So, I think that is a wise choice to make the calculus using the higher number possible ^^
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 14th, 2010 at 1:50 amDespite I understand the post and the writer’s feelings, I never watched “The Donger and Me”. Someone could please, tell me more about it?
Dyske says:
April 19th, 2010 at 6:25 amHi Thiago,
The film is actually called “Sixteen Candles”. Here is a clip of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTchUep_bmg
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 19th, 2010 at 8:57 pmcorrecting:
Of course, this can be explained partially with the relative number of the people from Japan represents the American and Brazilian populations: “0,39%” and “0,78%” respectively.
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 19th, 2010 at 9:04 pmI read about it on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Candles . Guy, prejudice is the name of the film. Not only gainst Asians, but, in a general way, against any person that just doesn’t fit in the “normal american standarts”. I’m sick! A part of it on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Candles :
Reception
Sixteen Candles was well-received by critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics gave it a positive rating, based on 30 reviews.[9] Ringwald’s performance was especially praised; Variety called her “engaging and credible”[10] while Roger Ebert wrote that she “provides a perfect center for the story”.[11]
The character of Long Duk Dong was criticized for being racially insensitive and offensive to Asians and others[12] who found that the character “represents one of the most offensive Asian stereotypes Hollywood ever gave America”[13] and encouraged playground-taunting by quoting his stilted-English lines.[14] Ebert, however, defended him, writing that Gedde Watanabe “elevates his role from a potentially offensive stereotype to high comedy”.[11]
The movie ranked number 49 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[15]
Sixteen Candles was a moderate success at the box office, grossing $23,686,027.[16]
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 19th, 2010 at 9:13 pm“I was never angry at the actor (although I’ve jokingly pretended to be, from time to time). In fact, I’ve never expressed my anger publicly. If anyone should be blamed, it’s the director who should take the blame, not the actor. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone criticizing the director, John Hughes.” – you should be angry at the actor: Gedde Watanabe.
“He is just an actor doing his job. He didn’t create the character.” – Why could he to accept such horrible paper?
“was living with an American family in California as an exchange student, like Dong was. I felt like I was stabbed in my heart because I was watching it with my foster brother and his friends who were all White. They laughed really hard, so I had to put on a smile like I too found it funny, which made the experience doubly painful.” – You should just leave with a angry expression.
Don’t think that these comments are just critics. They’re advices 🙂
Dyske says:
April 19th, 2010 at 9:36 pmWell, I just didn’t know better then. I was young (16).
Thiago Biquiba says:
April 19th, 2010 at 10:15 pmhahaha, You were afraid of to be rejected huh? 😉 Unfortunately, I made similar things too, many times. Then I were sad and angry at me, because I did not respect me 🙁
Kerry says:
June 28th, 2010 at 9:50 amAmen to that. I’m a fob Singaporean living in the UK, and I get along better with other fobs or second generations with fob parents. It’s just easier to relate when you’ve had similar experiences. My boyfriend’s BBC; somehow he cannot connect with other Chinese/Orientals. They must have such a hard time, white/black people see them as outsiders but we don’t completely accept them either. They’re perceived as aliens everywhere.
Hipolito Mcnichols says:
August 13th, 2010 at 8:05 pmAlso agree with #1. Every single time First Blood is on TV I watch it (which has been happening a lot on AMC). Just a damn good movie. Really original protagonist and some really good antagonists too.
anon says:
October 11th, 2011 at 6:15 amThat movie always makes me smile. I remember when Gedde Watanabe was passed out on the lawn and one Grandfather said to the other”Say Fred, isn’t that your Chinaman passed out on the lawn?”. What I do find insensitive is the term Asian as a stock descriptive. Someone please show me where Japan and the Philippines are part of the continent of Asia. Do people look at Russians and say Asian because where I’m from they say white or Caucasian.