The Tokyo Bride does it again!
CVK
Nice find from Gawker. Last night was the Scripps National Spelling Bee final, and the commentator referred to Finola Mei Hwa Hackett, a mixed Chinese-Canadian as “the Tokyo Bride.” Eh! Chinese, Japanese, what’s the difference, really?
While it was hard not to get a little teary when you saw Katharine’s face erupt in joy upon her win (“Finally, I can have a real life!”), the real highlight was announcer Chris Connelly, whose gray hair and awkward cadence may not be hip enough for MTV but most certainly qualifies him for spelling bee color commentary. When runner-up Hackett — who 10 minutes earlier had been identified as half Chinese — was on a winning streak, Connelly noted, “The Tokyo Bride does it again!”
Sidenote: Man, I’m so jealous of these kids. I’ve always sucked at all things athletic, but the one thing I was ever good at was spelling. I coulda been a contender! I too could have basked in the glory of my spelling skills. But alas, there was no such thing as a spelling bee in Hong Kong. :( So I can only dream of what might have been…
Oh, and just to rub it in, my sister used to watch A Boy Named Charlie Brown
Anyway, for more spelling bee goodness, check out Sepia Mutiny’s live-blogging of the spelling bee.
Jeremy Pierce wrote:
Wouldn’t it be pretty demeaning to call her the Tokyo Bride even if she were Japanese?
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 10:11 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
^ You’re a genius.
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 10:49 am ¶
Anony wrote:
What the hell does “the Tokyo Bride” even mean?
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 2:04 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
Yeah, very well put, Jeremy.
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 2:45 pm ¶
justin wrote:
“Tokyo Bride” it’s an old fashioned reference soldiers who bring home wives from overseas, ‘war brides’. There’s an episode of Quantum leap that deals with all that crap.
The World of Suzie Wong might be a good movie to review on ATR.
Lest we forget our stereotypes.
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 3:54 pm ¶
Anony wrote:
What in the heck did Chris Connelly think he was saying? What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Just weird…
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 4:26 pm ¶
John wrote:
I’m very familiar w/ Connelly’s work… I could be wrong, but it’s hard to believe “Tokyo Bride” was a line that he improvised himself (although he did sound heavily medicated or just bored).
Again, I could be wrong… but I wonder if “The Tokyo Bride” was a fucked-up nickname that the kid (or her class) made up– Chuck “The Ice Man” Liddell, Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns… and “The Tokyo Bride”?! Her parents were cool w/ that?
If someone called my kid a war trophy/mail order wife, prime-time tv or not, I’d be on that stage kicking his ass.
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 5:17 pm ¶
Rubberbiegeman wrote:
Wow, until I read this I thought it had something to do with the Kill Bill movies.
Posted 02 Jun 2006 at 10:39 pm ¶
jen chau wrote:
justin, suzy wong is DEFINITELY on my list. ;) that was whore-endous. Pun intended. :| - JC
Posted 03 Jun 2006 at 11:37 am ¶
Mark wrote:
That is an unbelievable comment.
Ah, but The World of Suzy Wong: it’s obvously not defensible as a progressive film in this day and age, but its racial politics are more complex than it’s sometimes given credit for. The film demonizes the British in Hong Kong pretty comprehensively, contrasting them with “liberal” Americans. It also needs to be seen in the context of Sirk melodramas.
Gina Marchetti wrote a great chapter on it in “Romance and the “Yellow Peril”: Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction”, U of California Press, 1993.
Posted 04 Jun 2006 at 11:17 am ¶
John wrote:
Mark,
It’s more than that.
Lush visuals & white guy soap opera aside… “Suzy Wong” helped crystalize the sexual image of Asian women in film and society…
Haven’t checked out Gina Marchetti (doubt you could cover all this in one chapter), but you should check out the Deborah Gee doc “Slaying The Dragon”.
Posted 08 Jun 2006 at 12:08 pm ¶