S4 Post Feelings

After my speech I felt like it went pretty well. I mainly felt like I messed up by talking too fast because I suddenly got nervous while up there. I’m not exactly sure why that happened, but  I also felt like I was talking too much. This could possible be because I had a lot of content I wanted to talk about in my slides. I actually really appreciated the PowerPoint I made because I included a timeline and video. I enjoyed using multimedia to help improve my presentation. As for progress since my first speech, I feel as if I have improved a lot.

In my first speech I was very scared and messed up a lot. This last speech I had minimal mess ups and was only a little bit nervous. In my videos I think I did a lot better considering that I did not have a crowd watching me. However, I was a lot more sarcastic and informal in my videos relating to the whitewashing of Asians. I felt like I was a bit sarcastic in person during the actual speech but more formal. I think that the sarcasm could be considered rude, but honestly I am passionate about my presentation subject and I show my emotions through sarcastic jokes. I believe that making those few sarcastic jokes showed the audience that this issue is serious to me and a lot of Asian people.

Additionally, I felt like adding in a picture showing someone who was playing a half Asian character and comparing the White actress to me (a half Asian person) displayed to the viewer the casting director’s mistake. It was a real life compare and contrast. I felt like the video was also helpful, but sort of awkward when I was transitioning to show it. I think that the video forced to people to pay attention even if they did not want to. Mostly because everyone really like Aziz Ansari. Maybe I should have had Aziz do the presentation. I actually tried, but he was too busy filming the new season of his Oscar winning TV show. Too bad.  I then tried to get an actor from Fresh Off the Boat, but they were not willing to talk to a freshman college student. I didn’t really do either of those things because I had little time and do not want to talk to famous people. Even though I do that all the time because I’m from Los Angeles, so I’m very close with many actors. I’m also Asian, so I know all Asian people. Sorry, I’m actually only half Asian, so  I know half of all Asians, but luckily Aziz Ansari and the cast of Fresh Off the Boat are a part of that half. Thank God. Anyways, I felt like I have improved a lot and enjoyed making this speech mostly because I did not have to try to make it relate to bikes.

Asian Representation in Media

Hi my name is Ariel Wei and today I’m going to be talking about Asian representation in media. So, I wanted to do this as my topic because I’m half Chinese and rarely saw anyone who looked like me in media. I mean I’ve got Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu…and honestly I don’t look like either of them.

But I guess I have Emma Stone now. Because in the film “Aloha” she plays a half Chinese girl. So, basically this is the problem. Media continues to forget Asians. And they have been doing this for like ever.

Asians in media have always been seen as replaceable and easily erased. Probably the most common thing to do to Asians is to have White actors play Asian roles by doing yellowface. While this may be something you associate with in the past, yellowface has still occurred recently. In 2012, Cloud Atlas was as blunt as to do complete “”Asian make-up” on a white actor. More recent, however, casting directors have learned their lessons. But not really, instead of slanting white actors eyes or yellowing their skin, executives are whitewashing casts. For example, in Dr. Strange, Tilda Swinton is playing a monk that was originally Asian in the comics. It’s silly that Asians are often forgotten considering there so many Asian actors out there. This needs to stop because erasing Asians from media causes the public to believe that Asians are replaceable and insignificant. Either hire Asians or don’t do the movie.

Here are two films coming out in 2017 that are…well, racist. The Great Wall stars Matt Damon and it’s a classic white savior movie. Because Asians cannot save themselves according to Hollywood. Also, Ghost in the Shell is problematic as well because they digitally modified ScarJo to look more Asian, since this is a movie based off of a manga.

So let’s talk about some specific things media does wrong when it comes to Asian representation. Mostly, it’s just stereotypes. Often in media, Asians are seen as the model minority. While some might think this is a positive stereotype, it really is not. Asians are always portrayed as the smartest or most annoying. For example in the T.V. show 2 Broke Girls, the Korean boss is often depicted as a frugal boss who does not care about the main character’s well-being. Also, the writers on the show really enjoy making fun of his accent. This goes into another subject: Asian actors forced to do accents usually.

In conclusion, I think Asians should be better represented in media in order to have an accurate portrayal of the culture and not a Eurocentric Hollywood.

