Sophomore's film suggests cultural differences impede Asians' success

"They're everywhere, you know, those Asians."

The bold white words flashed on a screen in the Wilson Blackbox Theater last night, a provocative opening to a film intended to spark dialogue about the interplay and tension between Asian and American cultures.

The movie — titled "Those Asians" and written, produced and directed by Rudy Lee '09 — made its Princeton premiere last night, followed by a discussion among the audience of almost 50 people. Developed over the last year and a half, it aims to address the question of the "bamboo ceiling," or the ways in which Confucian ideals can make it difficult to succeed in Western culture. Lee is a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

During the post-film dialogue, University trustee Y. S. Chi '83, who moderated the discussion, attributed the "bamboo ceiling" in part to the lack of Asian-Americans in the professional pipeline.

Chi added that he has observed the curious interplay of Asian and American cultures affecting his own children's upbringing. "We encourage at home for them to be much more outspoken and for them to challenge authority," he said. "But sometimes, for our children, that can be very, very confusing, because sometimes I expect them to be traditional Korean: docile."

Lee, who began making films in high school but had not done a documentary before, was inspired to spearhead "Those Asians" after reading the book "Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling" by Jane Hyun.

"You are brought up with a different culture at home and it affects you in the work place," Lee said in an interview before the screening.

A prospective comparative literature major who intends to pursue a visual arts certificate, Lee split his childhood between Korea and College Station, Texas. "Interestingly, I feel like I can definitely identify as an American in a lot of situations," he said. "I feel very in-between [the two cultures]."

In the course of making the film, Lee questioned an assortment of Asian and non-Asian students about their impressions of Asians. Lee aimed to use the students' responses — which ranged from dubbing Asians "hardworking" to acknowledging that they could not imagine Asian CEOs — to mine the roots of stereotypes.

Interspersing interviews with Asian students and professionals, population figures and movie clips from films such as "Back to the Future," Lee painted a world where cultural norms interfere with job success.

He noted statistics that, on the surface, would seem to reflect well on Asians' success in America: 44 percent of Asian-Americans have college degrees, compared to 27 percent of the general population, while in Silicon Valley, 30 percent of entry-level positions are filled by Asian-Americans. But, he added, Asian-Americans account for only 12.5 percent of midand upper-level workers, while out of 10,000 upper level positions in Fortune 500 companies, only 30 are filled by Asian-American women.

In an interview included in the film, Hyun attributed these statistics, in part, to Asian cultural values. "[Asian-Americans] automatically give respect to those in authority," she said. "[An Asian-American] person will be less likely to, in a meeting, throw out a question that's a counterpoint."

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Frank Lee '04, an NYU law student interviewed in the film, noted that "we see there are very few Asian partners" in law firms and that some Asians "have trouble developing business."

"I wonder if it's related to the hard work ethic, the hunker-down ethic," he added.

Several people interviewed in the film said that in many cases, Asian professionals struggle to assert themselves in the workplace. For example, a businessman said he finds that once Asian workers prove themselves to be capable, their colleagues often assume that they handle all the work.

"It also has to do with being a 'model minority,' " Lee said. "People expect you to be good and not cause a lot of trouble."

Sharon Yoon GS, one of the film's interviewees, agreed. "The term 'model minority' is so loaded," she said.

Some audience members questioned whether Asian-Americans who adapt to the traditional American business atmosphere become "bananas," referring to the notion that they are "yellow on the outside, white on the inside." Other participants in the discussion countered that the bamboo ceiling reflects an assimilation process that is common to all immigrant groups.

The film concluded by noting that Asian-Americans are expected to constitute eight percent of the American population by the year 2050 — twice the current statistic of four percent — and questioning how this growth would affect the Asian-American experience in the future.

Chi called for a future in which the bamboo ceiling will be replaced by a bamboo floor — "sturdy, reliable from which we can catapult upwards."