Angry Little Asian Girl

Reading Reflection #10

Melissa Elizalde

Section A01

June 1st, 2014

    A Response to "Angry Little Asian Girl"

        This week I had the opportunity to view the Angry Little Asian Girl comic strip that was a part of the assigned reading list for Week 10. I honestly loved the comic strip and I thought it was refreshingly hilarious and witty. Not only did it bring up common Asian American stereotypes, but it also questioned them and brought up viewpoints that are seldom discussed in the media. My favorite of the three comics was the comic titled "Nobody" because it was a commentary on the relationship between a daughter and an angry parent. I thought it was especially interesting because it briefly commented on the tiger mom phenomenon and how it might not be an effective method of parenting. I think it's also important to note that not only does the comic comment on Asian American stereotypes and viewpoints, but it also comments on regular instances where a little girl might be angry. Thus introducing the idea that just because the little girl is Asian doesn't make her any different from the rest of the population. Overall I really enjoyed viewing the comic strips and have included more of my favorites in the section below!

Question 1: Did you enjoy the Angry Little Asian Girl comic? Why or why not?

Question 2: Can you relate to any of the topics discussed in the comics? 

Angry Little Asian Girl

Joyce Wong
Response #10
Section A01

When I first read the comic "Angry Little Asian Girl" by Leila Lee, I saw that the mother was always portrayed as insulting her daughter or yelling at her. My very first question is: why is it a daughter? Why isn't the mother yelling at her son (I am not saying the mother should be yelling at her son over her daughter)? Does this have to do with the belief that Asian families prefer sons over daughters? Furthermore, I find that although I do related to these comics a little bit, Asian mothers are not usually insulting or yelling at their children as portrayed in this comic strip. They can be quite supportive, as Amy Chua's (Tiger mom) daughter indicated in her article "Why I love my strict Chinese mom".

Representation of Asian Americans in Media

Lan Nguyen
Sec.1
Entry #10
Response to "Angry Little Asian Girl"

"Angry Little Asian Girl" is a comic orchestrated by Leila Lee about an Asian girl who is often put in comedic situations. Most of her comics displays an Asian girl facing everyday problems from ensuing racist encounters to problems at home. I think that it is nice to see more talented work from Asian Americans in the media. There should be more representation of Asian Americans in the media to honor Asian American culture. There are many Asian Americans who struggle to enter the entertainment business because of less representation in the industry. Most Asian Americans are geared towards medical and the sciences but I think it would be good to see more Asian Americans in the arts. There are many talented Asian Americans who struggle to publish their work to the world due to cultural and racial imbalance of success in the Arts. There are many ways to change that and I think more Asian Americans are considering the Arts. There are many Asian Americans who sing, rap, dance, and make film and produce photography and I believe it shouldn't stop.

Why so quiet, angry little Asian girl?

Tuong Le (Vincent)
Section 2
Week 10 Response to Angry Little Asian Girl

Personally, I find these comics to be playful and silly, however it was brought to my attention that they've been viewed as racist before. Despite learning more about racism and racial sensitivity, I hadn't personally felt this way towards these comics when reading them. As to these particular comics, I felt the last one was interesting because it shows how she was having a struggle deciding whether or not to talk back to her mother, something I've seen in friends many times before. However, oddly, she doesn't talk back and ends up saying nothing by the time that her mom leaves. This bothered me a bit on analysis, because I felt that this reminded me of the submissive Asian stereotype. However, her usual behavior counters this, so I am uncertain how to take it.

In Response to Angry Little Asian Girl

ASA 01
Sherry Yuan
Week 10

The assigned comic conveys the idea of Asians' stress. The little angry girl is apparently born in a traditional Asian family with all the orders around and hence she felt stressful. That the angry little was wondering what she could talk back was also my story when I was young. In my family, parents seem to have the infinite authority and I, as a kid, had no choice but to be obedient while with complaints in my heart. Somehow I could associate the little angry girl's anger to everything around her with her family background and her ethnicity.  I checked out www.angrylittlegirls.com/ and read other comics. I guess the author also meant to choose a Asian character to make it easier for her to express some unfairness, discriminations against the minority--most of the time, it refers to non-Caucasians. Some other times, the comics just express the emotional side of human beings, which is kinda ironic.


Q: Why does the author chose to use a little girl instead of a grownup for her comics?

