Multiculture Clash

                                             

                                           Culture Clash in the Golden State

California has attracted people from around the globe largely due to vast opportunities in education, business and a hope for a better future. This has caused a growth of immigrants from different states and countries to arrive in California creating a diverse and multicultural society. Although, California is portrayed as being very harmonious and having adapted comfortably to variety of cultures, tensions still exist along the coasts of the state. With different cultures and background coming together in one place it is probable that not everyone may get along. With such a mixture of culture it’s resulted in what I feel is an identity crisis for people unable to balance their own cultures with the different cultures that the state has to offer them. This multicultural identity crisis is explained through the three different genres of art, novel “American Son” by Brian Roly Ascalon, movie “Crash” by Paul Haggis and play “Bordertown” by Culture Clash. All of these literary pieces express how multiculturalism and identity crisis leads to misunderstandings between different races creating racism and stereotypes. This problem is improving but still has a long way to go before California can truly be a mosaic of cultures.

            In the first literary piece, the novel “American Son” by Brain Roly Ascalon we are presented with the most common difficulty that immigrants face in a multicultural society of trying to find their own identity and being accepted. This novel gives us an in-depth perspective into the conflicted emotions and everyday struggles into the lives of two teenage boys, Tomas and Gabe, who are half Caucasian and half Filipino living in Los Angeles area and clashing between two different cultures trying to find their identity. Their Filipino mother, Ika, came to American in the hopes of providing them with a more pleasant life than the one she experienced as a child in the Philippines. But, her dream is shown to be unsuccessful as she is working multiple jobs paying for her home and taking care of her sons with no support from her Caucasian husband who left her after a drunken night where he called her “meek and obedient” and insulted her further to the point that Tomas threw him out of the house because of the disrespect his father showed his mother. Ika, is sadly never able to become an accepted part of American society because she is continuously judged by her brown-skinned Asian appearance and overlooked most time as someone who is un-American because her English isn’t perfect and she is seen as weak throughout the novel.

            Consequently, this wrongful treatment of their mother causes the boys, Tomas and Gabe to feel as if their culture is too weak to be acknowledged and displayed. Tomas chooses to deny his Filipino culture completely by going through different extreme stages, first as a white surfer when “he even bought a board…put Sun-In in his hair, though instead of turning blonde it went all red” trying to completely transform himself into this “ideal” image portrayed by Hollywood media as being the norm and cool to feel accepted. This, however didn’t last long and soon he starts hanging out with Mexicans, which gives him a feeling of power and control and finally a place where he feels he belongs and is feared and respected. This is the culture that he chooses to adopt by dressing as a gangster, shaving his head bald, having tattoos all over his body, the most prominent one of the “Virgin of Guadalupe” that covers his entire back. Even though, he is Caucasian and Filipino neither of these cultures are the ones that he feels he fits in because of the community he lives in. Asians are considered weak and Caucasians are portrayed to be living in rich areas and successful which he isn’t. So, to feel in control in his neighborhood he chooses Mexican culture which is different than both of his own but helps makes him feel superior. This shows that culture can be chosen and doesn’t have to be related to ones ethnicity because of the need to fit into a place.

            On the other hand, Tomas’s brother Gabe is described as a dutiful, caring Filipino son who works hard in school and is trying to hold on to his Filipino heritage. But his inability to be proud of his Caucasian and Filipino cultures causes him in to be limbo of what his true identity really is causing him to questions his backgrounds. His uncertainty of where he belong causes him to be ashamed of Asians and his mother addressing her at one point as “his maid” to a tow truck driver because he is embarrassed to admit she is his mother. Another scene in the novel, shows the early foreshadowing of Gabe’s crumbling connection to his heritage as he walks with his mother down a pedestrian street where he recalls,” The times I have been here with Tomas, people always step aside…But, now my mother steps out of other people’s paths and I do too.” This scenes tone is very hard-edge and full of anger at having been treated by passerby’s as if they were nobody’s. His increased interaction with his brother, helping him to deliver guard dogs at an increased price to rich people, shows an image of California that is full of deception and superficialness. These traits are also becoming apparent in Gabe because he ends up disregarding everything he believed in when he beats a guy up with brother, and feels a “rush not of anxiety but of confidence” which is changed from how he felt in the beginning of the novel of disgust over his brother violent acts and lies but now has joined in on himself.

            This novel, “American Son” shows the realities most immigrants face when arriving in California. The depiction that California is a place of beauty and peace is greatly contrasted in the novel showing the underlying violence and mental torment of two young brothers identified as Filipinos who are trying to fit into a different culture because they feel Filipino’s aren’t treated as highly. They struggle with their identities finally settling on Mexican culture which gives them power and control. It is the driving force of fitting into a dominant culture that causes loss in ancestral heritage causing identity conflict.  This novel shows how race and color still impact how one is consciously and subconsciously forced to change to feel accepted.

