Min-seo: Hi Haines.The Korean high school student then sexually assaults him by grabbing and squeezing his testicles.
Haines: Oh, Min-seo. How is it going?
Min-seo: You said the Korean girls are sweet, uh?
Haines: Yeah.
Min-seo: What’s the meaning?
Haines: Well, they are gentle, kind, cute
Min-seo: and?
Haines: …and…?
Min-seo: Easy to handle [have?], like a whore?
Haines: No! I didn’t mean that --
Last June The Grand Narrative wrote, in a post calling the movie "the most interesting Korean movie you'll see all year":
Given that it otherwise aims to transcend and/or educate viewers about such issues as racism, illegal immigration, and possibly even teenage sexuality, then it would be both ironic and quite a pity if it resorted to gross stereotypes of foreign male English teachers in the process.Ironic indeed, and it's far more than "disappointing" that the movie played into one disgusting stereotype of foreign men while attempting to challenge others. The idea---one not supported by statistics or evidence---that foreign English teachers are sexual predators preying on their students and on Korean women in general has been circulated by internet hate groups like the Anti-English Spectrum (and indeed is the foundation of their entire movement), has been given support by internet and mainstream media, and has been featured on television shows in the past as well. We will likely have to wait a little while longer before we see a positive portrayal of a native speaker English teacher on TV or in the movies, a character who actually speaks English and isn't depicted as a buffoon, a drug user, a pervert, or as a menace to society.
Read the rest of today's Gusts of Popular Feeling post for further commentary on this portrayal.
31 comments:
You really think that about me? (not referring to this post here)
I think you've come a long way and are helping build positive community in Seoul, but there were times last year and the year before when I thought Korea was getting the best of you.
Well it's true. There were times when I thought Korea had won me over in a negative way. But I am still here and see my tribulations coming from the personal choices I made based upon my own faults.
Here you are leaving Korea...hope your expository writing on Korea doesn't end.
Here = hear ><
OP:
We will likely have to wait a little while longer before we see a positive portrayal of a native speaker English teacher on TV or in the movies, a character who actually speaks English and isn't depicted as a buffoon, a drug user, a pervert, or as a menace to society.
Though it may have bordered on being a tad buffoonish, the teacher in "Teach Me English" came across okay overall, but did speak a lot of Korean.
@Kushibo
Are you talking about the Australian woman or the yelling, boorish drunk that tries to get the main character wasted?
Please Teach Me English was interesting in that I thought it hit all the stereotypes "fairly". We had the hagwon jumper, the guy trying to pick up on the blond teacher, etc. One can comfortably laugh at them but then to be fair you had to also laugh at the NESTs in the pub trying to take advantage of the drunk girl and sometimes unfairly angry/frustrated australian woman.
All 'n' all, it was cute enough and no stereotype struck me as offensive.
Matt asked:
Are you talking about the Australian woman or the yelling, boorish drunk that tries to get the main character wasted?
I'm not sure if I'm remembering the movie correctly, but I thought she encountered the boorish drunk as a bank customer and then as a bar customer. I don't recall him being an English teacher (at least not her English teacher).
I could be wrong about that, but at any rate, I was thinking about the Australian woman.
And I think Puffin Watch had a good description of the overall fairness and balance of the various characters.
The only thing that was missing (and given when it was written, how could they have known to do this?) was having some creepy AES member check out the Australian teacher's garbage for used condoms after he thought she was an illegal and sleeping with the food delivery guy.
Oh man. Yuck. I hate portrayals like that. I've found that even my male friends who love dating Korean women have been nothing but 100% professional and respectful at work. It's so frustrating when mainstream media perpetuates stereotypes like that.
huh... I actually didn't know it was such a big deal because I always thought native English speaking teachers were really nice and funny.
I hated the Korean English teachers.
But I agree that it's a shame that "foreigners" in general are portrayed in a very one-dimensional, stereotypical way in Korean media.
