Deann Borshay Liem uses camera to express the culture different and personal experience/identity as a Korean adoptee. In some degree “First Person Plural” is a combination of autoethnography film and ethnographic film.
For me, it is a documentary about choice and identity.
When I began to watch “First Person Plural,” I saw Deann Borshay Liem speaking fluent English without any Korean accent and dressed up no difference with a local American, I was thinking, “oh, another ABK (American Born Korean)” which means “yellow outside, white inside.”
She was really confused about her identity and lost to find who she really was. Eventually she found her “real family.” But which one is the “real family,” the biological one or the cultural one? She chose the American one, which is not a surprise. The culture barrier is really hard to overcome and also a main issue for her to adjust. In some degree I feel really sorry for her, she can’t speak her original language, can’t communicate with her born family, doesn't know anything about her original country, she literately loses her identity. But in another way, she was raised by an American family and accepted the American culture. Her experience has no difference with any American. She is an American. She met both culture and families, then she made the choice, she is an American. As she said, going back to Korean is a fantasy in her childhood, but she is no longer a child. Now she needs to approach her family as an adult, as an American adult. She used “approach,” which is really differing from “return.”
I’m a Chinese international student at UCSD, which have more than 50% Asian student around the campus. I meet a lot of ABC/ABK/ABV everyday. And one thing that I really interested in is what are these Asian’s identities. I asked a lot of friends, most of them told me their identities are American. They complain about their parents force them to go to Chinese Language School during weekend since childhood, and their parents want them to obey Chinese traditional culture which they can’t feel any sense of belonging. They have a typical culture that is so-call “Asian American Culture” which differs from both Asian culture and American culture. I was so despite about “I am a American” Identity, I thought these Asian lost their identities. I thought they should learn their own language, learn to respect their culture, and learn to be proud of their Asian identity. But for the time beings, I met more and more people, and I learned a lot from their identities and their unique culture. Now, I no longer despite “Bananas,” I take it as a different choice.
The second year I came to America, I was adjusted well and had a lot of American friends. I was really involved with “American culture” in order that I feel the “identity” is not that important for me. I had a conversation with an ABC, we talked hours and hours about identity and we both believed that it was wrong to identified people by their nationality, we should identity ourselves as Earthlings not Chinese or American or Korean. I felt myself was too “cool” to have just one identity or too cool to stuck with my Chinese identity.
But now I think myself was so stupid.
After visiting my family in China last summer, knowing my family history, reuniting with some family members that I haven’t seen for more than 10 years, I feel a strong connection with China. In the meantime, I experience more and more “American culture.” Maybe I grow up and more mutual about the “identity” questionnaire, all in a sudden, I find my identity. I am a Chinese and I am proud of my identity.
I suddenly think of something I heard that is happening in China, thousands of children are stolen every year, they are sold to the people who can’t get pregnant but want a child illegally. Their born parents spend their life time searching for them, but when the children is found after years, they don't recognize their born parents, they can’t find a sense of belonging, and they are more willing to stay with their “illegal” parents who raised them. So what’s their identity? How to deal with this problem? This is just an identity problem inside a country, and think about the same problem that happened on transnational adoptions. There is a Chinese movie about the abduction and trafficking of children called “Dearest.”
In the globalized future, there will be more and more Cha Jung Hee and Deann Borshay Liem.
