Most recent public comments by Ali Jamali https://nowcomment.com/users/17073 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=408475 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=408475 In Louisa Schein's "Beijing, 2012: Haunted By Empire," Schein describes a sentiment very similar to Nguyen in his essay "True War Stories." She describes how there is an inevitable disregarding of the downsides of the immigrant war story when films, documentaries and other forms of media portray the success of groups like the Hmong in the United States. However, beyond the sin of omission, Schein suggests that these filmmakers are further guilty of another sin: making the immigrant groups who have survived and succeeded, such as the Hmong, appear to be a positive outcome of the war. This is what bothers Schein, and should bother the reader. Schein communicates her own discomfort by saying "I became mute," her silence here symbolizing the sheer level that this bothers her. I also found a similar sentiment in Bee Vang's "Remembering Thao's Father." While playing the role of Thao, Bee felt that he was inaccurately depicting the Hmong male experience, and that more importantly he was perpetuating a mythical necessity of the Hmong for a father, in particular a "white savior." He feels that the true Hmong experience, especially of Hmong veterans, has gone unnoticed by Hollywood and that the false substitute that has taken its place is merely perpetuating a false representation of the Hmong experience that omits the reality. Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:47:49 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=406259 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=406259 Nguyen's perspective on war, which informs his entire essay, is summarized in the first line of his third paragraph: "I have only experienced the half of war that is not any fun." Nguyen's argument is that war stories need to be more inclusive and that they need to include the boring. Without the "boring" and mundane realities and repercussions of war, the viewer of a work of media is falsely persuaded into only seeing a theatrical rendition of war that fails to capture the long lasting repercussions. Nguyen utilizes the example of the Vietnamese post-war immigrants as a case example into this reality. He asks a fair question: isn't the immigration of his family to America from Vietnam a direct result of the war, and thus a war story? He suggests that the answer is yes. And he also suggests that his story is equally valuable if not more valuable than glamorous stories with explosions and weapons. Nguyen himself is a professor of English, and he studied ethnic studies and English. Interestingly enough, this essay seems to be very interested in the ethnically relevant outcomes. Mon, 09 Nov 2015 14:16:00 -0500