I read the article on Gusts when it first came out and I was disgusted for a number of reasons. This portrayal is so bad that they couldn't even hire a native English speaker to play the role of the teacher in this movie.
The other problem is the moronic way that they show the foreign teacher, yet romanticizing the migrant worker. I agree that they have it much harder than teachers but does that mean it is ok to portray us as sexual predators on the silver screen? I guess every movie needs a monster...
This role adds more elements to the negative stereotype that is places on white male teachers. Now, we are elitist, smart-assed, know-it-alls, who "like kimchi more than hamburgers" on top of drug addicted, greedy, alcoholic, sexual predators, who have AIDS. (am I leaving anything out?)
Either we are clowns to be laughed at or monsters to ousted from the country. I only wish that more characters like "Julian" from the TV show "High Kick through the Roof" would appear and actually be "English Teachers" and not just "international students" as I think that his character is.
This character actually has admiral qualities and the show accepts that he can't really speak the language. The character played a decent role in establishing two of the main characters (in a positive way) by helping them get a job and whatnot. Although they often play on his size and stature in comic ways, most of the time it usually shows korean men feeling threatened by him and acting stupidly to try and show off. I can only hope that this is a step in the right direction.
I find it funny how white people in Korea are feeling what minorities in the US have felt all of their lives. Ridiculous stereotypes on screen can be a bitch, huh?
"I find it funny how white people in Korea are feeling what minorities in the US have felt all of their lives. Ridiculous stereotypes on screen can be a bitch, huh?"
Hmm, I find that what was stated above is wrong. White people in the states fight with each other all the time. Look at history. US whites vs English whites, Northern whites vs Southern whites, rich whites vs poor whites. The stereotypes are blasted on all media formats. I mean come on, Ginger haired people are viewed with suspicion and blonds are stupid right. So depending on where in the States you talk about, white people have it bad, just as the next minority.
Daniel,
It's certainly interesting and instructive to suddenly be the minority. However, I'm not sure many university educated white people (ie the demographic teaching in Korea) are comfortable with stereotypes in their media. We might miss some but so informed we'd find such depictions reprehensible and we'd typically raise our voice.
Do you have another point to make?
I have to admit -- it's incredibly amusing to see a white American guy flying off the handle because of racial stereotypes in the media that don't favor white males for a change.
The American media continues to be one of the most notorious bastions of anti-Asian bashing/stereotyping/denigration on earth.
Why? Because it sells and appeals to the white male ego who are now unable to criticize blacks for fear of massive retribution by the black community. Another target must be found...and Asians fit the role perfectly in the US.
So the Korean film industry found a convenient target in white male English teachers. It's a good lesson in a way. You get to see how the other half lives back in the U.S. Think of it as a sociology experiment.
Glad you find it "funny," daniel. And MCHammer, that's a very circular argument.
I don't see why I, and other whites in Korea, aren't permitted to object to negative stereotypes simply because other media around the world have their own stereotypes.
It is educational, you're right, to be more aware of how minorities are portrayed and how the media influences the public's perception of them.
However, to dismiss objections simply because it's considered a fair trade, or retribution, or a "sociology experiment," is ridiculous. By that line of thinking, Asian-Americans' objections to portrayal of Asians in western media can be dismissed in the same way. After all, Asians aren't the minority in Asia.
It's important to have perspective---and Asians complaining about American media really ought to look at the other side of the Pacific to get some sense of it---and seeing portrayal of whites and English teachers in Korean media can give it. But, and I'll repeat this again, that doesn't invalidate our objections to nasty, racist depictions.
Sorry to see people gloating over this. Maybe when I hear an Asian-American bitching about something I should bring up what goes on in Korea, since that's considered fair game, apparently.
The American media continues to be one of the most notorious bastions of anti-Asian bashing/stereotyping/denigration on earth.
Other than mere assertion, I wonder how you defend that claim?
