People of Color

Japanese American singer-songwriter Mitski Miyawaki says her identity is made up of “a million selves” that defy categorization — and fans are saying they find inspiration in that.

“I don’t have a self,” Mitski said on the website for her record label. “I have a million selves, and they’re all me, and I inhabit them, and they all live inside me.”

“The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We,” Mitski’s newest album, released last week by music label Dead Oceans, explores her multitude of selves, she says. Featuring a choir and orchestral arrangements, the album draws from classic Americana imagery such as freight trains, buffalo stampedes and highway cars.

With this album, Mitski is trying to “reconcile all my various identities with being American,” she said in an interview with NPR. “I’m Asian American. I’m half white, half Asian. And so I don’t really fit into either community very well. I am an other in America, even though I am American.”

So I got to watching Elemental over the weekend, and wow. I'm the U.S.-born child of Asian immigrants, and really didn't expect to see a kids movie tell a story that resonated so well with me.

This movie was basically mismarketed as some kind of cross-cultural love story, about a couple that defies the odds to get together despite a society that doesn't approve. And yes, some of that does exist in the movie, but mainly as a plot point about the relationship at the core of the movie, between an immigrant father and his adult daughter, and the decisions he made early on to build a life full of opportunity and potential for her.

I thought the themes were genuinely beautiful:

• The sacrifices made by the older generations, and how the challenge for younger generations of showing appreciation for that sacrifice without necessarily being boxed into the expectations that might derive from that sacrifice.
• The struggle to "belong" when tugged between multiple cultures.
• Prejudice and how it affects people long term, decades after these key moments, and how it manifests in unhealthy and unfair behaviors.
• Different cultural values not just creating conflict, but also providing valuable background for thriving in cross-cultural environments, as well.

I thought it was valuable to have these moments play out in a way that could evoke my own memories of growing up in a diverse city, being raised by parents who loved me but didn't always fully understand the society they'd chosen to raise a family in, little bits of racial or ethnic tension, whether small or large.

My 3-year-old didn't get any of this while watching. But she loved the movie at a superficial level, and I'm hoping when she's older we can have those conversations about these themes and the stories of her grandparents and the family history that brought us where we are today.

And who knows, maybe I'm overstating the primacy of the immigrant story over the love story. It's just that I don't normally get to see depictions on television and film that focus on these themes.

Anyone else get these feelings from watching this movie? Any other television shows or movies evoke similar feelings for you?

Excerpt:

Gloria is a black mother of two children. When her second child was born, Gloria was living in safe shelter housing with her first child, a healthy 3-year-old boy. After undergoing a cesarean surgery, doctors chose to drug test both Gloria and her newborn son, Jermaine. This decision was made without notice or consent, and done despite the newborn being healthy at birth. The results of the test showed marijuana metabolite evident in both mother and baby. In response, the doctors immediately reported Gloria to child protective services (CPS). Of note, the health system’s guidelines in Gloria’s state do not recommend calling CPS at this point.

Lawmakers invoked a new law that’s supposed to target reform DAs. The real targets are Black Democrats.

Language:

Marra