            This dilemma of being treated based solely on your race and color is further defined visually through the movie “Crash” by Paul Higgs and displays how different cultures  affects our perception and stereotypes of people in a diverse society. The movie begins with seven different characters, with various backgrounds, being woven together through a number of racist, misunderstood, and prejudiced events that change their lives forever. The movie opens up with Wealthy Caucasian Jean having been robbed by two black men, and at  her home tense over the recent situation she disrespects the Mexican locksmith, Ruiz, who is changing locks on her home of being a gang member because of her distrust of people of color which she feels are all liars, stealers, and cheats. Later on in the movie, Middle-Easterner Farhad, store owner, also wrongfully blames Ruiz for having robbed and trashed his store and in a rage of anger goes to kill him and Ruiz daughter gets in the way and almost dies in the process, but thankfully there was no bullet in Fahad’s gun. This scene was really powerful because on two separate occasions the locksmith was stereotyped as being a gang member because of tattoos and appearances when in fact he was the most pure guy throughout the whole movie. Ruiz’s daughter is symbolized as “farishta”-guardian angel, to Farhad who thanks God for saving him from committing a terrible crime. This stereotyping of Mexican locksmith shows how harmful stereotyping is in reality because it can lead to negative consequences. It also shows how some people we stereotype could possibly be the ones to help you when you are distressed.

Another powerful scene which displays how stereotyping can affect the way we react to people is the car accident between Officer Johnson and Kim Lee. They get into an argument over brake lights where Kim Lee says, “Mexicans don’t know how to drive. She blake to fast,” and Officer Johnson replied, “I blake too fast?I blake too fast? Maybe you no see my blake lights. I stop when I see long line of cars in front of me. Maybe you see over your steering wheel you blake too.” Based on each other’s appearances, they form prejudice leading to stereotype of each other’s race by referring to Asian people as too short and unable to speak English properly and Mexicans as being aggressive and bad drivers. Furthermore, this crash could be metaphorical description of the lifestyle of California, especially the big cities where there is dense population of mixed cultures and people are more prone to run into each other and state stereotypes over little incidents. The quote by Officer Graham makes one question our busy lives that we forget we are even surrounded by people who have feelings, “In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”  I feel like the “metal and glass” is a wall that we put up for people because we are insecure within ourselves and are unable to feel confidence in accepting other cultures because we aren’t willing to accept new things. It’s a possibility that causes people in the city to stay distant from one another only focusing on themselves creating a disconnection between the different cultures surrounding them.

            This movie does a very powerful job of showing how a number of different incidents lead to a “crash” of racism and cultural bias in such diversified city. It presents to us the reality that people in multicultural society have to deal with on a daily basis and that everyone goes through struggle of misconception and stereotyping but at the end of the day we all share the same hopes and sorrows. The character in this movie show us that the world is muddle of thoughts and feelings which if not carefully observant of our choice of words and ideas of other races can lead to a domino effect where people do and have gotten hurt. The movie ends with a scene of fire blazing, which seems to symbolize the century old turmoil of war and death before something new is formed. It reminds us too not be so consumed within ourselves and that humans are small compared to the world which can destroy us any minute. 

            The final literary piece is the play “Bordertown” by Culture Clash, a comedy group that uses satire to raise awareness of all the issues surrounding multiculturalism. It combines all of the above stereotypes, racism, insecurities, misunderstanding, and need for acceptance at one location, the border between San Diego and Tijuana. The relationship between these two cultures is described through a couple, the women being Tijuana and the man being San Diego in a very powerful scene where the man says, “I do love her and I need her, but I am embarrassed of her. I’m secretive. I take advantage of her…” It shows how much these two cultures rely on one another but are forced to be separate, creating boundaries because no matter how much we adore the thrill of new cultures and experience we have to be fully accepting of their differences without causing them to change to really appreciate a more mixed society.

            All of these different forms of literary devices show us similar issues that come along with living in a multicultural society in California. Every author and character has a story that helps us to understand the different situations and interactions that various cultures have to work through to come to a form of coexistence. It helps us to recognize that even though California is a very multicultural society it doesn’t mean that it is perfect. We all have our flaws, where we misjudge, stereotype, and create conflicts but also a sense of hope that someday we will all be judged on our humanity with no other labels to create barriers between one another. Also, it is when we are aware of our own differences and ability to get past ignorance that we become more accepting of other cultures and can build an even stronger and integrated society.