2021-2022

A game in which you die if you lose, but you will get high prizes if you win. The South Korean series “Squid Game” uses a gripping shock, intertwined with infinite horror and sorrow. “Squid Game,” which was launched more than a month ago, can be said to have taken the world by storm. It set a record for the number of viewers in a single day. Its story and discussion of human nature tug at the heartstrings of viewers. The plot of the South Korean series “Squid Game” tells that 456 players are invited to participate in the mysterious survival game, and the cash prize is up to 45.6 billion won (about 38.6 million dollars). They must compete with each other in 6 childhood games such as red light green light, tug of war, marble games, and so on. Only the final winner can win the attractive a...

The first Marvel movie to feature a predominantly Asian cast, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released in theaters on Sept. 3. A few recent, notable movies about Asian American life (Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell, and the like) have openly grappled with the trope of younger-generation Americanization (individualism) struggling with parental and ancestral ideals, immigrant ideals, the kinds of stories that make the children of immigrants feel caught between two worlds. Shang-Chi doesn’t sidestep those tensions. In Shang-Chi, family matters; ancestry matters; and young people are expected to make something of themselves.  According to a comprehensive 2021 study from USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Asian and Pacific Islanders ac...

“Someday” by Ruby Ibarra Line: I said, “Mama, we gon’ make it here someday” (Someday) Last spring, Filipino American, Ruby Ibarra, Zoomed in with Colorado College students and staff for a mini-online concert in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. When October came and I found out that it was Filipino American History Month, I was confused. Why are there Filipino American History and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage months? Are they not both celebrations of Asians in the United States? But wait. Is this confusion on multiple celebrations that uplift Asian Americans also perpetuating the practice of seeing the Asian diaspora as a monolithic group?  The first time I heard “Someday” was actually in the classroom. I remembe...