Angry Mothers

Don Kaing
Section A01
Reflection #10: In response to: "Angry Little Asian Girl"

The document contains a series of comic strips that depict an angry Asian mother who is yelling at her young daughter. Despite at first glance one may think, "Well gee, a mother shouldn't yell and discourage their children like that. That is not good parenting," this is indeed false and a generalization of how all mothers should act. In fact, in many Asian cultures, children, especially the female, are brought up to be very strict and obedient towards their parents and elders. They are not strict just for the sole purpose of being strict. Instead, think of it as just another way of parenting. It is a good way of parenting, in fact, as children at a young age are instilled good morals and values. They are taught to respect their elders and find something worthy of their lives.
Although some people may consider it harsh, many traditional Asian households have this form of parenting. Again, it is not to hurt the child, but rather, it is to benefit the child. In the comic, the "Angry Asian Mother" is yelling at her daughter because she cares and genuinely loves her daughter. She is just depicted and perceived as ruthless from the outside point of view, but in reality, it seems like she contradicts her statements to her daughter a lot, because she is at a loss for words. She cares so much that all she wants from her daughter is to be successful. She is not mean. She cares. That's how many Asian mothers, including myself, are. But I can say that she is a very caring mother whose traditional parenting made me a better person today.

Weitang Liu
A01
Response 10

I find it very interesting to read the comic strip "Angry Little Asian Girl." In the second story, the girl is self-talking while her mother is yapping. First, she is under the conflict that if she should fight back and argue with her mom. Suddenly she realizes her mom has gone but she is still thinking of what her mother says which she forgets.

The strip is fun because I have similar experiences. I think Chinese parents like to compare me with other children in EVERY aspect -- academic performance, extra-curriculum work. Sometimes, they even compare if their sons and daughters marry or not. But for the children, they normally just ignore the yapping of their parents or choose to fight back as the girl in the strip does. 

Why so Angry?

In Response to Angry Little Asian Girl

I first heard of Angry Little Asian girl a couple of years ago when my friends and I visited San Francisco’s Japantown.  I found the designs cute and the accompanying writing humorous. Some of the sayings I saw were “A is for Angry” and “I hate people.”  I enjoyed Angry Little Asian Girl because I felt like she was saying all of the things I wanted to say, but never felt like I could. 

The three comic strips in the Angry Little Asian Girl PDF show a side of the Angry Little Asian Girl that I have never seen before; the comics develop ALAG as a multidimensional character.  All of the strips  feature her mother, who seems to be a typical Tiger Mom.  I never though of her as having a mother before?!  The comic titled “Nobody” shows ALAG getting upset because her mother is rambling on about something and ALAG is torn between talking back or not.  She does not end up talking back and forgets what her mother was complaining about.  This is the first time that I have seen her not defend herself and I don’t know how to feel about it.  Is this suppose to be before she became habitually angry?  Is her mother the reason why she is habitually angry?  

Breana Inoshita 

Section A02 

Response 10

Jacky Sam

A02

Response 10: "Angry Little Asian Girl"

I can mostly relate to "Nobody" because I had the same thoughts and feelings as the angry little Asian girl. My mom had always compared me to someone else, saying things like "You will not be as good as them, if you don't do this or that" and constantly pointing out all my "flaws." I guess the only reason she would compare me to someone else is because she believes that I can be better than them and all I had to do was prove it. Even if I had already tried my best or gotten 100% on a test, she would still criticize me. This connects to "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua, which states that Western mothers would compliment their children even if they did not try their best on a test, while Chinese mothers would ask what had went wrong. I guess this was my mother's and all other Chinese mothers' way of pushing their children to improve themselves.

 I believe I became a sensitive person because of the hurtful words my mom had said to me. Unlike the angry little Asian girl, I was not able to tune out the things my mom said as indicated by "Blah! Blah! Blah!" in some of her mom's dialogue. However, my mother never went as far as saying "You ugly. That why you have no friend." If it had to be one thing that my mom really cared about, it would have to be my well-being, which is kind of cliché but absolutely true. I have already put some of these things behind me because I suppose all Asian moms can be rough like this, so it's best not to take it too personal. 

Question: I remember when I was younger that I said I would be a better mom than my mom ever was. Some of you guys might even agree, so what are some things that you would keep or what are some things that you would absolutely change in parenting style?

A Parenting Style That Hurts Children Emotionally

Reading Response #10 to “Angry Asian Little Girl”

              When I read this comic, I was able to see the passive aggressive parenting style Asian Americans use for their children. What depresses me is that when the girl tells her mother that she has no friends, her mother replies that she is ugly. The daughter is angered, and I can imagine that her self-esteem would be ruined. It would also strain the mother-daughter relationship, and it can have negative effects on children because it is so important that they have good relationships with their parents. Even though my parents have not made such emotionally detrimental remarks to me during my childhood, I personally would feel the same way that the girl did if I were in her situation. I know that parents want the best for their children, but I believe that under no circumstances is it acceptable for parents to be rude their children like how the mother called her daughter “ugly”.

