A Night to Celebrate Asian Culture at the Movies

Chinese Student Association hosts evening of revelry

Yes, “Parasite” just swept the Oscars. It was shocking, people said, so intense, a real must-see. Have you gone? What’d you think?

But it was meaningful before this past Sunday night for reasons near and dear to dutiful cultural representation. Near and dear to many people at Santa Clara, in fact.

This was the very heart of the Chinese Student Association’s (CSA)culture show on Friday, “A Night At the Movies,” directed by juniors Alex Quan, Edison Yang and Patrick Zhang.

In the program, CSA shared that this year’s show was planned in response to and celebration of the “prominent shift” in Asian cultural representation in film and media, which is “much bigger than just the Chinese or Chinese American communities” as the program stated.

“Growing up, many of us never had Asian role models on the big screen, and oftentimes ‘Asianness’ was portrayed as something ‘other’ than the norm,” the program read. “We never saw our culture in films except perhaps as a punchline or a foreign background for non-Asian characters.” 

“But with the release of recent films like ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ ‘The Farewell,’ and the recent success of foreign language films like ‘Parasite,’ the misperceptions and stereotypes built up by years of misrepresentation in film are breaking down.”

With that, it’s clear that something like “Parasite” isn’t just a good movie—it’s an impactful representation of Asian characters whose story is told as entirely human. 

So CSA celebrated. As goes with a good celebration, this year’s culture show came with heaps of fantastic food, including enough dim sum to satiate an entire Locatelli’s worth of guests, with throngs coming back for seconds. 

Students took scenes from films classic to the American canon and made skits situating them in Asian cultural interests. A party scene from the 2013 ‘Great Gatsby’ remake introduced the performance component of the show. 

When Nick Carraway was about to learn that the guest he’s been talking to is indeed the host of the party, the screen went dark and a spotlight shone on a female student who proclaimed, clad in a glorious sparkly boa, “I’m Gatsby.” 

This comes with a variety of connotations—perhaps white men are not the only ones capable of dragging themselves from rags to riches? 

Another restaged scene flipped “The Godfather” on an Asian family’s head, where a fiery dialogue played out themes of family honor. The courtroom of “A Few Good Men” became the legal battleground of a Mulan-related dispute concerning the removal of tiny dragon Mushu and love interest General Shang, a decision that respects Chinese culture more than the original film version.

A group of students played various heroes—Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Rachel Chu, Natasha Romanoff and Shang Chi—and overcame their own relational obstacles to unite as the Asian Avengers.

Choreographer and dancer Judith Li performed a serene and graceful traditional dance to the song “Ban Hu Sha” by Ke Yi Liu, flowing and swaying like the petals of a cherry blossom tree. 

Leo Tse gave a vigorous and impressive Kung Fu performance. Tse’s wielding of the pudao—a Chinese polearm—as well as double chain whips and double hook swords bore through high energy moments and simmering displays of control. The twists and leaps—absolutely pyrotechnic. 

Four students took a modern dance number choreographed by Kiana Abrigana and burst and slid their way through “First Love Confession” by TFBOYS in near perfect synchronization. The best way to describe it: joyful.

This culture show shed light on a critical aspect of the Asian and Asian American experience by inviting the Santa Clara community to lean in. “We wanted to share this message with the greater SCU community and beyond because it is a deeply ingrained part of our lives and our identities,” said CSA co-chairs Krystal Lam and Jennifer Lau. 

It is opportunities like these that hopefully allow us all to get to know each other better, and in doing so, to be more informed and therefore more loving world citizens.