Tag Archives: Social Commentary

Video Game Review: Butterfly Soup

Today’s entertainment review is going to be on the visual novel “Butterfly Soup”!

Short:

High-class memery and relatable gay asian girls playing baseball? It’s already A+++.

Not-as-short:

This is literally my favorite thing in the world at a time when queer Asians just don’t exist in media. Let’s all bow down to our Lord Brianna Lei for creating this masterpiece.

First of all, the humor is such high quality! I mean, I don’t know about other people, but I found it freaking hilarious. Second of all, I am particularly attached to this game because it hits so close to everything I even though I don’t even like baseball. Being a queer Asian girl in the Bay Area finding something with pretty much this precise demographic that’s never portrayed in media ever? Damn miracle. I can discuss media representation in another post, but for now let me just discuss the representation in Butterfly Soup, because I relate to and love every single one of them. Here is a list of similarities between me and the characters:

Diya:

  • Extremely shy
  • Content to sit near louder friends and listen to them talk instead of joining in
  • Have a morning routine of lying in bed for ten minutes being tired
  • Avoid confrontation like the plague
  • Hearing problems. I can’t actually claim this, I’m just bad at auditory processing
  • Weak immune systems from sleep deprivation
  • Don’t talk to parents much because everything becomes a lecture or criticism
  • Male-dominated interests that people just have to comment on

Min-seo:

  • Likes weapons, should not be using them (for different reasons)
  • Loves Diya
  • Short hair
  • Short
  • Tiny hands
  • Emo music
  • Uncomfortable doing “girly” things, has rejected gender roles since child
  • Parents disapprove of said rejections
  • Kind of dumb sometimes
  • Uses profanity incorrectly
  • Hates most vegetables, salad, and standalone tomatoes

Akarsha:

  • Extremely weird
  • Says things that don’t make sense
  • Is the “annoying” and “ugly” one in the friend group
  • Forgets to return things
  • Parents excessively brag about intelligence
  • Doesn’t feel smart
  • Stressed out and feels pressured by parents, copes by making jokes
  • Feels lost, doesn’t mind dying
  • Accidentally killed a small animal in elementary school
  • Likes junk food

Noelle:

  • Parental expectations
  • Too weak to open water bottles
  • Bad at sports
  • Not very social
  • Takes a long time to get to really know and consider interesting
  • Likes classical music
  • Appreciates math (!!!)
  • Weak immune systems from sleep deprivation

In general there was just so much to relate to, especially with the Asian American household experience – the traditional and conservative values, the insane pressure from parents to be successful, the unspoken culture of getting hit, the smart-but-not-smart-enough kids at the bottom of the top, the generational gap in the experiences of Asian parents and children in the U.S., and the distance that creates. Other than that, the game references real gender-related experiences I’ve had as a female with non-feminine interests and behavior. And the game manages to deal with all this while being extremely funny.

Anything else I think of will be added later. Nevertheless, Butterfly Soup is an amazing game that I would recommend to anyone even remotely gay, female, or Asian. You can download it here for free, but honestly, please donate if you can because she deserves it! I wanted to donate so bad, but my dad can see everything I do with my credit card, so please, someone donate for me! Because if there’s any game I’d pay to play, this would be the one.

Etiquette and Appearance

There are some things that different people will have extremely skewed opinions of, and yet both sides can be easily understood with some thought. One of these things is etiquette and appearance (this is technically two things, but they go hand-in-hand).

For some people, appearance is everything. It is a reflection of yourself, and the most important thing is to dress appropriately. The way you carry yourself tells others a lot about you; your self-confidence, how well you take care of yourself, how much you value your interaction with the person in front of you, etc.

But for lots of others, appearance means nothing. Not only are some people unable to afford nice clothes and such, but all-in-all, the way you look outwardly does not affect your inner self in the slightest. For these people, appearance and attire are superficial and irrelevant, and is a poor depiction of the kind of person you truly are.