Stereotyping does occur. I'm sure many Italians hang their head in shame every time a new ep of Jersey Shore starts. I'm sure middle aged, upper middle classed white women feel set upon when they watch Cougar Town or Desperate Housewives. Golly, Canadians take it on the chin on the simpsons, south park, and the colbert report. Irish, Eastern Euorpeans, Southerners... really pick your subculture. You can cherry pick all the media stereotypes you wish.
Sometimes stereotyping is germane, notably in comedy. See my comments about Please Teach Me English. If the object of stereotyping is for people to laugh at themselves, then it has a role.
I won't pretend asian males have been given the short end of the stick (not a dick joke) for several decades. Long duck dong, violent wife abusers, mystical karate experts, etc.
Of course I wonder what evil stereotypes John Cho in Flashfoward/Star Trek or Sendhil Ramamurthy in Heroes or Daniel Dae Kim in Lost present? Kim is interesting because the writers set him up to be the evil asian wife beating husband but have evolved our understanding of him. How dare they play with our cherished stereotypes!
The role of Asian male actors is evolving in a positive direction. It's evolving partially because people bitch. I'm not sure why Asians in America bitching for a fair shake in entertainment is good but White people bitching for a fair shake in Korean media is treated with a "the chickens are coming home to roost" hand waving attitude. Geez. Eye for an eye is school yard morality.
(A Korean American writer once noted with irony Asian males view their acceptance by white women as a sign of social progress but Asian women's acceptance by white males is a bad thing.)
Oh, you can object to it all you want. I never said you shouldn't -- merely, that I found it amusing to see a white male complaing about one little scene in an obscure Korean film that will never make it out of Korea because suddenly, you're at the wrong end of the stick.
Compare that to the usual Hollywood fare that gets rammed into every movie theater in every city, town, and village of relevance throughout the world. I'm reminded of something I read about today:
"The Last Airbender" -- one of the biggest television hits for children in recent years -- now about to hit the big screen -- except every Asian character in the television series has suddenly become white after Hollywood got its hands on it.
Now we can sit here and play the game of "Who suffers more" -- the poor white male English teacher unjustly stereotyped in a Korean film vs Asian/Asian-American children throughout the world who once again get robbed of the chance to see someone that looks like them in a positive Asian-specific role.
But that's not even worth discussing.
I just always find it entertaining to read one moaning complaint after another by white college kids from the US -- who likely didn't give a rat's ass about negative ethnic stereotypes back in the US -- suddenly filled with righteous fury and screaming from the mountain top about "negative racial stereotypes" once they get a bitter taste of it in S. Korea.
And let's be honest -- whites still get treated with kiddy gloves in real-life for the most part in S. Korea.
I get your point. And it's a point that gets made pretty frequently because we often read about unfair Asian portrayals in Hollywood.
I think you'll find Asian-Americans complaining about Hollywood equally ignorant of what Asian does to foreigners and minorities as you claim "white college kids in the US" are.
It's also worth reminding that this is a Korea-focused blog, and thus one that draws attention to Korean media and pop culture. The portrayals of white English teachers in Korea---and it's not simply on this "obscure" movie, as you say---have just as big an influence as how we're treated here as Hollywood movies on Asian-Americans in the US. It's not confined to an "obscure" movie, but something we see in other movies, on TV, and in the news, and people who follow current events in Korea will know that.
I just always find it entertaining to read one moaning complaint after another by white college kids from the US -- who likely didn't give a rat's ass about negative ethnic stereotypes back in the US
I guess you can't even see your own tired stereotyping there, eh? Pot. Kettle is calling.
Yes, I understand this is a Korea-focused blog...but written from the perspective of a white American, male, English teacher, who has been living in Korea for...5 years? Or less? In any case, your perceptions and the judgments cast upon current events in S. Korea is influenced by who you are and where you come from.
