Week 9 reflection

Tri-Thien Nguyen Lam

 

I thought today’s presentation was pretty good. Lots of variety and I learned a lot about the different ways transnationalism exists. The issue with free speech in Vietnam was stuff I already knew about and the relationship with China was something I already learned from a previous lecture. However, I did not know that today, China is still trying to expand its power and how the Vietnamese people are trying to prevent that expansion and I think that’s really cool to see protests even though some Vietnamese people were jailed because protesting was not allowed in Vietnam. It makes me hope that Vietnam does become a place with free speech soon without many limitations.

Linda’s presentation was interesting but long and exhaustive too. I like the idea that Paris by Night does bring families together but in a way I kind of disagree too. Paris by Night shows the culture that South Vietnamese people want to see and that the purpose of Paris By Night wasn’t to bring families together or teach the youth about culture but to make money and it’s really bad to see singers lip sync with songs. I know that when I watched Paris By Night as a child, I didn’t understand most of it and it was just flashy stuff in extravagant outfits which didn’t impress me at all. My parents didn’t even talk about the video when I was around and I think it’s hard to believe parents talk to their children during a performance in the video and what would the discussion be like? Talking about how that piece related to the parents and their past life? I think Paris by Night is just some entertainment video people just watch for leisure than family bonding. Linda’s statistics was pretty well-thought but it was really exhaustive to hear every single statistic when it could have been shortcutted or straight to the point.

I really enjoyed Justin’s presentation on Lost in Paradise because I heard great reviews about it. I know my parents loved the movie and the way Justin revealed so many things about the movie I did not even think about was impressive like how a company not from Vietnam supported the movie and helped produce it. His lecture also informed the class about the issues in the gay community and I think that was really important for the class to know too.

I read Melissa’s powerpoint and I think it was pretty good even though it was mostly information I already knew from previous lectures too. I wished she presented it because that would be so informative and knowing about her research would also be interesting even though there wasn’t enough time for her lecture regardless.

I learned a lot about transnationalism from these presentations and realized that many things Vietnamese people do does affect people in America and create this bond and connection between Vietnam and America. The information I learned on Tuesday did get me to understand today’s presentations better and showed me what transnationalism really is.