Questions: How long has this type of passive aggressive parenting style existed? Who invented the idea of this parenting style?

Jianying Yang

Section A02

When reading this piece I was a bit skeptical at first but there are some parts that was a bit humorous. What I couldn't stop thinking about while reading this comic is if by laughing at these stereotypes does that make me racist? So reading this was not enough to invoke a proper opinion so I took a step further and I googled the angry little girl. In my search I found a episode of what it appears to be a series. I clicked and watched the video. Again the content of the angry little girl in my opinion was a bit racist but also I did have moments of laughter while for a few of the scenes. Which draws me back to where I was in the beginning. Am I racist towards Asian Americans?




Question: Is it racist to laugh at "your own stereotypes"? What does that say about a individual?

In response to "Angry Little Asian Girl"
David Le
ASA 02 
Section 01
Blog Post 10

Angry Little Asian...MAN... I think

In response to, “Angry Little Asian Girl”

This comic, created by Lela Lee, may or may not be about an angry little Asian girl. Actually, after extensive research and tests, my roommate and I have concluded that it is in fact about an angry little Asian girl who addresses issues of both racism and gender issues. When reading the comics, I was quite entertained as I was able to find parallels between the comic and my own life.

The three comics assigned for this weeks readings all had to do with the Asian girls mother and the relationship between mother and daughter. In each comic, it seemed to me that the mother had quite a critical parenting style. However, when reading the comic, I was not sure whether or not the “Tiger Mother” parenting style was being made fun of, or if it was just enforcing the idea that every Asian child has an over-bearing parent. This puzzled me, so I decided to Google a few more comics. When doing so, I actually got a bit distracted and came to find a common occurrence in the comics. In my opinion, the common phenomena are for the main character to speak up to those who say ignorant comments to her, or are blatantly racist. While also attempting to accurately portray situations and feelings from a minority point of view. After reading these, I have decided that the comics are exaggerating the Tiger Mother stereotype, while also addressing how adolescents feel/think while being critically parented. It is nice to be able to laugh about the micro-aggressions faced by minorities, Asian in particular while reading an Angry Little Asian Girl comic.

Aaron Handa

Section A02

Reading Reflection 10

Jiayu Zeng

Section 02

Reading Reflection 10

In response to: “Angry Little Asian Girl”

            In these couple episodes of the comic series, the little Asian girl was angry with her mother, who is very straightforward and demanding to her daughter. When Kim asked why she did not have a friend, her mom said because Kim looked ugly, and her mom always yell at Kim to ask her to do something useful and Kim does not know how to reply her mom, although she really wants to. It reflects a stereotype that Asian mothers less often praise their children but criticize more and demand a lot from them. Therefore, children feel stressful to tell something to or ask something from their mothers. Besides, most of the time, mom is the one who talk more in a conversation with her kids, even though the kid is the one to start the conversation; as the conversation goes, mom guide the flow of the conversation. Over time, children just listen to their moms, but no longer share their opinions and true feelings. Of course, it happens in some Asian families, but not all of them. Also, when Asian moms criticize every little thing that their kids do not do well, they just want their kids can do well next time, and they do not praise their kids often because they afraid the kids will become arrogant and careless after being commended.

            Overall, I like this comic series because it shows some real stories that happen in Asian families, and reviews the perspective from the children on the issues between parents and themselves. Maybe to some moms or parents, they can have self-reflection after reading these comics, and see whether they make the same mistakes as the moms in the cartoons did.

Question: The audience of the comics and cartoons are mostly kids and teenagers, and not many of them can distinguish how much of the content is true and how much of it is entertaining. Therefore, they will intake everything they learn from the comic stories. What can we do to avoid this happen, so that the young audience will not apply these stereotypes from the comics to their real lives.

Theraputic Raging

Peggy Li
Section A01
Response to "Angry Little Asian Girl"

I can see why this comic is popular. It can be therapeutic seeing  your own experiences or feelings, though maybe exaggerated. And anger in particular is not a very 'feminine' feeling, so there's that. There's some self-effacing humor, like working yourself up in a way so that in your furious train of thought you forget what even started it. And the use of improper spelling to illustrate her mom's accent (did they actually converse in English?) is maybe for realism, or is sort of an insult one might use when angry. Like, what's an easy, obvious way to insult someone? Make fun of their accent, or rather, their inability to speak proper English. Maybe Lela was poking fun at that brand of childish anger.
I guess I can relate to the "Angry" part of the comic, but my mom didn't really use this kind of 'tough love.' The mom in the comic was right in encouraging her kid to not do nothing all day long, but... just making your kid mad/sad isn't going to do much.

