Beginning and ending on April 16, 2007, Snapshot looks at a six-month period during which several Korean American men-John Cho, James Kim, Yul Kwon and Seung-Hui Cho—figured prominently in America’s pop culture consciousness. During these six months, from the Virginia Tech shooter through doomed, devoted father James Kim and the appearance of two Korean Americans on People Magazine’s list of Sexiest Men Alive, Korean American men repeatedly appeared in news stories, magazines and television programs. Snapshot looks at the ways in which their representations reflect or refute long-held stereotypes of Korean and Asian American men. Although he immigrated to the U.S. as a child, Seung-Hui Cho was described as a South Korean for several days after the Virginia Tech massacre, reinforcing the stereotype of the perpetual foreigner; Yul Kwon’s nickname, the Puppetmaster, echoed descriptions of Fu Manchu and Ming the Merciless, two archetypically evil Asian masterminds. James Kim, however, was inscribed as a loving father and husband, almost always depicted with his wife and children. News of his death received over 2 million page views on CNN.com on the day his body was discovered. John Cho’s anointment as one of People’s Sexiest Men may have countered some stereotypes of Asian men as nerdy and emasculated. Snapshot recounts the target time period with sound bites, video clips, quotes from blogs and bulletin boards, and news images to examine the use of language, images and other tropes that describe the Korean American men in question, providing a basis for comparison to the hearsay, gossip and speculation that too often passes for reportage in our information-saturated culture. |
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Ratings: | IMDB: 0.0/10 | |
Released: | January 1, 2008 | |
Runtime: | 4 min | |
Genres: | Short | |
Cast: | John Cho James Kim Yul Kwon Seung-hui Cho | |
Crew: | Valerie Soe | |
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