Somewhere Between (Western Culture and Orientalism)

As children, we don't think about how much film and television have impacts on our lives. I might even argue that they play as important as a part as life experience itself because it is seen on a daily basis and can easily change the minds of its audience. Growing up, I always had an interest in my Asian, specifically Chinese, heritage. My parents exposed me to Chinese culture without forcing it onto me, really leaving it up to me how much I wanted to embrace my biological versus my cultural heritage. I would watch those travel videos for kids and learn basic words and sentences in classes or events with other kids like me. And of course, there was the classic Disney film, Mulan. As a kid, I never actually saw Mulan besides clips and trailers because I felt like I would automatically be connected to however the characters were represented in the film. Even from a young age, distorted views of foreign countries and their cultures were affecting me.

In sixth grade, a documentary called Somewhere Between was made about four girls who were adopted from China and went back to visit. They all had slightly different agendas, some going just to explore while one looked for and found her biological family. Of all the Asian media and experience that I was exposed to as a kid, it was the most realistic and impactful one I had seen and continues to be to this day. Part of this is due to the perspective being from the girls themselves as opposed to the parents, but also because the documentary gave a true look at Chinese culture when they visited. While they took the journey of a typical tourist, they also immersed themselves into the culture and learned so much about their biological backgrounds. The people were all genuine and nothing was sugarcoated. It was my first real look at Chinese culture without a travel, tourist, or wholly American or European view and it changed the way I think.

Even seven years later, I think about the film and it definitely increased my desire to visit China at some point. I have always been a bit wary about visiting because, like the title of the documentary suggests, I feel like if I went there, I would be easily recognized as an American, but other American and European tourists might think that I lived there. By seeing a true representation of Chinese culture, I realized that I do want to have the opportunity to explore where I am from in addition to the rest of China. As a society, I think that there has been improvement regarding the way that we conceive other cultures and represent them, but there is still much work to be done. Too often, Asians are misrepresented by ill-written and.or ill-casted works. There are definitely some accurate representations of Asian culture, but the accuracy and the volume can be increased. After proof reading this blog, I realized that I did not really talk about orientalism and its consequences as much as I focused on one of the positive experiences I have had, but I think that it is important to acknowledge and critique things that are wrong, but also find a positive side as well.