Question: Is telling your kid to "do something!" different and less effective than having specific goals for your kid like Amy Chua (probably) did? B/c "do something" is a pretty nebulous direction and can be a lofty goal if not approached correctly.

Confucianism Love to an American Mind

Jennifer Le
Section A01
Reflection #10: "Angry Little Asian Girl" by Lela Lee

    Lela Lee created a satirical comic strip that signs a light on the relationship between mother and daughter in an Asian American family. In the short comics, Lee describes how mother critiques her appearance, eating preferences, and urging her daughter to "be somebody". While it is easy to say that this is negative parenting that subtly resembles patterns of being a Tiger Mom, it is important to note that Lee titled this story "Motherly Love". Lee recognizes all of her mother's continuous critiques are merely tool for her love and encouragements. Lee's mother is an exemplification of mothers that raise their children under the traditional Confucian beliefs that urges respect, kinship, and obedience, something Lee herself understands. In the last clips, Lee draws an image of her sitting dutifully as her mother is scolding her. Being this type of mother may be the complete foil of American parenting, but behind both styles, mothers just want their children to succeed and have a brighter future. In this context, would Lee's mother still be considered a Tiger Mom?

 

Asian Children.

Kurt Romero

Section A02

Response #10 – Angry Little Asian Girl

            The relationship between the little Asian girl and her mother simply portrays the stereotypes we find in Asian mothers such as the Tiger mom. The purpose for putting it into a comic is to share the insight to a different audience such as teenagers who don’t know the everyday lives of Asian people. What is great about the comics is that it can by enjoyable and not create such a serious matter by adding a bit of comedy to it. The reader can either learn the culture and lifestyle of Asian families or simply enjoy the jokes that are implemented in it. I obviously can’t relate to how the girl feels, however, I can relate to how difficult it is to be raised by tough parents. It is mostly true about how strict Asian parents can be, but people need to see the results of their methods. Most of the Asian people I know today are my greatest friends and are hard workers. They become independent and make the right decisions for themselves.

Question: Why doesn't society create comics about other minority groups?

The Successful Contradiciton

Ben Weller
Section A02
Reading Reflection week 10
In Response to: "Angry Little Asian Girl" by Lela Lee

  "Angry Little Asian Girl" is a very popular comic who deals with important issues in everyday life namely regarding Asian Americans. I never personally got into the comics myself but reading them myself I can understand why it is so popular. These comics take very controversial issues involving Asian Americans and tries to teach people about them. However this comic does so by using Asian stereotypes which seems very contradictory. In my opinion this tactic in addition to the comedy behind the comics themselves are genius. It takes issues in a lighthearted way. People can view the comic they want to whether it be for in depth analysis or simply for a surface joke. The comic spans a wide range of audience and with this big contradiction has become very successful.



Questions:

1) Do people namely associate with the surface reading or in depth subject matter of this comic?
2) What is the target audience the creator was trying to address.

Reflection #10: On Angry Little Asian Girl

Calvin Ma
ASA 2

When I read the strips I couldn't help but think that I could not relate to the little girl at all. I definitely felt sad and embarrassed, but anger was never the emotion I felt when I got that kind of lashing from my parents because I knew that what they were saying was right. Every time I was yelled at, I knew it was because I was taking the easy way out, not caring to put any effort into my actions. For example, I have asked the question about why I had no friends when I was very young. But I asked it while knowing that I never made the effort to even try to talk or socialize with others around me and tried to shift the blame away from myself. It was for these kind of reasons I was yelled at and I know my parents did it with the good intentions of not letting me run away from my problems. I do admit that the message can certainly be given in a nicer manner, but when I read these comic strips I can't help but think that this is either all tongue-in-cheek, or the author needs to make a better effort to understand what is going on.

Q: How are tiger parents looked upon in retrospect after their children have grown up? (This is the best way to actually judge them).

Emergence of Queer Vietnamese America

Kristine Severo
Section A01
Reading Response #10

In "Emergence of Queer Vietnamese America", Gina Masequesmay discusses a support group for queers, known as Ô-Môi (which is slang for lesbian in Vietnam). The group was created to cater to the needs specific to women, since queer men and women have varying concerns and face different challenges. Today, although the majority of Ô-Môi's members are lesbian, there are also those who identify as bisexual and transgender.