Subsequently, I don't think it's entirely out of bounds to comment on what I found to be an amusing parallel between the protests you often hear from Asian-Americans in the U.S. and the complaining/moaning/bitching you hear from white college kids suddenly plucked out of the good ol' U S of A and dropped into S. Korea.
As an aside, ever notice that ex-pats happiness/unhappiness about a place is directly correlated to: 1. their socioeconomic pecking order in that land relative to the majority of the local population 2. how "special" they're treated by the general populace and 3. how "special" they're treated by the opposite sex. In other words, ex-pats in dirt poor countries who are in comparison, rich, and treated like kings and playboys, just loooooove where they live VS e.g. English teachers scraping by in a country where they're distinctly on the lower end of the socioeconomic hierarchy.
But I digress.
Your blog post also happened to coincide with this blog post I also read today -- made by an Asian-American actor who had been offered a gig in the re-make in progress of that American 80s classic "Red Dawn":
http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com/when-red-dawn-attacks/comment-page-1/#comments
Take a look. Maybe you'll see some parallels yourself.
VS e.g. English teachers scraping by in a country where they're distinctly on the lower end of the socioeconomic hierarchy.
Brian, you know of any ESL teachers in Korea scraping by? I thought Koreans in Korea generally accuse ESL teachers of being too richly paid. Economically, they're certainly not on the lower end. That would be the 800K generation, the recent crop of Korean college grads who are working harder and longer hours than a similarly educated NEST for about 1/3 the money.
Again, MC, you continue spew your own silly stereotypes. You're starting to become one yourself. Stop, already.
"white college kids suddenly plucked out of the good ol' U S of A and dropped into S. Korea."
Every ESL teacher I ever met made the move after spending a considerable amount of time researching Korea's history, culture, and language.
ESL teachers, based on my own experience, are not ignorant greedy air heads who fell off the turnip truck and found themselves in Korea. I can stack my anecdotal evidence against yours. I've long said it would make a great grad thesis to discover how much cultural knowledge ESL teachers arm themselves with before coming. The Korean hand waving stereotype of ESL teachers is exactly the one you seem to paint. And Korean politicians seem to want to introduce legislation to fix a problem that might not even exist.
"We will likely have to wait a little while longer before we see a positive portrayal of a native speaker English teacher on TV or in the movies, a character who actually speaks English and isn't depicted as a buffoon, a drug user, a pervert, or as a menace to society."
Watch Julien Kang on High Kick through the Roof.
I just always find it entertaining to read one moaning complaint after another by white college kids from the US -- who likely didn't give a rat's ass about negative ethnic stereotypes back in the US -- suddenly filled with righteous fury and screaming from the mountain top about "negative racial stereotypes" once they get a bitter taste of it in S. Korea.
We could say the exact same thing of Asians, Stateside. How many of them that are complaining of negative ethnic stereotypes in the US "give a rat's ass", as you say, about negative racial stereotypes in their own countries? About the same number I would think. They're probably a lot like you; amused.
Actually Asians don't say anything at all back in the US about stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood. They're too busy learning English or working to pay the bills to even notice.
Now if you're talking about AMERICANS who happen to have an Asian face, then yeah, they bitch a lot. Well, more guys than girls I would say.
The only other point I'd have to make it that the average per capita income is $28,000 or so in S. Korea. About 32 million won per year. Given that an average English teacher probably makes 30 million a year, I'd say that puts most English teachers well outside the upper income bracket of S. Korea. And in my experience, this makes a huge difference in how ex-pats react to a given country -- not just in S. Korea but around the world.
We all enjoy the perks of being a big fish in a small pond -- something not possible in S. Korea for the vast majority of English teachers. Hence, the moaning, bitching, and whining continues at a steady clip. But yes, I'm generalizing. The older teachers (I think of one in particular who has a blog and is in his 40s) are FAR more mature and actually share my views about their younger colleagues being spoiled, ethnocentric brats getting their first bitter taste of the real-world outside the U.S.
