Studying Abroad

Professor Stoner talked about culture shock and new media in her lecture to the class. She shared her personal experience when she studied abroad and how it so greatly affected her. I found this to be very interesting because studying abroad has always been a dream of mine, even though my father is highly against this. I shared some of the information that Professor Stoner gave us with him and he seemed to be more open to the idea.

The chart that she showed us about when you first arrive you are in a honeymoon stage when everything is just really exciting and new. Slowly going down into the actual culture shock stage is when she scared me a little bit. I never really thought about what it may be like to have to make adjustments as to where things are and how to communicate with people in a foreign place. Adjustments take a long time as she mentioned and that was something I never really considered prior to her lecture.

As she ties this into new media and the way we communicate with others back home is much more accessible now than it use to be, I began to feel more at ease. Connecting to family and friends is something I would be able to do on a daily basis and I think that is something that would make the adjustment process much less timely. Communicating to people that I am use too talking with would give me the reassurance I need when I am feeling out of place and lost.

Overall her lecture really inspired me to continue forward with my dream to study abroad. Sharing her insight with my father also persuaded him to be more open to the idea, even if he is not 100% ready to let me go off to a foreign country. 

Prof. Diem

Professor Diem's lecture discussed how we value Asian women's bodies. She began her research through feminist film analysis, addressing three Vietnamese  war films in particular. She choose films that came out between the 1900s and early 2000s, because the US and Vietnam had such a hostile relationship during this time. These films represent Vietnamese women as national and transitional subjects. Women's bodies exemplify authenticity of Vietnam prior to war, colonization and advanced globalization.

The first film Heaven & Earth shows women being tortured, raped, and acting as prostitutes. This romanticized view of the past suggests Vietnam women are peaceful before war and now have become submissive and in a sense useless. The film uses the female body as a narrative device to further the story of the refugee, being a myth of model minority. I have never seen this female prior to watching this lecture and would have never thought the Vietnamese women are testifying the countries current standing.

Professor Diem suggests that through film we make Vietnamese women bodies more legible through commodified stories. As she talked about the film '3 Seasons' she explains that a prostitute being passed from man to man is metaphorically a view of Vietnams current social standing. Vietnam is getting invaded by numerous countries at the time, yet they still survive in the end. The representation of culture and society change forsakes immorality of prostitution.

The way Prof. Diem conducted her research was rather unique. The films all looked to the future, while at the same time looked back into the past to represent Authentic Vietnam, through Vietnamese women's bodies. She mentioned when she was in a bar and was portrayed as a prostitute and how differently she was treated (she couldn't even get a cup of water). From her experience she concluded that an object identify can construct counter narrative orientalism.

I personally have never been mistaken for a prostitute, but have had many occurrences where I have felt womanized. The media and certain movies portrays women as sexual products. Society than believes women are a product of media. The feeling you get when a man looks you up and down makes you feel bewidled and beneath them.

Caitlin F.

Professor Diem's lecture discussed how we value Asian women's bodies. She began her research through feminist film analysis, addressing three Vietnamese  war films in particular. She choose films that came out between the 1900s and early 2000s, because the US and Vietnam had such a hostile relationship during this time. These films represent Vietnamese women as national and transitional subjects. Women's bodies exemplify authenticity of Vietnam prior to war, colonization and advanced globalization.

The first film Heaven & Earth shows women being tortured, raped, and acting as prostitutes. This romanticized view of the past suggests Vietnam women are peaceful before war and now have become submissive and in a sense useless. The film uses the female body as a narrative device to further the story of the refugee, being a myth of model minority. I have never seen this female prior to watching this lecture and would have never thought the Vietnamese women are testifying the countries current standing.

Professor Diem suggests that through film we make Vietnamese women bodies more legible through commodified stories. As she talked about the film '3 Seasons' she explains that a prostitute being passed from man to man is metaphorically a view of Vietnams current social standing. Vietnam is getting invaded by numerous countries at the time, yet they still survive in the end. The representation of culture and society change forsakes immorality of prostitution.

The way Prof. Diem conducted her research was rather unique. The films all looked to the future, while at the same time looked back into the past to represent Authentic Vietnam, through Vietnamese women's bodies. She mentioned when she was in a bar and was portrayed as a prostitute and how differently she was treated (she couldn't even get a cup of water). From her experience she concluded that an object identify can construct counter narrative orientalism.

I personally have never been mistaken for a prostitute, but have had many occurrences where I have felt womanized. The media and certain movies portrays women as sexual products. Society than believes women are a product of media. The feeling you get when a man looks you up and down makes you feel bewidled and beneath them.