Important Ties

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon" breathed beauty into suicide where many believe none exists. But this beauty lends itself to a different sense, one devoid of the everyday mind. Active Minds featured this independent film, written and directed by Joy Dietrich, on Monday night where a group of about 20 people gathered in the Asian-American Cultural Center at the Student Union.

The emotion in the room was palpable as you could hear some sobbing among the viewers. After the film ended, yellow shirts stating "Be aware, show you care" were offered to those who wanted one. A discussion soon followed.

Many commonly perceive Asians as "overachievers," "competitive" and "passive." However, these stereotypes have led to drastic outcomes for those who decided to take their lives because they felt chained to their labels. The rates of depression and suicide among young Asian-American women are staggering. The film took on some of these stereotypes, validating some while abandoning others.

The film focused on a young Korean adoptee, Jenny Mason, who desperately longs to connect with someone who will accept her as a person and who will discard the labels attached to her Asian-American heritage. Having been estranged by her family who once told her to pack her bags and leave, she embarks on a journey to find a place she can call home.

"Home is where the heart aches," she says. Jenny feels unwanted, rejected by a society that constantly draws attention to her differences and reminds her that she does not belong, leaving her empty and lost.

Staring at herself in the mirror in one scene, Jenny feels the contours of her face, seeking to grasp her identity as an Asian and as an American while sinking deeper and deeper into a disconnected world.

"The movie speaks to the struggle between being Asian and being American," said Alison Gong, a psychology major graduate from UCLA Berkley.

As Jenny struggles in search of herself, she first escapes her pain by pushing away those that care about her, avoiding constant telephone calls, shunning intimate contact, getting drunk and shutting herself into a place of loneliness. It takes the tragic death of her roommate and friend "B" for her to learn to love and accept herself as she finds herself.

Sharis Morril, a 1st-semester French major, expressed her view of suicide. "If people truly need help, they shouldn't feed into their depression," Morril said. You hurt everyone by ending your life."

"B" focused too much on being someone else; doing what others tell her she should do and should be.

"You have to excel, you have to be number one," said Doris LaPlante, Clinic Director for the Humphrey Center for Individual, Couple and Family Therapy.

In the end, after Jenny discovers "B" lying unconscious in a bathtub, she wraps "B"'s diary with a yellow ribbon as a way to commemorate her loss. The act of tying yellow ribbons becomes a metaphor for recalling those who could never truly find their way home. This film addresses not only an Asian-American issue of identity, but universal questions of "who am I?" and "why am I here?"