Many people are extreme in one of these beliefs, and either way you think about it, they both make a lot of sense. Yet, these ideas are in complete opposition.

In a similar vein of thought, politeness is the key to social interaction. Politeness is how you demonstrate consideration and respect. No matter how opposed you are to others, you must be cordial to everyone. It’s impartial and respectful, and keeps emotions out of the equation. Rudeness, for them, is despicable; it’s dismissing the existence and feelings of others, and downright unprofessional and disrespectful.

For others, however, politeness is disingenuous and unnecessary. It may be snobbish, false intrigue, and superficial. Some people prefer to be straightforward and blunt. Some are aloof with everyone save for those close to them. Some don’t understand the unspoken rules of proper etiquette. And sometimes, we are absent-minded, in a hurry, or in a bad mood, and we either forget to be polite or don’t have the energy to do so. In sum, strictly social scripts are insufficient in running society, and politeness is not a good indicator of the kind of person you really are.

So we have two completely opposing sides here: the first is that good appearances and good manners reflect good attitude. It indicates that the person values their interaction with the person in front of them, and that effort has been put into this interaction. The second is that appearances and etiquette cannot possibly reflect a person’s inner self, and that they are not something we should focus on too much.

Of course most people align somewhere in the middle grounds in regards to how much they value politeness and appearance. But much of society, especially those of higher social class, will lean towards intense contempt for those who have the audacity not to make an effort in their appearance and manners or conversation. And honestly, it really isn’t something they can be blamed for.

At the end, the best mindset to take is a nice route down the middle. In professional environments, try your best to respect your colleagues, and pay a little more attention to your clothes and diction. Outside the job, still try to speak nicely to others. Don’t stress too much about how you look or act, but make sure everyone receives the respect they deserve.

Movie Review: Crazy Rich Asians

Today’s entertainment review is going to be on the movie “Crazy Rich Asians”!

Short:

Asians. Thank you

Not-as-short:

I am so happy right now! The soundtrack! The costuming! The mahjong scene! Literally everything about Astrid! The second proposal! The wedding scene! The entire cast being Asian!

Not to be That Person, but this is our Black Panther – highlighting differences between the experiences of Africans/Asians versus African-Americans/Asian-Americans! Beautiful traditional African/Asian aesthetics! The portrayal of Africans and Asians on screen for young children to be proud of to be who they are! Showcasing the rich and vibrant parts of Africa and Asia that the American media forgets about! I know people are all “stop promoting Black Panther when talking about Crazy Rich Asians” but I don’t care. I think they’re comparable and Black Panther’s successful enough not to need promoting so I don’t see the issue.

On the whole “incomplete representation” issue, I am Chinese so I can’t say much about that; honestly, I think the fact that we have an Asian movie at all is a huge step, especially as it took place in an Asian country that wasn’t China, Japan, or Korea. But again, this is from the perspective of a Chinese-American. I understand how the film seems to reinforce the already prevalent Asian sentiment against dark skin, and I think being upset about the East Asians Only issue is perfectly valid (and I agree that it’s a problem). I don’t know much about Singapore, though I am aware of the racism issue and that the movie doesn’t exactly treat the issue well. Perhaps we could have gotten a better movie to “break” Asian culture into American theaters that wasn’t about the upper class specifically that’s comprised almost entirely of East Asians, but as a standalone movie I think it was pretty great! I just hope that future films will start introducing more and better Southeast Asian and other Asian representation, and hopefully Crazy Rich Asian viewers and Asians themselves don’t forget about the rampant racism in Asia.

(On a side note, I do realize that the original book has the n-word in it, but I haven’t read the book so I don’t have much to say about this except that the movie elected to exclude this and besides they don’t have to go hand-in-hand, especially when the movie doesn’t even follow the book that closely.)

