The vernacular rhetoric of and audience responses to The debut
Date
2015
Authors
Casem, Anika, author
Anderson, Karrin, advisor
Aoki, Eric, advisor
Sorensen, Leif, committee member
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Abstract
In this thesis I look at an early Filipina/o American film, The Debut (2000). As one of the first of its kind The Debut was written, starred, directed, supported, produced, and created by and for the Filipino/a community (Ginsela 2003a; Ginsela 2003b). The marginalized Filipina/o American community has little power and little say within contemporary U.S. society and as a result, they are rarely acknowledged in U.S. economics, politics, culture, history, and society (Cordova 1983; Espiritu 2003). The silencing of the Filipina/o American community has resulted in creating a population of people who appear to have been erased from the public memory of the country they inhabit. The erasure and silencing has repercussions for the identity of the Filipina/o American community and issues surrounding identity. To explore Filipina/o American identity, I employ a dual methodology. The first is a critical analysis of the Filipina/o American film The Debut (2000). Using a theory of vernacular rhetoric I argue The Debut showcases several identities which consist of a both/and quality that allows the Filipina/o American community to maintain an identity at odds with itself. The second approach is an audience analysis of Filipina/o American college age students who discuss the relevance of the experiences depicted in the film to their own lives. In the conclusion I discuss that we need to continue educating the public about representations on screen; there needs to be more research done on vernacular discourses, ethnic audiences, and focus groups; there needs to be a cultivation of appreciation in the Filipina/o American community for film as art; for the time being, instead of more research being done by scholars what we actually need is for the Filipina/o American community to create more films.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
Filipina/o American
Asian Americans
Cajayon, Gene
The Debut
film
identity