"The Asianization of America" by Olivia Barker

What I like about this article is that it addresses both areas of improvement in the recognition and acceptance of the Asian culture but also recognizes the need for improvement. This need for improvement to me stood out the most in the author's description of how Asian culture may be more 'romanticized' in American than actually authentically represented. Personally I feel like America has a history of ‘romanticizing’ cultures into what we want. There is no doubt in my mind that Americans are trendy. We enjoy being a 'cool' and 'in-style' society; however, it is essential that efforts be made to not trivialize the culture our trends may stem from. Reading articles like this really makes me think about my own actions and how I need to be aware of how they are perceived. The article discussed the movie industry and that although Eastern films are being shown more frequently in America, there is still this overarching theme of Americanizing these films. Also described in the article, was the need for Asian-American actors to be able to perform martial arts and speak with an Asian accent if they wanted to be able to be greatly successful in the movie industry. I feel like the most important message to take away from this article is that the blending of cultures and style is perfectly acceptable, as long as the ‘blending’ is emphasized. The point at which the blended product becomes equivalent to authenticity, is when a serious revision of thought processes needs to begin.