In the past few months, the trades, outlets, brands across the world have all sought their pie of conversation in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” (2023). For an Asian cinema website, we may argue that this piece of cake was not ours for taking. But as I sat through its credits, celebrating our collective womanhood, a film by Lee Sang-Woo came to mind. Another “Barbie” (2012) produced 11 years ago saw then-child actress Kim Sae-Ron say: “There is no person who is pretty and skinny like,”(Barbie), as she does not exist or maybe she is an alien.”
Alien meaning someone not from this planet or country. One time Lee Sang-Woo’s “Barbie” made me realize that the Eurocentrism of Barbie and even beyond that every other American owned mega corporation like Mcdonalds, Disney and Vogue says they are international inclusive general businesses.
Having considered “Barbie” (2012) and numerous other movies that have portrayed America as a utopic nation with which we have had a rather complex relationship in the post-war era like “On Happiness Road” (2017) and “Factory Boss” (2014), it became clear to me that even though most of us, including myself, may not have set foot there, American identity has permeated our lives. Up to what level of saturating our environment with American products, media and messaging can we count ourselves as having conformed to aspects of American culture or been indoctrinated into any American identity? At what point can we assume that status?
Since the last century the term ‘westernized’ or ‘Americanized’ has been viewed positively as indicating sophistication, fashionableness and progressiveness. Equally well known is the fact that mimicking America has often resulted in being seen as populist (politically), sympathizing with colonizers, while many do worry about what they could be losing. Such double engenders obfuscate, blur and annoy. This also means more movies will be made.
Instead of giving more insights about this year’s “Barbie,” the article will try to consolidate three filmic examples that represent East Asian responses to being ‘Americanized’ through toys and children’s media; and how it depicts the silent but massive naivete, rebellion, acceptance, comprehension against unstoppable (American) hegemonies in our daily existence.
Korea’s “Barbie” (2012), China’s “Factory Boss,” and Taiwan’s animated film, “On Happiness Road,” have a lot in common. For starters, all three films challenge the concept of a blonde white woman as a symbol. Each of them spends enough time on screen to address this image as one of the most poignant indicators for an empty ‘American Dream’. The story revolves around two poor sisters, Soon-young (Kim Sae-Ron) and Soon-Ja (Kim Ah-Ron), who idolizes Barbie and wants to get out of their shantytown house.
Their problem starts when they discover that Soon-young has been sold by her uncle for adoption into an American family, thus becoming another form of American product. Post Chiang Kai-shek Taiwan’s coming-of-age dramedy “On Happiness Road” by Hsin Yin Sung also frames America off as some kiddie paradise with catastrophic outcomes. Candy Candy is a Japanese anime series Chi (Gwei Lun-mei, Bella Wu) cannot stop watching; she imagines herself as the fair-haired princess mentioned in the title song who will come to New York someday and meet Prince Charming. And it is only now that she realizes how her life has been empty since then after being married with kids to an American-man and away from her family back home in Taipei.
The Chinese film “Factory Boss” (2014) directed by Zhang Wei is about a toy maker Lin Dalin, who is middle aged and wants to produce his own range and not work for the Americans. At its heart, it exposes the truth that many common products like Barbies are having their manufacturing taking place in China at very low costs of production while thousands of workers suffer ill health and loss of livelihoods. Unlike previous two movies, however, “Factory Boss” does not primarily focus on upward journey towards America but rather highlights adverse effects of America’s unethical consumption patterns. Nevertheless, they have two main ideas that underlie their stories even though they tackle different aspects of the concept.
Firstly, this shows that we need to think about the extent to which US influences our lives and well-being. All three films also agree on this point: it should be a problem. Secondly, despite all these issues raised, American influence cannot be changed hence it remains unyielding. We must coexist with it though being aware that there are differences between us and them.
Just as Gerwig’s “Barbie” dolls are completely ignorant of reality, so too are our East Asian protagonists who live with false hopes to their better lives in America. Or for the unique case of “Factory Boss”, a dream to get away from it. Unlike Chi and the sisters, Dalin becomes alive already knowing that he is powerless over America but maintains a reluctant loyalty because he has no other option. He is innocent enough to believe that he can delete America from the equation and make his own kind of dolls with enough effort put into it. When considering all three together, the book goes a step further than Chi and Soon-Ja’s journey ending begins at, yet it mirrors an ongoing cycle of hopefulness turning into despair. If we look at these recurrent cases of idealism then its death will mark the differences between their own identities and ‘American’ identity learned by them.
At this point, however, the characters are externally fit for internalization as they bring this remote dream into the personal. However, in their own separate and distinct ways, both Soon-Ja, Chi and Dalin also aspire to become Americans themselves. These are people who want to experience a blissful sense of fulfillment that can only be linked with Americanization. Yet our cast longs for freedom while being motivated by an American voice in their lives: cosmetics, mounds of silicon dolls, Marilyn Monroe pictures or Candy’s personality; sidelong glances from others evade them.
Indeed, Chi and Soon-Ja are just like children who would want to relive their aspirations in America without thinking about it too much. Remember when Chi ate her first Hershey’s bar? This moment took her to the New York City filled with music produced by an orchestra; however, it was more of a dream as confetti and chocolate were all over Times Square. In this bizarre sequence, it is expected that the character should be fair-skinned, blond haired and slim. “Quench your thirst with a Cola,” says Soon-Ja while handing Pepsi to a white man as though that conversation were natural for most people at that time and she reveals how few others had actually idealized America only to live through disappointment. This misinterpretation of brands loses such sense where every gesture is loaded with ideas but does not seem to present anything except itself. The world of Barbie where there are dreams that are nothing but beautiful and Coca-Cola alone.
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