Megan Kwok
Susan Shamoon
“They like you because you’re a copycat, want to
be just like them.
They like you because- give it a few more yearsyou’ll be just like them.
And when that time comes, will they like you
more?”

Why do they like you?



Exploitable, reinforces their power
Because no matter how hard you try you
are bound to fail
Do they really like you?
 Two
Filipinos (67)
“And the rest tell Mrs. Takemoto, who has gone
row by row asking them their ethnicity, that they
are Filipinos, except for Nelson Ariola, who says he
is an American although he is as Filipino as any
Filipino can be”

Why does Nelson think he is not Filipino?



Class (Immigrant status, parents occupation)
Language (speaks proper English, doesn’t speak Tagalog
or Illocano)
What makes one Filipino?
 Daldalera


•
•
(74)
Google translate: telltale
Ilocano dictionary: n. gossip monger, idle talker
“Katrina and her mother are a disgrace to the
Filipino race”
“But don’t worry kasi they don’t act like
Filipinos. They can’t even speak a word of
Tagalog.
-
-
Compare with the children’s discussion of Filipinoness
in Two Filipinos
Tadiar “Filipinas Living in a Time of War”- the look
 District
Exemption (118)
“No, really, Edgar, why do you hate haoles so
much?”
“I no hate all haoles. Just the kind haoles who
think they better than anybody else. You know, the
kind who think they still livin’ in the time of
Roots.”
“Well, what about those Filipinos who say they
aren’t Filipinos?”
How does this relate to Daldalera & Tadiar
 What is Edgar suggesting? Is he racist?



“Everybody in Kalihi wants to be Farrah. The
name itself sounds sultry and expensive” (22).
Orlando Domingo’s “Flipped-Out Farrah”
 Performing his biyuti (Manalansan, pg. 148)


“We gotta do something before our boys catch this madness and
start huddling in skirts and pom-poms,” the football coach Mr. Akana
and Mr. Ching tell Principal Shin. “[…] you gotta keep him away
from our boys if you want the team to bring home the OIA title.”
(24)
Problematizing the assumed desire for whiteness


“Once a Farrah Flip, always a Farrah Flip.” Or, “A Flip is a Flip is a
Flip.” (24)
Flip - derogatory term for Filipinos, but reappropriated (and as a
double entendre for Farrah’s hair flips)

“Who doesn’t want to be the reigning queen of pin-up posters
thumbtacked on every wall of the house? A swimsuit goddess with
long and graceful legs, pearly white teeth, glossy lips, roller-derby
hips, and a million-dollar smile […] Who doesn’t want that fullvolumed, sunshine-golden mane […]?” (22)

“[…] 1) write letters to Farrah Fawcett c/o ABC Network; 2) show off
their collections of Farrah memorabilia. Including cut-outs from
glamour magazines and Farrah’s latest swimsuit poster; 3) role-play
scenes from Charlie’s Angels; 4) discuss socio-politically charged
issues raised by the show, such as prostitution, lesbian undertones,
and Orientalism.” (23)

Farrah, flipped hair, “flip” = mediators



Becoming Farrah, becoming queer, becoming Flip, becoming
Filipino
Is this pervasiveness of pop culture internalizing or appropriating?
What does this say about what it means to be a Filipino?
 “[…]
charging [them] with discrimination
against a Filipino faggot whose only desire is
to be Farrah from Farrington, as in Farrah,
the Kalihi Angel.”

What is happening as Orlando performs/becomes
this Flipped-out Farrah?
-
-
-
The Purple Man and His Disciples (marginalized characters,
edge of society)
“except for the Bishop Museum and the Planetarium, Kalihi
is not listed in Places to Visit in Oahu”
“Cuz to them, you invisible” Edgar says
“If I’m chosen Ms. Kalihi 1979, the first thing I’m going to
do is move the freakin’ freeway away from the Bishop
Museum and the Planetarium so the tourists no can make
one quick getaway to Waikiki, thank you,” Katrina says,
smiling wide
-
What does it reveal about Hawaii? Kalihi?
Reference to Bulosan’s America is in the Heart?
 Kalihi
is in the heart and progress reports in
tongue-tied




“And will you also discourage him from associating with
Edgar Ramirez and Katherine Cruz?” (Vicente’s progress
report 51)
“Will you discourage Mai-Lan from associating with
Kathernie Cruz?” (Mai Lan’s report 52)
“Will you discourage him from further associations with
these two?” (Florante’s report 53)
As if avoidance makes the “problem” go away