Matt Damon on Civil Disobedience

Personally, I’m not a big fan of Matt Damon as a person. I think he’s pretentious and do not really trust that he is best friends with Ben Affleck. However, I quite enjoyed his speech concerning his beliefs on civil disobedience. He believes that civil disobedience is important in our country. Civil disobedience causes growth within a country, aiding in the erasure of social class and other social inequalities. He states, “The rule of law has regularized and maximized the injustice that existed before the rule of law.” He’s basically trying to convey that the government’s laws now constrict people similar to how individual government officials would control society. I agree with Damon and commend him for utilizing his high social status and basic privilege for speaking up for those who cannot. However, I think his privilege blinds his ability to see that civil disobedience is not realistic. While I am all for individualism and “sticking it to the man”, I do not think that all of society should be civil disobedient. Our country needs order. Any functioning country needs some order. If we think that we are above the law, everyone would act chaotically.

Freedom of Speech

While everyone in America does have freedom of speech, that does not mean there are not repercussions to someone’s claims. For example, if a government official speaks negatively about their boss, legally, they cannot be penalized. However, those who do not work for the government and speak poorly of someone higher up, their boss can fire them.

Presently, I think that the government is not following the first amendment restraints concerning the protests pertaining to Donald Trump. While the protests could be considered to cause a direct result of government change, I believe that the protests are people speaking their minds and not causing immediate damage.

Speech 3 Post Evaluation

This speech I felt like I was a lot more confident. I mostly think it’s because of my topic choice. Since I was able to find a topic that involved things relating to my major (advertising), I found it a lot more fun to do research and propose something that could help improve the bike industry. I really enjoy making puns, so working that into my speech was also helpful. I think that Powerpoints make me feel more confident because it takes the pressure off of me. Furthermore, I can look at the slides if I feel nervous or forget something. This time around I felt like my speech was a bit shorter compared to everyone else’s; however, I think that could just be because I had a good time with my speech. Normally, I get nervous and anxious prior to my presentation. This time I felt less nervous and just wanted to have fun while presenting. Hopefully, I conveyed that. I think that I am improving a lot and feel more comfortable in front of a crowd. Before, I did not really look forward to the next speech. Now, I actually sort of do. Still, I hope to improve on my eye contact and enunciation. I could do that by practicing more. However, when I practice too much I overthink my speech and I get really nervous and anxious. When I’m anxious during a speech I get quiet and shakey and I’m not as good as a speaker. So, it’s sort of paradoxical. I think I can just train myself to do it while presenting.

S3 Write-up

Hi, so as I stated in my proposal I wanted to talk about how I think there should be better bike shop names in San Francisco.According to Bicycle Retailer, bicycle sales are down compared to last year. With this decrease in sales, something needs to be done. So that’s why I think that bike shops should change their names to help improve their sales. Bike shops in San Francisco have very pretty boring names. Personally, I cannot even think of the names of one the bike shops we visited. They lack creativity and diversity. If I saw one of these names on a store and I was walking by I would not walk in just to look. I would think that the store was boring and not have any thing in the store worth buying. 

So why should bike shops have exciting names? Mostly because it will be more creative and there’s so many pun options for bike shops. Because the shop has a better name, it can be easier to remember because it is catchier. Consequently, the bike shop will have an easier time of making a mark on people when they send promotional emails or do other sorts of promotion. If bike shops have better names, then more people would want to go into the store. If more people go into the stores, sales of bicycles will increase. While not everyone who buys a bicycle will ride it, more people will have bicycles to ride. And if more people are riding bicycles, more people are not leaving a carbon footprint.  

With better bike shop names, the bike shops will be easier to brand which will help the customer remember the shop better. Having a quirky or cute name will overall help the shop.

As I researched, I realized that the majority of bike shops are meant for adults. That means most bike shops may have a tiny bike section, few kids would feel welcomed in a poorly lit store. With better more specific bike shops, more people will want to go to the shop. If there are shop names that are specific for children bikers, more kids will want to go in. Most serious bikes shops are intimidating and kinda warehouse-y. With children specific stores, more kids will want to go into bike shops to have fun and buy a bike.

Here are some creative bike shop names I thought of…

In conclusion, having more creative names for bike shops will help improves sales. By implementing this to bike shops more people will, BUYcycle.