I think the main thing that made viewers more wary of representation in Crazy Rich Asians than in Black Panther (besides the fact that – you know – Marvel) is that Wakanda is a fictional country. (Again, though – I am not black, so I can’t say much, but this is from what I’ve observed.) The creators could take liberty with each fictional tribe to reference as many different real-life tribes as possible while also including an important contrast between African and African-American experiences. Crazy Rich Asians, however, is pretty limited, especially when the Chinese are the ones in power in Singapore. Black Panther was made for black people in general, but Crazy Rich Asians is a specific kind of Asian attempting to represent, well, all Asians and Asian-Americans. The fact that the Asian-American experience was even a component of a movie about Asians from Asia is already fantastic to me, especially since Hollywood had wanted to whitewash Rachel’s character.

I also thought, as a female, that the female portrayals of Rachel and Astrid were wonderful! Of course the other female characters were your typical K-drama villainous exes that try to ruin the lives of less-rich girls dating hot rich males, but the male characters who weren’t the main character or the groom were also depicted in an equally negative light so I can let that go. And also – Rachel and Astrid are yes. It might not seem big in the movie but some aspects just really jumped out at me with the characterization of two fantastic, strong, Asian females.

Astrid, I think, is pretty straightforward. Her leaving Michael with their apartments to go live in one of her fourteen apartment buildings because it’s not her job to make him feel like a man? I felt that power through my bones.

The reason I like Rachel’s characterization is because when Rachel started standing up to herself, it was in a way that was consistent and unique to her character. Specifically, I am referring to two specific parts. One: the wedding scene, where she shows up dressed in confidence and uses her cleverness and intellect to talk her way to the front row. Two: the brilliant mahjong scene where she uses her economics and game theory expertise to purposely let Eleanor win before revealing that she had control over the game the whole time, that Eleanor only got Nick back because Rachel allowed it, permanently marking the Young family with her existence with her message, all without being spiteful or malicious and yet making it glaringly clear that she was the bigger woman in the situation. I also really appreciate the fact that Rachel rejected Nick in the first place. Again, Rachel is deciding everything at this point, and she’s the one who decided they wouldn’t go down that uproot-my-whole-life-for-heterosexual-romance route. She chose herself over love; she refuses to be one of those “me-or-them” girls, knowing how important Nick’s family is to him; she doesn’t just take the chance to marry Nick just as a victory to shove in Eleanor’s face. She’s respecting herself by not allowing herself to be treated this way by Nick’s family; she’s respecting Nick by choosing not to drive him away from his family; and she’s respecting Eleanor, refusing to back down before the latter’s disrespect. She accepts the second proposal because this is her earning Eleanor’s approval and respect for both herself and for Nick.

I also really like Eleanor’s character. She’s that typical traditional Asian parent we all know, but it’s not as shallow as the Asian drama cliche of “you can’t marry my son because you’re poor!” It’s beyond that. She sees her son falling into the same situation she and her husband was, and she tries to prevent him from that. But then she learns how strong Rachel is when she makes Eleanor realize that Rachel isn’t the one preventing Nick from having both Rachel and his family, it’s her. She’s the one preventing her son’s happiness. Man, this movie was great!

My general view of this movie is that this is a well-made, unapologetically Asian movie. Definitely not perfect, especially in viewers’ expectations for it to represent all Asians when the basic premise is about mostly-snobbish, filthy-rich Chinese folk in Singapore, but again, as a standalone rom-com with Asian context, I thought it was pretty nice!

Really do hope older Asians stop being racist though. Even living in the U.S. I know this is a problem. Even my parents are low-key racist. But Asian racism is a topic for another time, for now I’m just happy that the cinematic world knows Asian people don’t just exist as side characters. And besides, romantic comedies kind of owe Asians for the genre’s revival, sorry. Also, not gonna lie, I don’t really like romance, but apparently Silk is going to be a thing and I’ll have you know, I am beyond excited to have a female, Asian superhero movie! But I am definitely content with a Crazy Rich Asians.