Abstract
This chapter focuses on the film American Pastime to analyze and discuss the importance of disrupting the representation of Japanese Americans and their family narratives as model minorities through examining the complexities of assimilation, imprisonment, and the challenges Japanese Americans faced, using the Nakano family’s intricate history as an example. American Pastime is a film about a Japanese American family imprisoned in the Topaz Relocation Camp in Utah and the role baseball played in internment camp life. In American Pastime, the Nomura family is based upon the real-life Nakano family and in this chapter, two members of the Nakano family are interviewed to share a deeper meaning to what is referenced in the film, American Pastime, as well as the stories beyond the cinematic narrative. This chapter also examines on how Japanese Americans tell the generational story of themselves while negotiating the factors of gender, ethnicity, cultural norms, and awareness of shame and pride.
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Yamaguchi, P. (2021). Rebuilding the American Dream. In: Banjo, O.O. (eds) Immigrant Generations, Media Representations, and Audiences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75311-5_15
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