Asian American Quiz for Theatre of Diversity

Stereotypes facing the Asian American community in our society has been problems for many years. The thing is, these problems tend to many times either not be seen or are overlooked. The movie "Better Luck Tomorrow" and the play "Hip-Hop Kim-Bap" bring these stereotypes and issues to light that really should make us aware of what we need to change in our own society. Hip-Hop Kim-Bap brings up numerous issues. First of all it brings up the problem of people lumping all Asians together into one group. For example, in the play, the Jury Clerk constantly calls the ladies the wrong nationality. Instead of Korean he calls them Chinese, or Japanese, etc. What the play is also able to do is create a individual identities of each character yet creating a common experience for their cultures. Although each character was completely different and had their own backgrounds, they find this common experience that they share through their culture.

In Better Luck Tomorrow, the problems that Asian Americans face really become clear. You see all of the pressure that gets put on them, and they get so much pressure that they are driven to let out their needs in unhealthy ways, such as drugs and being in gangs. There is a common stereotype that Asians are geniuses and have to grow up to be a doctor, or a lawyer, etc. This stereotype is what creates the problems shown in Better Luck Tomorrow. By feeling the need to be these smart perfect students they get driven to let our their frustration and stress in unhealthy ways that eventually ends in somebody getting killed. After reading this play and seeing this movie I now see a lot of things that I did not realize before and I hope that other people will watch these and possibly see things that they do that they can change to bring about less stereotypes in this society. By seeing the amount of pressure that gets put on Asian Americans hopefully people will begin to see that there is so much more to people then these stereotypes and that these stereotypes just create more problems.