The only other point I'd have to make it that the average per capita income is $28,000 or so in S. Korea. About 32 million won per year. Given that an average English teacher probably makes 30 million a year, I'd say that puts most English teachers well outside the upper income bracket of S. Korea.
You have a great way of ignoring contrary evidence offered and sticking to only the evidence that confirms your bias. I noted ESL teachers with the same level of education and experience earn 2.8 times what a Korean of similar education and experience earns. Honestly, how much do you think a 4 years Arts grad from a non SKY Korean university can earn straight out of university?
Also you have to ignore most ESL teachers work part time hours (5 hours a day) for their 2.3-2.4 million vs the 10 hours the 800K generation has to put in just to go two steps back in life.
Finally, you have to ignore 24 year olds are not comparing themselves to 40 year old expats working in the diplomatic corp or Citibank or 40 year old Korean executives at Samsung. I've never heard of a single ESL teacher bemoan they're not raking it in like expats who have been transferred by their foreigner corporation. Get this. They're comparing themselves to other recent grads back at home and even their Korean coteachers earning half what they make for longer hours. They're thinking "wow, I'm earning and saving more money than I've ever earned before. I've got a decent apartment that's free, I can travel to thailand, eat out, see movies/concerts, buy an iPod, and I don't have to scrimp for every penny like I had to back in university and there's still money left at the end of the month."
Sorry, MC. For all your posing, you're the biased, whiny, emasculated git you think you're trying to school. Time to take a hike.
Sparkles, I've seen the show briefly. Nice to see not only a white guy treated normally on Korean TV, but a white guy speaking Korean without the people around him devolving into ridiculous Gibberlish. Much harder to watch the program here in the US, even if I had the time.
You guys need to learn to spot a troll when they appear. MCH is a troll, he twist's your arguments and invents straw men in whichever fashion will make his arguments "seem" like their correct. The #1 way to spot this is the appeal to emotion tactic (s)he use's to deliberately provoke a certain set of people into making charged comments and getting emotional. (S)he then sits back in his chair in his mom's / dad's house, or even his own apartment and laugh's at what he manipulated others into doing.
Don't feed the trolls, ignore them, they go away when they can't get the charged reaction their after.
Ok for my actual post.
The "whiny white over privileged American college grad" stereotype is soooo 90's, can't people find a new one to harp on.
I find people who constantly fall back to racial / cultural / class stereotype's are doing so because they lack an actual understanding of anything / anyone not of their own culture / class. They feel pissed about ~something~ and just point the finger at an easy target (foreigners in SK) instead of working out their own feelings and problems. This demonstrates poor mental aptitude.
There seems to be a big difference in the amount of non-Korean participation in Korean media now from when I first got here. Just a quick glance at the number of international students here vs 5 years ago says a lot as to who can actually participate in Korean media. Sure there have been foreigners here for ages, but how many of them had the free time and Korean language skills to really be angling to get on tv, etc.
My point being, it all looks like progress to me (if you believe in that sort of thing), and the Korean government has been doing a fairly admirable job of bringing in non-Korean students to the country and giving them the opportunity to study here and learn the language, myself included. And while from time to time I may bitch about their fascist rules and strange prohibitions on what I would consider important social participation, the fact is I'm here, as are several thousand other students in my program alone.
Also, I imagine in the future, as the reality for foreigners changes, the artistic/media representations will follow. I don't think Korean media (or any country's media for that matter) gives a rat's ass about the content of their production as long as it sells, and at the point when it becomes more profitable to masturbate the sensitive ponytails of Korea than to stoke racial prejudices, then we'll see lots more stories that include more sympathetic non-Korean characters.
Lastly, We all managed to learn to ignore hammer in the 90s, so why are you paying any attention to him again now?
I'm a minority back home and I don't see "whites", like the fine people who adopted me, doing the same thing in the media that Koreans are doing to foreigners in Korea.
Yeah it happened years ago, but if they do it today they get persecuted for it.
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