How Do We Know What We Know About Other People

                Professor Bui researches the value of Vietnamese Women and their overall image of their body by examining popular culture, foreign and domestic policy, as well as daily communications. Bui states that she is curious to learn "how we know what we know about other people."

                Representations of Asian women can be based off of individual's cultural memory representation, in other words, how do we remember our past? If someone were to ask me what comes first to mind about the Vietnam War, I am guilty of remembering common items that Bui listed. This includes American soldiers, war, fighting. I admit that Vietnamese women do not come to m mind. Vietnamese woman are not a part of typical American's memory when thinking about the Vietnamese War, yet women of Vietnamese descent were a crucial part of that history. It is fair to state that Asian women are mis and under represented. This can be due to popular culture, movies, and novels.

                Society values racial bodies differently as well as gender bodies. Certain individuals in this country seem to appreciate other bodies more than others. Creating this judgment, how do we know what we know about Asian women, specifically Vietnamese women? Bui is interested in researching how we communicate this knowledge to other individuals. Through film and research, she comes to the conclusion that Vietnamese women represent an "idealized past". Typically, Asian women are represented as prostitutes, or dead bodies in popular culture. It is simply how we are exposed to Asian women bodies that determine our perceptions.

                One specific term that came to mind when viewing Bui's lecture was framing. The perception in which Asian women are framed in American society closely focuses on the body and the sexual aspect. Framing can be extremely effective because it is considered to be a "mental shortcut". Framing defines how popular culture shapes Asian women's identities to the public which reflects our behavioral and attitudes towards women as well as minority women. As defined in class, framing is "selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in a communicating text". (Slide 11 in Perception Ppt)  When films make one piece of information more noticeable, the viewer's are focused and determine their perceptions. I feel that the stereotypes held in films Bui mentioned with Vietnamese women are effective negatively. I would also argue that the media plays a role in how it socializes the Asian Women's identity and culture.