Over the last couple of years, I have witnessed how difficult it is for many to reveal their true sexual preference. I have had friends and family members who were afraid to tell their families about their sexuality because of the strict Asian households they lived in. I believe that the Ô-Môi support group would help queer Asian Americans realize that they are not alone. It is much easier for Asian Americans to relate with other Asian Americans simply because they are aware of each other's cultural background. Now that the Ô-Môi group is connected through the Internet, more and more Asian Americans from all over the nation are able to connect with each other and share their stories. These more gender-and-ethnic-specific support groups will have a stronger impact since queer people of the same color can share that personal connection with other members of the group. For example, Thanh-Nga's sexuality became clear only after hearing to another fellow Asian American's story about coming out as a lesbian. These groups allow for the queer community to come out not out of fear, but out of courage. It is because of these support groups that there has been an emergence of queer Vietnamese America.

QUESTION: How might support groups such as Ô-Môi negatively impact the queer community?

Response 10

Sophia Lam

ASA 2 Sec 1

Reflection 10: Angry Little Asian Girl

6/1/14

                I could relate to the anger that the angry little Asian girl felt whenever her mother scolded her in an offensive way. Growing up, my mother has taught me with this method and I always felt either sad or angry. However, I didn't understand that it was a cultural method until I was older. I would often compare my mother’s teachings to Western society’s ways of teaching. I feel that my mother’s way of raising me lowered my self-esteem and self-confidence when I was younger as I would always compare my family to Lizzie McGuire’s loving family on TV. I believe that in some cases, cultural differences do not translate well in another country. Although over the years, I feel as if immigrant parents, such as my friends' and my own, are loosening up or adapting a few western ways of raising a family. Yet second or 1.5 generation parents, such as my cousins and neighbors, are practicing western styles of raising a family. If immigrants change their cultural habits to fit their new society, how much of a culture gets lost?

Reclaiming Ethnic Queer Identity

Jonathan Apostol
ASA 2 Section A01
Reflection #10

Response to "Emergence of Queer Vietnamese America" by Gina Masequesmay

This article by Masequesmay discusses the heterosexist bias of mainstream society. Within the discourse of the effects of culture on the acculturation of immigrants, people are assumed to be heterosexual, and the existence of queer literature and experiences are marginalized and largely invisible. In particular, Masequesmay discusses how Vietnamese American queers have reclaimed both their ethnic identity as Vietnamese but also connecting their Vietnamese identity with the realization of their sexuality. This article's importance is found in the realization that queer experiences are not very visible in mainstream society. As a result, queers are often not validated because of a lack of a role model or example nor a society that completely accepts them. Within the scope of Masequesmay's article, Vietnamese American queers have formed a ethnic-centered queer support group (ô môi) for Vietnamese Americans in order to find acceptance within their ethnic community as well as creating a space in which they do not need to explain their cultural differences. Thus this growing community of Vietnamese American queers continues to grow here in the U.S. despite general disapproval by older generations.

Question: How can research be changed in order to gain sensitivity to this issue of heterosexism?

Ineffective Parenting

Jimmy Nguyen
ASA 2 A01
Reflection #10: Angry Little Asian Girl

   Looking at the relationship between the Asian girl and her mother as depicted in the comics, I couldn't help but relate it to many of the passive aggressive Asian American relationship I see between my mother and my little sister. In the comics, it is shown the mother being a tiger mom and being critical towards her daughter. Although her ultimate goal is to raise her daughter in a way where she becomes stronger through tough parenting, this is not always the case. As I've personally seen with my own little sister, I've noticed that 90% of the time, this sort of parenting just makes my sister angry as shown in the comics. Often times, whenever she and my mother argue, my sister will always go to me in an angry mood and ask me why our mother treats her so bad. Even though I tell her over and over and its for her own good and that its because she loves her, my sister has difficulty believing me. When I talk to my mother about it, she just tells me that it's for my sister's own good. Just like in one of the comics shown, sometimes one of them will forget what they were even fighting about in the first place. Unfortunately, through this method of parenting, I have seen my sister grow from an innocent, loving daughter to a spoiled, disrespectful daughter. Although I do not want to blame my mom for this change, it's because of how she treated her, even though she'll argue that it's all for love.
   This is stereotypical for many Asian relationships. Asian parents believe that by being strict on their children, their children will learn values and morals. After seeing what has happened in my on family and what is depicted in these comics, I can safely say that this method of parenting is obsolete. Children do not need to be treated poorly, but rather, in order to have successful lives, they must be treated with tender love and care. I hope that as the generations passed, this tiger mom parenting style dies out because it creates broken families and angry children.

Question: What are the statistics of children who actually grow up to be successful or not successful after being treated critically by their parents growing up? Are children who have tiger parents more successful or less successful?